No Continuing City

No Continuing City

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

Hebrews 13:14

As the writer of Hebrews draws His epistle to a close, he continues with his overarching theme of ‘the things which are better.‘ He has taken the time to prove that the New Era is better than the Old, that the new priesthood is better than the old; and that the new revelations are better than the old. As he concludes, he refers to Christ and His suffering ‘outside the gate.’ He points out that in a de facto way, Christ was in the world, yet not of the world. He then applies that thought to us in our text for today. Because of Christ, and our relationship to Him, ‘here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.’ This brings us, first, to face our reality. As much as we may be in this world, we are not of this world. ‘We have no continuing city.’ We are in the tabernacles of the body, and only temporarily situated in our geographic locations. This brings us to consider very carefully how we view, houses, property, and even human relationships. We are Christ’s and Christ is not here. He was not of this world, but was here to accomplish His Mission. We are here, for the time, as His Body, to complete the mission which He has for us. This brings us to hold the things of time and sense more loosely, and to depend upon them less heavily.  Let us, today, dwell upon that which is, in order to prepare ourselves more thoroughly to dwell on that which is to come.

Our most Holy and Wise God,
we rejoice that You have brought us to where we are,
that You have things for us to do now,
and that You have set before us, grand and glorious things, which are yet to come.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning