Hebrews 11:10: The Architect Of Faith's Home

When I would visit my step-brother Jamie at his house in Morgan Hill, many times the house would smell of the ink used for duplicating blueprints. At the time, he was working as an architect as well as a turn-key house builder. I remember looking at those blue-prints, imagining how the house would really look. Sometimes he would describe it to me, and a few times I got to see the house as it was being built, but I never got to see the final product.

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. - Hebrews 11:10

Lot settled down in the city, but Abraham was a man of the tents (Gen. 13:18). God told him: "Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." The Bible says he walked; he wandered; he was looking for but never found the city.

How would I feel in Abraham's place? I'm not sure about closing my eyes for the final time in death, without ever seeing what I've hoped for, with my bucket list still full, with the places to see before I die undiscovered.

Abraham was looking forward to that city. How did he know? Solomon wrested with this: Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth? (Ecc. 3:21) But Abraham was looking forward to that city. How did he know? The Bible says:

1. He Trusted God. "All these people were still living by faith when they died" (Heb. 11:13a) They didn't know exactly what would happen or how it would happen, but they knew who would make it happen.
2. He Positioned Himself. He was among those who "...admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth" (Heb. 11:13b) They knew didn't belong. They knew they didn't fit. They knew there must be another stop on this journey. Their God-altered character was not world-shaped. ("...the world was not worthy of them.")
3. He Committed Himself. "If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return." (Heb. 11:15) Abraham could have had Sodom. Lot's wife longed for it. But he wouldn't settle for second-best, because he had seen the best and its blueprint was etched in his mind.  

Will I set my sights on the hotel room that is this world? Or will I set my sights on the city of God.

In the end, there was one waiting for Abraham and the faithful, standing at the finish line of life, applauding them: "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (Heb. 11:15b) This sentiment is echoed beautifully in "Martyr's Song" by Todd Agnews:

I've been waiting to let you drink the water of which
Your greatest joy on earth was just a taste
I've been waiting for the day when at last I get to say
My child, you are finally home