How were Old Testament Saints saved?
Galatians 3:8, “And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify
the Gentiles by faith, preached the
gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In
you all the nations shall be
blessed.”
Romans 4:3b says, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness.”
The above text was originally recorded in Genesis 15:6 by
Moses.
Romans 4:3b and Genesis 15:6 is synonymous with II Corinthians
5:21, “He (Jesus) who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.”
What all three verses declare is that when the sinner
believes the word of God, God places His righteousness in the sinner’s account;
God treats them as if they had never sinned. Here we see the congruence between the OT and NT.
Old Testament Saints were saved or justified by their faith
in the word of God just like New Testament Saints are. The difference is that
the OT Saints were looking ahead to the cross, whereas NT Saints look back at
the cross. The cross is the epicenter for all the redeemed whether an Old or
New Testament believer.
When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for the OT Saints past
sins which was on credit. Jesus sacrifice paid their debt. For NT Saints He
paid for our sins which were all future.
In Isaiah 6:5-7 we read about Isaiah regarding himself when
he sees the glory of the Lord, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people with unclean lips; For my
eyes have seen the King, The Lord of Hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me
having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the
altar. And he touched my mouth with it
and said: “Behold this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and
your sin is purged.”
Here we see the Lord pardoning Isaiah’s sin so that he could
be fit to be the Lord’s prophet which tradition tells us he was for 60 years.
King David knew of the pardoning of sins by the Lord for he
said, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom does not impute iniquity (Psalm 32:1-2). “
Jeremiah
31:31-34 says, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
But this
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me,
from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more .”
This new
covenant the Lord will make with Israel has also been called the everlasting
covenant because it is a permanent covenantal relationship with the children of
Israel which will ultimately result in her salvation. This covenant parallels
the relationship Jesus has with the church; NT believers.
In
conclusion, all those who God has declared righteous look for a complete
redemption; that is when we are glorified. The OT Saints like Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, the prophets, et al died not seeing the promise fulfilled in their
lifetime, but by faith realized it afar off for it had been promised to them
(Hebrews 11:39-40).
We too look
for that final redemption so we persevere in faith, believing the promises of
God knowing as each day passes, we are nearer to our salvation than when we
first believed (Romans 13:11).
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