<p>11:16 <i>But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one- </i>As noted on :14, the physical presence of the patriarchs in Canaan was not seen by them as the fulfilment of the Abrahamic promises. They looked for an &quot;eternal inheritance&quot; (see on 9:15). Their desire was for &quot;a heavenly country&quot;, not in the sense that they desired to go to Heaven- for they were never promised that. They looked for the Kingdom of Heaven to come on earth, symbolized in Revelation by the city of heavenly Jerusalem coming to earth at the Lord's return. The &quot;better&quot; nature of what they sought connects with how Hebrews uses this word of the &quot;better&quot; things of the new covenant in contrast to the inferior things of the old covenant. The old covenant offered Israel a national homeland, but no &quot;eternal inheritance&quot; (9:15). It was life eternal, eternal inheritance of the promised land, which was promised in the new covenant; it was that which was so far &quot;better&quot; than the promise of the old covenant. &quot;But now they...&quot; raises the question as to who is in view. The &quot;they&quot; of&nbsp; :15 were the patriarchs; but they were long dead and unconscious. The &quot;they&quot; merges with us the Christian believers, identified with Abraham's seed by baptism into that seed (Gal. 3:27-29).</p><p><i>Therefore God is not ashamed of them- to be called their God- </i>Right now, God is ashamed or not ashamed of us, according to our separation from the spirit of this world; and yet His not being ashamed of us will also be apparent at the final judgment. We have our judgment now, from His point of view. &quot;To be called&quot; is literally 'to be surnamed'. His Name becomes part of ours, in spiritual terms; the things of His Name and purpose become inextricably bound up with us, just as 'Abram' was changed to 'Abraham' by inserting the middle letters of the Yahweh name into Abram's name- see on Is. 44:5.</p><p><i>For He has prepared for them a city</i>- This is the Kingdom on earth prepared from the foundation of the world (Mt. 25:34). It is called a city because Paul wants the Jerusalem Hebrew Christians to whom he is speaking to realize that the &quot;Jerusalem that now is&quot; was not the true city of hope; and neither was Rome. Heb. 11:13-16 contains some radical demands in a first century context- to see the <i>true</i> city, when Rome was <i>the</i> city to be identified with; to be a non-citizen of any earthly state&hellip; how hard would that have been for Roman citizens to read, hear, and say &lsquo;Amen&rsquo; to This was particularly an issue for the Hebrew Christians, who were attracted to return to Judaism because the Roman legislation permitted it to exist as a recognized religion.</p>