Hebrews 11:16

Hebrews 11:16. But now (the case is that, see chap. Hebrews 8:6) they desire a better, that is, a heavenly (home); wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God. Of old He honoured them as His friends; Himself added to names which describe His essential nature, His being, and His almightiness, the surname ‘the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob;' acknowledged it when given to Him by the patriarchs (Genesis 32:9); and now he acknowledges the same name, and acknowledges the continuance of the same relation (the force of the present tense), showing their continued life and His own continued favour; and the proof of all (partly perhaps the reason but rather the proof) is that He prepared for them a permanent home above not a lent but a city of His and welcomed them there. Whether all this was foreseen by the patriarchs has been much questioned. There may be a fulness of meaning here which the patriarchs did not reach; but in substance they believed that the promise given them was the promise of a future home, a promise connected in part with an earthly heritage; but their desire was for the presence and blessing of Him who was their trust, and with whom they hoped to be when their earthly pilgrimage was ended. Less than that fails to explain the language of the Old Testament, as it fails to recognise the clear teaching of the New.