Old Testament Way of Salvation

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God" - Job (Job 19:25-26)

The Old Testament faithful were saved just as we are today - by trusting in the redeemer. They looked ahead to the coming redeemer, Christ, we look back to the redeemer who came, Christ.

The whole Bible is a book about one man, Christ, and we know his name - Jesus.

- fritz

Still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

"[H]ave you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching." - Matthew 22:31b-33

The faithful knew this verse as God's introduction of himself to Moses,¹ but Jesus revealed a meaning they hadn't realized.

Sadducee's, a scholarly religious group in charge of the temple, did not believe in a literal life after death because they found no evidence of it in the books written by Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This caused real contention and confusion among the less studied who were considered common and unintellectual.

Jesus settled the issue and gave hope to all by pointing out, from their own section of the Bible, that when God said "I am"(not "I was") Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's God he was saying they were still very much alive in a very real place, still worshiping God as their own.

The term, "gathered to his people", was not a euphemism for some bone pit but a place of continued fellowship with God and loved ones who had passed on.

"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" - 2nd Corinthians 5:8

- fritz

^{1 - Exodus 3:6}

The "Much More" of "Life"

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10

God wants to do "much more" than just take us from being enemies to being forgiven. If being "saved" was just about forgiveness this verse would not make sense.

"Salvation" is not something we save up for and wait for like social security, it is a daily experience of the risen¹ Jesus; living in the his kingdom now and forever. King David put it this way,

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." - Psalm 68:19

- fritz

^{1 - See "Resurrection of the Body" (July 6,2010)}

Resurrection of the Body

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." - Jesus after his resurrection (Luke 24:39)

Jesus' resurrection was not "spiritual" as we, today, define the term. He didn't become a ghost and he doesn't live in our hearts and minds like our departed loved ones; he was bodily raised from the dead.

That has always been a part of the faith. When the Bible says in Psalms 16:10, "neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption", it's declaring Christ's body would not decay like the rest of humanity; impostors can't make it past the grave¹.

Certainly the resurrected body is different from the body that died; it could materialize anywhere², was not always recognized³, is no longer subject to illness or death⁴, and is "spiritual" in the sense that it is not limited to this earth's physics⁵. But it is a new dimension of physical that can still eat⁶, be touched⁷, and interacted with like any other physical object⁸.

The resurrection of Christ defeated our last enemy, Death⁹, and when Jesus returns our mortal bodies shall change to be like his.¹⁰

That is the classic "hope" of the resurrection, not to be some disembodied ghost somewhere but to be wholy redeemed individuals in the place Jesus went to prepare for us.

- fritz

^{1 - Romans 1:3-4
2 - John 20:19
3 - John 21:4
4 - Romans 6:9
5 - 1 Corin. 15:44 Not "a spirit" but "spiritual body"
6 - Luke 24:41-42
7 - Luke 24:39
8 - Acts 1:3
9 - 1st Corinthians 15:26
10 - Philippians 3:21}