What happens to people who died before Jesus (Christianity)?

[jeffnevins]

There's probably a biblical answer, but I forgot.

God judges them maybe & sorts them out-

Thanks.

[kat8585]

That's what the sacrificial system was for. It looked forward to Christ. That's why it was abolished at His death.

[whirlwind]

There's probably a biblical answer, but I forgot.

God judges them maybe & sorts them out-

Thanks.

One thing you can consider is the following scripture:

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19.By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison,

20.Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

I believe this scripture tells us that after His crucifixion, while His body was in the tomb, He preached to those that were in prison (their souls were not saved). In doing this He offered them the same grace He offers us.

........Whirlwind

[kari21]

That's what the sacrificial system was for. It looked forward to Christ. That's why it was abolished at His death.

True. Christs salvation was credited to them for believing God's promise of the coming messiah.

[EricH]

There are not a ton of passages in the OT that deal with this. But there are some that seem to indicate people go into God's presence. For example, in 2 Kings 2:11 we are told:

Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind.

2 Kings 2:11b HCSB

In the NT Jesus tells the Sadducees that God is:

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

Matthew 23:32 HCSB

This implies that the patriarchs are alive and with God.

[Sherman]

Salvation has always been and will always be by grace through faith. The hall of faith, Heb.11, is an awesome list of people that were saved through faith. The sacrificial system was a means of grace meant to help them receive forgiveness, but forgiveness ultimately has always been received through faith. Apart from faith the sacrificial system was useless and powerless. What God has required of humankind all along is a broken and contrite heart, one that loves God and his/her neighbor. We are not so far removed from our brothers before Christ as we think.

[tsth]

I believe this scripture tells us that after His crucifixion, while His body was in the tomb, He preached to those that were in prison (their souls were not saved). In doing this He offered them the same grace He offers us.

Sheol, before Jesus' death, was divided into 2 segments, one paradise, one torment. The evidence of this is revealed in the story of Lazarus and the rich man.

Note, in this story, that when Lazarus died, he went to the Bosom of Abraham for comfort, yet the rich man......was buried. And yet, there was a chasm between them, and they obviously could see each other.

Luke 16:19 "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' 27 Then he said, '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.' "

In His Love,

Suzanne

[tsth]

Salvation has always been and will always be by grace through faith. The hall of faith, Heb.11, is an awesome list of people that were saved through faith. The sacrificial system was a means of grace meant to help them receive forgiveness, but forgiveness ultimately has always been received through faith. Apart from faith the sacrificial system was useless and powerless. What God has required of humankind all along is a broken and contrite heart, one that loves God and his/her neighbor. We are not so far removed from our brothers before Christ as we think.

This is true. We can see that from 1 Cor. 10, that they were saved by "faith in Jesus" just like us. They looked forward, we look back. But they were all under the same Rock as us.

1 Cor. 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." F25 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all F26 these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[jeffnevins]

Just finished some major tech freelance stuff- whew.

Thanks for the replies.

So pre-Jesus people that knew about God and accepted Him are going to heaven & the rest are probably not.

In the end, God knows the score better than us on this it seems.

[Tehilah Ba'Aretz]

Sorry to rain on the parade but the question is in error. There is no such thing as before Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the Earth. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He was and he is and he is to come. He is the creator of all. To suggest that there was a different plan of salvation before the revelation of Jesus on earth is to question the Divinity of Christ. Come on friends, there is only one plan from cover to cover. It's all about Jesus!