Understanding Hebrews 11:8-10 in Depth: Faith Seeks a City

Context of Hebrews 11:8-10

This passage comes from Hebrews 11, often called the 'Hall of Faith,' where the author gives example after example of people who lived with real trust in God’s promises, even when they didn’t see them fulfilled.

The original readers were likely Jewish Christians facing hardship and temptation to give up on their faith. The author wants to encourage them to keep going by showing how their spiritual ancestors walked by faith, not by sight. Abraham is the first major example after the chapter’s opening definition of faith in verse 1 - he’s held up as the model of someone who obeyed God’s call without knowing the full plan. The reference to Genesis 12:1-4 is key: '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. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”' This was a radical command, and Abraham responded by stepping out with nothing but trust.

His life in tents, even in the promised land, showed that he didn’t expect God’s ultimate promise to be fulfilled on earth - like the author says, he was looking for a city with eternal foundations, built by God Himself.

Faith, Land, and the City Yet to Come: A Deeper Look at Abraham's Journey

Building on the context of Hebrews 11 as a call to steadfast faith, this passage focuses on Abraham’s actions as a powerful expression of trust that transcends geography and time.

The original Greek deepens our understanding: Abraham obeyed 'by faith' (πίστει), a word that means more than belief - it’s active trust that leads to action. He 'lived as a stranger' (παρῴκησεν), a term that means to dwell as a temporary resident, not a settled citizen, showing he never treated the land as his final home. Then, the text says he 'was looking forward' (ἐξεδέχετο), a word that implies eager, patient expectation. Abraham was actively anticipating something God would bring about in His time. This tension between the earthly promise of land and the heavenly 'city' (πόλις) reflects a key theme in Hebrews: God’s promises are real, but their fullest fulfillment is not of this world.

The author is reshaping how we see the Old Testament covenant. God promised Abraham land (Genesis 12:7), but here in Hebrews, that promise is lifted into a greater, eternal reality. This doesn’t cancel the land promise but fulfills it in a way Abraham couldn’t have expected - like how Jeremiah 4:23 describes the earth as 'formless and void' in judgment, hinting that the physical world is temporary and subject to change. The 'city with foundations' stands in contrast: it’s stable, permanent, and divine in origin, not human. Abraham’s tent life demonstrated his hope was set on God’s future work, rather than merely reflecting nomadic culture.

Abraham lived in the promised land like a foreigner because he knew God’s true promise wasn’t just soil and borders, but a city built on eternal foundations.

This heavenly focus challenges any version of faith that’s only about blessings here and now. The next examples in Hebrews - like Sarah’s barren womb and Moses’ choice to suffer with God’s people - will show that real faith endures delay and hardship because it sees what God has prepared beyond this life.

Living as Pilgrims Today: Faith That Looks Beyond the Temporary

Abraham’s life of wandering and waiting is a pattern for how we live by faith today, especially when life feels uncertain or promises seem delayed, rather than merely an ancient story.

Back then, living in tents while claiming a land promise would have seemed strange - Abraham never settled like a true owner would. The original readers of Hebrews, facing persecution and loss, needed to hear that their suffering didn’t mean God had failed. Like Abraham, they were citizens of a better country, 'a heavenly one' (Hebrews 11:16).

Real faith doesn't seek comfort in this world but lives with hope fixed on the city God is building.

This same hope shapes our discipleship now. We aren’t promised success, stability, or ease - just as Abraham wasn’t. But we are called to trust God’s future, like he did, even when we can’t see it. The good news about Jesus confirms this: He left heaven’s glory to live as a stranger too (John 1:14), showing that God identifies with our temporary, often painful journey. And because He rose and ascended, we know the city with eternal foundations is real - and one day, we’ll finally be home.

The City That Lasts: Tracing God's Eternal Dwelling from Abraham to Revelation

This hope in a divine city doesn’t end with Abraham but unfolds across Scripture, culminating in a place where God dwells forever with His people.

Hebrews 12:22 says we have come not to Mount Sinai with its fear and fire, but to Mount Zion and 'the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,' where countless angels and the redeemed gather before God - tying Abraham’s hope directly to our present reality in Christ. Revelation 21:2 then completes the picture: 'I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.' This is no ordinary city. It’s where God Himself wipes away every tear, death is gone, and all things are made new (Revelation 21:4).

The thread from Abraham’s tent to this eternal city reveals God’s unfolding plan: He never intended Earth as His final home for us, but a temporary stage where faith grows in the unseen. Just as Jeremiah 4:23 describes the earth returning to chaos in judgment, so too does Revelation show that this world will pass away - but the city with foundations remains. The temple imagery connects too: in Revelation 21:22, John sees no temple in the city 'for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.' God’s presence is no longer confined to a building but fills the entire city, fulfilling what began in Eden and was promised to Abraham. This is the ultimate inheritance - living with God, face to face, forever.

Abraham’s hope wasn’t in a plot of land but in a city designed and built by God - where one day, every tear will be wiped away.

So daily life changes when we live as citizens of that city now: we stop clinging to comfort, status, or security in this world and instead invest in love, justice, and mercy - values that last. A church community shaped by this truth becomes a family of pilgrims, supporting one another through hardship, not chasing popularity or wealth, but pointing together to the city ahead.

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