Lesson 349: "Strangers In This Land"
When Gershom was born, Moses was an exile in Midian and he named his son Gershom because he was a stranger and an alien in a strange land. Christians are the aliens and strangers that Peter talks to when he says; “dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:9-11). As a follower of Jesus Christ, living in a world of selfish and godless values, Christians are aliens and strangers in this land we call home.
Jesus did not leave us without warning us that we will live as “aliens and strangers” in the world. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:18-20). Just like Moses, Christians are chosen to “bring God’s people out of bondage”. We must never forget who brought Israel out of Egypt (Deut. 6:10-12) and Christians must never forget that we were saved (Eph. 2:4-5) by the grace of God who brought us out of the bondage of sin.
We may not understand the ways of the world around us but as children of God we should strive daily to understand the Language of our Father. Jesus asked; “Why is my Language not clear to you?” He then answers His own question, because you are unable to hear what I say because you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire (John 8:42-47). Sometimes Christians come to believe that they are bi-lingual and find themselves at ease in the nation they live, be part of the Kingdom of God and feel no conflict whatsoever. This cannot be! When we forget we are aliens we begin to hold things of this world as “ours” and before long we start to “store up for ourselves treasures on earth” (Matt. 6:19).
All this begins to effect our beliefs as we begin to hold onto personal peace and prosperity above faithfulness to the ways of God. We lose our identification with the One who became a refugee in Egypt right after His Birth and whose life ended with rejection and death on a Cross. And when we no longer identify with the innocent One killed on the Cross, we can no longer claim to identify with the One Resurrected from the dead. Without the assurance of the Resurrected One we will begin to put our faith in material things and violate Jesus’ teachings to love your enemies. God promised His people a homeland and with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that homeland is promised to all Christians. When we feel the weight of sin’s alienation and try to make this our “homeland” we are laying aside the hope we should be offering others who feel the alienation of sin.
All the Israelites that God brought out of Egypt only got a glimpse of the things promised. They admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. They were looking for a country of their own and God was not ashamed to be called their God and He indeed prepared a City for them (Heb. 11:13-16). He has room in this City for all who learn the Language of God and admit they are only strangers in a land not their home (John 3:16-18). “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor. 5:1-10).