And these all, having obtained witness through faith, did not receive the promise,
Hebrews 11 ends on a pause, not a triumph. Every name in its long list of faith won God's approval, yet not one received what was promised. That raises two questions: what did God say about them, and why did He hold back the fulfilment?
The chapter opens by commending the people of old, and it ends the same way. Older translations word it "obtained a good report." What earned the commendation was not their record.
By faith the people of old received their commendation. It was not their works or their lives that won this good report, but their faith. They were men and women with the same weaknesses as ours. Their lives were spoiled by many a failure, and at times their works deserved blame. Yet, despite all that failure, faith in God marked them. The end of the chapter reminds us again: it was by faith they received this good report.
And the "report" is not reputation among people. It belongs to another record entirely.
Through faith the men of old also received a good report — in God's record of things, of course, not in man's. Scripture shows plainly what made those heroes of old what they were: it was faith. What a perfect contrast between the same men when faith gave them energy and when faith ran low in them!
They were not left without promises. What they never had was possession of the thing promised.
Whatever the different circumstances, enemies, or sufferings of these believers, this is true of them all. God bore witness to them through their faith and gave them promises to sustain them. Still they did not receive the promise fulfilled — the fulfilment they and we all wait for. Meanwhile God had to bring in a new and better thing for us, while Christ, whom men rejected, is at the right hand of God on high.
Even the widest reach of their faith stayed unfulfilled — and the delay was deliberate.
Even though Abraham's faith reached beyond the promise and looked for the city with foundations, which God had prepared for them, they never entered it. It has not come yet. God would not bring them into their promised portion without us. They, like us, had to live by faith in it.
A natural objection follows. How could anyone today be better off than these great names?
How often people object, Do you mean to say that people like you are more blessed than faithful Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Is your portion richer than that of Moses or Joshua? Of Samuel or David? Of Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Daniel? Such thoughts overlook the immense change that has come in. The world rejected Christ, the Son of God. He accomplished redemption for those who believe. God has glorified Him at His right hand, and that is the pledge of our own glory. And meanwhile the Holy Spirit has come down to live in us.
Commentators differ over the "better thing." Is it only blessing we have now, or a difference in future glory too? One writer leaves the question open. He says only that something better is stated of the later believers, "whether that better thing be present or future" (William Kelly). Others describe it in present terms: what is open to faith now was shut to them.
The heavens are open now to faith as they were not to them. Christ has passed into the heavens and has become the present object of faith. He took His place there on the ground of accomplished redemption. So God has made heavenly things known as the present portion of Christians. Our citizenship is there. God has come out of the thick darkness of Mount Sinai and has fully revealed Himself in the Son. By the perfect work of the Son of God we have free access to Him in the sanctuary of His presence.
The delay runs in both directions. Neither group finishes first.
But we shall all enter the full enjoyment of our own portions together. They will not "be made perfect" without us, and we may add, nor we without them. We shall all reach final perfection together, on the day of resurrection and glory, when the Lord Jesus comes again.
So they are still waiting: "Instead of being perfected in resurrection glory when the Lord came and accomplished redemption, they had to wait for us who are called to share in the heavenly calling" (William Kelly).
- Faith, not record. God's approval rested on faith alone. Their lives held real failures, but those failures never cancelled the witness He gave.
- God's ledger. The good report stands in God's record of things, not in man's.
- Promises, not the promise. They held enough to sustain them and died without possession; even the city they looked for has not come yet.
- A better thing meanwhile. The world rejected Christ, and God has glorified Him in heaven. That opens to us what was shut to them: heaven as a present portion, and free access to God.
- Perfected together. No one is finished ahead of anyone else. They wait for us, we wait with them, and resurrection at the Lord's coming completes both at once.
God having foreseen some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us.
Hebrews 11 closes by putting two groups side by side: the faithful men and women who died still waiting, and "us" who live after Christ has come. The last verse says why they waited, why they are still waiting, and how God has tied their future to ours.
God commended everyone named in this chapter. Yet not one of them received what He had promised.
They had not received — that is, they never actually held — what God had promised them. Their faith may have gone beyond the promise and looked for the city with foundations that God had prepared for them. Even so, they never entered it. It has not come yet. God would not bring them into their promised portion without us. They, like us, had to live by the faith of it.
The delay has a cause. God had something else to bring in first, and it turned on how the world treated Christ.
In the meantime God had to bring in a new and better thing for us, while Christ, who was rejected, is at the right hand of God on high. So although Christ's first coming laid the ground for every blessing, the fulfilment of it all waits for His coming again. Only when God's provision for us is complete will they be made perfect — not before.
The verse does not spell out what the better thing is. Commentators point to where Christ now is, and to what that opens for us.
But heaven is open to faith now in a way it was not open to them. Christ has gone into heaven and taken His place there, on the ground of a redemption already accomplished, and He is now the object of faith. So God shows heavenly things to be the present portion of Christians. Our citizenship is there... All this wonderful privilege belongs to the calling of the Christian — that is, to those called during this time when the earth rejects Christ. It did not belong to believers before He came and died and rose again.
The word itself runs right through the letter.
In Christianity the "better thing" has come to light. In fact the word "better" marks out this letter, because, as we have seen, its great point is to show that real Christianity rises completely above Judaism. We have already met a BETTER Apostle, Priest, hope, covenant, promises, sacrifice, substance, country and resurrection.
Set beside the giants of this chapter, the claim sounds impossible. People have long objected to it.
Where God has never taught people to understand these new blessings, how often you hear objectors ask: do you mean to say that people like you are more blessed than faithful Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Is your portion richer than that of Moses or Joshua? ... Such thoughts completely overlook the immense change brought in by the world's rejection of Christ the Son of God; by the redemption He accomplished for those who believe; by His glorification at God's right hand as the pledge of ours; by the Holy Spirit sent down in the meantime to live in us as anointing, seal, and down payment.
"Perfect" here is not something anyone has reached yet.
There is no perfection, in the full sense, short of resurrection and bearing the image of Christ in glory. For this we wait... For if at His shout the dead in Christ (all who are Christ's) rise first, in bodies of glory, then we who are alive and remain will be changed in a moment. We will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be made perfect together.
The verse traces this better portion back to God's foresight, not to anything in us.
God saw further ahead, and He included the believers of today in His purposes of grace... This is pure, unspoiled grace, and it should bow our hearts in adoring thanksgiving. Why should we receive it, and not they, who suffered so much for their faith? At the very least, all of this humbles our hearts in thankfulness to the all-wise and gracious God of glory.
- Waiting. Everyone in the chapter died with God's approval, but no one died holding the promise.
- Reason. The world rejected Christ, so God brought in something new for us. The fulfilment of it all now waits for His return.
- Better. The better thing is an open heaven, Christ on high as the present object of faith, and our citizenship there.
- Together. No one reaches perfection alone. It means resurrection and glory, and they and we arrive at the same moment.
- Response. We earned none of this richer portion, and it came to us and not to people who suffered far more. That should humble us.