Hebrews 11:10

585. – Then when he says, he looked forward to the city which has foundations, he shows why he lingered there as a stranger, namely, because he did not consider himself as having anything on earth, but was seeking a heavenly city as his inheritance: …

Therefore, he says, they settled in that land in tents having no foundation, because they were awaiting the heavenly city with true foundations, always firm and never perishing. This is also why God, seeing that they despised the promises of earthly goods, set those aside …

He looked for a city which hath foundations - Whereas a tent has none. Whose builder and former is God - Of which God is the sole contriver, former, and finisher.

For he looked for a city which hath foundations,....

The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old Testament,

For he looked for a city which hath foundations - He knew that earth could afford no permanent residence for an immortal mind, and he looked for that heavenly building of which God is the architect and owner; in a word, he lost sight of earth, that he might keep heaven in view. And all who are partakers of his faith possess the same spirit, walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing. Whose builder and maker is God - The word τεχνιτης signifies an architect, one who plans, calculates, and constructs a building.

looked for--Greek, "he was expecting"; waiting for with eager expectation (Ro 8:19). a city--Greek, "the city," already alluded to. Worldly Enoch, son of the murderer Cain, was the first to build his city here: the godly patriarchs waited for their city hereafter (Heb 11:16;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

ABRAHAM'S life, taken literally, is full of instruction, but we shall be wise to take the spirit of it and endeavor to make it our own. We cannot live just as Abraham did, but we can carry out the great principles which lay at the root of Abraham's life and, if the Holy Spirit will work in us a like degree of faith to that of the holy Patriarch, we may glorify God by our lives, even as he did. The first point in which we must follow him is that our life must be a life of faith.

ABRAHAM'S life, taken literally, is full of instruction, but we shall be wise to take the spirit of it and endeavor to make it our own. We cannot live just as Abraham did, but we can carry out the great principles which lay at the root of Abraham's life and, if the Holy Spirit will work in us a like degree of faith to that of the holy Patriarch, we may glorify God by our lives, even as he did. The first point in which we must follow him is that our life must be a life of faith. We cannot be children of believing Abraham unless we live by believing. If you follow your senses, you go by what you see. Now, by what this poor flesh would teach you to desire, you will know nothing of the life of Abraham. He was a man who saw what eyes can never see. He heard what ears can never hear and he was moved, guided, actuated by motives which men of the world can never feel. He was a great man, a very prince among men—first, chief and father of all believing men—but he owed the preeminence of his character to the greatness of his faith. We must have his faith and we must live by it, as he lived by it— and then God will be able to make something of even such poor, feeble creatures as we are. Let me remind you of what we read in the sixth verse, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." If we would be like "faithful Abraham," we must begin by being Believers. Abraham is, in three things, a pattern to us who believe, and those three things will be the divisions of our subject tonight.

For he looked for a city which hath foundations - It has been doubted to what the apostle here refers. Grotius and some others suppose, that he refers to Jerusalem, as a permanent dwelling for his posterity, in contradistinction from the unsettled mode of life which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led. But there is no evidence that Abraham looked forward to the building of such a city, for no promise was made to him of this kind; and this interpretation falls evidently below the whole drift of the passage; compare Heb 11:14-16; Heb 12:22; Heb 13:14. Phrases like that of “the city of God,” “a city with foundations,” “the new Jerusalem,” and “the heavenly Jerusalem” in the time of the apostle, appear to have acquired a kind of technical signification. They referred to “heaven” - of which Jerusalem, the seat of the worship of God, seems to have been regarded as the emblem. Thus, in Heb 12:22, the apostle speaks of the “heavenly Jerusalem,” and in Heb 13:14, he says, “here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” In Rev 21:2, John says that he “saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven,” and proceeds in that chapter and the following to give a most beautiful description of it. Even so early as the time of Abraham, it would seem that the future blessedness of the righteous was foretold under the image of a splendid city reared on permanent foundations. It is remarkable that Moses does not mention this as an object of the faith of Abraham, and it is impossible to ascertain the degree of distinctness which this had in his view. It is probable that the apostle in speaking of his faith in this particular did not rely on any distinct record, or even any tradition, but spoke of his piety in the language which he would use to characterize religion of any age, or in any individual. […]