Genesis 15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.”

Perhaps Abram did not tell his son about the four hundred year affliction because God didn’t tell Abram it was going to be Egypt that would enslave them. Abram and his offspring were nomadic so the idea of traveling in a land that was not their own was not foreign to them.

Genesis 12:1-3

The Call of Abram

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This first promise of faith to Abram contains the words “a great nation” which is ill defined in its intent. Many will see that as land that belongs to them. This is an arguable point.

• Exodus 13:5
  And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
• Exodus 13:11
  “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,

There is a sense of an end to the sojourner’s journey to possess land. History has shown us that the sojourning of Israel did not end there. Perhaps it did not even end in 1947. That battle rages on to this day.

• John 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
  John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

Since God the Father gave all things to the Son, then we never own anything and we have always been and always will be sojourners, at least until we are called home to eternity.

The nature of mankind is to possess. “I have a title to my home. It is mine”. I ask, “Who is the issuing authority? God?” If God didn’t give it, then man can take it away. That is exactly the attitude of Satan. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. What God gives cannot be taken away.

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Ephesians 1:12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

Man’s glory is found in his confidence in the flesh. Trophies, medals and rings are man made but have no value in the Kingdom of God.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary on glory Strong’s number 1391 “glory” (from dokeo, “to seem”), primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion. It is used (1) (a) of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i.e., what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way he reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His “glory” has ever shone forth and ever will do, John 17:5, 24. 

John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

My hope in glory is to see Christ in you, not your medals, trophies, titles or ribbons. In order to see Christ in you I must know Christ myself. In John 17:24 Jesus reveals His desire to be seen. He wants to be seen but being humble He does not force Himself on anyone.

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

For others to see Christ in us, we must die to selfishness, self-interest, and seeking to be seen.

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

This gracious gift of Christ in us cannot be earned like a trophy.