Seeking Our Homeland

Hebrews 11 is often known as the chapter on the "heroes of faith." I want to key in on the following passage, which comes after some discussion of the faith of figures such as Abraham, Noah, Enoch, and others:

Hebrews 11:13-16
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on the earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were looking for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

After telling of the faith of many other familiar old testament characters, it reiterates in verses 39-40 that "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

There are a lot of points to be inferred just from simply reading these scriptures, but the thing I want to really focus on is the fact that these people are examples of faith that we are to follow, and part of that example is that they were "looking for a country of their own," or, as the New King James renders it, they "declare plainly that they seek a homeland."

I want to elaborate on this point by examining the life of Daniel, who is not listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Reading the book of Daniel for the first time, it really hit me that the central theme of the above verses in Hebrews is built into his story. 

First of all, let's get some background on Daniel and take note of his faith.

Daniel prophesied during the time of the Babylonian exile, and much of the prophecy concerning the restoration following this exile is dual, being fulfilled in part by their physical return in order to foreshadow the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. Daniel was descended from the tribe of Judah(thus making him a Jew), and he was a pretty exceptional guy, as it tells us in Daniel 1:4 that he was among a group of "young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to work in the king's palace."

It says in Daniel 1:17 that "God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning" to Daniel, "And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Again in verse 20, it says that "In every matter of wisdom and understanding which the king questioned [Daniel and his friends], he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom." God granted Daniel and his friends the abilities needed to impress the king to the point that he appointed them to be rulers over various parts of the kingdom. Over time, Daniel interpreted several dreams for the various kings that he served under, and each time he did so when all of the other wise men in the kingdom had failed.

One of the most well-known stories in Daniel is in Daniel 6, where he defies the king's order by praying to God, for which he is famously thrown into the lion's den. This occurred because Daniel was doing such an outstanding job working for the king that he was planning to set him over the entire kingdom, which made the other officials jealous. So these officials set out to ruin his career, but it says in Daniel 6:4-5 "... They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, 'We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has to do with the law of his God.'" These verses say a lot about Daniel's character. I find it amazing that he was so devoted to God that these people knew that he would follow God rather than the orders of the king, even though such an offense could cost him his life. The officials then went to the king and convinced him to put forth a decree that anyone who prays to any god or man for the next month would be put in the lion's den.

Now notice Daniel's response to hearing the king's orders:

Daniel 6:10-11

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.

He didn't even think about compromising his beliefs to save his life because of his faith in God. There are other examples as well where Daniel very boldly displayed his faith in and obedience to God before the kings of Babylon.


Now that we have established Daniel as an honorary hero of faith through his actions, I want to look at the other aspect mentioned in Hebrews about the heroes of faith - that they "plainly declare that they seek a homeland." Consider Daniel's prayer in chapter 9:

Daniel 9:2-19

... in the first year of [Darius'] reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures... that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets... Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame - the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you... All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you... Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive!

Here we see Daniel giving an earnest prayer for God to fulfill his promises to Israel that they would be restored from all of the countries in which God had exiled them. It is likely that he prayed from the same window opening up towards Jerusalem mentioned in the story of the lion's den. Before he prays, he cites a prophecy in Jeremiah that the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem would last for 70 years, but notice here that what he asks for in prayer is more than just the restoration of the city of Jerusalem(which was in Judah) - he confesses the sin of "all Israel, both near and far." Prior to the Babylonian captivity, which consisted mostly of members of the tribe of Judah, the Assyrians had taken most of the "house of Israel," which refers to the northern 10 tribes of Israel, into exile and had put foreigners to replace them in the promised land. When Daniel prayed about "all the countries where you have scattered us," he was referring to both the Assyrian captivity and the Babylonian captivity. The prophecy of 70 years of captivity for Jerusalem that Daniel understood concerned only the latter captivity, and yet Daniel looked forward to the time when all Israel would be restored in the promised land. 



Now think back to what it said in Hebrews 11, that "they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return." While Daniel had a particular physical location in mind, what he was praying for was not to return to what he had come out of when he was taken into Babylon - otherwise, the 70 years prophesied in Jeremiah to bring Judah back from Babylon and restore the city of Jerusalem would have been sufficient. Israel as a whole had been off track for a long time. First, the people had fallen away from God by breaking his commandments almost as soon as he gave them. Then, they fell further away by seeking for a man to be king over Israel, rejecting God as their King. Then, they had been divided into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon, and the northern kingdom stopped following God altogether. Because of their increasing wickedness, God allowed the Assyrians to deport most of the northern 10 tribes and scatter them abroad in their vast empire. Daniel recognized the Babylonian captivity as just one step in a long chain of events separating the Israelites from God and the promises that he had bestowed on them, and it was all due to the unrighteousness of the people. Surely, Daniel was not asking to return to the place that he had left in the state that he had left it.


Daniel received an answer to this prayer before he was even finished, and it reveals God's plan to restore his city:

Daniel 9:20-24

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for His holy hill - while I was still in prayer, Gabriel... came to me in swift flight... He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."

God revealed that the restoration made in 70 years would not be complete, but rather showed that the coming restoration would be further in the future. He gave some details about what would happen leading up to this restoration. It says that transgression will be finished. Sin will end. Atonement will be made for wickedness. Everlasting righteousness will come. Vision and prophecy will be all fulfilled. And the most holy will be anointed. Can you imagine what Daniel felt when he heard these things? Surely, he was as desperate to "receive what had been promised" at that moment as anyone has ever been.


The book of Revelation gives us some more information about the city that God has prepared for us:

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

God instructs us to seek His kingdom. We, like the many examples that are given in Hebrews 11 and throughout the bible, are to consider ourselves pilgrims, sojourners, aliens, and foreigners to this world. The homeland that we seek is a city which our Father has prepared for us, one which will come down out of heaven. The latter chapters of Ezekiel give a detailed description of the dimensions of city and the temple that will be built in the city. Interestingly, it is revealed there that the city will no longer be known as "Jerusalem," or even "new Jerusalem" as it is referred to in Revelation 21. Rather, it says in Ezekiel 48:35 that "the name of the city from that time on will be: The LORD is There." In the promises to those who overcome in the Philadelphian church of Revelation 3, Jesus says "I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." We should all be striving to overcome, seeking our homeland diligently, so that one day we may be counted among God's saints, and to have our savior, Jesus Christ, write on us "The LORD is There."

Holy Days of Obligation?

I am continually fascinated by the intricate web of lies that has been woven in the years since Christ's death. St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and that's sort of what sparked this post, along with a comment that was made by some of my friends a few months ago. 


So here's the story: I'm out with some friends, some of whom happen to be Catholic, and someone mentions something about Christmas. Of course I can't resist mentioning that it's not biblical and give a mini-rant against the pagan holidays that have infiltrated Christianity. One of my friends responds by pointing out that the Catholic church refers to the biblical Holy Days that I observe as the "Holy Days of Obligation," putting extra emphasis on the word "obligation," as though it was a derogatory term. At the time I didn't give it much thought, except to say that the word "obligation" itself implies that there is something required of you on those days. 


Flash forward to this week, when something comes up about St. Patrick's Day, I check out the Wikipedia article, trying to get informed on how it originated. That's when it happened - I found that St. Patrick's Day is considered a "Holy Day of Obligation" in Ireland!!!! I was very confused at that point, so I did some digging and find out that the term "Holy Day of Obligation" is a term specific to the Catholic church that refers to their own observances throughout the year. Every Sunday of the year is a Holy Day of Obligation, as is Christmas and a few other dates throughout the year (such as January 1 for the "Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God," January 6 for the "Epiphany," and a handful of others.) According the the Catholic Canon Law, every Holy Day of Obligation requires the following:

1. People have to attend mass on that day
2. People are to abstain from any work or other affairs which "hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord's day, or the suitable relaxation of the mind and body

Ummmmm...... Doesn't the first one sound remarkably similar to a "holy convocation," which God commands on certain yearly feast days in Leviticus?  And doesn't the second point sound remarkably similar to how God asks us to observe Sabbaths every week and on certain feast days in Leviticus? 

From this, I draw the following two conclusions: first of all, that my friend was sorely mistaken when they made that comment. I wish that I had known this at the time, because it would have been hilarious to point out that this term refers to the commandments of men instituted by the Catholic church and not to God's Holy Days. Second of all, according to 1 John 5:3, "His commands are not burdensome," therefore, even if you were to see God's Holy Days as an "obligation," that term does not apply in a negative context according to 1 John 5:3. As a point of fact, in terms of outward observance, God demands no more from us on his Holy Days than does the Catholic church demand of people on their "holy days of obligation." Also, note that, aside from every Sunday, there are 10 holy days of obligation in the Catholic church, whereas, aside from the weekly Sabbath, there are only 8 days on which God commands a Sabbath rest. Prior to 1911, there were 36 such holy days of obligation aside from Sundays.. Now that sounds burdensome! 

If this whole business of holy days of obligation isn't confusing enough, it turns out that the bishops in each country pick and choose which ones their region will observe.  AAAAAHHHH!!!! WHAT?!?!? As an even more confusing example, St. Patrick's day is not generally recognized as a holy day of obligation throughout the world, but it is considered one in the country of Ireland - so not only can local bishops decide which of the approved days to observed, they can also add in other days that are not generally observed.

By contrast, God's Holy Day observances in His true church are exceedingly simple. No man has the authority to say who keeps what - we do what the bible says to do, and we do it when it says to do it. No matter where you live, it's the same.

I want to now make a few points about St. Patrick's day in particular.

First of all, it usually falls during Lent (another observance that the Catholic church made up and is nowhere found in the bible), which is a time of fasting and abstaining from indulgence - and yet, in modern culture, it is very commonly regarded as a day on which people indulge heavily in alcohol. At least the Catholic church doesn't condone people indulging in drinking on St. Patrick's day (though, given our previous discussion, it wouldn't surprise me if they did, just for the sake of being convoluted.) 

The first point is admittedly not that relevant and more of just a pet peeve of mine, so let's look at the actual meaning, context, and origin of the day for those who actually observe it as a religious holiday. Up until the last two decades or so, St. Patrick's day was indeed revered by Irish people, and it was a day on which people went to church and spent time together as a family. While this is still the case for some, it has, even in Ireland, become a day of revelry as we are used to seeing in America.


This brings us to an important point about God's Holy Days, that they are not marred and devalued by tradition - we obtain the details of their observance from God rather than men. They are perfectly preserved for us in the bible so that we, through reading God's word, will never lose their meaning.


St. Patrick was largely responsible for establishing the presence of Catholicism in Ireland. He lived from 387-493 A.D., and spent a lot of time in Ireland building schools and converting people. He is noted for driving the pagans out of Ireland, and it is said that he used the shamrock(three-leaf clover) to help people understand the trinity, which is why it is a symbol of the holiday today. Before his time, the shamrock already had a certain religious significance to the Celtic people. The druids thought that the plant had mystical powers to ward off evil spirits, and, to them, the three leaves were symbolic of their own deities - the "Triple Goddess." What an easy transition it must have been! This is a textbook case of the Catholic "switch-the-symbols-to-get-the-pagans-in" game. It's exactly the sort of thing that happened all over the world as the Catholic church expanded - pagan statues of a mother with a child were relabeled as Mary and Jesus, and pagan symbols in the shape of crosses were repurposed to represent the cross that Jesus was nailed to. There is no precedent for such practices in the bible. In Deuteronomy 12:30, God specifically tells the Israelites not to seek after how the pagans worship their gods - God clearly defined for them (and for us) exactly how he wants to be worshiped.


That's another important point to recognize: God specifically included the keeping of His Holy Days as part of how we worship Him. We are to observe these days and only these days. Each one reveals part of the God's ultimate plan for salvation. What's more, they reveal God's plan in sequence and are intended to be instructive. 


It's easy to see how St. Patrick's Day has degraded over time - it does not have God's everlasting Word as a foundation and does not have deep spiritual meaning behind it. So it is also with the other "holy days of obligation" of the Catholic church. Even Christmas and Easter, though they are at least an attempt at the celebration of certain biblical events, have been devalued over time because God has not given the instructions for people to celebrate them; and, therefore, people have imputed whatever ideas they wanted into them until they are unrecognizable in modern culture. In light of these things, it is no wonder God was so particular in laying out his Holy Days. It is a great misfortune that so many people do not keep the Law, which God has clearly outlined in the bible. A review of what these days are and how God says to observe them can be found here. These days are not a burden to us, but a great blessing and an integral part of how God wants to be worshiped. Knowing them and observing them will lead you to a greater understanding of God's plan for all mankind, from Adam to present.