One of the questions that inevitably arises when studying the Bible dispensationally is this: Where did the Old Testament saints go when they died? A common answer is that they went directly to Heaven. It seems natural to assume that when these men died, they immediately entered the third Heaven into the presence of God. There is only one problem with that conclusion: Jesus Christ plainly said otherwise. In John 3:13, Christ declared, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” When Christ spoke those words, Abraham had been dead for nearly two thousand years. Moses had been dead for centuries. David had long since “fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers” (Acts 13:36). Yet Jesus said that no man had ascended up to Heaven.
The Bible’s answer is that the righteous dead went to a place of comfort called Abraham’s bosom, located in the heart of the earth. Jesus Christ gives us the clearest picture of this place in Luke 16. When Lazarus died, Christ said that he “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). The rich man also died, but his destination was very different. “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments” (Luke 16:23). Christ describes these men as conscious after death, with one comforted and the other tormented. Between them stood “a great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26), making passage from one side to the other impossible. Abraham told the rich man concerning Lazarus, “now he is comforted, and thou art tormented” (Luke 16:25). Lazarus was therefore not suffering or being punished, but neither does Jesus say that he was in the third Heaven.
The reason for this arrangement becomes clear when we understand the importance of the blood of Jesus Christ. Before Calvary, the sacrifice that could actually take away sin had not yet been offered. Hebrews 10:4 states, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” The sacrifices of the Old Testament were ordained by God and served their purpose under the law, but the blood of an animal could never permanently remove the sins of a man. Those sacrifices pointed forward to the only sacrifice that could accomplish eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12 tells us that Christ entered “by his own blood” and “obtained eternal redemption for us.” Even more importantly for our discussion, Hebrews 9:15 explains that Christ’s death provided “redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament.” In other words, Calvary reached backward as well as forward. The Old Testament saints were declared righteous (justified) by faith and had received the mercy of God, but the historical payment for their sins had not yet been made. They were waiting for the blood.
Understanding this also requires us to rightly divide God’s dealings with men under the law from His dealings with the Body of Christ today. The Old Testament saint did not merely profess faith while ignoring what God had commanded him to do. Under the law, faith had to demonstrate itself through obedience. Deuteronomy 27:26 declared, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” The emphasis is unmistakable: “to do them.” Ezekiel 18 likewise describes the righteous man as one who does “that which is lawful and right” and concludes, “he is just, he shall surely live” (Ezekiel 18:5, 9). The Old Testament saint lived under an economy in which God required him to respond obediently to the revelation he had been given.
This is precisely why James can point to Abraham and ask, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” (James 2:21). Abraham’s faith was not merely something he claimed to possess; it was demonstrated by what he did. Yet those works did not possess saving merit independently of faith. Paul makes that equally clear when he writes, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). Hebrews likewise declares, “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). The biblical picture, therefore, is not faith versus works. Under the Old Testament economy, works were the required evidence and expression of genuine faith. A man could not please God through empty religious performance without faith, but neither could he claim faith while refusing to obey what God had commanded. This is why James says concerning Abraham, “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” (James 2:22). The Old Testament saint’s faith was expected to produce obedience to the revelation God had given him.
This also explains the prominence of mercy under the Old Testament economy. The law pronounced a curse upon the transgressor, and therefore the sinner’s hope rested in the mercy of God. David provides one of the clearest examples. After his sin with Bathsheba and his involvement in the death of Uriah, David stood guilty before God and worthy of judgment. Yet when David confessed, Nathan told him, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). That was mercy. David had not earned an exemption from judgment. God mercifully spared him from what the law demanded.
David’s prayer following his sin also demonstrates how differently the Holy Spirit operated under that economy. David prayed, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). Such a prayer does not describe the doctrinal position of a member of the Body of Christ today, for the believer today is “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). David, however, knew that God’s Spirit could depart from a man because he had watched it happen to Saul. First Samuel 16:14 says plainly, “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.” Samson provides another sobering example. After repeatedly violating the conditions connected with his calling, Samson awoke believing that he would go out as he had before, “and he wist not that the LORD was departed from him” (Judges 16:20). God’s Spirit could depart temporarily, as seen in Samson; permanently, as seen in Saul; or God could mercifully refuse to remove His Spirit, as David pleaded that He would do. These passages should not be forced into the doctrinal operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age.
Yet even with all their faith, obedience, sacrifices, and acts of righteousness, the Old Testament saints were still waiting for something greater. Hebrews 11 concludes its great catalogue of Old Testament believers by saying, “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39–40). They had obtained a good report through faith, but something remained unfinished.
Then Jesus Christ came. John the Baptist looked upon Him and declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The significance of that statement cannot be overstated. The bulls and goats could not take away sin. The countless lambs sacrificed under the law could not take away sin. They were shadows pointing toward the Lamb who could. Jesus Christ would accomplish in one sacrifice what the entire Levitical sacrificial system could never accomplish.
When Christ died, His body was placed in Joseph’s tomb, but Christ Himself had already explained that He would descend into “the heart of the earth.” He said in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Paul later writes concerning Christ, “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” (Ephesians 4:9). Christ descended before He ascended, and this provides the background for Paul’s triumphant statement immediately before it: “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8).
This marks a tremendous dispensational change. The Old Testament saints had been kept in a place of comfort while awaiting the accomplishment of redemption. Now the blood had been shed. Jesus Christ had entered death and emerged victorious. The obstacle that had prevented redeemed sinners from entering the third Heaven had been dealt with by the blood of Christ.
That is the great dividing line of Calvary. Before the cross, the Old Testament saints obeyed God’s commands in faith. When they died, they rested in Abraham’s bosom, awaiting redemption’s payment. Today, we look backward toward a finished work. The question, then, “Where did the Old Testament saints go?” ultimately points us to something far greater than the location of the dead. It points us directly to the necessity and sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ.
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Excellent
Thank you
This is put in simple enough terms that dismantle “looking forward to the cross” idealology, yet detailed enough to give a deeper understanding. I also like how it goes beyond teaching, in that it ends by exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. Well done!