14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
14 For here we have no continuing city [permanent city],
Hebrew Christians were not to look for a permanent city to which they could identify. There is no such place for Christians in this world today. Jerusalem is not that city.
but we seek the one to come.
Christians have a heavenly city yet to come (He 11:10, 14, 16). The earthly Jerusalem of today is a symbol of all that is temporal and problematic. The eternal city will be the opposite of all that we find here—the pain, separations, and loss.
PRINCIPLE:
The nature of the believer’s eternal home is that it is corporate and permanent.
APPLICATION:
Christians are unique and therefore distinct. We have identity with Christ. We will live with our Lord corporately together. This makes us associated with Him in who and what He is. Therefore, we are set apart from the world positionally and practically. Positionally, we hold the same status that He does before the Father forever. Practically, we separate ourselves from the values of the world system (1 Jn 2:15–17). However, this does not mean that we are not to associate ourselves with people in the world (Jn 17:15–18).
Christians can be patient with all the problems we face in time because we have such a wonderful prospect in eternity. Our heavenly Jerusalem will be glorious, free, blessed, spiritual, and eternal. We exist on earth for a very short period in comparison to eternity.
