175 — What Happened to Those Before the Cross?
This one is quick. Pop over to my personal blog for some important news and then feel free to join in a discussion about this question.
I know that Jesus died for the sins of the world, so his death had to also be for people who lived and died before his sacrifice on the cross….how were they judged by God in regards to their salvation?
The Book of Romans has a lot to say about this. God says in the first few chapters of Romans that He judged those without the law as those without the law. In other words, their ignorance and circumstance was taken into consideration, but God still required them to live up to the code that they had AND the one that was written in human nature. Paul even goes so far to say that many of those outside of the law kept the law better than those who had been given the law! We have all seen this in our Christian age as well when nonbelievers treat us with more kindness, generosity, and honesty than do some folk we go to church with!
Acts 17:30 tells us that God excused ignorance in the times before Jesus’ death and resurrection but that now all men everywhere must come to repentance.
As to how those will be saved who died before Jesus’ sacrifice, let me give two very quick answers. Hebrews and Romans both go into great detail about the fact that the blood of the sacrifices rolled the guilt of the people forward for a year until Jesus took care of all of them at the cross. That begs the question… where were those people who died before Jesus came and, therefore, before their sins were blotted out? Were they walking around Paradise or Heaven with a “on probation” sticker instead of a “My Name Is…” sticker? Unlikely. First of all, it is not at all clear where all the dead are (maybe we’ll talk about that one day) and, second, remember that Jesus and God and the eternal world like outside the world of physics. Words like “time”, “before”, and even “place” have no meaning there.
Like the old song says… Trust and Obey. Some things just have to be taken on faith.
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:40 pm
The last verse … well, all the verses … of Hebrews 11 are relevant, I think.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Excellent answer Patrick.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:10 am
How do the last few verses of 1 Peter 3 fit in?
That’s probably come up before – is there another post you can refer me to?
I don’t think we’ve looked at the whole “preaching to the spirits in prison” thing. That’s a good idea.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Joshua 3 is a fantastic OT picture of this very idea. I love how God has woven the actual history of his people with metaphor – the stuff that actually happened is also a story to be read with foreshadowing and allegory and whatnot. So cool.
May 16th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Remember all knew of the coming Messiah. That he would make all things new. But there was also the letter of the law. But what wasnt understood fully is that the letter of the law pointed to the law of the heart.
The letter of the law begged for what Christ said He came to fulfill, this was what the letter of the law merely pointed to, which was the law of the heart. This is why Christ said to Love God with all your heart mind and sould, spirit and to love thy naeighbor as thy self, these to hang the whole law. That means when you sin against another in anyway you violate these laws from any angle. Fornication, adultery,greed etc… this violates these two laws.
Those before Christ who understood this better, often came through trouble those who practiced it by the letter did well but as Christ said you should have done these things and not have left the other undone. Those who gained this perspective from the law of the heart were sanctified in Christ, the Messiah who was coming to make all things new even if they didnt know His form as of yet. They new there was looking at things from just the letter and they knew the letter begged for the better way coming and they had a choice, The letter begged for mercy, where none could be found. You knock someones tooth out didnt matter, tie him down. Those who understood this concept of mercy had Christ from the heart. Like david said so many times, sacrifice you did not desire, the blood of bulls and goats you did not want, and the fact that david went into the showbread and ate it, where anyone else would have surely been killed. David undrstood God didnt care about these things and those who agreed with David followed the one whos genology would lead to the one coming who would make all things new. Same with Abraham, when he met Melchizidek he didnt know where this guy came from, was Melchizedek not a froshadow of Christ, Shadrack Meshac and Obendigo, wasnt there four in the furnace. just some thoughts.