Did Abraham and David Go To Heaven? Why or Why Not? - Sunday, July 17th
A lot of people wonder if people God used in the Old Testament will go to heaven. After all, the only we can be saved is through Jesus Christ, and they hadn't met him yet. While the passage specifically talks about how Abraham's faith justified him before God, the quoting of King David's words in the psalm also seemed to indicate that he was saved by the same faith Abraham had.
We all know Abraham and David were sinners like us. Abraham lied twice in fear about Sarah being his sister, not his wife. And we all know David's famous sin, when he cheated on his wife and committed adultery with Uriah the Hittite's wife Bathsheba. To make matters worse, he sent Uriah out in the battle and arranged to have him killed to try to cover his sin. It doesn't get much worse than that.
But importantly both men had what the bible describes is the only thing that can save us, "faith". Probably THE most important verse in the bible which gives evidence that those in the Old Testament were justified by their faith is in Genesis 15:6. It is quoted here by Paul in Romans 4,
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
The word "credited" is also translated "accounted", or "reckoned". The word is a banking term and was used in ancient secular documents. It basically meant, "to put into one's account". Notice "righteousness" is not just the absence of bad behavior, but the presence of good behavior.
In our Lutheran confession of sin on Sunday we say, "We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. By what we have done and by what we have LEFT UNDONE!"
Then, Paul uses the analogy that when we work, our wages are credited to us because we earned them. But the righteousness Abraham had was a gift from God that he acquired by faith in the promise. You may say, "Well then faith is a work we do to get righteousness". But faith is a gift given to us as well. God gives us faith to trust in Jesus as our Savior, by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can see the whole Trinity at work in God's gift of salvation to us.
David uses similar language as this Psalm 32:1-2 when he says,
“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them."
We know when David sinned against God, he was in agony and many of his psalms lament his sin before God. This is why we know David was, "A man after God's own heart". Though he sinned, he was deeply sorrow because he loved the Lord and knew it was against him only that he had done what was secret in his heart. When David kept his sin from God the Father, he grew physically sick and was sapped of his strength until he confessed it.
Note he also says, "Happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven". To forgive means to cancel a debt the opposite of having been credited with righteousness. So, Jesus paid our debts and gave us His righteousness as a gift.
Then, Paul says something very interesting about circumcision that might be analagous to baptism for Christians. Paul asks if Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteous, because he was circumcised. The answer is "no", because Abraham was not circumcised in Genesis 15, but he was later at age 99 in Genesis 17 (ouch!) Circumcision was the seal or the outward sign that he was saved by faith.
Similarly some people are baptized as infants then come to have faith later as teenagers or young adults. Others come to faith, and then are baptized. What is most important? That they came to faith in God promises fulfilled in Jesus! It doesn't make circumcision or baptism unimportant, as they are both commanded by God in the respective Old and New Testaments. They are the visible signs of faith and being part of God's community and kingdom.
So What Can We Learn from This?
1. It is faith that saved Abraham, David, Peter, Paul and us as well. Faith is trusting in God's promises. Abraham and David trusted in the promise of what was to come in fulfillment of the covenants he made with both of them. Circumcision also looked forward to baptism, as a sign of being God's child and brought into the community of believers.
2. Though God gives us saving faith, we exercise faith every day of our lives. We possess faith as a noun, and act on it as a verb. Our faith grows stronger, the more we use it. People may realize they have been given faith, and then fall away from the church and never use it. This is quite sad.
3. Has God given you the gift of faith? If you believe God sent His only Son into the world not to condemn it but to save it, you have faith. God wants each one of us to have a personal faith, not the faith our parents or grandparents as important is that is.
4. Where is God calling you to step out in faith in your life RIGHT NOW? At 57 years old, i know I have been given the gift of faith, which I personalized in high school. God is still stretching my faith and calling me to step out into what He is calling me to do every day by faith. I exercised faith when I left home to go to seminary in 1991. I exercised faith recently when I left a church I was at for 16 years to go to a church 60 miles from where I live. And by God's grace I will exercise faith tomorrow when God calls me to do something big or small!
May God bless you with faith my friends! It is the most precious gift you could have!!
Psalm 13:5-6
"But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me."
Proverbs 15:19
"Keep the commandments and keep your life; despising them leads to death."
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