We accordingly amplify the member D | 10: 32 - 11: 40, setting it out as follows:

A1 |

10: 32-39. The better substance in heaven.

B1

| 11: 1-12. Faith. Abel's offering and others.

A2 |

11: 13-16. The better and heavenly country.

B2

| 11: 17-35. Faith. Abraham's offering and others.

A3 |

11: 35. The better resurrection.

B3

| 11: 36-38. Faith. Unnamed believers and their sufferings.

A4 |

11: 39, 40. The better thing foreseen.

The section (10: 19 - 12: 25) begins with exhortations in view of what Christ has done,

"Let us draw near", "Let us hold fast". It ends with fuller exhortations in view of what

Christ has done, "Let us lay aside", "Let us run". Christ's sufferings and death have, in

the first case, consecrated for us a way into the holiest, and in the second set us an

example for the race and the crown. In the first He is seen as Expiator, in the second as

Exemplar. He is first Priest, then Perfecter.

The remainder of the structure is an alternation between faith and the better thing.

There are four descriptions of this better thing which we must consider:

It is evident from the context of the first passage that the better substance is something

in the nature of a reward. This is implied in the list of sufferings given in Heb. 10: 32-34,

and expressly stated in the sequel: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath

great recompense of reward" (10: 35), a feature that is repeated in 11: 26, and in a similar

The second passage sets before us something which the patriarchs had in view that

enabled them to be content to become strangers and pilgrims on the earth: "Now they

desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called

their God; for He hath prepared for them a city" (11: 16). This city is the "city of the

living God, the heavenly Jerusalem", of Heb. 11: 22, closely associated with the spirits

of just men made perfect, and the portion, not of sons merely, but of the firstborn, which

we shall see as we read this chapter.

There is nothing said in the Old Testament about this heavenly country and city so far

as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are concerned, yet they had it in view, and when Scripture

says: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them

afar off . . . . . and embraced them" (11: 13); it is but saying what in other language is

expressed in the two remaining occurrences, namely, resurrection and future entry.