[LindaR]

Salvation is by grace through faith from Genesis through Revelation in all dispensations. The Old Testament saints understood a great deal about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; (Luke 1:69-71)

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:20-21)

The Old Testament prophets understood much about the coming Messiah and His work. (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53).

The Tribulation saints are also saved by grace through faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13-14)

Requirement for sacrifices in the OT times taught the Israelites two great truths:

1. death by the shedding of blood is necessary for the forgiveness of sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22)


For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)

2. no perfect sacrifice had yet appeared. They were to be looking for Him whose heel would be bruised, and who would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the "Seed of the woman"

Paul quoted Genesis 15:6 ("And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness") in Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6 to show that we are saved the same way as Abraham was before the law. He (Paul) also quoted Habakkuk 2:4 ("the just shall live by his faith") in Romans 1:17 and Psalm 32:1-2 ("Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.") in Romans 4:6-8 to show the same about those during the dispensation of the Law.

Both Paul (Romans 10:13) and Peter (Acts 2:21) quoted Joel 2:32, ("And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:"), which describes the tribulation period, to show that we must be saved now even as they will be then!

Paul told Timothy that the Scriptures which he had known from childhood were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and these Scriptures could only have been the Old Testament (2 Timothy 3:15).

Bruce Lackey, Can You Trust Your Bible?

The blood of the Lamb (the Lord Jesus Christ) is the ONLY basis by which a sinner can stand before a holy God....from Genesis through Revelation.

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:2-3)