39.Why have they not been given the promise?

Because God has envisioned something better for all of us. They cannot be made perfect apart from us.

One of the principal confusions in Christian thinking arises from a misunderstanding of the goal of the Divine redemption. The traditional goal of salvation is eternal residence in Heaven. Eternal residence in Heaven is not the scriptural goal of salvation.

The patriarchs died in faith, hoping one day to enter the city that has foundations. The city that has foundations is the new Jerusalem. In the present hour the new Jerusalem is being constructed in Heaven as the spirits of righteous people are being made perfect.

When a firstfruits of the Church, the new Jerusalem, has been perfected to the Lord’s standard, the Lord will return to the earth, bringing His firstfruits with Him. The Lord Jesus will be crowned King over all kings in the earthly city of Jerusalem. He and His princes will govern the earth during the Kingdom Age.

By the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age the entire Bride, the Church, the new Jerusalem, will have been made perfect. Then the entire Wife of the Lamb will descend from Heaven to remain forever in the new earth.

We see clearly, then, that residence in Heaven is not the goal. Heaven is not the city that has foundations. Jerusalem is the city that has foundations. We know this to be true because the patriarchs have not as yet obtained the promise of God.

If residence in Heaven were the goal, then the patriarchs now in Heaven would have attained the goal. But residence in Heaven is not the goal of salvation. Therefore the heroes of faith are still waiting for the inheritance.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise (Hebrews 11:39).

The patriarchs are now in Heaven. If Heaven were the goal they already would have received the promise.

But they, like us, are awaiting perfection. The perfection for which they are waiting is the perfected Bride of the Lamb.

The goal of the Divine redemption is not eternal residence in Heaven, it is perfection in Christ. The Bride is being made perfect so she will be a perfect Wife for the Lamb and a perfect light for the nations of saved peoples of the earth.