The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 337

Attempt to settle down, eome sharp shock soon reminds them that their condition here is not stationary, but itinerant and changeable. The Christian cheerfully recognizes the fact that he has no continuing city here; he confesses that he is a pilgrim on the earth. Mark some of the features of this pilgrimage. 1. It is irretraceable. '!'here ie no opportunity of going back to past sceneR and experiences, The movement is invariably onward. 2. It is continuous. There are no stoppages on this journey. Life never pauses in its motion. S. It is rapi,d. Compared with the work to be done in it, and with the boundless and solemn future to which it leads, how brief is life I III. THE CHRISTIAN IS NOT AT HOME HERE, BUT A STRANGER SEEKING IIlB HOME ELSEWHERE. " Confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things <leclare plainly that they seek after a country of their own." They seek e. fatherland, e. home. There is much in this world which is uncongenie.l to the true Christie.n. He has <lesires which this world cannot satisfy. He does not want ro ste.y here perme.nently. He does not feel at home here. But he is seeking his home in heaven; he is pressing onward to his Father's house. There many of his best e.nd dearest friends he.ve e.lree.dy entered; there many of his spiritual kinsfolk dwell; there the elder Brother and the heavenly Father are at home ; and e.s he journeys thither he Bing&- .. There is my house and portion fair, My treasure and my bee.rt a.re there, And my abiding home." While on the journey let the Christian pilgrim rejoice : 1, In the ea;cellence of the way on which he travels. "A highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be callee.I. The way of holiness," etc. 2. In the attractiveness of the prospects which beckon him forward. 3. In the delightfulness of the companionships of the ;'ourney. "He him- self she.11 be with them, walking in the way.. , . The redeemed shall walk in it," 4. In the blessedness of the destinri t£on to which he travels. They" shall come to Zion with songs," etc. (Isa. xxxv. 10). The journey ends at home.-W. J. Vers. 15, 16.-77ze (JhristW61,'s attitude ln this world. "And truly if they had been mindful of that country," etc. These words, telling us how the patriarchs regarded the country which they had left and the country for which they looked, suggest to us that the Christian's attitude in this world is that of- L RESOLUTE RENUNCIATION OF THE THINGS WRICH ABE BEHIND. And truly if the patriarchs " had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to return." Though having no possession in Canaan, they did not wish to go back to Ur of the Chaldees. Though strangers in Canaan, they did not desire to return to their old home to seek for friendships there; for had they wished to do so, opportunities were not lackiD.$!: for the realization of such a wish. There are at least two senses in which the Christian has renounced the things which are behind. I. He has no desire to return to a life of worldliness or of sin. He could do sci if he wished, but he is not disposed to do so. He has no relish for those pursuits and rJ.easures of this world, which are followed without any thought of the life and the world which lie beyond. And a life of sin is abhorrent to him. To go back to the old life would be to pass from light into darkness, from liberty into bondage, from noble unrest to seek for ignoble satisfactions, and the true Chri~tian will not entertair. such an idea. 2. He has no desire to return to the past seasons and experiences of life. There may be times when he has a brief and unhealthy longing for the lost innocence of childhood, or for the too-fleeting enjoyments of youth, or for the recurrence of past opportunities which were neglected or only partially improved. There are, we con- ceive, few persons but at times have painfully felt such longings. But the cairn, con- siderate desire of the Christian is not to go back to any of these things. His judgment assures him that if be could return to the past, or recall departed seasons and oppor- tunities, he would probably make no better use of them than he has already done. Hence, like St. Paul, he endeavours to" forget those things which are behind." II. EAGER DESIRE FOB THE TFITNGB WHICH .ARE DEFORE. "But now they desire e. beLter country, that is, a hea,·euly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." l. The object of tl,eir desire. "'l'hey OB, :I.I, 1-40,] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 329