Photo: Francois van Jaarsveld
A frequently asked question is how people were saved during Old Testament times. Was it through good works? Was it by obedience to the Law and the sacrificial system?
Let us take Abraham for example. An important verse which is quoted several times in the New Testament is:
Abraham believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
This passage is quoted in Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23. Why is this so important? Was Abraham saved because he believed in the promise of the birth of Isaac? Was that what saved him? This depends on how you understand it. Abraham was saved because he ‘saw’ and believed Jesus!
How can one make such a claim? Surely Abraham never met Jesus, did not know about Jesus, and therefore could not have trusted in Jesus? Yet, Abraham was saved because he not only trusted in the promises of Jesus but he also saw Jesus. How did this happen?
In the gospel of John, we find the following statement by Jesus:
Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad (John 8:56).
In which manner did Abraham see Jesus or the day of Jesus? Was it simply the foreshadowing of Jesus, or did he also meet Jesus personally? Abraham saw Jesus in three different ways.
1. Abraham saw Jesus in the Promises of God.
The promise of the LORD that was made to Abraham was that from his descendants, a singular male offspring would come, through whom all people of earth would be blessed.
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3).
And through your offspring (seed) all nations on earth will be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
This is the promise of the LORD that Abraham believed. That one day such a singular male offspring would be born of which Abraham would be the great ancestor. We know this child was born 2000 years into the future from Abraham’s time and that his name was Jesus.
Abraham did not know his name; however, he believed in the promise of such a son, and that seed or offspring was Christ (Galatians 3:16).
However, there is another way that Abraham saw Jesus.
2. Abraham saw Jesus in the Covenant.
In Genesis 15, we find a remarkable encounter. We read that the Word of the LORD came to Abraham in a vision. Now, a vision is something you see. Abraham not only saw the Word of the LORD in a vision; he also spoke to the Word of the LORD. In this encounter, the Word of the LORD responded to him in the first person saying: “I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). In other words, there was somebody there!
Abraham spoke to a person! What is remarkable is that Abraham called him, “O sovereign LORD.”
We then read that this person called the Word of the LORD, “took him outside…” and showed him the stars. In other words, the Word of the LORD was with Abraham in his tent and the Word of the LORD showed him the stars and said, “So shall your offspring be.” The Word of the LORD is none other than an earthly appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ. It is during this encounter that we are told:
“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
We read of this being, called the Word of the LORD in John’s gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
The most remarkable thing happened next. Abraham was told to cut several animals in half and lay the halves side by side. As was the custom in those days, when two parties bound themselves by mutual agreement to a covenant, they would follow this practice and would then walk in between the two halves. This symbolically meant that each party would call down curses upon themselves if they ever broke their part of the covenant agreement. We find this understanding in Jeremiah 34.
The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces (Jeremiah 34:18).
However we read that:
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces (Genesis 15:17).
What it meant was that the LORD alone took the curses of the covenant violations upon himself, while Abraham only watched as a spectator! This is also a foreshadowing of the cross, where Jesus took the curses of the covenant we broke upon himself!
Finally, there is a third way Abraham saw Jesus.
3. Abraham saw Jesus in the Sign of the Covenant.
In Genesis 17 we are told that Abraham had to circumcise every male offspring on the 8th day as the visible sign of the covenant. This was meant so that they would remember the promises of the covenant, as well as the covenant stipulations. This sign should be administered to the body of every male baby on the 8th day.
What was the significance of this ritual, as some other nations and tribes also practice circumcision? Why would he have to do this and only male children and why specifically on the 8th day? The reason for this was twofold:
- The promised seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed was going to be a particular single male descendant.
- Something momentous would happen on the 8th day. When the old creation was completed in six days, the LORD rested on the seventh day. One day there would be a new creation. On the 1st day of this new creation, something remarkable would happen. On the 1st day of the new creation, the curse of death would be forever broken! The proof of this was that Abraham’s promised seed would rise from the dead! Jesus rose on the 8th day, the day after the Sabbath. That is the significance of the 8th day
Summary.
Abraham saw Jesus’s day (John 8:56). He saw Jesus:
- In the promise of a Seed through whom all nations on earth would be blessed.
- In the ratification of the covenant by his visitation to Abraham, entering into a covenant agreement with Abraham, and taking the curses of the covenant broken by sinful human beings upon himself.
- In the sign of the covenant demonstrated through his resurrection from the dead on the 1st day of the new creation or the 8th day.
Yes, Abraham saw Jesus. He was saved through this same Jesus we know and love. Through the work of this promised Seed, by visiting earth, taking the curses of the covenant upon himself, and rising from the dead on the 1st day of the week. Abraham was saved looking forward 2000 years into the time of Jesus on earth and believing it by faith.
The believer is saved today through the same Jesus. By looking back 2000 years in time to the fulfillment of the seed of Abraham, to the one who visited earth and took the curses of the covenant upon himself, to the one who fulfilled the sign of circumcision, to the resurrection from the dead on the 8th day, the first day of the new week.
So, how is the believer today related to Abraham through Christ?
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:28-29).