Question
If Jesus is the only way to be united back with God (because he died for our sins), how were people saved before Jesus came into the world?
Answer
Jesus is every essence of who God is - in that sense, he is beyond space and time. He was with God before the creation of the world and will be with him through eternity.
Now when Jesus died on the cross, his sacrifice also goes beyond time (because God is beyond time). As humans, we think in terms of past, present and future because we are within time - we need to realize that God is outside time (something that is impossible for our mind to grasp).
Jesus's death has the power to forgive sins of those who not only lived after him - but also of those who lived before him.
Now, we might wonder how will those who lived before him be aware of this forgiveness when the event has not yet happened. For those who lived before Jesus, their faith in God was counted righteousness for them. They did not have to understand the depth of the theology but were just expected to have faith in God to receive the complete pardon that was available through the death of the Christ.
If Jesus is the only way to be united back with God (because he died for our sins), how were people saved before Jesus came into the world?
Answer
Jesus is every essence of who God is - in that sense, he is beyond space and time. He was with God before the creation of the world and will be with him through eternity.
Now when Jesus died on the cross, his sacrifice also goes beyond time (because God is beyond time). As humans, we think in terms of past, present and future because we are within time - we need to realize that God is outside time (something that is impossible for our mind to grasp).
"A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." - Psalms 90:4
Jesus's death has the power to forgive sins of those who not only lived after him - but also of those who lived before him.
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." - 1 John 2:2
Now, we might wonder how will those who lived before him be aware of this forgiveness when the event has not yet happened. For those who lived before Jesus, their faith in God was counted righteousness for them. They did not have to understand the depth of the theology but were just expected to have faith in God to receive the complete pardon that was available through the death of the Christ.
"And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith." - Genesis 15:6
I hope this explanation helped some.
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