Bible Question: This does not really answer the question as the both bible passages quoted do not explain anything to that effect |
Bible Answer: Aryour Your right I left out a lot that I thought was assumed, sorry!!! First we are all sinners and destined to judgement. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So without a savior we are lost. However we know there were righteous before Jesus Hebrews chapter 11 lists many. Using Abraham as an example the Bible says He was found righteous by his faith Genesis 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Romans 4:9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." Romans 4:22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Galatians 3:6 Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. James 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. In other words he was looking for the Messiah for his salvation. This is true with all the Old Testament saints, they realized they needed a savior. Read David’s psalms, or Solomon’s writings. Upon death since the access for Heaven hadn’t been established yet the dead went to a place called Hades. Hades was divided into two section Abraham’s bosom or paradise and a hot dry place. We see this described in Luke 19. The saints in Abraham’s bosom were waiting for the Messiah, Jesus to come and lead them to Heaven. Having seen the promise in Psalm 68:18. Jesus we are told in Eph. 4:8 fulfilled that. Today when a saint dies he goes directly into the presence of Jesus as Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. However the hot dry place still exist for the unrighteous and is where they remain until the great white throne of judgement. I pray this has cleared this up for you without causing any more confusion. EdB |