He is not ashamed to be called their God
III. The notice God takes of such persons, that desire, seek, and look for a future state of happiness
He is not ashamed to be called their God
For God to be called the God of his people, is the great blessing of the covenant; which runs thus, I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 32:38), and happy are the people that are in such a relation to God, their happiness is not to be expressed; other persons may be happy in a temporal sense, who enjoy much of the things of this world, but thrice happy, infinitely so, are they whose God is the Lord. I shall not enter into the consideration of this wonderful blessing of grace, this would open a large field of discourse. I shall only take notice of the phrase used of God, that he is not ashamed to be called the God of his people; it is a very remarkable and unusual one; it stands between two clauses in the text, and has an aspect upon, and is in connection with them both, with the words that go before, but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God, etc., because the patriarchs spoken of were so very desirous of, so earnestly seeking after, and so wishfully looking for a state of happiness in another world; therefore God was not ashamed to own them, even in so near a relation to him as they to be his people, and he to be their God: had they been the grovelings of this world, had they minded only earth, and earthly things, and fought for and desired nothing else but the land of Canaan, and the temporal blessings of it; God, speaking after the manner of men, would have been ashamed to be called the God of such persons; he would not have owned, but have disclaimed the relation; but now, since their heaven-born souls were breathing after a future state of immortality and bliss, and aspiring to the heavenly regions, where they hoped to enjoy God to all eternity; therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God; but calls himself so, as to Moses, at the bush; I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6), A like phrase is used of Christ in this epistle, chapter 2:11, for both he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one: of one nature, in one covenant, partakers of the same grace, though not to the same degree; and particularly, the one being the sanctifier, and the other the sanctified, and though both, holy: For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, as it is intimated he would be, had they not been one with him, and sanctified by him. In like manner, though God is the high and lofty One, whole throne is in the heaven, and the earth his footstool, yet he disdains not to look unto, and to dwell with, the hol y, humble, and contrite soul (Isaiah 57:15 and chapter 66:1, 2), moreover these words stand in connection with the following; for he hath prepared for them a city; which is a reason proving, that he is not ashamed to be called their God; and it is suggested, had he not done this, humanly speaking, he should have been ashamed of being called, and accounted their God; as particularly, the God of Abraham. This good man God called out of his native country, and his father’s house, to go and dwell in a strange land, and as a pilgrim and a traveler in it: it is true, indeed, he promised to give it to him, and his posterity, for an inheritance; but to him, personally, he did not give so much as a foot of ground in it, as Stephen says (Acts 7:5). Now if God had made no better provision for Abraham than this, he would have been ashamed to have been called his God; but he prepared a city, and provided a better country than Canaan for him: and this Abraham knew, believed, looked for, and expected, and died in the faith of; and therefore God was not ashamed to be called his God; and how many poor saints are there, whom God has called effectually by his grace from among the men of the world, who have scarce clothes to cover their naked bodies, scanty provisions of food, and that mean and coarse, to satisfy their craving appetites, and mean habitations to dwell in: now if God made no better provision for these persons, whom he thus calls, he would, speaking after the manner of men, be ashamed to be called their God: but lo! though they are the poor of this world, yet they are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom: for these poor ragged saints, that fare hard, and dwell in lowly cottages here, he has prepared a city, fit for kings and princes to dwell in, with plenty of all things, grand and pleating, suitable thereunto: He takes there beggars from the dunghill, and sets them among princes, and causes them to inherit the throne of glory; and therefore he is no: ashamed to be called their God: but on the contrary exults, rejoices, glories in it, that he is their God; and shows himself to be glorious as their covenant-God, by making such a munificent preparation and provision for his covenant-people: for the words are what Rhetoricians call a Mimesis, by which less is expressed than is designed. The city prepared, is the fame with the better country, as before explained, even the future happiness of the saints in heaven; and this is of God’s preparing, and of his only, and is given to none but those, for whom, says Christ, it is prepared of my Father. And it is a kingdom prepared by him in his eternal purposes and decrees, from the foundation of the world (see Matthew 20:23 and 25:34). And the chosen vessels of mercy are afore prepared for this glory; and in time are made meet and ready for it, through the righteousness of Christ put upon them, and by his Spirit and grace in them; and Christ he is gone to prepare a place in this city, in this better country, by his presence and prevalent intercession, for every one of his people, and will come again and take them to himself, that where he is, they may be also (John 14:2, 3).
I shall close all with a word or two: what has been said may serve to wean us from this world, and draw off our hearts from it, and cause us to sit loose unto it, and all things in it; since this is not our rest, our house, our home, our native place; that is in another country: and this may be of use to quicken our desires after another world, to seek a better country, and look for it; and this may also point out to us the happiness of those that are gone before us, they have in this better country, and are in better company. But I forbear laying any more—. [5396]