Devotional 21 July 2025

Abraham’s faith drove him far from comfort and certainty. Leaving behind his homeland, he dwelled in tents, a foreigner in the very land God had promised him. But Abraham was not looking to build something for himself. He was looking for what only God could build, a city with lasting foundations, designed by the Creator Himself.

The language in Hebrews is deliberate. Abraham wasn’t seeking an earthly, man-made city. He was seeking the heavenly Jerusalem, not merely a city in the sky, but one with its origin in heaven and its fulfillment in the work of God. Hebrews 12:22 affirms, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” This is not future tense. It is present. Paul, too, declares, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), and that we are “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). We do not wait to be part of this city, we are part of it now.

Still, we often struggle to see it. Like Abraham, we dwell in tents, our lives may feel transient, uncertain, incomplete. But that does not mean the city is not being built. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). Though we live in a world that seems fragile and temporary, the Kingdom is advancing. God is building, even now.

Jesus declared His followers to be “a city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). While this passage speaks of the witness of believers, it hints at a deeper truth: the Church, composed of heavenly citizens, is part of the very city Abraham longed for. When we pray, “Your Kingdom come,” we are asking not for escape, but for manifestation, that what is true in heaven would become visible on earth.

Yes, Hebrews 13:14 reminds us that “we have no lasting city here.” But it immediately adds, “we seek the city that is to come.” Not a contradiction, but a completion: the city is, and it is becoming. God is both architect and builder. He began His work in Christ and continues through His people.

Abraham’s faith bore witness to what we now inherit. Like him, we live by faith in the Builder we cannot see, but whose work is all around us. The promise is not distant. It is unfolding.

So let us live as heirs, children of the promise. Let us walk by faith, confident that though the world sees only tents, we are citizens of a city with eternal foundations. And its Builder is faithful.

Abraham, our fourth witness of faith continues to speak through his hope. May we have ears to hear.