How were the O.T. people saved?

Larry, "Christ" simply means "Anointed One". I think you will find that reference several times in the OT.

1 Sam. 2:35 -- "...and he will minister before my anointed one always."

Psalm 2:2 -- "The kings of the earth take their sand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One." (This is quoted in Acts 4:26 as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ)

Daniel 9:25 -- "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes...."

They knew. Trusting in the Anointed One was trusting in the One we know as Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world -- God Himself.

 

I am well aware of that. The Hebrew word is meshiach, from where the word Messiah comes.

You will have a very difficult time showing from the OT that salvation come by trusting in the anointed one. My point is that there is no NT equivalent of Acts 16:31. There is no place where OT believers are told to believe in the Messiah for salvation. This is an important distinction, not for us since we don't live in the OT, but certainly for them. You must remember that they did not have all the revelation we have. They were responsible for the revelation they did have. That was my point.

 

New here. Sorry if this is a re-hash. Not all Baptists are dispensationalists.

 

True! Just the ones with sound exegesis and spiritual discernment of God's Holy Word are dispensationalists! We baptize by fire on the BB and you have been officially baptized! Welcome!

 

Consider that Jesus IS God. He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."

Belief in God in the OT days would mean belief in Jesus, wouldn't it?

I'm just speculating here.

 

aefting,
If you take my statement in its context, you will underdstand my point a little better. You have to read the whole post.

The question is, were the OT believers required to follow the law as merely a stopgap measure, looking forward to the final propitiation of Christ, or did the rituals of the law actually have value in covering sin?

Clearly the OT saints were only granted salvation by their looking forward to the messiah, not by the deeds of the law. Christ is the method whereby God justifies the sinner, and places the righteousness of Christ to his account. Following the law, or any other physical, material, temporal action cannot fulfill the debt owed, nor can it impute the righteousness required to enter the presence of a holy God!

 

I don’t see how any of them could have escaped the preaching of Christ, since he is preached from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21….. The whole book is about Him, Christ our Lord….. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost…. Noah and his family rested safely in Christ, while it rained 40 days and 40 nights… Israel drank from that spiritual Rock, Christ…. Etc, etc…..

It never ceases to amaze me how that some would like to do away with the Old Testament altogether… No way brethren, you can’t have one witness without the other….. Christ is not divided… Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me…..

 

Sorry if I misunderstood your post. I think we are basically in agreement. As for you question, I don't think those are the only two choices. Following the law was an act of obedience, not a stopgap measure or an effective covering for sin. Hebrews 9:1-15 (v. 15 is the key verse) and Romans 3:25-26 both deal with issue of OT saints before Christ's actual work on the cross in history. Paul says that it appeared as if God was overlooking their sin but, in reality, He was only forebaring until the time of Christ. So, and this is Paul's point, God's plan of salvation proves His righteousness, even in the case of OT saints.

Andy