The writer of Hebrews looks all the way back to Abel and then forward to the days just preceding John the Baptist. This whole time was an era of unfulfilled (or incompletely fulfilled) promise. God’s covenant through Abraham was that Abraham would be a great nation and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. God’s promise through Moses was that God would show God’s glory through Israel to the nations. God’s covenant with David was to establish David’s throne perfectly and forever. Finally, the new covenant spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was to overcome national exile and forever press a holy identity onto the people’s hearts. These promises were made yet unfulfilled for multiple generations.

While the writer commends the faith of these generations, we know from the record that they did not always wait perfectly. Abraham jumped the gun with Hagar, and Moses lost his cool on Mount Sinai. Jeremiah wished he had never been born, and Jonah ran from his mission. These important ancestors in our faith often stumbled toward the promise.

Despite all the imperfections of faith, God planned something better—a better promise, hope, covenant, and sacrifice. Christ is the fulfillment of all this! He has secured the completion (perfection) of hope for all those who wait in faith. This is God’s better plan. We have the benefit of seeing in retrospect this great legacy of faith and God’s faithful keeping of the covenants with Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. Now we join them, waiting in hope for the ultimate consummation.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!