One night long, long ago, the Angel of Death descended on Egypt bringing death to the first-born. God instructed Moses that each household would take a Lamb without blemish,
Exodus 12:7
"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it."
And God told Moses,
Exodus 12:13
"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."
Concerning this, Kenneth Wuest said, "This is, without a doubt, one of the single most important Scriptures in the entirety of the Word of God. The Lamb had taken the fatal blow; and because it had taken the blow, those in the house would be spared. It was not a question of personal worthiness, self had nothing whatsoever to do in the matter, it was a matter of faith.
All under the cover of the Blood were safe, just as all presently under the cover of the Blood are safe. This means that they were not merely in a savable state, but rather that they were saved, as well, they were not partly saved and partly exposed to judgment, they were wholly saved, and because there is no such thing as partial justification. The Lord didn't say, when I see you, or when I see your good works, etc, but, 'When I see the Blood.'
This speaks of Christ and what He would do at the Cross in order that we might be saved, which pertained to Him giving Himself in sacrifice, which necessitated the shedding of His precious Blood."
These Hebrew children were saved when they left Egypt to enter into the wilderness where God would would give them His great Law. But we see that they did not enter into God's rest, they perished both physically and spiritually in the wilderness.
Hebrews 3:10-11
"Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest."
Then Paul gives us fair warning,
vs 12
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."
Take notice, Paul is speaking to the "Brethren" here, departing from God!
Then Paul gives us a second warning!
4:1
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."
Paul is still speaking to the Hebrew Brethren!
Folks, there is no such thing as "unconditional salvation."
Ge 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
You greatly err charlie24, and your thinking is wrong on this. Salvation is a New Testament doctrine because there is much more to salvation than justification. All men whose faith in the judge and what he said to them in the OT were justified and their faith was imputed to them for righteousness. None of those men had been cleared of their sins but a justified man cannot be charged with sin. Consider this;
Ex 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Please read context of all my quotes.
If sins could have been cleared in the OT times then Christ Jesus would not have had to die and OT believers would have gone to heaven in the presence of God and not to paradise in the center of the earth until the blood of Christ washed their sins away..
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
So, what about the sins of the OT saints who had been justified by faith?
Two verses;
Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
God the Father is the one who has been offended by sin. God the Son is the one who has provided the means to take away the offence on sin by taking it's wages on himself for sinners before his sacrifice was made, and after it was made. The Judge is satisfied with his sacrifice and has promised the world that he will give eternal life as a GIFT to anyone who will come to him by faith in what he says and what Jesus Christ has done for them. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ and what he has done for you and not believe what the Father has said .he will do for you. Leave either of these off and it is not salvation. Following is the trinitarian working of salvation from Romans 8 if you understand the Spirit of God indwelling the believer is both the Life of God and the gift of God. Read these wonderful verses with me;
Ro 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Here it is:
Ro 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
The elect in this verse are not Calvinists, unless they are saved Calvinists.
Ro 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Do you think God the Father will hear an intercessory prayer from Jesus Christ on mine or your behalf?
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Consider Lot. Nothing bad said of him because he was justified in the OT:
2Pe 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered
just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the
godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
This verse will help show the whole picture and the condition;
24 But for us also, to whom it (righteousness - another title for the Spirit) shall be imputed,
if we believe on him (God the Father) that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
I hope this makes sense to you.