Westminster Project 8.6
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 before Jesus Christ came. Many are tempted to think that until Jesus appeared, those in the Old Testament had a different way to salvation—like keeping the law—and that everything changed once God became flesh and the gospel was completed. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul refutes in his letter to the Galatians: he rejects the very notion that the law ever saved those who tried to keep it (Galatians 3–4).
So, if the law never could save the “sons and daughters of Adam,” and salvation is found in Christ alone, how were people in the old dispensation redeemed from the curse of eternal damnation? This is precisely the question our confession sets out to answer.
It begins by pointing out, “Although the work of redemption was not actually accomplished 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 tell those we witness to that it is never too late to be saved—but here we see that there was never a time that was too early to be saved either! Before Jesus came and completed all that was needed for the salvation of His people (in His earthly incarnation), God gave the saints of old ways to believe in the gospel of grace appropriate to their time, so that they might believe and be credited with the perfect work Jesus would accomplish in the future (Gen 15:5; Acts 13:39; Rom 3:28; 4:5; Gal 3:6).
The writer of 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 likely learned from his father Adam that God looks on the heart, that empty, dead religion means nothing, and thus he looked forward to the fulfillment of the promised seed, longing for the mercy and sacrifice shown to his parents (Gen 3:15, 21; Heb 11:4; see also Gen 4:26). Noah came to know the living God by grace alone (Gen 6:8). He built an ark as a visible illustration to the world of the coming judgment on sin, all the while preaching the righteousness and mercy found only in the Savior of the world (Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 2:5).
Job walked in the fear of God and demonstrated to those around him that sin would not go unpunished and required atonement (Job 1:1, 5; Heb 9:22). Abraham witnessed to the Canaanites about the living God who 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 was not all there is and that there is a place where God dwells (Heb 11:13–16). The list goes on.
As you read through the Old Testament, you see that God showed grace upon grace and gave the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the law at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:1–Num 10:12; cf. John 1:16–17). The law was good because it clearly defined 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 be saved; it was never the saving agent itself (Rom 3:20; 5:20a). Therefore, all who looked upon its precepts and requirements and realized their own utter inability to keep its demands were led to cry out for God’s mercy and grace to redeem them (see Psalm 38, 51). In a sense, they were caused to look to the one promised to them in types and shadows—the promised seed and Lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself (Gen 3:15; John 1:29; Heb 8:5; 10:1–10).
Putting this all together, we see that there has only ever been one plan of salvation—Jesus Christ, the Immanuel. Under the Old Covenant, He was seen and believed in through the preaching of the prophets and then more clearly in the law given to Israel. Thus, we can 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.”