(13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (14) For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. (15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (16) But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
I pray the Reader to pause over these precious things contained within the bosom of these verses. These all died in faith. After what I have offered on the subject of faith, in the opening of this Chapter, (to which I refer the Reader), it will be unnecessary to dwell on that feature of faith, which respects the death of the Lord's people. They died, as they had lived, in the act of believing. They substantiated things of faith. They understood the things of Christ, as much as though they had lived in the days of Christ, The work of God the Spirit, in convincing them of their need of Christ, was as fully felt, and known, in the conscious plague of their own heart, as those on whom the Holy Ghost descended, after the Lord's ascension, and return to glory. Hence, what Christ said of One suited and belonged to all, Abraham saw my day afar of, rejoiced, and was glad, John 8:56
And I admire the very sweet, and gracious manner of expression, the Holy Ghost hath made use of, in proclaiming his honorable approbation of their exercise of faith. Though they all died in faith, yet, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar of, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. Hence, in after ages, the Lord gave them this escutcheon to become their coat of arms, as in life, so in death. They all died in faith. This motto, marked their princely royalty. And all the faithful in Christ Jesus prove their relationship to the same noble family, in wearing the same crest and arms, from the herald's office of heaven.
Reader! let us not dismiss the view of those holy men of old, before that we have examined our state by their's, in the standard of faith. They all lived, and died, before Christ came. We all now live, since Christ came, finished redemption-work, and returned to glory. They saw not Christ in the flesh, but his day afar off. Our sight of Christ is the same. Whom having not seen we love. There is this difference, indeed, which makes their faith so illustrious, in comparison of ours: Christ's day to them was afar off, and many hundred years were to pass, before the fulness of time was to come, when Christ should appear. Had they, therefore, reasoned with flesh and blood, they might have staggered, as those now are so apt to do, which consult it, and, through unbelief, live below their privileges. But it is said of Abraham, in testimony of his reliance of the promise, that he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded, that what the Lord had promised, he was able to perform, Romans 4:20-21. We have seen the Son of God in our nature, accomplishing redemption by his blood; and, by the regenerating work of God the Holy Ghost on the heart, every child of God hath, in his own person, a clear, and indisputable testimony, that Christ is returned to glory, and hath sent down the Holy Spirit upon his redeemed, in proof thereof. Hence, Old Testament saints, and New Testament believers, are supposed to stand upon the same level, being persuaded of the assurance of the promises; and having embraced them, and confessed that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.
Two or three points, will square this account, and enable the Church of God in the present hour, to form judgment of the standard of their faith, by the lives of those holy men of old.
First. The Lord's bringing them into an acquaintance with the plague of their own heart, paved the way for the hearty and cordial reception of Christ, as the remedy of God's own providing, for the recovery of his Church from her fallen state in Adam. And here every child of God, when taught of God, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, knows and feels the same. The corruption of nature, and the want of grace; the workings of sin, and the powers of divine love; a perfect conviction of a total ruin in the first Adam, that is, of the earth, earthy; and as, perfect an assurance of a complete recovery by the Almighty salvation of the second Adam, even the Lord from heaven; these momentous truths, by sovereign grace, are so powerfully brought home to the heart, and so in-wrought by the Lord's divine teaching, that every child of God, both in the ages before Christ's incarnation, and since, have one and the same feature of character to be known by, whose they are, and whom they serve, in the Gospel of God.
Secondly. The personal enjoyment each child of God hath, of his union in Christ, and interest with Christ, becomes another testimony, in the experience of the faithful. For amidst all the coldness and weakness of the Lord's people, in the present low estate of the Church; still the Lord hath not left himself without witness, that he hath a seed that serve him, and which are counted to the Lord for a generation. There are seasons, in which Jesus doth manifest himself to his people otherwise than he doth to the world. They see him in his suitableness, in his all-sufficiency. They have bread to eat, which the world knoweth not of. And the Lord sometimes comes so near in the manifestations of his love and favor, that they smell the sweet savor of his name, and feel a joy unspeakable, and full of glory, receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls.
And, lastly, to mention no more. The consciousness of the love of Jesus, and, as Paul saith, the assurance, that Jesus loved me, and gave himself for me, even when matters in ourselves are most dark, and discouraging; these lift up the souls of the faithful above, all the things of time and sense, and induce a wise indifference to the mere dying circumstances around, in the blessed prospect of that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Reader! Is this the faith of God's people? And is it your faith also?