Hebrews 11:35-40 (NKJV) Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
V35 “Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Raised is a resurrection. This type of resurrection is not permanent as other Old Testament resurrections. Jesus is the first permanent resurrection. Examples of women receiving their dead raised are found in 1 Kings 17:17-22 and 2 Kings 4:32-37. Those who tell the truth about God and the message they receive from God will suffer persecution of some type. Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, suffered as a slave (Genesis 37:20-36, Genesis 39:12-20, and Psalm 105:16-18). What is a better resurrection? Most likely it refers to the rewards of being faithful. For Christians this is the Bema Seat Judgment (Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10). This is for rewards (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). The believers had the same faith. There is no hint of some having weak faith suffered, while those with strong faith were not tortured. Some understand better resurrection addresses the fact that permanent resurrections are better than the temporary resurrections.
There are temporary resurrections where the person dies again.
- See OT examples: 1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:18–37, and 2 Kings 13:20–21.
- See NT examples: Luke 7:11–17, Luke 8:40–56, John 11:1–44, Matthew 27:50–53, Acts 9:36–42, and Acts 20:7–12.
The permanent resurrections are:
- Jesus and the First fruits—John 20, 1 Corinthians 15:23
- Rapture and Dead Believers—1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
- Two Witnesses—Revelation 11:1-13
- Martyred believers in Tribulation and the OT believers—Daniel 12:2-3, Job 19:25-27, Isaiah 26:19
- All the unbelievers (Last Resurrection)—Revelation 20:11-15
V36 “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.” The Greek word for “trial” is (G3984) πεῖρα peira, which means (Word Study Dictionary): “pierce through to test the durability of things or simply to pass through”. TDNTa comments on this word: (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged – Little Kittel)) “In the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:13; Lk. 11:4) what is at issue is not a test (as in Ps. 139:23) but temptation by ungodly powers, both in the great eschatological tribulations and in all affliction (cf. Lk. 8:13, where those who have no root fall away in time of temptation). In Mk. 14:38 Jesus tells the disciples to watch lest they enter into temptation. He has in view here the weakness of the flesh (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8). Watching involves prayer in the light of our defenselessness against temptation.” These attempts to destroy the faith of the believers mainly happens in verbal, physical abuse, and other types of abuse.
V37 “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented…” Some examples of martyrdom. Examples of these methods of torture and death are Naboth (stoning in 1 Kings 21:13-15), Isaiah (in traditions he was sawn in two; 2 Kings 21:16), Joseph (tempted in Genesis 39:9-12), and Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest (2 Chronicles 24:20-22).
V38 “…of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.” The lawless and those who refuse to believe the Gospel, refuse to think or live the life God commands, are the ones God judges to be unworthy. They are unworthy of God’s blessings now or in eternity.
An example of wandering and in caves, etc. would be the priests of God in Israel whom Jezebel vowed to kill (1 Kings 18:4).
V39 “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise…” The “good testimony” refers to their living witness (way of life), attitude, and faithfulness to God’s ways and rules. Note the importance of faith to accomplish this. We need to believe what God says in the Bible in its plain, normal sense. If everyone lived a life in accordance with the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), the world would notice the greatest of the one and only God and His ways.
V40 “…God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” The writer will go on to describe this. Perfect carries the idea of complete. God can make these promises and plans because of His blue print and foresight. A quote by John Phillips: “So the great appeal merges into the great application. “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:40). The Old Testament saints had only the shadows; we have the substance. They had good things; we have better things. Their sphere and horizon was earthly; ours is heavenly. Thus the writer of Hebrews applies the lessons from all the lives he has been considering, applies them with great leverage and tremendous pressure, to the lives of the Hebrew Christians to whom he wrote. “Go on,” he says. “Go on. Never go back. Go on.”
The source is Precept Austin on Hebrews 11:40.
We learn:
- The importance of believing God (faith)
- The importance of living the Christian faith
- The importance of faithfulness