Verse 40 says, “God having in view something better concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” This verse implies a great deal. None of the witnesses of faith was ever perfected. They all need to be perfected by the believers of the new covenant. In God’s economy there are two dispensations: the dispensation of the old covenant of shadows and the dispensation of the new covenant of realities. All the martyrs and witnesses of faith were under the old covenant of shadows; they were not in the reality. Since the new covenant dispensation of reality in which we are is better than the old covenant dispensation of shadows in which the witnesses of faith were, they need us for their perfection.
Verse 40 speaks of “something better concerning us.” The Greek word translated “better” means stronger, more powerful, nobler, and greater; hence, it means better. It is used thirteen times in Hebrews: the better Christ (1:4), a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (7:22; 8:6), better promises (8:6), better sacrifices (9:23), a better possession (10:34), a better country (11:16), a better resurrection (11:35), something better (11:40), and better speaking (12:24). (The other two times are in 6:9 and 7:7, where it is translated greater.) All these better things are the fulfillment and reality of the things which the Old Testament saints had in types, figures, and shadows. What God had in view at that time was the things to come in the new covenant concerning us, which are the true and real things, better, stronger, more powerful, nobler, and greater than their types, figures, and shadows. The Old Testament saints, who had only the shadows, need us for their perfection that they may share with us in the real things of the new covenant. Thus, why should the Hebrew believers leave the real things of the new covenant and return to the shadows of the old covenant?
Verse 40 says that “apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Both the participation in the kingdom for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6) and the sharing in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:2-3; 22:1-5) are a corporate matter. The kingdom feast will be for both the Old Testament and the New Testament overcomers (Matt. 8:11). The blessed New Jerusalem will be composed of both the Old Testament saints and the New Testament believers (Rev. 21:12-14). Hence, apart from the New Testament believers, the Old Testament ones cannot obtain what God has promised. For the obtaining and enjoying of the good things of God’s promise, they need the New Testament believers to perfect them. Now they are waiting for us to go on that they may be perfected.
The saints in the shadows of the old covenant expected to see the realities of the new covenant (Matt. 13:16-17; John 8:56; 1 Pet. 1:10-12). In the past, many of us thought that it would have been wonderful to live during the time of the Old Testament. We were taught that Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, and the other Old Testament saints were outstanding persons and that it would have been better for us to live in their age than in the present age. When I was young, I wished I could have lived during the Old Testament days. This concept, however, is in darkness. We are living in a better age and we have heard, experienced, and participated in better things than the things in the old covenant age. The saints in the shadows of the old covenant wanted to see the realities of the age in which we are living. Matthew 13:17 says, “Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.” Even Abraham was expecting to see the reality of the new covenant (John 8:56). Furthermore, the prophets preached of the grace that has come to us. What they ministered was not for themselves but for us (1 Pet. 1:10-12). All the Old Testament saints, including David and Solomon, were not for themselves but for us. Everything they had was a shadow of the reality which we enjoy today.