Expert: Kendra Perry - 1/3/2009

Question
QUESTION:  christians say that in Jesus they have salvation.after  His resurrection, billions of people have been converted. however a vast majority of humanity before Jesus's time     never knew Him.at judgmentdaymn84 what'll happen to them?

ANSWER: From the very beginning of sin, God promised that He would send a Savior to solve the sin problem (see Genesis 3:15).  From the time of Adam and Eve down to the time of Christ, God's followers sacrificed lambs and other animals as a symbol of Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Although people who lived before Jesus are not able to have faith in him as an historical figure, they did have the opportunity to believe and demonstrate their faith in God's promise of a coming Redeemer.

Genesis 15:6 says that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness."  So people who lived before Christ are saved by faith just like those who lived after his lifetime.

See also Romans 4 and Galatians 3.

Hope this helps answer your question!  Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Blessings,

Kendra

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your answer,my follow on question; people who are born into a conservative hindu family with no chance of hearing the Gospel,is there any hope for them?

Answer
Romans 1:20 also tells us that "since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."  I understand this to mean that people can understand on a basic level that God exists and seek to know him, no matter what religious background they are born into.

In Acts 17:30, Paul tells the Athenians that God had "overlooked ignorance" in the past, but that now he wanted everyone to repent.  It appears from this statement that God does take into account what opportunities a person has had to hear about Jesus and salvation.

Although it is not biblical, C.S. Lewis has a lovely scene in his book The Last Battle that I think illustrates this concept. A young Calormen soldier meets Aslan (who represents Christ).  He realizes that this is the God he has been trying to worship all along, though he only knew about Tash (the Calormen god) before.  Aslan welcomes him and tells him that everything he did for Tash, he was really doing for Aslan without knowing it.

Jesus also does state in Matthew 24:14 that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world before he returns, so everyone living at the time of the Second Coming will have had the opportunity to make an informed decision about him.

Hope this helps answer your question!  Please let me know if you need any further information or clarification.

Blessings,

Kendra