How Were People Saved Before Jesus Died on the Cross?
To understand how people were saved from their sins before Jesus died on the cross, one must understand the doctrine of progressive revelation. There are three basic tenets of this doctrine:
Note: These are coming from my personal understanding, though actual theologians may say there are a different number of components.
1.) God is a rewarder of those who seek Him and who believe what He has revealed to them about His Son. In other words, God’s requirement for salvation has always been faith!
2.) God’s revelation of Jesus Christ is a progressive revelation; throughout the history of mankind from Adam to modern man, God has continued to reveal more to us about His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
3.) When Jesus died on the cross, His death covered the penalty for all sins, past, present, and future.
What did God reveal to the first man, Adam?
Right from the beginning, God told man that He would send an offspring from Eve who would crush the head of the serpent, yet only His heel would be bruised by the serpent. In other words, God would send a Savior to conquer sin and death. Satan would try to defeat Jesus, but he would not prevail. Adam believed what God revealed to Him, and this was the basis for His salvation. Adam did not understand God’s entire plan for salvation, but He believed what God did reveal to him. We see this when we study Hebrews 11, but you will read more on that below.
Genesis 3:15 says, “And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your seed and her seed/Seed (two meanings here: all the sons and daughters of Eve, and ultimately Jesus Himself); He (Jesus) shall crush you on the head, and you (Satan) shall bruise him on the heel.”
Adam believed God, and look what God immediately did? He killed an animal, the first death, and used the skins to cover Adam and Eve. This has so much meaning! First, through this, God is foreshadowing the idea that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (See Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:22). Second, He covers them, which symbolizes that their sin is being covered because they believe in God’s promise. God knows what is in the minds and the hearts of mankind, so here we see God symbolically and literally covering their sin because of their faith in the coming Seed, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. God rewarded them for believing what He had revealed about Jesus. Interestingly, the word “atonement,” which is used to describe the use of animal sacrifices for sin in the Old Testament, means “to cover.”
What did God reveal to Abraham?
In the account of Abraham, we see God revealing more about Jesus in the form of a blood covenant He made with Abraham when He called him out of Mesopotamia from the city of Ur, to lead His people, Israel (Genesis 12:1-20). So what were the conditions of the covenant God made with Abraham? First, it was unconditional; God would uphold His terms of the agreement, whether or not Abraham upheld his. God promised Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars/a nation of people that would come from his loins, and a land for the nation of Israel. This is why we see the land being referred to as “The Promised Land”. He also promised him a Seed from his own loins (see Galatians 3:16 below) through which all the nations of the world would be blessed, as well as blessings for those who blessed Israel and curses for those who cursed Israel.
So how did Abraham respond to God? Genesis 15:6 says, “And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” This is perhaps one of the most overlooked verses in the book of Genesis! God counted Abraham as being righteous because of His belief! I could write another entire paper about what we see God doing with Abraham in the form of cutting a blood covenant in Genesis 15, but that is for another time. So, what does it mean that God considered Abraham righteous? It means that he was considered to be “right with God”. In other words, His sins were forgiven because He believed God’s promise that a Seed would come from His loins and that all nations of the world would be blessed because of Him. Galatians 3:8 explains this best: “The Scriptures...preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying,’ all the nations will be blessed in you’. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
Galatians 3:16
“Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your Seed’ that is Christ.”
Note: Here we have Paul’s commentary on the Hebrew text as was revealed to Him through the Holy Spirit, or possibly even taught to him directly through revelation by Jesus Himself- See Galatians 1:11-12! How cool is that?
Acts 3:25-26 Paul speaking to the Jews:
“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your Seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
Romans 4:3-8
“For what does the Scripture say, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the One to whom God counts righteous apart from works:
‘Blessed are those whose lawless deed are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count sin.”
From Abraham forward, we see God continuing to reveal more and more about Jesus through the prophets, especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Isaiah, and also ordinary men like King David in the book of Psalms. The Old Testament contains roughly 456 prophecies about Christ. Around 300 have been fulfilled, with the remainder to be fulfilled in the end times.
What did God reveal to Moses about Jesus?
When Moses enters the scene, we see God giving Him the 10 commands and the Book of the Law that the Israelites were to follow, setting up the system of blood sacrifices for the atonement of sin, and the building of the tabernacle. Everything that God did points to and explains more about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, from the blood on the doorposts that saved the Jews in captivity in Egypt on the first Passover, to the sacrifice of a lamb without spot or blemish as atonement for sin, to the symbolism of every single article in the tabernacle, which revealed something about the coming Messiah. The main thing to understand is that during this time, people obtained salvation by believing in the coming Messiah, just as we do today.
What did Jesus reveal about Himself to the believers prior to His death and resurrection?
Matthew 16:21-22 says, “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” So even Christ Himself revealed more to the people of His day. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to come as a conquering King who would save the Jewish nation from Roman oppression. They did not yet have a full understanding of the Old Testament prophecies about Him, specifically those in Isaiah 53, that He would suffer and die, but then be resurrected. That is why He spent time teaching them as He did.
What about us today?
Hebrews 1:1-2 says “In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in many ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.” In other words, more has been revealed to us today than in Old Testament times so that we are without excuse.
One final note: Jesus Christ died for the sins of the entire world, past present and future! Salvation has always been the result of faith in Jesus.
Here are a few verses regarding this:
Hebrews 10:10
“And by that we are sanctified through the offering of the body, Jesus Christ, once and for all.”
Hebrews 7:25
“Consequently, He is able to save to the upmost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
I John 2:1
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation (this word means that God is satisfied) for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Romans 3:25
“...(Jesus) whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”
Romans 8:1
“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In conclusion, before Jesus died on the cross people were saved because they believed what God revealed to them about Jesus. They did not need to know the whole story, but only to believe what God revealed to them at the time. Jesus’ death on the cross provided forgiveness for all the sins of mankind, past present and future, which includes the sins of all the people who came before Christ.
Each time in history when God revealed more about His Son, Jesus Christ, we see a blood sacrifice component. For Adam it was in the form of God killing an animal and covering them with the skins, for Abraham we see God sealing His covenant (which included a promise of a coming Seed through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed) with a blood sacrifice, for Moses we see God giving the commandment to offer blood sacrifices for the sins of the people, and finally we see Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, offering Himself once and for all as the final blood sacrifice for all the sins of mankind, past, present and future. I John 2:1 says, “He is the propitiation for the sins of the world...” In other words, through Jesus’ blood sacrifice on the cross, God was satisfied, and all the sins have been forgiven to those who call on His name and believe.
Hebrews 11 is called the “Faith Chapter” for a reason. Hebrews 11:1-2 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.” If you continue reading on you will see a long list of evidence regarding the faith of the men and women of the Old Testament listed in verses 3-12. Then in verse 13 we read, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises (of Christ), but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance…”. I encourage you to read and meditate on the entire chapter to get a better picture of what I am trying to convey in this paper.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever! Amen!
