¹⁴ For ^(A)here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

²⁰ But ^(A)our citizenship is in heaven, and ^(B)from it we ^(C)await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Put On the New Self

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

²² But you have come to ^(A)Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^(B)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(C)innumerable angels in festal gathering,

¹² Therefore from one man, and ^(A)him as good as dead, were born descendants ^(B)as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

¹³ These all died in faith, ^(C)not having received the things promised, but ^(D)having seen them and greeted them from afar, and ^(E)having acknowledged that they were ^(F)strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, ^(G)they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(H)to be called their God, for ^(I)he has prepared for them a city.

¹⁹ So then you are no longer ^(A)strangers and aliens,^[a] but you are ^(B)fellow citizens with the saints and ^(C)members of the household of God,

¹⁷ For ^(A)this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ^18 (B)as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if ^(C)the tent that is ^(D)our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^(E)a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this tent ^(F)we groan, longing to ^(G)put on our heavenly dwelling, ³ if indeed by putting it on^[a] we may not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal ^(H)may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, ^(I)who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶ So we are always of good courage. We know that ^(J)while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷ for ^(K)we walk by faith, not ^(L)by sight. ⁸ Yes, we are of good courage, and we ^(M)would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for ^(A)new heavens and a new earth ^(B)in which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

^14 (C)Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ^(D)without spot or ^(E)blemish, and ^(F)at peace.

⁹ By faith he went to live in ^(A)the land of promise, as in a foreign land, ^(B)living in tents ^(C)with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to ^(D)the city that has ^(E)foundations, ^(F)whose designer and builder is God.