Better in every way — a greater priest, a better covenant, and faith's hall of fame.
"Now faith is the ______ of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Nobody knows who wrote Hebrews — Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, and Priscilla have all been nominated. As one early scholar put it: 'God only knows.'
Hebrews 11 is faith's hall of fame — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab — each introduced with the drumbeat 'by faith.' We quiz from that chapter often.
The word 'better' is the book's spine — a better covenant, better promises, better sacrifices, a better country. Thirteen chapters of holy comparison shopping.
The 'cloud of witnesses' and 'the race that is set before us' come from chapter 12 — right after the hall of fame, the starting gun.