Seeking a Homeland

 

Immigration, whether legal or illegal is one of the hottest topics for discussion in all societies. It seems that everyone wants to get into another country where the streets are supposed to be lined with gold. Weekly trainloads of illegal immigrants are returned from South Africa to other countries in Africa. Every day people cross the border illegally from Mexico to the United States. Almost every South African with an education, of all race groups, has considered the possibility of trying to get into Australia, England or some other “first world country” and many have emigrated.

These movements are all based on one basic premise – the hope of a better life elsewhere. People want to escape the crime and poverty of where they are and hope to find safety and prosperity elsewhere but as the bombings in London this week once-again so graphically illustrates this is a pipe-dream. There is no country in the world where the streets are lined with gold and there is no place where one is completely safe from being hurt or attacked. A few years ago an unwelcome visitor even penetrated the defenses of Buckingham palace and got right through to the Queen’s bedroom. Almost every week President Bush has to be rushed from the Whitehouse as yet another airplane violates the airspace above it. The millions living in squalor in the inner city and at the outskirts of every major city in the world is evidence that there is no free lunch.

What most people, including Christians do not understand is that this world is not getting better and that we should stop wasting our time hoping for a better tomorrow. This world is not getting better but worse. Crime is increasing all over the world and so is terrorism and every other form of evil. When Christians are increasingly becoming more like criminals then we know that there is no hope for this world. Look at Paul’s description of many “Christians” in the last days: “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2Timothy 3:2-5). If that is the condition of “Christians” what will the state of the world be? The Bible says: “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2Timothy 3:13). Christians play the lotteries hoping to win a million bucks or a green card and lobby for political candidates trusting in their promises of a better life instead of placing their hope in the return of our Lord and King.

The answer lies in the attitude of the patriarchs who were so assured of the better country God had prepared for them, that they were able to live as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. It is hard for us humans to let go of one thing until we have the next firmly in our hands. Very few Christians are able to let go of this world simply because, for most, the Kingdom has not become real and so they try to reach out towards Heaven whilst desperately looking for permanency in this world. A man has been living in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris for seventeen years now since his original country had expelled him and he cannot be accepted into another country. So there he lives in the terminal building – trapped in no-mans-land, unable to go back and unable to move forward. This sad picture is so much like Christians who have started their journey to the New Jerusalem but are not able to let go of this world and so are trapped between heaven and earth – their lives in suspension as they wait for better days.

But with Abraham there was no middle ground. He was so assured of the heavenly city that he embraced it with all his might. He was so confident of the Lord’s promise that he had no problem letting go of this world and thus was able to live in tents for the rest of his life. How could he live all those years without any form of permanence? Only because God’s promises of a heavenly city were more real than anything this world could offer. He was looking for a homeland alright but recognized that it was not in the here and now. Yes, he could have returned to Haran or Ur where he had come from, but he was determined to reach out to the promised city.

So what is it you have your hopes set on. A better government, a new country or a pot of gold? Forget it. It is not going to happen. Fix your eyes on the Millennial Kingdom and the New Jerusalem. Embrace them and let go of your hopes of a better life in this world. Every time a bomb goes off or something bad happens, it is yet another reminder for Christians to fix their hopes on the return of the Lord. Every time you feel an ache it’s a reminder that we will have new bodies that don’t grow old. Every time you read about a corrupt government official, be reminded that “we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2Peter 3:13). Every time you feel cheated remember that no liars will enter God’s eternal city. When you weep, remember that He will wipe away all tears and there will be no sorrow or crying.

The problem is we can become so used to living with part of our heart in heaven, yet bound by a desire for earthly things that we may not be able to break free. Last year the man in the airport was granted refugee status. He can now walk out of the airport and live a normal life anywhere in Europe but he is still in the airport – he has lost his desire to live a normal life. Many Christians are trapped in the in-between world between heaven and earth and have become so used to their lukewarm existence that they can no longer accept God’s offer of a homeland.

Remember Lot’s wife. (Luke 17:32)

 

 

Anton Bosch
antonbosch@sbcglobal.net

www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
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