As Exiles—Remembering Whose We Are

Knowing whose we are...

Just as the Israelites once lived as exiles in Babylon, having been taken from the Promised Land because of disobedience, we also live as pilgrims and foreigners. As Christians, our true citizenship is in heaven. We are a special people set apart for God, making our way toward a “better country” because God has “prepared a city” for us (Heb. 11:16). In the next few posts on the Lighting Our Path blog, I will discuss what we learn from Scripture about living for God as exiles in Babylon, meaning as Christians in a fallen world. 

Our first principle: as we travel through life as foreigners, we want to remember whose we are. We are the people of God. We belong to Him. 1 Peter 2:10-11 says, “For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” As foreigners living in exile, we mustn't lose sight of whose we are. We are the people of God.

Let’s look at the lives of a couple of God’s people who lived in exile in Babylon and then in Persia—Daniel and Esther. From their lives, we gain insights that help us as pilgrims journeying to our heavenly dwelling place. Daniel and Esther maintained their Jewish distinctiveness within a foreign culture. They lived as Jewish people regardless of the cost. One of the things that helped Daniel and Esther keep sight of whose they were was the history of their nation…specifically their history of God saving the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to be His own special people through the Exodus. This event marked them as the people of God.

We, too, have a special heritage as God’s chosen people. Our spiritual birth began at the cross, where, like the Israelites in Egypt, we were saved from death by the blood of a lamb—in our case, the Lamb of God! We want to remember how Yahweh delivered us from slavery to sin to make us His own unique people. Because of God’s love, we were purchased at a price (1 Cor. 6:20). This is our history as Christians, and remembering it keeps us rooted in whose we are.

This is our history as Christians, and remembering it keeps us rooted in whose we are.

Another thing that helped Daniel and Esther stand out as God's people is that the LORD gave them His Law to set them apart from other nations. For example, in Daniel’s case, he refused to eat the king’s delicacies so he could keep God’s Law (Dan. 1:8). Likely, the tempting food challenged him, but Daniel chose to remain distinct through obedience to Yahweh’s precepts. In the Law, the Jews had specific ways of living, prescribed practices for atonement of sin, including blood sacrifices, and they observed festivals to remember God’s acts, such as the Passover, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. The Israelites were reminded daily, monthly, annually, of whose they were.

Likewise, as Christians, we are set apart for God by obeying His commandments, loving God, and loving others through following Christ daily. We don’t want to be indistinguishable from the culture around us. Additionally, like the Israelites, God prescribed our atonement for sin through sacrificial blood, the blood of Christ (done once for all time). Also, we are commanded not to forsake gathering together and to observe and celebrate the ordinances of baptism and communion as a way of remembering whose we are.

Regarding communion…1 Corinthians 11:23-26 states: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way, He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Through the ordinances, we remember that He is our Savior—we are His people.

As we’ve learned today from the Scriptures, we can live for God as exiles in Babylon by remembering whose we are. This happens when we walk in obedience to God’s word, when we remember the Lamb’s sacrifice that has atoned for our sins, and when we partake with the body in baptism and communion. All these practices help us to be His own unique people, set apart for a purpose, on our way to a heavenly country.