Today’s daily office reading from Hebrews 11 captures one of my favorite snippets in what is an already-amazing chapter.  After talking about Abel and Noah, Abraham and Sarah, the writer digs in for a bit:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

These ancients were commended for their faith.  They saw Someone who could not be seen.  They received much, but not the Thing that would last.  And for that, they were strangers and exiles, misfitted in the very place God made for His image-bearers to rule.  But a better country awaited them, a prepared city, a place to call home.