Posted on by wrote in General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions.

Question:

If Jesus was predestined by an all-knowing God to be sacrificed for humanity’s sins, what was the purpose of sending prophets beforehand to call people to repentance? Many righteous men and women believed these prophets and were forgiven long before Jesus, so would they not have already entered God’s Heaven?

Answer:

Good point.  Like we are told in Revelation 13:8, Jesus is a “lamb slain before the foundation of the world.”  In other words, although it is obvious that Jesus came to a specific time and place, God exists above and outside of the limitation of time.  From God’s perspective, it is as if Jesus has always been sacrificed for our sins.
For us humans it is different.  For us time is linear.  For us, we could only become Christians—being baptized into Christ and receiving salvation, forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  But even before the historical coming of Christ, forgiveness has been found through the blood of Christ.  Yes, you are right that many in the past were forgiven because of their faith and repentance.  This has always been true.  But even these men and women, such as David and Moses and Sarah and Rahab were saved by faith and, although they did not completely understand it, they were saved by the blood of the lamb who was killed before the foundation of the world.
John Oakes

 

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