"39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect."
Hebrews 11:39-40
These all died in faith, concludes the Apostle, receiving not the promise. The whole dispensation of the Old Testament was one of promise. The New Testament age is one of fulfilment. It was reserved for our time, he says, to see the fulfilment of the promises made of old to the patriarchs and saints. We must bear in mind the point of this long and wonderful chapter about the heroes of faith. Throughout, the Apostle is concerned to prove that the new age is in all respects better than the old. This is why he emphasises the fact that these heroes 'received not the promise'. They were not to be 'made perfect' without us - that is, they died 'in faith', without seeing the fulfilment of their hope. The significance of this is surely that if they, living as they did in the early light of the new dawn before the sun had risen, waxed mighty in faith, how much more ought we, upon whom the sun of righteousness has risen with healing in His wings, manifest the grace and power of God in our lives. If they lived steadfastly in the old dispensation which was imperfect, how much more ought we in the new, which is far better. This is really an unanswerable argument. What more could be given than has been given in the gospel of Christ? If a sufficiency of grace was present in the promise to sustain an Abraham, a Moses, throughout a long and arduous experience, how much more is there given us, who have not only the promise but the Promiser Himself to indwell our heart. God help us to see it!.