This passage might not seem encouraging but their choices as pilgrims of this strange land point us to something much, much better to come.

Hebrews 11:35-38

Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

To refuse release is not to say what they were going through wasn’t severely painful. Their release may have demanded some sort of denial of the faith by which they were approved before the Lord. Whatever the case, they saw beyond the suffering of this world to the promise of a better resurrection—a better life. To give up the faith would have been to forfeit the greater for the lesser.

What these people endured in this brief life, show us their faith and the extreme value they had in Christ. The witness they are to us should stir our hearts to press on in faith as Hebrews 12 concludes.

Your life may show others your faith and your value of Christ as you refuse to deny the One who suffered in your place and long for the better resurrection. Jesus is worth it. And that which is coming to us will not only be void of suffering, it will never come to an end.