Genesis 15 - How were people in the Old Testament saved?
Posted on January 11, 2012 by Pastor Tom
How were people in the Old Testament saved from God’s wrath? The penalty for their sin had not yet been paid. They did not know of Jesus Christ so they could put their trust in him. Yet in Genesis 15:6 we read “Abram believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” So Abram believed or had faith in the Lord. Then God regarded him as righteous because of this faith.
But how could God ultimately declare Abram righteous or not guilty before God? The penalty would not be paid for about 1800 years until the time of Christ. Romans 3:23–25 explains it: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and (all who believe) are justified by his grace, as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”
A propitiation is a sacrifice that wipes away sin and satisfies God’s holy wrath. So God could look forward to the sacrifice that was coming and pass over the sins of Abram and other Old Testament believers until the cross. At the cross, the full payment for the guilt of sin would be made. God, in his mercy, passed over the sins of Old Testament believers until the price was paid. We serve a merciful God who already had salvation in mind in the earliest days of the world.
Add the first comment...