"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."(Hebrews 11:13-16)
“‘These all'- Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob- "'died in faith,’ continued to believe, to the end of their lives, that God would fulfill this promises." (Adam Clarke) “Saints die as well as sinners. David dies as well as Saul. He who leaned on the bosom of Jesus lived long, but died at last.” (C. H Spurgeon).— ‘not having received the promise,’ of numerous physical seed, nor of rest in Canaan— “but having seen them afar off." It'll be post-resurrection. All of the patriarchs of the Hebrew religion, even father Abraham “though living in tents, and though not possessing any portion of the land, and knowing that in this life he would not see it, yet he believed the inheritance was his; and that God Himself had prepared a city, a permanent, substantial, organized dwelling-place for him and his seed, and all... to whom the blessing was to come... The expectation of the patriarchs and the prophets is the renewed earth in which Israel and all nations dwell in righteousness—the prospect stretches forth into the boundless ages when ultimately the tabernacle of God shall be with men." (Adolph Saphir) In the Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard, the payoff came in the twilight, “when evening was come”— at the end of this age.
They “embraced them (the promises) and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.” “Such people were the Hebrew patriarchs." (Albert Barnes) “And truly if they had been mindful of- their earthly country, Ur of the Chaldeans, they might have easily returned." (Wesley) “But now they desired a better, that is a heavenly country.” The something better is "the new earth in which righteousness dwells.” For even the Israelites that entered the rest of Canaan had a better rest that awaits the children of God. (Heb 4). “'Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God'— Paul here "refers to that passage, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' (Exo 3:6.)" (John Calvin)
The Messenger of the Covenant told Moses from the burning bush, “I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses was afraid and hid his face. “Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed; this was not imaginary, but a real thing; there was such a bush, and Jehovah appeared in it in this manner, and though it was all on fire yet was not consumed." (John Gill) Jesus quoted this text and His relationship to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to argue for the resurrection of the body to the Saducees. — “for He has prepared a city for them.”Jesus is preparing it for us now. “Then I, John, saw [in vision] the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2)
Jesus is the Messenger of the Covenant— "And not only Moses, but the Israelites in future ages, when entreating the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush to accompany them and to bless their children, assuredly understood this Angel of the Covenant to be the God of their fathers, eternal and uncreated. A succession of the Christian fathers... have so understood it. Tertullian, who flourished at the close of the second century, is ample on this head. Following Irenæus and others, he says that He who spake to Moses was himself the Son of God… He asserts farther, that the Son, from the beginning exercised judgment, overthrowing the proud tower, confounding the language, dispersing the tribes, punishing the whole earth with the violence of the waters, raining on Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone from Jehovah. For he had always descended in human figure to converse with men, from Adam to the patriarchs..” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
The Saducees were misguided about the afterlife. So, Jesus quotes the book of Moses to enlighten them of a bodily resurrection -- “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ (Exodus 3:6)? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong." (Mark 12:126) But some folks, like old Mr. More - a contemporary of Tyndale, quote Jesus out of context for support of a conscious intermediate state.— “And when he proveth that the saints be in heaven in glory with Christ already, saying, ‘If God be their God, they be in heaven, for he is not the God of the dead;’ there he stealeth away Christ’s argument, wherewith he proveth the resurrection: that Abraham and all saints should rise again, and not that their souls were in heaven… And with that doctrine he taketh away the resurrection quite, and maketh Christ’s argument of none effect.” (Tyndale)