Hebrews 13:14

When I was a young believer, and that is many many years ago, I read a sentence by a man called HJ Stilling. He said” Blessed are those who are longing for their heavenly home, because they will get there.”(Selig sind diejenigen, die das Heimweh haben, denn sie sollen nach Hause kommen.)

One of the reasons why that saying is still with me is that I do have the longing for my heavenly home. Another reason is probably that I have never felt homesick. I don’t know what that is all about. For 26 years I used to live in Germany, then 13 Years in Thailand and from then on here in the beautiful country of New Zealand. But Germany is not my home and Thailand is not my home. And Aotearoa (NZ) is not my home. My home is in heaven.

You probably know what being homesick is all about. I have actually mentioned that before. I have read that the only cure for people who are homesick is: GO HOME!

Hebrews 13:14 says,” For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Praise the Lord!

Peter in the Bible is is speaking about the tent of this body. He says that in Second Peter 1:13. And in Second Peter 1:14 he says that he will soon put it aside. And in Second Corinthians 5:1 Paul talks of the destruction of this earthly tent (Body) . After the destruction of the body we will have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

We know all about tents. We are staying here one or two days and then we are moving on. I did that once with the children at Matauri Bay. We were in the process of packing up and the neighbour lady said to us,” What a pity that you have to go home on a beautiful day like this.” “No”, we said, “we are not going home, we are moving on to Tauranga Bay. Tauranga Bay is for us the ‘Dreaming Place’ “.

But the problem with us is that we are not behaving as tent dwellers but as city dwellers! Ask yourself, “Am I a city dweller or am I a tent dweller”.

wd

John 6:67,68

In Germany I used to travel quite a bit by train. I remember sometimes the crew of the train announcing: End of the journey. All passengers please leave the train! What a relief for us passengers to have finished the long tiresome journey especially on a very hot day in summer. Finally we had arrived at the beautiful place where we wanted to spend our holidays.

Our life is also a journey! We are doing this and we are doing that. We are looking here and we are looking there. We are seeking here satisfaction and we are looking somewhere else for…….. yes, sometimes we are not even sure what we are searching for.

But we are all searching for something. Where do we find what we are looking for?

Simon Peter in the Bible found what he was looking for. He found the person with the eternal words. He found the Lord Jesus Christ. Or rather we should say the Lord Jesus Christ had revealed himself to Peter.– Peter had arrived at the eternal destination. He believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Holy One of God. He did not only believe that, but he also knew it. End of the journey for Peter. We can know also. But we must believe like Peter. But as I have said already it is by revelation. And that is also the end of the journey or us. There is no better destination. What a relief and what a joy!

Also the question Jesus asked the twelve is very significant. We would probably say Please don’t leave me. What can I do for you to make you stay with me?

Not so the Lord. He says:”You do not want to leave too, do you?”

wd