These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Hebrews 11:13
There is a famous quotation that has been attributed to Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel into space. But it is false. According to the stories, after the Russian cosmonaut made his famous 108 minute space voyage aboard the Vostok 1 space ship in 1961, he is reported to have said, ‘I flew into space, but didn’t see God’. People who knew Gagarin personally said he would never have said such a thing, that Gagarin believed in God and could recite his Russian Orthodox prayers as well as anyone. So where did the quote come from? It came from a plenary session of the Soviet Union Central Committee as they were discussing anti-religion propaganda. Soviet president Nikita Krushchev said to the committee, ‘Why are you clinging to God? Here Gagarin flew into space and didn’t see God’. The committee decided to use that quote, but they realized that it would have more weight if it came from the beloved cosmonaut than from the crusty president. So they remanufactured it as Gagarin’s quotation. They would do almost anything to push their atheist agenda, and to convince people that God didn’t exist. Like all atheists, they were more than willing to lie to mock those who live by faith.
Our text is speaking of the patriarchs who received proposes from God that included a land for God’s earthly people. At the time, nobody else, not in Canaan nor in Egypt, would believe those promises. As we, or anybody else, look back, we have the verification of history that God kept those promises. Just as He will keep His glorious promises regarding the future of Israel! And just as He will keep His promises regarding our future glorious home. As we lay our dear loved ones in their graves, and as we contemplate our own coming deaths, we do so in hope that is based on rich and precious promises. We sorrow at funerals, but not like those who have no hope. Because God has given to us something that our physical eyes have never beheld, but something that the eye of faith has seen afar off with perfect vision. As a dear friend lay dying in his hospital bed, he told me with a glad smile, ‘I’m going home’. And his story is not rare. Myriads of dear saints down through the many centuries have grasped by faith the reality of an eternity with Christ, and have been thrilled at the sight. Neither stronger glasses nor cornea transplants could enable them to see the glory that lies before. But faith made it plain. And that same faith is ours, to comfort and strengthen us, even as the world around us rejects, ignores, and denies the very God in whom you and I place our unshakeable faith.
Unless the Lord comes for us in the Rapture first, you and I will die, just like everybody around us. The difference is that while we live, faith allows us to see the promises, and when we die, grace allows us to receive those promises. – Jim MacIntosh