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Dear Arthur and Sandra:
I had a quick question. Before Jesus came, the Jews relied
on sacrifices to atone for their sins and be reconciled to
God, but what about the Gentiles? Were the Gentiles able to
be reconciled to God before Jesus? And what was that provision
for them?
Good question. As a point of clarification, before Jesus
came, the Jews did not rely on sacrifices to atone for their
sins and be reconciled to God. Salvation in the OT is the
same as in the NT - by faith alone. By faith, Abraham was
reckoned righteous, right? In Genesis 3, right after the fall
of Adam and Eve, God promises a coming Savior who would crush
Satan's head but bruise His heel (the cross) in the process.
It was faith in Him that brought salvation - even back then.
We are saved now by looking in the past and trusting in the
Messiah. OT saints were saved by looking in the future and
trusting in the coming Messiah.
The sacrifices of the unblemished lambs were 1) a constant
(and gruesome) reminder to the people of how they were unable
to keep the law - and how grotesque their sins against God
really were; 2) a symbol pointing to the ultimate Lamb that
would come - sin required death and so the lambs were slain,
as instructed, and God suspended death from the Jews for a
time. The violent and cruel death of those innocent lambs
pointed to the type of death that their Savior would have
to endure for them (Is. 53) - how indicting!
As for the Gentiles, they were saved by faith in the coming
Messiah as well. Israel was God's chosen nation. Chosen for
what? Chosen as His vessel to bring His light to the world.
It wasn't that they were the only ones chosen for salvation
in the OT and then suddenly things changed in the NT. That's
what many Jews thought, especially Pharisees. They rested
in the fact that they were biological descendents of Abraham
but God wanted spiritual descendents of Abraham (Romans 9).
Rahab is an example of a Gentile convert. There are others
that I can't name right off the top of my head. Gentile converts
then became adopted into the spiritual household of Israel.
The concept of sonship is not defined in terms of biological
descent but rather obedience. Disobedient Jews were disinherited
from spiritual Israel. Those obedient (Jews and Gentiles alike)
were adopted as sons.
Hope this helps.
Arthur
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