This is a somewhat tricky question because of terminology.
People in the Old Testament didn’t ask, “What must I do to go to heaven?” (Actually,
the New Testament doesn’t talk this way either.) While the word “saved” is used
in the Old Testament 104 times, the context is usually a physical enemy, as in Psalm
18:3 I will call upon the LORD, who is
worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
Nevertheless, we can see how people were saved in the OT: I will call upon the LORD. But it is used
in a way closer to the New Testament idea of being saved:
Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In
returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be
your strength
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an
everlasting salvation
21 …there is no God else
beside me; a just God and a Saviour
22 Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth
In the Old Testament they didn’t speak of dying and going
to heaven (even though they did believe in the resurrection and eternal
life), instead they spoke in terms of being saved, salvation, and God their
Savior. I believe the words saved, salvation, and Savior give us
a major clue – these are not works and merit words, they are all grace words.
And keep in mind that in the Old Testament, the Jews thought of ultimate,
eternal salvation in terms of the coming Messiah – he would be their Savior.
I believe the real question, the one that allows us to
compare the Old and the New, is, How were people made right with God in
the Old Testament?
+ Repentance
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him
while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
+ Confession
Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto
whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no
guile.
5 I acknowledged my sin unto
thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
+ Calling upon the name of the LORD
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him
while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
+ Faith
Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a
fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of
them.
10 And God saw their works, that
they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said
that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
I know, v 10 says God saw their works, but
what were their works? They believed God, repented (sackcloth), fasted, and
cried mightily unto God (see v 5-9). The only promise they had was judgment, they
believed that and turned to God for mercy. And God had mercy.
They believed and were saved!
This all looks very much like New Testament talk. The answer
to my earlier question, How were people made right with God in the Old
Testament? is, People in Old Testament days were made right with God
by faith.
It is obvious that the Old Covenant was a little different
than the New Covenant. I mean, they had the sabbath, circumcision, sacrifices, the
temple, the priesthood, and all that. Didn’t they have to get all their
ducks in a row before God would save them? No! They were saved by grace
through faith, just like we are. After all, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses, David, Isaiah, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he
hasn’t changed.
Numbers 21:8-9
And the LORD said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass,
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses
made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
NEXT: Old Testament folks were saved by grace through
faith: Part 1 What Paul says in Romans
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