Psalm 119:19 “I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.”
(David declares this in establishing himself in his prayer with God.)
Hebrews 11:8-13 “These all . . . confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
Roots:
Genesis 15:13 “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. . . .”
(For insight into the human condition, read the first thirteen verses.)
Exodus 2:16-22 “And Moses . . . called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.”
Jeremiah 1:(all) (v. 7) “Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.” (Interesting!)
Doctrine:
Ephesians 2:11-22 “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise. . . .”
(Romans 11) [We are now grafted into Israel by adoption. . . .]
Revelation 3:14-17 “. . . unto the . . . the Laodiceans . . . thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. . . .”
[What, you thought you’re some kind of pillar of the community?]
1st Corinthians 4:13-14 “. . . we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things. . . .”
Lamentations 3:45-47 “Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.”
James 4:4 “. . . know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” (“love,” “loyalty,” or “patriotism”)
Genesis 12:1-3 “. . . I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. . . .”
Zechariah 12:1-3 “. . . I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. . . .”
(Where will your loyalties be then?)
Revelation 13:1-17 “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints. . . .”
(The United Nations will not be your friend then, even if you haven’t figured out yet that it isn’t friends with you now!)
1st John 2:15-17 “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. . . . And the world passeth away. . . .”
Hebrews 11:1-16 “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly . . . for he hath prepared for them a city.”
(If we desire a better country, our loyalty and citizenship is not here!)
Revelation 21:2-10 “. . . the holy city, new Jerusalem . . . prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”)
Hebrews 13:10-14 “Let us go forth therefore . . . bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city. . . .”
It’s Why Paul Writes As He Does:
1st Peter 1:1 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia . . .” [etc.]
2:11 “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. . . .”
And Why The Lord Speaks As He Does:
John 15:19 “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
17:6 “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”
v. 14 “. . . the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
v. 16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
(CONCERNING THE LAND OF ISRAEL):
Exodus 6:4 “And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.”
Leviticus 25:23 “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.”
Remember: Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
Acts 13:17 “The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.”