Bible Studies

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Strangers and Pilgrims
It’s easy to forget about Isaac, the man in the middle, between Abraham the great patriarch and Jacob the schemer. Isaac’s childhood was colored by the rivalry with Ishmael. He wouldn’t even have made it to adulthood if things had gone wrong on Mount Moriah. His adult life was characterized by tents, flocks, contention for water and grazing land, and constant movement. As an aged parent, he was flim-flammed by his wife and son. This doesn’t sound like a heroic life, but Isaac had something very special in his pocket, the promises of God: “For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands” (Gen 26:3). “And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven” (Gen 26:4). Isaac was absolutely sure of these things, but he didn’t know when they would take place. As his death approached, he knew that his descendents numbered in the hundreds at most, and they occupied only a small portion of Canaan. This was God’s plan, and Isaac had done his part well. At the end, did he feel disappointment? We don’t know, but the writer of Hebrews said it straight: “These (the patriarchs) all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” As a faithful stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, what was Isaac’s reward? “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Today, few of us tend sheep and wander from place to place. We’re settled, we have regular places to go, regular things to do, and this is good. Being a stranger and pilgrim is for someone in the Middle East or Asia who was born to that life. Right? Wrong. The Apostle Peter says “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (2 Peter 2:11-12). Strangers are people who don’t normally spend time where they are; when they spend considerable time in one place, they’re no longer strangers. Pilgrims are people who are traveling to a sacred place to worship, often under hardship. Peter is imploring us not to put down roots in the soil of contemporary society and instead to have a pilgrim attitude during our time on earth. Neither are we to withdraw unto ourselves, but rather to show unbelievers our differences from them so that they may seek the gift what we’ve already received. As Christians, the worst thing that could be said about us is that we’re just like everyone else.

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