How were people before the cross saved?
They were saved in exactly the same way that people after the cross are saved. "But," someone asks, "what about the law and the sacrificial system?" It may surprise you to know that they were never a means of salvation! The truth of Ephesians 2:8 and 9 is that salvation is by grace through faith alone. Human works don't enter into the picture.
The same was true for Abraham, according to Galatians 3. In verse 6 we read that Abraham was saved by believing God. Verse 16 qualifies for us what it was specifically that he believed about God: He was going to send a Savior. And verses 13 and 14 qualify for us what it was specifically that he believed that Savior was going to do: redeem him, his descendants, and peoples of all nations. Abraham was saved by believing in Christ and His redemptive work. This is none other than the gospel, which verse 8 states was actually "preached beforehand to Abraham". This is why Jesus said in John 8:56, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day"/
People of Old Testament times were assured of heaven by believing in the Christ, just as we are today. The only difference , of course, is that they put their faith in the redeemer who was to come. We put our faith in the redeemer who has already come. They looked forward to Christ. We look back to Christ.
Dr. Robert J. Burrelli, JR. is pastor of Grace Bible Church, E. Bridgewater, Massachusetts