Something better

Today's reading Hebrews 11:4-40

.

Today’s blog

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)

.

This long list of Old Testament believers who persevered by faith is remarkable and all the more so as “none of them received what was promised”. That fulfilment awaited the coming of the Messiah many centuries later, yet nevertheless they held on to the hope that they had a part in God’s eternal purposes (10). Now, in Jesus, the “something better” which God had promised to them was here at last.

.

“Better” is a much-repeated word in Hebrews. Jesus has established a “better covenant” (7:22) based on “better promises” (8:6) and his own “better sacrifices” (9:23). The outcome is a “better hope” (7:19) which enables us to stand firm in persecution because we have “better and lasting possessions” (10:34). The hope beyond death of a “better country” (16) was shared by “the ancients” of the Old Testament (11:1). They didn’t know how or when the “something better” would come to pass but “by faith” they held on to what had God had said. Now, through Christ, and “together with us”, they share in the fulfilment of those promises.

.

So “they were all commended for their faith” and their example is held out to encourage and to challenge us. They had only the shadow but by faith in what the shadow pointed to, they persevered. How much more then should we who can see fulfilment of those promises – the reality which Christ has revealed – hold on to the “something better” of the new covenant and faithfully keep on following him all the days of our life.

.

(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 11:4-40 click here for some commentary notes.)