“In faith all these . . . publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land.”—HEB. 11:13. “THEY are in the world,” said Jesus of his disciples. But he explained: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:11, 14) Thus, Jesus clearly indicated the position of his true followers with respect to “this system of things,” whose god is Satan. (2 Cor. 4:4) Although living in this wicked world, they would be no part of it. Their situation in this system would be that of “aliens and temporary residents.”—1 Pet. 2:11. They Lived as “Temporary Residents” 2 From earliest times, faithful servants of Jehovah stood out as different from those in the ungodly world in which they lived. Before the Flood, Enoch and Noah “walked with the true God.” (Gen. 5:22-24; 6:9) Both of them were courageous preachers of Jehovah’s judgments against Satan’s wicked world. (Read 2 Peter 2:5; Jude 14, 15.) Because they walked with God in an ungodly world, Enoch “pleased God well” and Noah “proved himself faultless among his contemporaries.”—Heb. 11:5; Gen. 6:9. 3 At God’s invitation, Abraham and Sarah gave up the comforts of city life in Ur of the Chaldeans and accepted the challenge of living as nomads in a foreign land. (Gen. 11:27, 28; 12:1) The apostle Paul wrote: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed in going out into a place he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, although not knowing where he was going. By faith he resided as an alien in the land of the promise as in a foreign land, and dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the very same promise.” (Heb. 11:8, 9) Concerning such faithful servants of Jehovah, Paul said: “In faith all these died, although they did not get the fulfillment of the promises, but they saw them afar off and welcomed them and publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land.”—Heb. 11:13.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 08:33:31 +0000
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