Slices
Prepare
At funerals or memorial services, there is a eulogy of some kind about the person who has died. The last one I heard made the congregation laugh quite a lot! What would you like to be remembered for?
Bible passage
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
Explore
Today we move on to the stories of those who (in some church traditions) are remembered on the first Sunday of Advent: the patriarchs. These are the founding family of all who call themselves Hebrews, and the faith family of all who through Jesus inherit the blessing given to Abraham (Galatians 3:14). It’s astonishing to be reminded of what their faith in God led them to do: leave everything comfortable and familiar and set off without knowing the destination; have a child at a great age; believe in resurrection… And that’s just the beginning!
Even at the point of death, these people were trusting that what they hoped for would one day come to pass (v 13). God made specific promises to Abraham about the future, which he believed. For us today, perhaps believing promises made by God for the future is, ultimately, all about death. For all who trust in Jesus, dying is the final step of faith. We live in faith and we die in faith, trusting that Jesus will meet us and take us home to the heavenly city, ‘whose architect and builder is God’ (v 10).
Respond
Give thanks for those whose lives of faith have inspired you; pray for those approaching the end of life to have confidence and trust in God for the final step.
Deeper Bible study
Lord, give us the grace to trust you when we are called to enter an uncertain future.
When I hear people looking for clear guidance I always think of verse 8: ‘By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’ As I have thought of this verse over the years, I have concluded that, like Abraham, I would prefer God’s gift of faith to any certainty I might have as to what my next steps into the future might look like.
Today we consider the faith of Abraham and Sarah, and the patriarchs Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. When God called Abraham, he went – not knowing where he was going. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob camped in what was later to be the Promised Land. They were like aliens, with their eyes on God’s promised future: a city with foundations that went deeper and were more stable than tent pegs, the city that was designed and built by God. This was a future homeland (not the one they had left), a heavenly country, the city God had prepared for them. As for Sarah, even though she was past child-bearing age, by faith she was able to bear the children God had promised. And Joseph? He was so certain that God’s promises go beyond the grave that he would not permit his descendants to bury his bones in Egypt.
Notice how everything is oriented towards their future with the God who has promised that he will ultimately dwell with his people.1 They had assurance about the things they hoped for and the things they could not see, because they knew God and knew God’s promise to bless. Thus, they could enter a future that was unclear, but assured, for God was with them.
God promises not certainty, but faith. Ask for faith as you step into the future with assurance that, however the details unfold, God will be with you in them.
1 Rev 21:3
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 19,20; 1 Thessalonians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
High Tide Summer Special is a Faith Guide holiday for groups from the Portsmouth area. It proved so popular last year that this year it will be running twice. Pray for stamina for Jenni Whymark and the team leading both the holidays and pray that the young people will settle in quickly and make the most of the opportunity to explore and grow in faith.
