<p>11:40 <i>God having provided some better thing involving us, that without us they should not be made perfect</i>- All the believers are rewarded <i>together</i>, at the same time; the Greek for &quot;without us&quot; means 'at a space from'. Therefore there was no way that Judaism's claim that the promises had been fulfilled could be true. This verse may also teach that the number of 'the believers' is completed only by our development of faith- implying that the sooner this happens, the sooner the united perfection of the faithful can occur. God &quot;provided&quot; or planned this in advance; because the eye of faith can perceive how the ages of human history were structured by Him (:3). He is the &quot;architect&quot; of the city of God's Kingdom to come (:10). Being &quot;made perfect&quot; is therefore presented as the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham; and it is this moral &quot;perfection&quot; by imputed righteousness which the new covenant offered, according to how Paul has reasoned so far in Hebrews. Yet the literal realization of that in physical terms shall come only when the Lord returns. Then we shall be &quot;made perfect&quot;, and not by offering animals now. It is the Lord Jesus, the seed of Abraham, who was &quot;made perfect&quot; by His sufferings (2:10; 5:9; 7:28). By being in Him, we too shall share that perfection; whereas obedience to the law made nobody perfect (7:19; 9:9). By status and in prospect, we have already been &quot;made perfect&quot; (10:14), the spirits or characters of dead believers have already been &quot;made perfect&quot; in God's record book (12:23), but the physical outworking of that shall be when all believers in imputed righteousness are &quot;made perfect&quot; by nature at the second coming.</p>