8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9-10 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11-12 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14-16 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:8-16 English Standard Version

The writer of Hebrews had reminded readers that believers are called to live with faith in God, and in His promises. He points them to how this was true of Abraham and Sarah of old. In Genesis 12:1-4 we read: “The Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.' So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” (Abram's name was changed later to Abraham.) What was striking about Abram's obedience (vs 8), and what sort of lifestyle did it lead to) (vs 9-10)

He didn't know at the time God spoke to him where this promised land would be, but trusted God enough to simply obey. And even though he reached that land, because the time of God's promise was not yet ripe, he and his descendants lived in tents rather than building houses. Their eyes were on the ultimate inheritance God had promised so they saw their life on earth as a temporary thing. The writer will apply this in the last chapter by reminding Christians that “here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14) The apostle Paul also used tents as a picture for our earthly bodies and said “we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Hebrews points also to Sarah's faith. Though she was initially sceptical, through faith she was able to conceive a child very late in life and, with Abraham, was the forerunner of a multitude no one can number. (vs 11-12) But what happened to Abraham and Sarah, and indeed to their son Isaac, and later on to his son Jacob? (vs 13)

They all died without having received the land promised by God. The physical and earthly side of that promise only came about hundreds of years later during the days of Moses when Israel took possession of the region where Abraham had lived as a temporary resident. But notice that, although they died, they died in faith. They lived and died believing that God would ultimately fulfill all that He had promised. How would vs 14-16 apply then to the people Hebrews was written to?

Some Jewish Christians were starting to doubt the promise of Christ's return, and of eternal life through faith in Him, and were thinking of giving up their faith and going back to Judaism. The writer reminds them that the people of faith of old were those who clung to the hope of a heavenly dwelling place, and didn't turn back to earthly cities and religions. That's where our focus must be too. Though we cannot see the glories of the New Jerusalem, we press on knowing that God will bring us to that destination. He's not ashamed of us, let's not be ashamed to confess Him.