The Holiest of All By Andrew Murray

Cbe Doltest of ail
CXI.
SOME BETTER THING FOR US.
XI. 39. And these all, having had witness borne to them through their
faith, received not the promise,
40. God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from
us, they should not be made perfect.
IN these closing verses we have the summing up of the chapter.
The superior excellence of the New Testament is stated to be
this, that we have some better thing, something perfect, which the
saints had waited for but had never seen. We are told of them
what it was that they had, and what they had not. These all,
having had witness borne them through their faith, received
not the promise. They received not the promise. There were
indeed certain promises of which they received the fulfilment (see
vi. 15 ;
xi. 33). But the great promise of Jesus Christ and His
redemption and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,/^ better pro
mises of the better covenant, these they received not. They died in
faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
from afar and embraced them. They saw, and rejoiced in the
promises, into the full possession of which it is our privilege to enter.
They received them not, but they had witness borne to
them through their faith (see xi. 2, 4, 6). The living God, who
had given them the promise, and was waiting His own time for
the fulfilment, gave them witness through faith that they were pleas
ing to Him. The witness borne to Abel that he was righteous, and