How Were People Saved Before Jesus Came?
By Abraham Israel
Question : Jesus came 2000 years ago to bring salvation to the world, and he died for everybody. But what happens to the people that were born before He came? I cannot believe that God is going to dismiss them because they don't know Jesus, can you find an answer? God bless you.
Answer : I believe that faith in God is what pleases God and saves people. God's word says that "...without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Heb 11:6). In other words, no matter what background a person come from or how much he or his forefathers know about the true God, it doesn't matter. If a person sincerely starts to seek after the true God and comes in to relationship with Him believing that He is a person who is a just rewarder, that will please God enough to save that seeking person from sin.
What then does faith really means? Again the word of God says that, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb 11:1) and "...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."(Rom 10:17). The first five books of the Bible is written by Moses who lived between 1500 and 1300 BC. The first eleven chapters of the Bible that occurred long before his time in which creation and the flood story have been accurately described must have come by the revelation of God and also through earliest accounts which were handed on from generation to generation in songs, narratives, and poetry. God gave Moses "two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18) and then told him to write all the other things that He has given as a law and commandment for all the people of Israel to follow (Deut 31:24-26; 32:44-47). Then the writings of the thirty or so other contributors to the Old Testament span a thousand years! The New Testament was written during a much shorter period, i.e. mainly during the last half of the first century AD and also a few books were written between 35-50 AD. Now we have the word of God written and printed in a book which we call it the word of God.
Yes indeed the word of God came through inspiration of the prophets and apostles who wrote it down, and which was again passed on by the scribes who meticulously and painstakingly wrote it and copied it word for word for all the succeeding generations. Still the written word of God were not available to all common people until after 1500 A.D. Also how about the people who lived before the flood of Noah that happened at around 2400 B.C. and also the people who lived from the flood to the time of Moses?
A just God cannot leave people without an equal opportunity to hear about the word of God and as a result of it help them believe the true God and be saved from sin. We know that God Himself says and claims about His authentic genuineness of His justice by saying, "For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "18...I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19. ... I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 21. ... there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me."" (Isaiah 45:18-21).
So let us see in what ways God reached all the people of the world with the word of God which is the message of salvation justly spread with an equal opportunity for every one of them to be saved from sin by faith?
1) Word Of God Proclaimed Through Prophets And Saints Alike
God sent His prophets with the word of God in their mouth until Jesus came so that people who hear them could be saved (Heb 1:1). Noah was a prophetic preacher of righteousness before God destroyed the world through a worldwide flood (2 Peter 2:5). Enoch also was a prophet whom God used to prophesy judgment to the sinning world before the flood destroyed the pre-diluvian people (Jude 14-15). After the flood that destroyed the whole world, God introduced His true faith to a pagan named Abraham from a place named Mesopotamia where his father and forefathers followed many pagan gods (Joshua 24:2; Acts 7:2). But we see from the Scripture that there was a longing in the heart of Abraham which made him seek the true God, and there in the midst of paganism he heard the voice of God and followed Him with implicit obedience, and trusting in God he went to a place without any specific address where God told him to go (Joshua 24:3; Gen 1:1-4). Later God used Abraham as a prophet and a testimony of the true God before many unbelievers (Gen 20:6-7). Even Issac and Jacob lived as a prophet and a witness of the living God among the pagan world (Heb 11:20; Gen 49:1-28; Acts 3:25; Psa 105:15).
2) The Truth Of God Was Passed On Through The Word Of Mouth
Just ten generations must have spanned the 1656 years between the day God made Adam and the day Noah entered the ark to escape the great flood. First, Adam who lived from the day of creation (0 - 930 B.C.) and his total life span was 930 years, second Seth (130 - 1042 B.C.) and his life span was 912 years, third Enosh (235 - 1140 B.C.) and his life span was 905 years, fourth Cainan (325 - 1242 B.C.) and his life span was 910 years, fifth Mahalalel (395 - 1290 B.C.) and his life span was 895 years, sixth Jared (460 - 1422 B.C.) and his life span was 962, seventh Enoch (622 - 987 B.C.) and his life span was 365 years and he was taken by God directly to heaven without seeing death (Jude 1:14-15; Gen 5:24), eight Methuselah (687 - 1656 B.C.) and his life span was 969 years, ninth Lamech (847 - 1651 B.C.) and his life span was 777 years and tenth Noah (1056 - 2006 B.C.) and his life span was 950 years.
As Adam knew the truth of what has fallen on humankind because of his own disobedience to God and also because God had directly taught the truth of how to draw near to Him in faith through the sinless blood sacrifice of animals (Gen 3:14-19, 21; 4:3-7, Heb 11:4), If Adam could have told the truth to Enoch and Enoch told it to Methuselah, the truth and testimony about the true God would have definitely been know to all through these men of God who lived among them. Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah. Methuselah's name itself was a prophetic one which meant "his death shall bring judgment" and true to his name just after his death in that very year the flood came universally and destroyed all mankind for their sin (1 Peter 3:20). Noah was the final clarion call of God to the whole of mankind before God destroyed the whole world with a mighty flood. Noah was preacher of righteousness and the Ark which he built was God's testimony to the whole world about the reality of the flood that was coming to destroy the whole world for its sinfulness (Heb 11:7). Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5), because though he might not have gone on to preach to all humans present at his time from a platform, his labor on the Ark would have been his witness. The Ark would have been the headline story of the whole world during that time, because no one would have seen anything like that huge structure until then. Though Noah's ark was a international headline for the pre-flood generation, nobody was willing to believe Noah the man of God who kept building the Ark. Jesus confirmed this truth and said, "“As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:36–39). Like Noah's ark, Jesus is now building His Church (1 Peter 3:20-22; Mat 16:15--20), whoever believes in the name of Jesus is given the rights to be a child of God and be saved as a part of the Church from the end time great Tribulation that is coming upon the whole wide world (John 1:12; Matt 24:21-22; Rev 3:10; Luke 21:34-36). One of these days suddenly the whole Church will be taken out of this world to be with the Lord Jesus forever in New Jerusalem (Luke 17:28-37; John 14:1-4; Mark 14:62; Eph 2:6). People were so busy with their earthly survival that they were not willing to hear the godly eternal truth of Noah and be saved from sin through faith. In our today's world, the Body of Christ which is the Church of the living God stands as the pillar of truth for all world to see as the testimony of God as in Noah's time (1 Tim 3:15). Jesus is the builder of the Ark which is the Church in today's world (Matt 16:18), if people believe Jesus and are baptized spiritually in to Him, then they will be saved from God's wrath that is coming upon the whole world very soon (1 Peter 3:20-21; Rev 3:10). Jesus Himself is the testimony of God that is proclaimed in the whole world and stands today as the spiritual Ark of our times, God has promised that the world will only come to an end after all the whole world hears about the Ark of salvation in Jesus through the gospel of the Kingdom (Matt 24:14).
Many more prophets of God were used after Moses to speak to the people of Israel to turn towards Him and live righteously until Jesus came finally to speak repentance to the nation of Israel and turn them towards God (Matt 4:17), but when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, immediately God took the official Spirit and Covenant of salvation away from them and had given it to the Church temporarily until they accept Jesus as their Messiah which they will do when He return's back to the earth the second time (Jer 7:25; 44:4; Matt 21:33-44; Zech 12:10; Rom 11:25-27).
3) God Speaks To Seeking People And All Humans Through Visions and Dreams
Another great example of a man of God in the midst of the pagan world was Job, who was believed to have lived after the flood and most probably during the time of the Patriarch's Abraham, Issac and Jacob or even little before that, much before Moses ever came in to the scene (Job 22:16). Evidence of it is seen in the way Job acts as the chief priest of the family in offering sacrifices which is similar to Abraham's time (Genesis 8:20; 12:7-8; 31:54; Job 1:5; cf. 42:8), the way Job distributed his wealth equally to his daughters which was not the same in the Old Testament times after the law came (Job 42:15; Numbers 27:1-11; 36:1-13), the way his wealth was measured by the livestock he had which is more characteristic of patriarchal times (Job 1:3; 42:12), then like the patriarchs, Job used God’s unique title “El Shaddai” (God Almighty) and finally Job lived to more than two hundred years which is more comparable to the long lives of the patriarchs who lived around 2200 B.C (Job 1:3, 5, 13, 18; 42:10-13, 13-17; Genesis 11:22-23). Knowing for sure all the above facts, we should understand that Job never had a Bible to know about God just like Abraham who lived in the midst of Pagan people. Job came from the same middle eastern area just near to where Abraham also came from (Job 1:1,3; Gen 11:31).
How did God speak to these people without the word of God in their hands to read, God saw their seeking heart and spoke to them in visions and dreams.
In Book of Job God spoke to another godly man named Elipaz [i.e. who was Job's friend with a critical attitude] who revealed it saying, "12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. 13 In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up. 16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying: 17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?" (Job 4:12-17). This above verse shows that God can speak to reveal Himself and His salvation through visions like the above to all men. Elihu was a young God seeker and a friend of Job, he also testified that God speaks consistently in dreams and visions, "14 For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, 16 Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. 17 In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man." (Job 33:14-17). The above verses confirms that God speaks to all men in the night with dreams and visions and them He opens the spiritual ears inside them and seals his instruction so that men will turn from evil that they do and also keep themselves away from being proud which He hates. So a just God must have revealed to all men in all ages His message of salvation through faith in the Coming Messiah, not just once but many times consistently to get saved through faith in His sacrifice that He will do for them in the future.
We should understand that men like David, Isaiah and Job spoke very clearly and prophetically about the coming Messiah, and his sacrifice that will save them and all of God's people from their sin, and also they knew God as redeemer (Job 19:25; 13:15-16; Psa 65:3; Isa 53:11-12). How did these godly people knew about a coming Savior hundred's and thousand's of years before He ever came to the earth to save them? The just God has revealed these things to them in visions and dreams. Then they also heard about it through the word of the mouth that was passed on to them from their previous generations that lived before them, this happened right from the creation time, many people believed that God has promised to send a Messiah who will save all humans who believe Him from their sins and they symbolically offered animal [i.e. preferably a young lamb] as a sign of their faith towards God which He instituted right from the day of creation and fall of all men (Gen 3:21; 4:3-7, 16, 25-26).
On the day of judgment no one could say that they never heard about a righteous God who saves them from sin because God must have tried to help them believe His truth many times through dreams and visions in their lives as we have seen above.
4) God Speaks To All Humans In Their Spirit-man Right From Their Birth
The Bible says, "The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart." (Prov 20:27). This means what is right is being revealed by God in the heart of all humans who come in to the world. The lamp of the Lord within the spirit of man becomes darkened when humans begin's to sin against the conscience which is within their spirit, and fail to be thankful to God for shining the light of truth upon them. The lamp of the Lord in human spirit is like a lamp with a chimney around it. If any person using the chimney lamp fails to clean the glass over a period of time, the light which shines from within will fail to seen outside. Who is to blame for the lack of light? The lamp user who has failed to clean the chimney. In the same way, when a person fails to realize that he is sinning against God, it means that he has failed to clean the darkened glass chimney of his spirit-man inside him.
Apostle Paul beautifully describes this situation saying, "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Rom 1:18-25). From the above Scripture we know that every human born in this earth has been receiving the revelation of what they need to know of God within their spirit-man because God has shown it to them. The apostle speaks so confidently by the inspiration of the Spirit of God saying that all humans born since the creation of earth has also understood and clearly seen within them God's invisible attributes of His character and have even understood the weightier things of God's eternal power and Godhead. A just God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Num 23:19; 2 Thess 1:6; Psa 7:11). God says that His thoughts and ways are so high than human ways and thoughts, it is comparatively like as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isa 55:9). So such purity of righteousness, justice and truth cannot even be questioned by humans who are all influenced by the sinful nature always acting within them and unknowingly dimming their view of God's 100% righteousness, justice and truth (Rom 9:14-15, 20).
God says that no human are without excuse who die without salvation because "although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." Idolatry and cannibalism are promoted among heathens because of humans darkening their own heart because of denying the light of God which is the truth of God which shines from within, and also because of unthankful attitude towards God for all the blessings they enjoy in their earthly life from sun light to water to food and all things including sovereign protection of their lives on earth. When God abandon's man to go in his own way, only then with a darkened heart man foolishly starts to practice all sinful things that dishonor's themselves and destroys them. Once humans exchange the truth of God within them for the lie of the devil which they accept to convince themselves that they do not need to adhere to the commandments of God and walk according to the truth of God that shines within them, from that time onward their chimney glass of their spirit-man get more darkened, until after a period of time, they like cockroaches like to dwell in only darkness and scurry for cover if ever the light of God shines on them again (1 John 5:19). Now at this point of time, all humans tend to center their lives upon themselves and set a compromised third rated standard of adherence to do whatever is right in their own eyes and reject God completely out of their lives (Jud 21:25). In other words, thinking that there is no God in charge of their lives and that they need to give no account to anyone regarding the way they live their lives, they have become fools.
God will one day judge all of their thoughts based on His perfect standard of the light of truth that kept shining with in them, so that "14 ...when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel," says Apostle Paul (Rom 2:14-16). When God judges from His standard all the thoughts of men, no human can stand before Him on that day of White Throne Judgment for unbelievers, and give any excuse for all his or her sins (Eccl 12:14; 2 Cor 5:10-11; Rev 20:11-15). This is the reason all humans should seek and call God when they are alive and well, every human must seek pardon towards God for their sins in deep penitence before death comes to them (Isa 55:6-7). This can be done easily done by any human now by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Once a sinner accepts to God that he cannot save himself by any of his own self effort and that He needs a Savior, immediately God will acknowledge such sincere heart and will save that person from sin immediately as he confesses Jesus as his Lord and believes in his heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead as a testimony of justification from his own sins (Rom 10:9; Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:17).
God has saved all humans right from Adam and Eve to until today based on what Jesus Christ has done for them two thousand years ago on Calvary, this is the reason the writer to the Hebrew says, "For we who have believed [Jesus Christ] do enter that rest [of salvation by faith without works because of Jesus' work on the Cross]...although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." (Rom 4:3). In other words, when God wanted to save Adam and Eve, He looked upon Jesus' work that He was going to come and fulfill as the work of righteousness of Adam and Eve and saved them because they believed God by faith for salvation. The same thing God has done for all those who have believed Him for all the 4000 years before Jesus arrived on earth to make atonement for all humans and bring salvation to them (2 Cor 5:18-21; Matt 1:21). Apostle John agrees with this above theology and says that Jesus is actually in God's eyes, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8). All those who sacrificed a Lamb by faith in God, believing for a future Messiah of God who would come and bring salvation of their souls were all saved from the first Adam to those in Jesus' generation who believed in Jesus by the blood of Jesus' sacrifice for their sins (Matt 23:33-36; Heb 11:39-40; 1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:5-6). The same gospel we hear today was preached to the spirits in prison in Hades, and then Jesus took them along with Him to heaven and made them stay there forever because of the salvation of their souls which they have received from Him, before which they could not enter heaven legally and were captives of God in the captivity of Hades prison or in others words was called as 'Abraham's bosom' in the righteous section of Hades prison in which dead souls of people are kept in confinement under God's custody under the earth (Eph 4:7-10; Matt 27:51-53; Luke 16:22). While the righteous section of Hades prison was emptied when Jesus rose from the dead and took all of them with Him to heaven, the unrighteous section of souls in Hades still remain in torment and will remain until the White Throne Judgment of God takes places after the destruction of the present heaven and the earth (Eph 4:8-10; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev 20:11-13). After that judgment in which all sinners will have risen up in their eternal body have been condemned forever, Hades prison, death and all sinners alike will be cast in to the lake of fire along with Satan and his demonic minions who followed him for eternity ahead (Rev 20:14-15).
All the Old Testament saints looked upon the future sacrifice of Jesus to be saved (Isa 53:1-12). Since the death and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of all humanity, all the righteous people of God became saved when they looked backward upon the sacrifice which Jesus made for each of them individually (1 Peter 2:24).
It is wrong for people to assume that only for the last two thousand years the gospel of salvation through faith has come to all earth to save people by their faith. Paul the apostle said that the gospel was preached by God to Abraham (Gal 3:8), the writer to the Hebrews said that the gospel was preached to the Israelite's in the wilderness who disobeyed and missed the blessing of it (Heb 4:2). This shows that right from the first human who was saved, faith in God was created by their expectation of the coming Messiah and the supernatural salvation that God will bring to their souls through Him (Gen 3:14-15, 20-21). When Cain sinned against God by rejecting the God's only way of offering the lamb by faith for the forgiveness of his sins, God said to him, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Gen 4:7) which in itself shows that at that time itself they all knew the right way of entering in to fellowship with God through their faith in the coming Messiah, but still by individual rebellion of sin, many like Cain rejected God's way of drawing near to Him by faith and chose their own way of approaching God which God completely rejected and cursed. Many in the Old Testament time do not know the intricate details of how Messiah will come and fulfill the righteous requirement of God to bring salvation to all of them (1 Peter 1:10-12), but generally they knew that the Messiah would come and bring redemption of salvation (Job 19:25;; Isa 53:7-8, 10, 11-12; Dan 9:25-26; Psa 16:10-11). If God had not declared about a Messiah coming to save people on earth supernaturally from their sins, who will also restore the fellowship with Himself apart from their works (Rom 3:21-22), saving faith could not have come to any human. Unless and until God would have revealed this Messianic saving information personally to each individual through various methods and means which stirred them to believe what God has told to them previously (Rom 10:17; Heb 11:6), no human could have had faith to be saved. No human can have faith in faith because it needs an object to believe, so God's object of faith was the Messiah He was going to send as the lamb to be slain and atoned for the sins of all humans who have believed Him.
5) God Speaks To All Humans Through His Written Word
God's word says that He has magnified His word even above all His name (Psa 138:2). We cannot imagine how much God has chosen to honor His word because of His faithfulness to keep His word and promise. All the word that God has spoken, not even one word has fallen down just because He lacked resources or energy to fulfill it or it was fulfilled partially at any time in the history because of God's inability to do it fully (Jos 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56). In fact the New Testament gives a blank check freely for all the children of God to sign their own name and claim as many promises as there are in the whole Bible in Christ Jesus, and then withdraw as much as they need spiritually and in all areas of life from the unlimited supply of the bank of heaven (2 Cor 1:20). In Jesus all the promises are yes and amen for the Glory of God! Again Jesus said clearly at the end of His ministry before He died, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matt 24:35). So from the above verse we can understand the value of surety that God places for the word that He has spoken through His Spirit and His Son Jesus, and is even considered as a sure happening even above the permanency of the heaven and earth. In other words, very soon we may die and end up in eternity, or the present heaven and earth may soon become old to pass away like as a day in a short span of time after the Messiah Jesus comes to earth and rules for a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8, 10). But if we have believed God's word and have died in our generation, God will wind up this present heaven and earth, and then will evaluate to judge all the unbelievers and send them to hell fire (Rev 20:11-15). Then just because we have believed his word and died in our generation, God will raise us in a position according to what we have believed in the new earth and new heaven, and will never for eternity forget to reward us, exalt us and honor us (1 Sam 2:30). O what a privilege!
Also God said to Jeremiah the Prophet, "I am ready to perform My word." (Jer 1:12). In other words, God is so excited to perform His word at the right appointed time always, and so there is no chance for any of His promises to fail. People all through the history have depended on the written word of God and received great faith in their lives. Jesus Himself nearly at all times expressed His faith in the written word of God in spite of Jesus being the embodiment of the word of God revealed in the flesh to all humans (John 1:1, 14; Matt 4:4, 7, 10). Daniel the prophet received faith through reading the prophet Jeremiah's Spirit inspired books, here is what the Daniel himself says about it, "2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." (Dan 9:2-3). In other words, because Daniel the prophet was able to hear the inspired written word of God from the writing of the Prophet Jeremiah, he was able to have faith to request God to do His promise by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. This is the power of the inspired word. People like Ezra the reformer in the Old Testament period prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel to create faith in their hearts (Ezra 7:10). When a Ethiopian eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, who had also come to worship the true God of all heavens and earth in Jerusalem and was returning back to his home country. At that time he was reading the Scripture in his chariot to understand about God and have faith sincerely, God saw that sincere heart and sent Philip the evangelist to preach Jesus to him and as a result save him from his sins and spread the good news to his own country (Acts 8:26-39).
When the rich man in the story which Jesus told to reveal to all about what happens to a man in his after life, was shown to have asked Abraham the man of God who was in the other side of the righteous section of Hades having Lazarus in his bosom, to send Lazarus who was a beggar in his earthly life to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue as he was tormented in flame. Father Abraham clearly told him that there is a gulf fixed in between the righteous section of Hades and the unrighteous section so that no one can pass from one section to the other. Again the rich man in torment in Hades cried out to Abraham saying, "27....‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”" (Luke 16:27-31). Here we see Father Abraham saying that the book of Moses and the prophets are more than available to all the people in the nation of Israel (Rom 2:12-13), so that if they obey all the things God has revealed in it, they will be saved and will not come to be tormented in the unrighteous section of Hades for their sins and be condemned for eternity ahead. If they do not obey the book of Moses and prophets, neither will they obey even if anyone rises from the dead like Jesus who did rise to justify sinners and save them. If any person would sincerely believe the book of Moses and will do them, immediately he will understand his weakness to keep it and therefore will be led to believe Christ by faith and be saved from sin (John 5:46-47; 1 Tim 1:9; Gal 3:19, 21, 23-24). Here we see how important God considers His word revealed through Moses and prophets to all the people of the nation of Israel and through them to all the earth to get saved from sin and know Him personally (Matt 23:15; 21:43; John 4:22; Isa 49:6; 42:6; Eph 2:11-12). What does it teach us? Whoever in the whole world sincerely wants to read and understand His word to have faith, those people will be touched by God without fail and will be saved from sin through their faith. God and His word are one, if a person believes His word, he is believing and taking God at His word, so God will never fail such people. All of God's inspired word was already settled in heaven before time began and then was given to us on time through Prophets of old and then finally through Jesus and his apostles (Psa 119:89; Heb 1:1-2). Those who believe His word can be saved from sin even without a shadow of turning because His word is not only a perfect gift to all humanity but also embodies and reveals God through it in the person of Jesus Christ (James 1:17).
We have seen the above five ways in which God has revealed Himself to all humanity without fail. No human born on earth can claim after his death to have never heard or known that he should have sought God. The Bible reveals that the very purpose of God for all humans to live on earth is for them to at least grope for God and find Him, so that they might be saved from sin and enjoy fellowship with God for eternity ahead as His children (Acts 17:24-28). Those who have rejected the very purpose of God for their lives and want to live for themselves, will finally end up before God and be judged for their negative choice to reject God and His salvation from sin and death. God desires all humans to make a positive and a good choice of accepting His salvation from sin through Jesus Christ and desires them to live with Himself for eternity ahead to enjoy life in heaven and new earth that is prepared for them (1 Tim 2:3-7; 2 Peter 3:13). But when people want to live by themselves rejecting God and His purpose, because of His love He will allow people according to their own desire end up in hell fire prepared for devil and his angels which is the place with no God's presence at all and full of eternal torment (Matt 25:41, 46; 2 Thess 1:9). This place of torment is perpetual for eternity ahead in which the hell fire shall never be quenched and their worms do not die (Mark 9:43-48). So I request all readers to make sure that everyone take a positive leap of faith and live by it to inherit eternal life with God forever. If we choose to enjoy God's life within now, soon in our after life we will enjoy His life without in every area of our life for eternity ahead.
Much Blessings....
Answer : I believe that faith in God is what pleases God and saves people. God's word says that "...without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Heb 11:6). In other words, no matter what background a person come from or how much he or his forefathers know about the true God, it doesn't matter. If a person sincerely starts to seek after the true God and comes in to relationship with Him believing that He is a person who is a just rewarder, that will please God enough to save that seeking person from sin.
What then does faith really means? Again the word of God says that, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb 11:1) and "...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."(Rom 10:17). The first five books of the Bible is written by Moses who lived between 1500 and 1300 BC. The first eleven chapters of the Bible that occurred long before his time in which creation and the flood story have been accurately described must have come by the revelation of God and also through earliest accounts which were handed on from generation to generation in songs, narratives, and poetry. God gave Moses "two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18) and then told him to write all the other things that He has given as a law and commandment for all the people of Israel to follow (Deut 31:24-26; 32:44-47). Then the writings of the thirty or so other contributors to the Old Testament span a thousand years! The New Testament was written during a much shorter period, i.e. mainly during the last half of the first century AD and also a few books were written between 35-50 AD. Now we have the word of God written and printed in a book which we call it the word of God.
Yes indeed the word of God came through inspiration of the prophets and apostles who wrote it down, and which was again passed on by the scribes who meticulously and painstakingly wrote it and copied it word for word for all the succeeding generations. Still the written word of God were not available to all common people until after 1500 A.D. Also how about the people who lived before the flood of Noah that happened at around 2400 B.C. and also the people who lived from the flood to the time of Moses?
A just God cannot leave people without an equal opportunity to hear about the word of God and as a result of it help them believe the true God and be saved from sin. We know that God Himself says and claims about His authentic genuineness of His justice by saying, "For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "18...I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19. ... I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 21. ... there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me."" (Isaiah 45:18-21).
So let us see in what ways God reached all the people of the world with the word of God which is the message of salvation justly spread with an equal opportunity for every one of them to be saved from sin by faith?
1) Word Of God Proclaimed Through Prophets And Saints Alike
God sent His prophets with the word of God in their mouth until Jesus came so that people who hear them could be saved (Heb 1:1). Noah was a prophetic preacher of righteousness before God destroyed the world through a worldwide flood (2 Peter 2:5). Enoch also was a prophet whom God used to prophesy judgment to the sinning world before the flood destroyed the pre-diluvian people (Jude 14-15). After the flood that destroyed the whole world, God introduced His true faith to a pagan named Abraham from a place named Mesopotamia where his father and forefathers followed many pagan gods (Joshua 24:2; Acts 7:2). But we see from the Scripture that there was a longing in the heart of Abraham which made him seek the true God, and there in the midst of paganism he heard the voice of God and followed Him with implicit obedience, and trusting in God he went to a place without any specific address where God told him to go (Joshua 24:3; Gen 1:1-4). Later God used Abraham as a prophet and a testimony of the true God before many unbelievers (Gen 20:6-7). Even Issac and Jacob lived as a prophet and a witness of the living God among the pagan world (Heb 11:20; Gen 49:1-28; Acts 3:25; Psa 105:15).
2) The Truth Of God Was Passed On Through The Word Of Mouth
Just ten generations must have spanned the 1656 years between the day God made Adam and the day Noah entered the ark to escape the great flood. First, Adam who lived from the day of creation (0 - 930 B.C.) and his total life span was 930 years, second Seth (130 - 1042 B.C.) and his life span was 912 years, third Enosh (235 - 1140 B.C.) and his life span was 905 years, fourth Cainan (325 - 1242 B.C.) and his life span was 910 years, fifth Mahalalel (395 - 1290 B.C.) and his life span was 895 years, sixth Jared (460 - 1422 B.C.) and his life span was 962, seventh Enoch (622 - 987 B.C.) and his life span was 365 years and he was taken by God directly to heaven without seeing death (Jude 1:14-15; Gen 5:24), eight Methuselah (687 - 1656 B.C.) and his life span was 969 years, ninth Lamech (847 - 1651 B.C.) and his life span was 777 years and tenth Noah (1056 - 2006 B.C.) and his life span was 950 years.
As Adam knew the truth of what has fallen on humankind because of his own disobedience to God and also because God had directly taught the truth of how to draw near to Him in faith through the sinless blood sacrifice of animals (Gen 3:14-19, 21; 4:3-7, Heb 11:4), If Adam could have told the truth to Enoch and Enoch told it to Methuselah, the truth and testimony about the true God would have definitely been know to all through these men of God who lived among them. Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah. Methuselah's name itself was a prophetic one which meant "his death shall bring judgment" and true to his name just after his death in that very year the flood came universally and destroyed all mankind for their sin (1 Peter 3:20). Noah was the final clarion call of God to the whole of mankind before God destroyed the whole world with a mighty flood. Noah was preacher of righteousness and the Ark which he built was God's testimony to the whole world about the reality of the flood that was coming to destroy the whole world for its sinfulness (Heb 11:7). Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5), because though he might not have gone on to preach to all humans present at his time from a platform, his labor on the Ark would have been his witness. The Ark would have been the headline story of the whole world during that time, because no one would have seen anything like that huge structure until then. Though Noah's ark was a international headline for the pre-flood generation, nobody was willing to believe Noah the man of God who kept building the Ark. Jesus confirmed this truth and said, "“As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:36–39). Like Noah's ark, Jesus is now building His Church (1 Peter 3:20-22; Mat 16:15--20), whoever believes in the name of Jesus is given the rights to be a child of God and be saved as a part of the Church from the end time great Tribulation that is coming upon the whole wide world (John 1:12; Matt 24:21-22; Rev 3:10; Luke 21:34-36). One of these days suddenly the whole Church will be taken out of this world to be with the Lord Jesus forever in New Jerusalem (Luke 17:28-37; John 14:1-4; Mark 14:62; Eph 2:6). People were so busy with their earthly survival that they were not willing to hear the godly eternal truth of Noah and be saved from sin through faith. In our today's world, the Body of Christ which is the Church of the living God stands as the pillar of truth for all world to see as the testimony of God as in Noah's time (1 Tim 3:15). Jesus is the builder of the Ark which is the Church in today's world (Matt 16:18), if people believe Jesus and are baptized spiritually in to Him, then they will be saved from God's wrath that is coming upon the whole world very soon (1 Peter 3:20-21; Rev 3:10). Jesus Himself is the testimony of God that is proclaimed in the whole world and stands today as the spiritual Ark of our times, God has promised that the world will only come to an end after all the whole world hears about the Ark of salvation in Jesus through the gospel of the Kingdom (Matt 24:14).
Many more prophets of God were used after Moses to speak to the people of Israel to turn towards Him and live righteously until Jesus came finally to speak repentance to the nation of Israel and turn them towards God (Matt 4:17), but when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, immediately God took the official Spirit and Covenant of salvation away from them and had given it to the Church temporarily until they accept Jesus as their Messiah which they will do when He return's back to the earth the second time (Jer 7:25; 44:4; Matt 21:33-44; Zech 12:10; Rom 11:25-27).
3) God Speaks To Seeking People And All Humans Through Visions and Dreams
Another great example of a man of God in the midst of the pagan world was Job, who was believed to have lived after the flood and most probably during the time of the Patriarch's Abraham, Issac and Jacob or even little before that, much before Moses ever came in to the scene (Job 22:16). Evidence of it is seen in the way Job acts as the chief priest of the family in offering sacrifices which is similar to Abraham's time (Genesis 8:20; 12:7-8; 31:54; Job 1:5; cf. 42:8), the way Job distributed his wealth equally to his daughters which was not the same in the Old Testament times after the law came (Job 42:15; Numbers 27:1-11; 36:1-13), the way his wealth was measured by the livestock he had which is more characteristic of patriarchal times (Job 1:3; 42:12), then like the patriarchs, Job used God’s unique title “El Shaddai” (God Almighty) and finally Job lived to more than two hundred years which is more comparable to the long lives of the patriarchs who lived around 2200 B.C (Job 1:3, 5, 13, 18; 42:10-13, 13-17; Genesis 11:22-23). Knowing for sure all the above facts, we should understand that Job never had a Bible to know about God just like Abraham who lived in the midst of Pagan people. Job came from the same middle eastern area just near to where Abraham also came from (Job 1:1,3; Gen 11:31).
How did God speak to these people without the word of God in their hands to read, God saw their seeking heart and spoke to them in visions and dreams.
In Book of Job God spoke to another godly man named Elipaz [i.e. who was Job's friend with a critical attitude] who revealed it saying, "12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. 13 In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up. 16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying: 17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?" (Job 4:12-17). This above verse shows that God can speak to reveal Himself and His salvation through visions like the above to all men. Elihu was a young God seeker and a friend of Job, he also testified that God speaks consistently in dreams and visions, "14 For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, 16 Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. 17 In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man." (Job 33:14-17). The above verses confirms that God speaks to all men in the night with dreams and visions and them He opens the spiritual ears inside them and seals his instruction so that men will turn from evil that they do and also keep themselves away from being proud which He hates. So a just God must have revealed to all men in all ages His message of salvation through faith in the Coming Messiah, not just once but many times consistently to get saved through faith in His sacrifice that He will do for them in the future.
We should understand that men like David, Isaiah and Job spoke very clearly and prophetically about the coming Messiah, and his sacrifice that will save them and all of God's people from their sin, and also they knew God as redeemer (Job 19:25; 13:15-16; Psa 65:3; Isa 53:11-12). How did these godly people knew about a coming Savior hundred's and thousand's of years before He ever came to the earth to save them? The just God has revealed these things to them in visions and dreams. Then they also heard about it through the word of the mouth that was passed on to them from their previous generations that lived before them, this happened right from the creation time, many people believed that God has promised to send a Messiah who will save all humans who believe Him from their sins and they symbolically offered animal [i.e. preferably a young lamb] as a sign of their faith towards God which He instituted right from the day of creation and fall of all men (Gen 3:21; 4:3-7, 16, 25-26).
On the day of judgment no one could say that they never heard about a righteous God who saves them from sin because God must have tried to help them believe His truth many times through dreams and visions in their lives as we have seen above.
4) God Speaks To All Humans In Their Spirit-man Right From Their Birth
The Bible says, "The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart." (Prov 20:27). This means what is right is being revealed by God in the heart of all humans who come in to the world. The lamp of the Lord within the spirit of man becomes darkened when humans begin's to sin against the conscience which is within their spirit, and fail to be thankful to God for shining the light of truth upon them. The lamp of the Lord in human spirit is like a lamp with a chimney around it. If any person using the chimney lamp fails to clean the glass over a period of time, the light which shines from within will fail to seen outside. Who is to blame for the lack of light? The lamp user who has failed to clean the chimney. In the same way, when a person fails to realize that he is sinning against God, it means that he has failed to clean the darkened glass chimney of his spirit-man inside him.
Apostle Paul beautifully describes this situation saying, "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Rom 1:18-25). From the above Scripture we know that every human born in this earth has been receiving the revelation of what they need to know of God within their spirit-man because God has shown it to them. The apostle speaks so confidently by the inspiration of the Spirit of God saying that all humans born since the creation of earth has also understood and clearly seen within them God's invisible attributes of His character and have even understood the weightier things of God's eternal power and Godhead. A just God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Num 23:19; 2 Thess 1:6; Psa 7:11). God says that His thoughts and ways are so high than human ways and thoughts, it is comparatively like as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isa 55:9). So such purity of righteousness, justice and truth cannot even be questioned by humans who are all influenced by the sinful nature always acting within them and unknowingly dimming their view of God's 100% righteousness, justice and truth (Rom 9:14-15, 20).
God says that no human are without excuse who die without salvation because "although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." Idolatry and cannibalism are promoted among heathens because of humans darkening their own heart because of denying the light of God which is the truth of God which shines from within, and also because of unthankful attitude towards God for all the blessings they enjoy in their earthly life from sun light to water to food and all things including sovereign protection of their lives on earth. When God abandon's man to go in his own way, only then with a darkened heart man foolishly starts to practice all sinful things that dishonor's themselves and destroys them. Once humans exchange the truth of God within them for the lie of the devil which they accept to convince themselves that they do not need to adhere to the commandments of God and walk according to the truth of God that shines within them, from that time onward their chimney glass of their spirit-man get more darkened, until after a period of time, they like cockroaches like to dwell in only darkness and scurry for cover if ever the light of God shines on them again (1 John 5:19). Now at this point of time, all humans tend to center their lives upon themselves and set a compromised third rated standard of adherence to do whatever is right in their own eyes and reject God completely out of their lives (Jud 21:25). In other words, thinking that there is no God in charge of their lives and that they need to give no account to anyone regarding the way they live their lives, they have become fools.
God will one day judge all of their thoughts based on His perfect standard of the light of truth that kept shining with in them, so that "14 ...when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel," says Apostle Paul (Rom 2:14-16). When God judges from His standard all the thoughts of men, no human can stand before Him on that day of White Throne Judgment for unbelievers, and give any excuse for all his or her sins (Eccl 12:14; 2 Cor 5:10-11; Rev 20:11-15). This is the reason all humans should seek and call God when they are alive and well, every human must seek pardon towards God for their sins in deep penitence before death comes to them (Isa 55:6-7). This can be done easily done by any human now by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Once a sinner accepts to God that he cannot save himself by any of his own self effort and that He needs a Savior, immediately God will acknowledge such sincere heart and will save that person from sin immediately as he confesses Jesus as his Lord and believes in his heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead as a testimony of justification from his own sins (Rom 10:9; Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:17).
God has saved all humans right from Adam and Eve to until today based on what Jesus Christ has done for them two thousand years ago on Calvary, this is the reason the writer to the Hebrew says, "For we who have believed [Jesus Christ] do enter that rest [of salvation by faith without works because of Jesus' work on the Cross]...although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." (Rom 4:3). In other words, when God wanted to save Adam and Eve, He looked upon Jesus' work that He was going to come and fulfill as the work of righteousness of Adam and Eve and saved them because they believed God by faith for salvation. The same thing God has done for all those who have believed Him for all the 4000 years before Jesus arrived on earth to make atonement for all humans and bring salvation to them (2 Cor 5:18-21; Matt 1:21). Apostle John agrees with this above theology and says that Jesus is actually in God's eyes, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8). All those who sacrificed a Lamb by faith in God, believing for a future Messiah of God who would come and bring salvation of their souls were all saved from the first Adam to those in Jesus' generation who believed in Jesus by the blood of Jesus' sacrifice for their sins (Matt 23:33-36; Heb 11:39-40; 1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:5-6). The same gospel we hear today was preached to the spirits in prison in Hades, and then Jesus took them along with Him to heaven and made them stay there forever because of the salvation of their souls which they have received from Him, before which they could not enter heaven legally and were captives of God in the captivity of Hades prison or in others words was called as 'Abraham's bosom' in the righteous section of Hades prison in which dead souls of people are kept in confinement under God's custody under the earth (Eph 4:7-10; Matt 27:51-53; Luke 16:22). While the righteous section of Hades prison was emptied when Jesus rose from the dead and took all of them with Him to heaven, the unrighteous section of souls in Hades still remain in torment and will remain until the White Throne Judgment of God takes places after the destruction of the present heaven and the earth (Eph 4:8-10; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev 20:11-13). After that judgment in which all sinners will have risen up in their eternal body have been condemned forever, Hades prison, death and all sinners alike will be cast in to the lake of fire along with Satan and his demonic minions who followed him for eternity ahead (Rev 20:14-15).
All the Old Testament saints looked upon the future sacrifice of Jesus to be saved (Isa 53:1-12). Since the death and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of all humanity, all the righteous people of God became saved when they looked backward upon the sacrifice which Jesus made for each of them individually (1 Peter 2:24).
It is wrong for people to assume that only for the last two thousand years the gospel of salvation through faith has come to all earth to save people by their faith. Paul the apostle said that the gospel was preached by God to Abraham (Gal 3:8), the writer to the Hebrews said that the gospel was preached to the Israelite's in the wilderness who disobeyed and missed the blessing of it (Heb 4:2). This shows that right from the first human who was saved, faith in God was created by their expectation of the coming Messiah and the supernatural salvation that God will bring to their souls through Him (Gen 3:14-15, 20-21). When Cain sinned against God by rejecting the God's only way of offering the lamb by faith for the forgiveness of his sins, God said to him, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Gen 4:7) which in itself shows that at that time itself they all knew the right way of entering in to fellowship with God through their faith in the coming Messiah, but still by individual rebellion of sin, many like Cain rejected God's way of drawing near to Him by faith and chose their own way of approaching God which God completely rejected and cursed. Many in the Old Testament time do not know the intricate details of how Messiah will come and fulfill the righteous requirement of God to bring salvation to all of them (1 Peter 1:10-12), but generally they knew that the Messiah would come and bring redemption of salvation (Job 19:25;; Isa 53:7-8, 10, 11-12; Dan 9:25-26; Psa 16:10-11). If God had not declared about a Messiah coming to save people on earth supernaturally from their sins, who will also restore the fellowship with Himself apart from their works (Rom 3:21-22), saving faith could not have come to any human. Unless and until God would have revealed this Messianic saving information personally to each individual through various methods and means which stirred them to believe what God has told to them previously (Rom 10:17; Heb 11:6), no human could have had faith to be saved. No human can have faith in faith because it needs an object to believe, so God's object of faith was the Messiah He was going to send as the lamb to be slain and atoned for the sins of all humans who have believed Him.
5) God Speaks To All Humans Through His Written Word
God's word says that He has magnified His word even above all His name (Psa 138:2). We cannot imagine how much God has chosen to honor His word because of His faithfulness to keep His word and promise. All the word that God has spoken, not even one word has fallen down just because He lacked resources or energy to fulfill it or it was fulfilled partially at any time in the history because of God's inability to do it fully (Jos 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56). In fact the New Testament gives a blank check freely for all the children of God to sign their own name and claim as many promises as there are in the whole Bible in Christ Jesus, and then withdraw as much as they need spiritually and in all areas of life from the unlimited supply of the bank of heaven (2 Cor 1:20). In Jesus all the promises are yes and amen for the Glory of God! Again Jesus said clearly at the end of His ministry before He died, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matt 24:35). So from the above verse we can understand the value of surety that God places for the word that He has spoken through His Spirit and His Son Jesus, and is even considered as a sure happening even above the permanency of the heaven and earth. In other words, very soon we may die and end up in eternity, or the present heaven and earth may soon become old to pass away like as a day in a short span of time after the Messiah Jesus comes to earth and rules for a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8, 10). But if we have believed God's word and have died in our generation, God will wind up this present heaven and earth, and then will evaluate to judge all the unbelievers and send them to hell fire (Rev 20:11-15). Then just because we have believed his word and died in our generation, God will raise us in a position according to what we have believed in the new earth and new heaven, and will never for eternity forget to reward us, exalt us and honor us (1 Sam 2:30). O what a privilege!
Also God said to Jeremiah the Prophet, "I am ready to perform My word." (Jer 1:12). In other words, God is so excited to perform His word at the right appointed time always, and so there is no chance for any of His promises to fail. People all through the history have depended on the written word of God and received great faith in their lives. Jesus Himself nearly at all times expressed His faith in the written word of God in spite of Jesus being the embodiment of the word of God revealed in the flesh to all humans (John 1:1, 14; Matt 4:4, 7, 10). Daniel the prophet received faith through reading the prophet Jeremiah's Spirit inspired books, here is what the Daniel himself says about it, "2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." (Dan 9:2-3). In other words, because Daniel the prophet was able to hear the inspired written word of God from the writing of the Prophet Jeremiah, he was able to have faith to request God to do His promise by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. This is the power of the inspired word. People like Ezra the reformer in the Old Testament period prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel to create faith in their hearts (Ezra 7:10). When a Ethiopian eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, who had also come to worship the true God of all heavens and earth in Jerusalem and was returning back to his home country. At that time he was reading the Scripture in his chariot to understand about God and have faith sincerely, God saw that sincere heart and sent Philip the evangelist to preach Jesus to him and as a result save him from his sins and spread the good news to his own country (Acts 8:26-39).
When the rich man in the story which Jesus told to reveal to all about what happens to a man in his after life, was shown to have asked Abraham the man of God who was in the other side of the righteous section of Hades having Lazarus in his bosom, to send Lazarus who was a beggar in his earthly life to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue as he was tormented in flame. Father Abraham clearly told him that there is a gulf fixed in between the righteous section of Hades and the unrighteous section so that no one can pass from one section to the other. Again the rich man in torment in Hades cried out to Abraham saying, "27....‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”" (Luke 16:27-31). Here we see Father Abraham saying that the book of Moses and the prophets are more than available to all the people in the nation of Israel (Rom 2:12-13), so that if they obey all the things God has revealed in it, they will be saved and will not come to be tormented in the unrighteous section of Hades for their sins and be condemned for eternity ahead. If they do not obey the book of Moses and prophets, neither will they obey even if anyone rises from the dead like Jesus who did rise to justify sinners and save them. If any person would sincerely believe the book of Moses and will do them, immediately he will understand his weakness to keep it and therefore will be led to believe Christ by faith and be saved from sin (John 5:46-47; 1 Tim 1:9; Gal 3:19, 21, 23-24). Here we see how important God considers His word revealed through Moses and prophets to all the people of the nation of Israel and through them to all the earth to get saved from sin and know Him personally (Matt 23:15; 21:43; John 4:22; Isa 49:6; 42:6; Eph 2:11-12). What does it teach us? Whoever in the whole world sincerely wants to read and understand His word to have faith, those people will be touched by God without fail and will be saved from sin through their faith. God and His word are one, if a person believes His word, he is believing and taking God at His word, so God will never fail such people. All of God's inspired word was already settled in heaven before time began and then was given to us on time through Prophets of old and then finally through Jesus and his apostles (Psa 119:89; Heb 1:1-2). Those who believe His word can be saved from sin even without a shadow of turning because His word is not only a perfect gift to all humanity but also embodies and reveals God through it in the person of Jesus Christ (James 1:17).
Conclusion
We have seen the above five ways in which God has revealed Himself to all humanity without fail. No human born on earth can claim after his death to have never heard or known that he should have sought God. The Bible reveals that the very purpose of God for all humans to live on earth is for them to at least grope for God and find Him, so that they might be saved from sin and enjoy fellowship with God for eternity ahead as His children (Acts 17:24-28). Those who have rejected the very purpose of God for their lives and want to live for themselves, will finally end up before God and be judged for their negative choice to reject God and His salvation from sin and death. God desires all humans to make a positive and a good choice of accepting His salvation from sin through Jesus Christ and desires them to live with Himself for eternity ahead to enjoy life in heaven and new earth that is prepared for them (1 Tim 2:3-7; 2 Peter 3:13). But when people want to live by themselves rejecting God and His purpose, because of His love He will allow people according to their own desire end up in hell fire prepared for devil and his angels which is the place with no God's presence at all and full of eternal torment (Matt 25:41, 46; 2 Thess 1:9). This place of torment is perpetual for eternity ahead in which the hell fire shall never be quenched and their worms do not die (Mark 9:43-48). So I request all readers to make sure that everyone take a positive leap of faith and live by it to inherit eternal life with God forever. If we choose to enjoy God's life within now, soon in our after life we will enjoy His life without in every area of our life for eternity ahead.
Much Blessings....
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment