How Long?
Some of the most painful times in life are when we lose the graces of God that have become normal to us. This may be losing something as simple as a pet, or even having a dear friend move away. At other points this grief is caused by more severe measures. War rages throughout the world. Innocent people are victims of trafficking. Parents lose their children to cancer. Divorce is the end of many marriages, affairs tear through the lives of many, and abuse is all too common. Sometimes it feels like life has taken all that is good and right, set it on fire, and you are forced to watch helplessly from the sideline. I am sure that we can all relate to David in Psalm 6:2-3 as he attempts to look to the Lord amidst life’s fiery trials, “Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you – O LORD – how long?” It seems as if David is about to reflect on the Lord’s character amidst his trials by saying something along the lines of “But you – O Lord – are my refuge amidst trouble,” but he can’t even finish his sentence. Instead, the weight of his grief forces his reflection to end abruptly in a question – how long?
Suffering Saints
The story of Scripture is one that is quite saturated with pain and suffering. Consider just a few of the areas where suffering and sin are prevalent: In the beginning of the a a man kills his own brother (Gen. 4), later on brothers sell their own kin into slavery (Gen. 37:12-36), all the baby boys born to the Israelites were commanded to be slaughtered (Ex. 1:15-22), the entire nation of Israel is subjected to harsh slavery in Egypt for 430 years (Ex. 12:40-41), Israel goes through a roller coaster experience of being taken over by foreign nations and then being rescued by the judges (Judg. 2:14-16; 3:8-9, 12-15), the nation of Israel is taken over and sent into exile over the course of three years by Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:5-6), the nation of Judah endures through multiple brutal exile experiences (2 Kgs. 24:10-17; 25:1-21; cf. Jer. 52), and there is an extermination attempt against the entire Jewish nation (Esth. 3). If anyone knew about suffering, it was the ancient Israelites. In every point of that non-exhaustive list, one cannot help but imagine the depths of their despair, and how prevalent and powerful the question of, “how long?” would be. When you see how horrendous their history is, you can’t help but wonder how in the world they got through these trials of life. The answer that Scripture provides to this question is that the Old Testament saints were looking forward to being restored to the city of God.
A Kingdom of Longing
Hebrews 11 has been affectionately called, “the hall of faith” for good reason. It is a list of saints throughout the ages who lived imperfect lives of immense suffering and trials by faith. Each person in this list was looking forward to the promises of God, although they never received these promises (Heb. 11:13). They realized that the kingdom they belonged to was not of this earth, but they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Many of these people were not only sojourners in the earthly realm, but they also often had no city that belonged to them. Some were traveling to a country promised to them, such as Abraham and Moses; but others, such as Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and many of the prophets, had the land that belonged to them ripped away from them. All of these people desired a better kingdom and country in the heavens. It is for these people whose hearts were not bound by the earth, but whose hearts resounded and belonged in the heavens, that God has prepared a city for. All of the people in Hebrews 11 died in faith without receiving the promises made to them, but this is not so with us. We have not simply come to the physical manifestation of a heavenly reality as the Israelites did when they came to Mount Sinai (Heb. 11:18-21), but we have come to the true Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 11:22). What the prophets and saints of old longed for we have seen! They looked forward to what was to come, but we look back to what came in the person of Christ. All the promises that Israel held to, Christ has brought about. Christ has restored us not to a temporary physical reality, but he has united our souls to his in his kingdom in the heavens over which he reigns with power and glory.
The New Jerusalem
We are promised a hard life that is full of suffering and pain. We will sin, be sinned against, and we will even be persecuted in various ways; however, as we experience the consequences of sin, we long for the New Jerusalem that our souls belong to. We have a great hope in that the New Jerusalem is where we belong now, and that we will one day be in Paradise with the Lord our God and Christ our King. Here at New Jerusalem Press, this is the hope that we seek to kindle in our own hearts, and hopefully in yours as well. The God of all comfort is for us today (2 Cor 1:3-7), and so are all of his precious and great promises (2 Cor 1: 20). We seek to gaze upon the glories of Christ, being transformed by the image of his beauty as we behold him (1 Jn. 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 3:18), and we long to do this alongside our readers. Come and contemplate the glories of Christ who has rescued us from our sin, and brought us under his eternal reign! May his beauty always be at the forefront of our gaze and walk.
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.
Hebrews 11:16
