Philippians 3:20. for our citizenship is in heaven. So those whose hearts are on the earth are to be marked and avoided. We can have no communion with such men. We must pass amongst them, while we live here, as though they were alien unto us, and we merely pilgrims and strangers in their midst. They are at home here. They have their reward. In ‘citizenship' the idea is not that of the Authorised Version, ‘conversation,' which is generally the rendering of a different Greek word, signifying ‘manner of life.' The apostle means that it is in heaven only that the true Christian can claim (or ought to claim) his rights as a citizen; till he has reached that land, his wanderings are not over. And this is made emphatic in the Greek, where our citizenship stands first in the sentence. The verb rendered ‘is' is a strong verb, and indicates that the home is there already, though we have not yet reached it Christ has gone before and has prepared mansions (i.e. resting-places) for His people, in which they shall abide continually, being pilgrims no longer.

from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The verb is always used in the New Testament of that longing for salvation which is expected at the coming of Christ. But this is a longing which, as faith assures those who feel it, will be gratified at last.

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Old Testament