Although the work of redemption was not actually worked by Christ until after his incarnation, yet the virtue, effectiveness, and benefits of it were communicated to God’s people in all ages successively from the beginning of the world. This occurred in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices in which he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, the same yesterday and today and forever.
(WCF 8.6)
I’m often asked how people were saved in the time before Jesus Christ came. That’s because many are tempted to think that until Jesus showed up, those in the Old Testament had another way to salvation, like keeping the law, and then things kind of changed once God became flesh and the gospel was completed. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact that is very much what the Apostle Paul refutes in his letter to the Galatians, he refutes the very notion that the law ever saved those who tried to keep it (Gal 3-4). And so if the law never could save the ‘sons and daughters of Adam’, and salvation is in Christ alone, how were people in the old dispensation of things redeemed from the curse of eternal damnation? Well this is the very question that our confession sets out to answer for us here.
It begins by pointing out, “Although the work of redemption was not actually worked by Christ until after his incarnation, yet the virtue, effectiveness, and benefits of it were communicated to God’s people in all ages successively from the beginning of the world.” We often say to those we witness to that it is never to late to be saved, but what we see here is that there was never a time that was too early to be saved either! That’s what we see here, before Jesus came and did all that was needed to be done for the salvation of His people (in His earthly incarnation), there was a time where God gave the saints of old other ways to believe upon the gospel of grace from their time period, so that they might believe and be credited with the perfect work that Jesus would accomplish in the future (Gen 15:5, Acts 13:39, Rom 3:28, 4:5, Gal 3:6).
The writer to the Hebrews puts it like this, ‘Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets’ (Heb 1:1). For example Abel knew (most likely from his father Adam) that God looked on the heart, and was taught that dry dead religion did nothing, and thus looked forward to a fulfillment of the seed that was promised, and longed for the mercy and sacrifice that was shown to his parents (Gen 3:15, 21, Heb 11:4 also look at Gen 4:26). For example Noah came to know the living God by grace alone (Gen 6:8). He then went on to build an ark as a visible illustration to the world around him of the coming judgment on sin, all the while preaching righteousness and mercy that is found in the only saviour of the world (Heb 11:7, 1 Pet 3:20, 2 Pet 2:5). For example Job walked in the fear of God, and showed those around him that sin wont go unpunished and must have atonement (Job 1:1,5, Heb 9:22). For example Abraham witnessed to the Canaanites about the living God that had made the heavens and the earth, and that He blesses faith (Gen 14:22-23) and obedience (Gen 20:6-7,17). Abraham also ‘confessed’ that this world wasn’t all that there is and that there is a place where God dwells (Heb 11:13-16). The list goes on and on.
As you read on through the Old Testament, you see that God showed grace upon grace and gave the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the law at Mt Sinai (Ex 19:1-Num 10:12 c.f. Jn 1:16-17a). The law was good because it defined in a more clearer sense sin and what was required for redemption (Rom 5:12-21, 7:7-24). Yet the Mosaic code only defined sin and what was needed to save, it was never the saving agent itself (Rom 3:20, 5:20a). And thus for all those that looked upon it’s precepts and requirements and knew their own utter inability to keep its demands and where they had broken it, they were caused to cry out for God’s mercy and grace to redeem them (for example see Psalm 38, 51) - in a sense, they were caused to look to the one who was promised to them in the types and the shadows; the promised seed and lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself (Gen 3:15, Jn 1:29, Heb 8:5, 10:1-10)
And so when we put all this together, we can see that there has only been one plan of salvation - Jesus Christ, the Immanuel. Under the old He was seen and believed upon through the preaching of the prophets and then a little more clearer in the law given to Israel. Thus we might agree with our confession that God “in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices in which he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, (is) the same yesterday and today and forever.”