wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city' (11:16). This city is

referred to and named in 12:22, `Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly

Jerusalem'. The book of Revelation describes this city in detail in all its glory and blaze of colour and beauty (Rev.

There is a feature we do well to notice. This city is a heavenly one, yet it does not remain in heaven. Three

times in this book is this fact stated (3:12, 21:2,10). These verses describe the Heavenly Jerusalem descending from

heaven to the new earth so that its goal finally is an earthly one. Here is a sphere of blessing for God's children

which is of necessity different from the land given to Abraham and his descendants. No believer can surely doubt,

as he reads the stupendous words of Revelation that this sphere is higher and more wonderful than the portion of the

earth given the Patriarch Abraham, and this is confirmed by Hebrews 11:16, `now they desire a better country, that

is, an heavenly'. The Divine Author Himself describes it as being BETTER, and therefore God must have revealed

this higher sphere of glory to Abraham as well as the earthly inheritance. Abraham, being strong in faith, responded

by believing all that God had shown him.

Now believers today can be said to be in two classes; those like this man of God who have great faith and accept

that God has written in His Word, and seek for the best in it, or like some whom the Lord addressed (Matt. 6:30),

have little faith and hang back in the Christian pathway.

The former class go on in faithfulness, regardless of any loss or suffering such a course of action and belief may

entail. Their one goal is to be `approved unto God' (2 Tim. 2:15).

The latter do not grow in grace and acknowledgement of the truth. Their appetite is more for earthly things and

all that these offer. It is NOW that they are concerned with; the hereafter with its glory and rewards are unreal and

mean little to them; such are described in 1 Corinthians 3. They are saved, being on the one Foundation, Christ, but

are building upon Him with shoddy materials of the flesh and the world. In the day when every man's work shall be

manifested and tested by the fire of the righteous judgment of God (13), they meet the Lord with shame, their works

are burned up, they lose their reward and His commendation, even though they themselves are saved (15). On the

other hand those believers who are judged faithful to God's Word, produce works that `abide' the test and receive

the reward that He has promised to such (14).

Let us distinguish these different lines of truth. Salvation is not by good works and cannot be earned by merit. It

is a free gift by God's grace, received by faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8,9), and is eternally secure. In contrast to this,

reward IS earned by the believer. It is for faithful service and is dependent upon his practical response to the claim

of God in witness and daily walk.

Such reward is NOT secure in this life. It can be lost by unfaithfulness or sowing to the flesh (Col. 2:18; 3:24,25;

Rev. 3:11; 1 Cor. 3:14,15). The believer cannot earn or work for his salvation, but he learns by grace to work it out

in practice to the Lord's glory (Phil. 2:12,13) with the future day of testing in view. Any amount of Bible

difficulties and false teaching today is caused by confusing these two aspects of truth or by emphasising one at the

expense of the other.

The believers described in Hebrews 11 belong to the former category. They not only believed God for salvation

but all His revelation afterwards, and were willing to go to the extremes of suffering and endurance to obtain that

better country - the Heavenly Jerusalem (verses 32-40) and the better resurrection (35) attached to it. So we see that

this higher sphere of blessing is in the nature of a reward for the faithful from Abel's time onwards, through

Abraham's seed and down to the time of the Acts of the Apostles.