Hebrews 11:39-40 (NKJV) 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
We have spent a good deal of time in Hebrews chapter 11. Our goal has been to determine what qualities caused the people God speaks of in this “Hall of Fame” of faith to be worthy of inclusion. Each had qualities of character and lifestyle that enabled them to do great things by faith. All these people were Old Testament characters. What about us? Can we do the kind of things they did? The answer may surprise some of you.
In today’s verse we read something astounding. Remember, we are talking about people like Noah, Abraham and Joshua. Moses alone experienced miracles that no one else ever has. From the ten plagues of Egypt to the borders of Canaan, we see great and powerful manifestations of the power of God that have never been seen again. The only thing that could compare with Moses in the pure release of power would be the ministry of Jesus. Yet these two verses tell us that they were not the point of it all.
According to verse 39, they all obtained a good testimony, but they did not receive the promise. There was something more than what they did by faith. There was a promise that they never obtained despite the show of power they saw. What was this promise?
Verse 40 tells us that God had something better for us. They cannot be made perfect without us. The things they did were intended to bring about something that they could not experience in their lifetimes. It was for us that all the things they did by faith happened. Their faith accomplishments could never be complete without what we are given today. Moses was not the point of it all. Neither was Abraham, Joshua or Rahab. The prophets, priests and kings of the Old Testament were not what God was really after. There are many heroes in the Old Testament, and they are all worth studying. Yet they were not the point of what God was doing. Who was it all for? It was for you and me.
God’s desire was never to have a few people who could function at a high level of faith because of their exceptional character or unique abilities. God’s plan from creation was to have a family who would all be able to flow in his life and power. He put man into the earth, a place he created. He made man to be part of the earth, but the earth was not the source of their life. He put his own life in man and told him to rule the creation. How was man to do that?
Man was not to have dominion by his own might or power. He was not even to have dominion over other people. He was to have dominion over the rest of creation. Had man never sinned, there would not have been a few who ruled over everyone else. Each person would have exercised dominion over his own life and the world around him. Creation would have responded to them. Life would not have been a struggle against the elements. It would have been lived in harmony with the elements. That is what we see in Eden and I see no reason to expect that this would have changed as man fulfilled God’s command to “replenish the earth” with God’s children.
Sin changed all that because it changed the nature of man. What was the promise that the heroes of Hebrews 11 never received? What is it about us that completes all that God did in the Old Testament? Christianity is not just another religion trying to find relationship with “a higher power.” Christianity is the restoration of relationship between God and man through the eradication of sin and its penalty over God’s family.
Jesus came to die for our sins. He never committed a sin at any point in his life even though he experienced the same temptation every other human being suffered (Hebrews 4:15.) Therefore, the payment he made for sin could not be for himself. His crucifixion was our crucifixion. His burial was our burial. His victory over death, hell, the grave and Satan himself was our victory. His resurrection was our resurrection. All that is left to us is to say yes to God’s offer of salvation. We must choose life. God will never force us to be saved, but it is available to all.
Jesus foreshadowed what Hebrews 11:39-40 is saying.
Luke 7:28 (NKJV) 28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
This is an amazing statement. John the Baptist did no mighty miracles. He did not heal anyone nor cast out evil spirits as Jesus had. He neither parted waters nor walked on them, yet Jesus says he is the greatest of all the prophets. That means greater than Moses. Greater than Isaiah, Jerimiah and every other prophet that ever lived. Yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John.
Who is Jesus talking about? He is talking about all those who would believe in and receive the salvation that he was going to bring to the earth. He was speaking of everyone who has been born again because of his sacrifice. That is what it takes to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. It does not take religious discipline or great sacrifice. It does not take special gifts or callings. We are born into the Kingdom of God by being born again according to the sacrifice of Jesus.
All that was done in the Old Testament by every hero, prophet or king was leading to one thing. It was leading up to the sacrifice of Jesus that would open the door to the new birth. When a person is born again, his spirit is returned to the same condition as Adam’s. He is once again capable of walking in dominion. He is given the capacity for faith in God that Adam had. All the people mentioned in this verse were operating at a disadvantage because they were not born again.
On the surface it might seem that we must automatically have all the qualities we saw in the Heroes of Hebrews 11. Potentially that is absolutely true. We have been given all we need to walk in both life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:2-3.) That does not mean we are walking in those things. When we are born as humans, we have everything we need to be a fully functioning adult. I believe that the creator God created every person with gifts and callings that make him or her fully able to walk in the destiny God has for each one. Yet when they are babies, they are not walking in any of that.
In some ways, babies are barely human. They cannot walk or talk. They cannot feed, clothe or care for themselves. As they grow, they begin to develop more of the characteristics that will enable them to become productive adults. Many never do. They simply do not develop what they have been given. Some develop destructive behavior instead. It is the same where the things of God, including faith, are concerned.
Hebrews 11 ends by telling us that none of the Old Testament heroes obtained the promise of restoration to full sonship in God’s family. They did not have the new birth and therefore they had to fight their old nature to do the things by faith that they did. Potentially we do not. However, that does not mean we are automatically perfect. We must grow in all that God gives us in salvation. That does not mean it is not already ours. It does not mean we have to earn the kind of faith that can do great things. It means we need to grow in our relationship with God.
Hebrews 12 begins by telling us that we have a “great cloud of witnesses” watching us. He then tells us to lay aside the weights and sins that keep us from doing the things they did and the greater things we have the potential to do. The rest of the chapter tells us how. We will look at that next.
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