Hebrews Chapter Eleven, The Saints' Testimony

 

Hebrews 11:39 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.

 

“All these,” incorporates the entirety of the men and women named (or alluded to) in chapter 11. Every one of them obtained a good testimony through faith. In Hebrews 12:1 they are the cloud of witnesses that surround us, not for judgment, but to inspire us to walk as they walked. Please note that the focus of this chapter is not the human element, but the source or object of the saints’ faith, which is God.

Yes, the saints triumphed over or through adversity. This testimony cannot be discredited or unappreciated. But the saints attributed their salvation and preservation not to effort, but to Him who was able to preserve them. Some, like Isaiah, died for their faith at the hands of godless men. Others, like Abraham, died in peace at a good old age. All of them, regardless of the circumstantial outcome, obtained a good testimony. Manasseh may have thought he had won, silencing God’s messenger. But no person or angel can silence God Himself. By striving against the Lord vehemently we store up wrath against the day of wrath, Romans 2:5. More than that, He will eventually harden us, as per our wishes, to make us vessels of wrath, that He may execute judgment upon us, Romans 9:22, 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12.

 

Despite this, it is written that they did not receive the promise. They did not because there were still other sheep for the Shepherd to call. “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd,” John 10:16. The sheep of the fold Jesus currently addressed was the house of Israel, or the seed of Abraham, of course. The sheep of the other pasture would be the Gentiles, who were always a part of God’s plan of salvation. The Mormon Church has misused this verse in an effort to teach that the sheep of the other fold meant the fictional Nephites, thus giving credence to Joseph’s Smith’s delusional claims. But the other sheep are the Gentiles, grafted into the native olive branch of Israel with its prophets and promises, Romans 9:4, 11:11, 12.

 

The promise, given first to the Jew, then the Gentile, is this, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call,” Acts 2:38, 39. What were the Jews to repent about? The fact that they had been complicit in the murder of their own Messiah, whom God made both Lord and Christ, Acts 2:36. The promise of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our salvation as God dwells within us, was mentioned most vividly by the prophet Joel, whom Peter quotes in his sermon, Acts 2:17-21, Joel 2:28-32. Paul affirms this in Romans 1:1, 2, where he writes, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” The gospel in its fullness was the promise to the fathers, from the prophets, for all the saints, prior to or after the cross. Therefore they waited for us to join them, that we all, as one, may enjoy the graciousness of God’s blessing to the uttermost.

 

The coming kingdom, filled with the saints perfected by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, be they Jew or Gentile, is what the Old Testament saints waited for. First they waited in Abraham’s Bosom, or Paradise until Jesus visited them after His death and led them into the Father’s presence. The promise, Peter assures them, is for them, their children, and all who are “afar off,” a distinct reference to the Gentile nations that the gospel will be brought to, first by the apostles, and then their disciples.

 

The something better for us is the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit and immediate access to God’s presence upon death, now that the consummation of our salvation is finished. “They,” refers not just to Jewry, but all of the Old Testament saints from Abel onward.  Yes, they could be filled with the Holy Spirit, as was evidenced by men such as Samson. It was they who were not made perfect apart from us, the church. The writer includes himself, and by extension his readership of every era that comprises the body of Christ. The term “perfect,” in this instance, which can also typically mean “mature” depending upon the context, refers to the believer’s ultimate perfection in the presence of God. The saints waited until the way was open, and then they were led into the presence of God and were made perfect; the happy fate of every Christian in this dispensation, Hebrews 12:23, 1 John 4:3.

 

The believers of old would not be made perfect, “apart from us.” The NIV renders the verse, “since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” The expression of solidarity is fitting, since all people at all times are saved but one way: through faith in Christ, by believing the everlasting gospel. The middle wall of separation was removed in Christ, Ephesians 2:14. In Christ we are citizens of Heaven, no longer Jew or Gentile, and no longer strangers to God, members of His household and temples of the Holy Spirit who abides in us. Together, we comprise the citizenry of the city Abraham yearned for, as did countless saints from time immemorial, as they passed over worldly temptation to serve the living God. For this they were rejected and despised, since the world system, whose author is Satan, opposes God’s purpose and presence. Despite this their testimony remains, and the writer commends it to his readership as something to emulate. Twice this is stated. “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct,” Hebrews 13:7. “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ,” 1 Corinthians 11:1. Each believer had the mind of Christ, and sought the will of God; their faith was expressed in their works, which demonstrated that they were safe to follow in terms of emulating their faith. Like a child mimics his parent in admiration, we ought to imitate the saints of old, seeing the outcome of their faith, arrayed forever in the cloud of witnesses the Bible presents.