¹⁴ For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

²⁰ For ^(A)our citizenship is in heaven, ^(B)from which we also ^(C)eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Not Carnality but Christ

3 If then you were ^(A)raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, ^(B)where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the ^(C)earth. ^3 (D)For you died, ^(E)and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as ^(A)dead, were born as many as the ^(B)stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

The Heavenly Hope

¹³ These all died in faith, ^(C)not having received the ^(D)promises, but ^(E)having seen them afar off ^[a]were assured of them, embraced them and ^(F)confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things ^(G)declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind ^(H)that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(I)to be called their God, for He has ^(J)prepared a city for them.

¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for ^(A)new heavens and a ^(B)new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Be Steadfast

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent ^(C)to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

⁹ By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, ^(A)dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, ^(B)the heirs with him of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he waited for ^(C)the city which has foundations, ^(D)whose builder and maker is God.

Christ Our Cornerstone

¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

¹⁷ For ^(A)our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ^18 (B)while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Assurance of the Resurrection

5 For we know that if ^(C)our earthly ^[a]house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house ^(D)not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this ^(E)we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our ^[b]habitation which is from heaven, ³ if indeed, ^(F)having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. ⁴ For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, ^(G)but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also ^(H)has given us the Spirit as ^[c]a guarantee.

⁶ So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. ⁷ For ^(I)we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, yes, ^(J)well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.