Often, when looking at history, we divide the times into differing eras. That is a good way of viewing history in order to help us look for comparisons and contrasts. If we take a cursory glance at a time in history we might not find many comparisons with our own time in history. We might think that there are only contrasts between that era and ours. But as we study a period more carefully we begin to find similarities in many places. The same is true when we look at the New Testament and Old Testament. When we first look at the Old Testament we might think that there are few if any similarities between that time and now. We might think that there are only contrasts. But as we look more closely we find that there are some significant similarities between then and now.
The key idea of this passage is that the similarities and differences between the Old Testament and New Testament believers are hinged upon the completion of God’s one promise that had remained unfulfilled in the Old Testament.
We want to look at the similarities and differences between those believers in the Old Testament and we believers in the New Testament. Let’s first glimpse into the similarities between us. In this we could say that we are linked. The author mentions two ways believers in the Old Testament are linked with us.
I. We Are Linked
A. By the approval gained
The first way in which we are linked is by the approval gained. In verse 39 the author says, “And all these, having gained approval through their faith.” The list of believing individuals the author provided in chapter 11 had in common the fact that they had gained God’s approval by faith. They were all made righteous in the sight of God by faith in His Word. This term “gained approval” is literally “they had a witness supporting them.” In other words God witnessed to the fact, on their behalf, that they were righteous. Now the author continues to use this term throughout the chapter. And he will use it again in the opening verses of chapter 12 in which he makes his conclusion and application for us. In 11:2, this word is used. There the author says, “By [faith] the men of old gained approval” or, as we said literally, “they had a witness supporting them.” Verse 4 probably says it most clearly; “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony (the witness) that he was righteous.” In this verse it is clear that the testimony or witness God gave to him was that he was righteous. The author also uses this terminology concerning Enoch in verse 5. He notes that Enoch “obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” So this phrase refers to the declaration from God (the statement from God) that a person is righteous. So the author lets us know that all of these he mentioned had been made righteous before God. He saw their faith and caused them to receive His righteousness. We know this because he said, “All these, having gained approval through their faith.” When he noted, “All these,” he included everyone from his extensive list.
The apostle Paul gives us a very clear picture of gaining God’s approval through faith in Romans chapter 4. He gives Abraham as an example of this faith that makes one righteous. Paul uses a very compelling argument against self-attempts at works to justify an individual in favor of genuine biblical faith. Let’s read this passage fully. Reading verses 1&2, Paul says, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” As Paul begins this section he asks the question that deals with whether a person can be justified by his own effort. What did Abraham find by his own works? Paul’s answer is “nothing from God.” He might have received some recognition from men because of his effort but not before God. Paul explains why in verses 3-5. He notes, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” He tells us that the Scripture says Abraham believed God and this trust in His word is what caused God to give Abraham righteousness. We call this the imputation of righteousness. God is charging or imputing His righteousness to the account of someone who does not deserve it. This is why the Scripture says Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness. He didn’t deserve righteousness. He wasn’t fully righteous in practice. But when he believed God’s Word, God gave Abraham the righteousness he needed to have a relationship with Him.
In verse 5 he says, “To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” In this verse Paul describes a fundamental difference between the one who seeks to earn favor with God by his works and the one who seeks to be justified with God through his faith. It is a fundamental difference because these two people view themselves through two different lenses that Paul mentions here. The person who seeks to be justified by his works does not see himself as too bad a person whereas the person who recognizes their need to be justified from God Himself sees himself as ungodly. This first person thinks that their effort before God can make up for the minor shortcomings they see themselves as possessing. But until this person sees that there is absolutely no hope for them they cannot express a biblical faith in a God who justifies the ungodly. Therefore God will not impart righteousness to those who will not recognize their ungodliness and trust in Him.
In verse 6, Paul then quotes from the Psalms to further prove his point. He says, “Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’” By quoting these passages Paul shows the Old Testament believers were made righteous simply by faith and not by works. This is what the author of Hebrews wants us to comprehend. They didn’t receive God’s favor in any other way than by faith in the Word of God. It is here, in faith alone, they found God’s approval. And this is what links these believers with us. In the same way we were cleansed from our sin, by faith in the Word of God they too were cleansed. So we see that we are linked together by a common faith.
B. By the promise made
The second way in which we are linked is by the promise made. Again verse 39 says, “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Now earlier the author noted that some of those spoken of in the chapter did receive promises from God. But there is one promise they did not receive. And it is this promise, made to them, that links us with them. This promise is the promise of the coming Messiah. They never saw this promise realized. Peter in his first letter, chapter 1, verses 10-12 said the prophets searched these things out but understood they were not serving themselves but us in these things that have now been revealed to us.
Throughout the ages God had revealed more and more about His coming Messiah. But these Old Testament people never saw it realized. All the way back to Genesis 3, God told Adam and Eve that one of their descendants would destroy the power of the deceiver that caused them to fall into sin and disobedience. In the days of Moses, God told the people He would raise up another mediator like Moses. Isaiah was told that Messiah would be born of a virgin and yet would be the Mighty God and Father of the Ages. Isaiah also described the Messiah as the suffering servant who would die for the sins of His people. God made the promise to them repeatedly. He revealed to them the great truth of this Deliverer in ever increasing detail. He did this so that when He came the people would know that the promise had been fulfilled. This Word that God sent the people was not ambiguous, like some Nostradamus prophecy but was clear and specific. The Scripture detailed the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. It even noted the very year and day Messiah would present Himself as King to the nation of Israel.
It was these very promises to which the Old Testament believers clung. They believed God’s Word and looked forward to this event. This is why Jesus was able to say about Abraham that he “rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” Though Abraham didn’t see one of the days of the Son of Man he longed for it. And through the eyes of trust in the words of God he did see it, albeit not with physical eyes. This promise links us with them. We are joined together on both sides of the cross through that central promise of God’s Word. And even as they looked forward to the Messiah’s work so we look back at the completion of it on Calvary.
II. We Are Distinct
Now we have looked at the similarities and how we are linked with those Old Testament believers. In verse 40 the author now switches to the point that though we are linked by these similarities we are also distinct. And he says that we are distinct in two ways.
A. Because of a better covenant
First, the author says we are distinct because of a better covenant. In the beginning of verse 40 he says, “God provided something better for us.” The author uses the term better several times in his letter. And in this context I believe he is speaking about the New Covenant. The New Covenant is this “better thing” that God has provided. In discussing this New Covenant, the author tells us in 7:18-19, “For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” In 7:22 the author asserts that because of God’s oath of Jesus’ perpetual priesthood, “Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” In 8:6 he notes, “He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.” Why is this covenant the better covenant? The Old Covenant was based on shadows and types. They foretold of Christ and His work but did not accomplish Christ’s work. They contained no substance of actually atoning for man’s sin as the author says in 10:4. No human priesthood can provide forgiveness for sin because it is imperfect. This is why any ministry founded on the Old Testament pattern is anachronistic and ineffective.
The New Covenant of which we partake is better (or we might say “best”) for a number of reasons. First, this New Covenant is better because its work is completed. In the Old Covenant the people were continually offering up sacrifices with no finality. But the author tells us again and again that Jesus’ work was finished. He makes it a major point of emphasis. In 7:27 the Scripture says that He “does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices…because this He did when He offered up Himself.” Then in 9:12, he says, “through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Here again is the emphasis, “once for all.” And again in 9:26, “But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In verse 28 we see, “Christ…having been offered once to bear the sins of many.” In chapter 10:10 he says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Do you think the author is trying to tell us something? The work of Christ has been completed. There is no longer the offering of His body. It is done. This makes the New Covenant the better covenant.
The second reason the New Covenant of which we partake is the better (or best) covenant is that it offers full forgiveness. Under the Old Testament sacrificial system there was an ongoing guilt associated with it. In 10:3 the author notes, “In those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.” But under the New Covenant the author prompts his readers in 8:12 by saying, “I will remember their sins no more.” There is full forgiveness not just a looking forward to forgiveness. Again he tells us in 10:17, quoting from the Old Testament, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Then he says in verse 18, “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” In 9:26 he notes the purpose of Christ’s coming that He appeared to put away sin.”
The third reason this New Covenant of which we partake is the better covenant is that it is founded on the perfect work of God Himself. God was the one who both promised and brought to pass the work by which we are rescued from the fear of death and the wrath of God. In chapter 6, God’s own oath shows us the unchangeableness of His purpose so that we may have strong encouragement from God Himself. This work of salvation is not based on our effort but on the promises of God. Repentance and faith in Christ bring the blessings of this covenant. In chapter 7 the author explains that the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind concerning the permanent priesthood of Jesus Christ. We are distinct because of a better covenant.
B. Because of a promise completed
The next distinction between those of the Old Testament and us exists because of a promise completed. In verse 40 the author says, “Because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
As we mentioned earlier, the promise given to those in the Old Testament was that of a coming deliverer who would bring salvation. But God has now completed this promise. We are of a completely different realm in this account. When Christ ascended back to heaven after His resurrection He poured out the Holy Spirit upon all who would believe in Him. This work of Christ dwelling in us through the Spirit is nothing of which the world had known before. The indwelling Holy Spirit is what transformed the apostles from scared children into men of power. It is what gave the early church the boldness to go and share the Gospel in the midst of immense persecution. The completion of the promise of God in sending the Messiah allowed the Holy Spirit to unify a body of people into the church to do His work.
I think the author’s final words in verse 40, “so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” can be understood in this way by looking at Ephesians 3:9-11. Paul says, “to bring to light what is the administration (the working) of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purposes which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The church is the perfection or completion of the work of God through the ages. We who have now been brought to God by having been placed into Christ, in one body, are the culmination of the plan of God He worked out for His glory so that everyone, including those in the spirit realm might look at what He has accomplished and praise His name forever and ever. They will marvel at the fact God has made a people to worship Him from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. All will be astonished at this global work of the God of heaven. God will get the glory (or praise) through the way He was able to bring salvation across the globe through a changed group of people of whom, not many were mighty, not many were noble, not many were wise so that the surpassing greatness of the power of God may be seen. We are simply earthen vessels filled with the Spirit of God so that He might accomplish His great work in us who are not so great.
The fact that the author says that they (on the other side of the cross) are not complete without us does not make us anything special. But it shows the faithfulness of God and the absolute power of God to bring about what He has said He would do all along. But if you are a believer in Christ and are not participating in this New Covenant kind of life, if you are not living by the power of the Spirit of God then you are being disobedient to the call of Jesus to follow Him in service. We have been saved to live a transformed life of faith. This is what the whole chapter has been about. If those on that side of the promise have been able to live decidedly by God’s Word then we certainly have no excuse to not live with His power who dwell on this side of the cross with all its attendant blessings. We have been called on this side of the cross to finish God’s work and bring the Gospel to every creature. If you are living without this focus this then you need to get off your self-trip and begin to serve Christ in the power of His life in you, which is the hope of glory. You can live righteously by faith in His Word.
And if you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ to save you from your sin and impending judgment then you need to repent of your sin today and put your trust in Him that He would give you new life in Christ. There is only one way to life. And that way is found in the person of Jesus. Will you trust Him today?