Hebrews 11:10 says, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
The little town of Marcus, Washington was one of the 11 small towns that were erased in 1942 when Grand Coulee Dam was completed and began to back the waters of the Columbia River up to Canada to form what we now call Lake Roosevelt. Marcus was a busy little community with a bank and a hospital. Some of the buildings were moved to higher ground leaving the foundations to be covered. Today, when the Columbia waters are dropped low enough you can see the sidewalks and foundations still intact. About 3,000 people lost their homes.
In the great flood of Noah’s day, everyone lost their homes. Noah and his family were the only survivors, riding out the flood on a houseboat. They began the new civilization. After the vineyard experience, Ham, or Canaan , received a curse from Noah. Shem received a blessing, Japheth being blessed with him. It was in the line of Shem that Abram was born. This was the blessing line.
When God called Abram, He said, “…Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1). Now this began a long journey of obedience and faith. Abram found himself wandering around in the land already settled by the cursed descendants of Ham, or Canaan.
Some Jews believed that Abram actually knew Noah. Regardless, Abram lived close enough to the flood, along with the long life spans of that day, to have heard many stories about the pre-flood days. He may have had an idea that the land he was wandering in was the area of the Garden of Eden. (For an in-depth search on this idea, read my book, God of the Garden, found in the store on this web site.)
Our text says, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations….” Paul may have intended that Abram was looking for a heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16), along with the others of faith mentioned in this chapter (V.14). Later in Psalm 87:1, “His foundation is in the holy mountains.” Abram didn’t have the Psalms or the writings of Paul, but he did live closer to the facts. Paul certainly had Psalm 87. He may or may not have meant only a heavenly foundation.
Paul says in verse 16, “…for he hath prepared for them a city.” In Revelation 21:2, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This is not a heavenly city in a spiritual realm, but a holy city on earth. God will set this city right down on His foundation in Jerusalem. Revelation 21:1 says that the first heaven and earth were passed away. Verse 26 says, “And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.” Spiritual or physical, the holy city is there for THE CITY SEEKER!
