Mind of a Christian

Salvation in the Old Testament

Salvation is granted by God's grace. To get salvation - to be saved - you have to faith in that Yeshua the Messiah will forgive and save you from your sins. 

But a thought came to my mind: what about people in the Old Testament? David was able to write that "Our God is a God who saves; from  the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death" (Psalms 68: 20 NIV). How could he have seen God as a saving God prior to the birth of Jesus? Were they able to be saved? Here's what I learned.

Through grace alone and through faith alone can people be saved.

This isn't something new I've known. This is what Christians will tell you when they explain how salvation works, and it's not wrong. But that's the thing! It's not wrong now, and it wasn't wrong prior to the arrival of Yeshua the Messiah! This has always been the case.

Through grace alone and through faith alone can people be saved. THIS IS TRUE FOR THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.

I used to think that salvation in the old testament came from following the laws in the Torah. Now, that's really hard to do (impossible, arguably), but I thought, maybe people could time their sacrifices right. Maybe they can do a proper sacrifice according to the law, and be cleansed from their sins just before death. Or maybe they can die right after the celebration of Yom Kippur. 

That would be a really bad thing. Imagine how much bad luck almost everyone would have then because they couldn't make sacrifices to clean themselves from sin before death!

But that's NOT how it works.

In Galatians 3:11, Paul writes that "Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because 'the righteous will live by faith.'" (NIV). Guess who else said the same thing? Habakkuk, an Old Testament prophet!

"'Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.'" (Habakkuk 2: 4 NASB)

"'Behold the puffed up one - his soul is not right within him, But the righteous will live by his trust.'" (Habakkuk 2: 4 TLV)

Salvation is through faith alone. It's about having faith that God will save you.

Back then, people might not have known how exactly God would save them. They didn't know that the man Yeshua born in Bethlehem was going to be the particular person who will die to forgive their sins. But, they most likely knew that God would send someone to do just that. They had some information regarding salvation. Let's take a look at what Isaiah had to say:

"But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our inequities... So ADONAI has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53: 5-6 TLV)

During his time, one of Isaiah's prophecies showed that there will be someone who God sends that will bear the sins of the world so that they may be saved. Isaiah wasn't the only one who prophesied about the coming of Jesus, but his prophecy can be assurance for people to put their faith that God will save them. Even if people back then didn't know this, they can still put their faith in that God saves.

And if you want to look even further back, I'll present to you Genesis. It doesn't get further back than this:

"I will put animosity between you and the woman - between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel." (Genesis 3: 15 TLV)

So even in Genesis, God has expressed to the serpent that there will be someone who will kill him / forgive sins / destroy evil, at the cost of his life. Guess who that could be.

My youth leader said something along these lines: God doesn't change between the Old and the New Testament. He's the same God from the beginning of the Bible to the end. Salvation as made by God is the same for both Old Testament and New Testament people.

And come to think of it, God demonstrates His love and grace by allowing people way prior to Jesus to be saved. How great is our God! Imagine if this was not the case. If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Elijah, Moses, Joshua, King David, Solomon, Daniel, and anyone else faithful to God in the Old Testament were not to be saved, wouldn't that leave a sour taste in your mouth? It would be as if God cheated them off their faith and gave nothing in return. That's very unlike a graceful, merciful, and loving God. No bueno.

But, God isn't like that. For the people faithful to Him, for those who put trust in that He will forgive their sins, God extends His grace to them and grants salvation.

God loves everyone. Of course He would allow people who yearn for Him to have a closer relationship with Him beyond life on Earth.

God is good and God bless you all.

Sources:

https://www.gotquestions.org/Old-Testament-salvation.html

https://answersingenesis.org/gospel/salvation/how-were-people-saved-before-jesus-came-in-the-flesh/