January 30

Day 322: Homeland

I've never been my experience, so I cannot define what it means to "be homesick for a place I've never lived." I do have (more poetic than me) friends who have expressed this, however.

I also wonder what the Old Testament saints were envisioning when they looked forward to the fulfillment of God's promises. Was it a clear picture in their mind's eye? Or was it hazy, with not all of the dots connected?

There is a place in Numbers 11, when two guys have not shown up for the commissioning service where they were supposed to be. It's reported back to Moses, that these two guys are back "prophesying in the camp."

Pretty much everybody, Joshua included, tell Moses to make them stop. Moses's response is curious. He says, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit on them."

Back in Moses's day, and for centuries to follow, the Holy Spirit was given out on an as-needed basis. Some, maybe most of the Bible heroes got some of that Holy Spirit power. Most everyone else did not.

Moses could see a day, even yearned for a day when everyone belonging to God would have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Unlimited. And all the time. Acts 2 tells what happened that day.

Everyone full of the Holy Spirit. Everyone able to proclaim the mercies of God. Everyone knowing their Bibles, and submitting their lives to it.

Not as concerned about predicting the future, because of their faith in the One who holds the future. More concerned with making disciples who would be ready for the future.

Maybe Moses could see this. Maybe this is why Moses desired this. But he didn't get to see it. At least in his own lifetime.

Hebrews 11:13 says, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

The next verse addresses my first paragraph, saying, "For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland."

And two verses later it says, "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

Let me go back to the "strangers and exiles" part. You and I live in a world that wants a better version of itself. We want a better world. Full of people who are evolving into better versions of themselves.

Bummer is, if we wish for something broken and hope it will evolve into something unbroken, we may be hopeful and sincere. And we will be wrong. Neither the world, or any of us can self-correct.

That's way God's people, through the ages, have seen themselves as strangers and exiles. Living in a strange land. Exiled from somewhere else.

Strangers and exiles know intuitively and experientially that they are not home. So while continuing in their present locale, fulfilling their present post and assignments, they look forward. Forward to going home.

But not unlike Moses, or the others mentioned in Hebrews 11, we see our eventual homeland from afar. A homeland that's never been our home before. But we find ourselves yearning for it, none the less.

And for the follower of Jesus, that eventual homeland is, and will be ours. Together with Him!

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church Juneau