SALVATION: OT STYLE

While most of us will agree that salvation in the NT is about grace working through faith as a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9), some are confused about how the Israelites were saved under the Mosaic Covenant. However, Paul makes it clear that even in the OT, salvation had to also be by grace through faith/repentance alone:

·       What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1-8)

Earlier, Paul had argued that a salvation through our merit had always been impossible:

·       …as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:10-12, 19-20)

In contrast, the rabbis teach that the Hebrew Scriptures required more than just faith/repentance (a return to God). Rabbi Gerald Sigal had written:

·       The fulfillment of all the promises God made to Abraham, both those made before circumcision and those made after, is contingent upon obedience to God’s will, not simply faith alone. (The Jew and the Christian Missionary, 274).

To demonstrate that Israel could never merit God’s mercy through obedience, I’d now like you to consider these OT verses:

NO ONE WAS EVER DESERVING BEFORE GOD:

·          Psalm 130:3-4 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

·          Psalm 143:2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

·          Job 15:14-16 "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous? 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!

ISRAEL CERTAINLY WASN’T DESERVING:

·          Isaiah 1:3-4 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.

·          Isaiah 64:7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities.

·          Isaiah 65:2-3 I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts; A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; who sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on altars of brick;

·          Isaiah 66:4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."

·          Jeremiah 5:3 O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.

·          Jeremiah 8:5-6 Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course,

GRACE WOULD ONLY COME TO THE REPENTENT, NOT TO THE “DESERVING”:

(The entire sacrificial system proclaimed grace for the penitent.)

·          2 Chron. 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

·          Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

·          Ezekiel 18:30-32 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

OT PROPHECIES REVEAL THAT IT IS THE REPENTENT, NOT THE DESERVING, WHO WOULD MERCY:

·          Deut. 30:6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

·          Jeremiah 32:38-41 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'

·          Ezekiel 36:24-29 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.

·          Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him… 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.

·          Jeremiah 33:6-8 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth…8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.

Consequently, God’s plan of salvation had remained the same throughout the Bible. This indicates that the Bible represents one unified plan and design of God. Interestingly, the unsophisticated NT writers got it right, while the highly educated rabbis missed it. Why? I think that this represents the fact that NT writers must have been guided by the Spirit.