Old Testament Predestination

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

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Even gentiles have always had the possibility of salvation. One of the duties of the Jewish priests was to offer sacrifices for "the 70 gentile nations". So the sacrifices of the old testament not only covered the unintentional sins of the Israelites but also the unintentional sins of gentiles.

The writer to the Romans has it:

Rom 2:14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,

Rom 2:15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

Repentance is not received. Repentance is ceasing from sin. Gentiles indeed had their own law, some call this the law of the Patriarchs.

Acts 10:1-5
"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About [c]the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”

So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He[d] will tell you what you must do.”

God doesn't hear sinners so we can rightly surmise that Cornelius was not a sinner, and we know he was a gentile.

John 9:30,31
"The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him."

Acts 10:34,35
"Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

Romans 2:14-16
for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

Predestination is not on an individual basis. The predestination according to God's foreknowledge was the plan of salvation, not the individual. The promise of the blessing of the seed of Abraham was to Jesus as Paul explains in Galatians. It was through the Jewish nation that Jesus would come to redeem all. The Gentiles were not excluded from repentance and remission even during the Mosaic law. Look at Naaman, for instance.

Galatians 3:15-17
"Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God [e]in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect."

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

Before Cornelius, the Gentiles weren't preached the gospel. But Jesus was clear that the gospel would first be preached to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. God determined the time frame though even on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached that the promise was "to you, your children and those afar off."

Those words "afar off" are a euphemism for Gentiles. The gospel was always going to be preached to the Gentiles as even the prophecies predicted. Before the gospel came there were Gentiles who were accepted by God.

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

This proves that He does what needs to be done in order for an increased harvest...not a decreased one...He is all about overabundance.

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

Abraham was a gentile...

Zachm531 said:

these are adressing post-Christ gentiles and does not speak on the OT gentiles

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Cornelius was heard by God before he was preached the Gospel. He indeed was an old-testament Gentile and Paul was referring to old testament Gentiles in Romans.

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

If no Gentile could have received salvation before Christ, Jews would not have had much of a chance either. In fact many religious leaders of the Jews protested against Christ after it became apparent he was a miracle worker. Even today it is illegal for Christians to teach Christianity to Jews in Israel.

Zachm531 said:

'Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. ' Acts 11:16-18

Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism. How is this not proof of God
pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation and the gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

Click to expand...

The point of Israel's existence was to be a witness and a testimony to the Gentiles. It was possible for Gentiles to become Israelites. God's word to Abraham was that all the families of the world would be blessed in him. Israel failed, of course. To become an Israelite, a gentile had to be circumcised. The arrogance of the Jews was a big part of their downfall and the eventual destruction of the nation by the Romans.

Seems as if the author is saying (in Acts 11:16-18) that before Christ, no Gentile could receive repentance. As someone who is starting to lean toward Calvinism, how is this not proof of God pre-determining the Israelite's to the possibility of salvation & the Gentiles being given no possibility of salvation.

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You have quoted this OUT of context & assumed something that is not what the text is actually saying. Had you observed even in those few verses who was doing the talking & saying those things, that alone would have made a difference, as well as not including the rest of the context & the overall message of the whole counsel of Scripture.

The ones saying this are the Jewish believers in Christ that accompanied Peter when he went by revelation to preach the gospel to Cornelius & his family & friends that he had invited. They could not deny that the living God had saved Gentiles by grace through faith, just as he had saved them by grace through faith. This has always been how God saves people, from the OT as well as the NT, whether Jew or Gentile.

Hebrews 11 talks about all those who believed in the living God, from the beginning of time, both those before there even was a Jewish nation, as well as after there was a Jewish nation.

Heb 11:1,2,4,5,7 Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for & the certainty of what we do not see. It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts & even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.

5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death & He was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world & became an HEIR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS ACCORDING TO FAITH.

Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Job gives witness as well (Job 19:23-27): 'I know that my Redeemer lives!'

Nebuchadnezzar gives witness as well (Daniel 3:26-29; 4:1-3): Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the burning fiery furnace & called out, “Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” They violated the king’s command & risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

29Therefore I decree that the people of ANY NATION OR LANGUAGE who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego will be cut into pieces & their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Daniel 4:1-3,17,34,37 "King Nebuchadnezzar, to the people of every nation & language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied. I am pleased to declare the signs & wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.

This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that THE LIVING WILL KNOW that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom OF MANKIND & gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men. Then I praised the Most High & I honored & glorified Him who lives forever...

37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise & exalt & glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true & all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride."

Getting back to the context of Acts 10 & 11, as well as what Peter said in Acts 15.

Acts 10:1-3,15,22 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. He & all his household were devout & God-fearing. He gave generously to the people & prayed to God regularly.

3One day at about the 9th hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him & said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear & asked, “What is it, Lord?”

The angel answered, “Your prayers & gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.

15The voice spoke to him a 2nd time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous & God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home, so that he could hear a message from you.”

Was Cornelius & his household saved at this point, even though they were devout & God-fearing? No. They were unsaved Gentiles, but they were seeking after God with an understanding & honest heart. How do we know? We know by what Peter said in the CONTEXT of Acts 11 (vss 12-18)

The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These 6 brothers also went with me & we entered the man’s home. He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house & saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

14He will convey to you a message BY WHICH you & all your household WILL BE SAVED.’ 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, JUST AS He had come upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, as He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”

"God doesn't hear sinners so we can rightly surmise that Cornelius was not a sinner & we know he was a Gentile."

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Cornelius was a sinner like everyone else. The man born blind only reiterated what the Pharisees taught, that God doesn't hear sinners & they scorned them; yet God does hear sinners & their prayers or no one would be saved!

Romans 3:9,21-24 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews & Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. But now APART FROM the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law & the Prophets testify.

22This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is NO difference between Jew & Gentile, for ALL have sinned & fall short of the glory of God & all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Acts 15:8-11 God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. 9He did not discriminate between us & them, for He purified their hearts by faith.

10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Paul states the same thing concerning the one true living God, Who established all the nations in Acts 17.

“The God who made the world & everything in it is the Lord of heaven & earth & does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life & breath & everything else.

26From ONE MAN he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth & He marked out their appointed times in history & the boundaries of their lands.

27God did this SO THAT THEY WOULD SEEK HIM & perhaps reach out for Him & find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.

God has placed within the heart of every human being a knowledge that He is God Most High & His Deity & Omnipotence is plainly seen in what He has created, so each person is without excuse, both Jew & Gentile & those prior to any Jewish nation. (see Romans 1)

If people by grace through faith & the mercy of God, seek after Him with an honest & God-fearing heart, they can find Him, repenting of believing in idols & false gods & worship the one true God, God Most High.

God used & continues to use various people to be His witnesses to all the world, concerning salvation is found only in Him, by grace through faith. He used Abel; He used Enoch; He used Noah; He used Abraham; He used Job in the far east; He used Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian king, to spread the message to all kingdoms & peoples & languages under his control. And He can use each one of us as His witnesses to EVERY SINGLE PERSON, wherever they may be in the world.

Zachm531 said:

...Seems as if the author is saying that before Christ, no gentile could receive repentance....

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It doesn’t say so directly and I don’t know any reason to interpret it so.

Zachm531 said:

Doesnt matter when he was preached the Gospel, he was saved after Christs sacrifice, this doesnt address, pre-Christ gentiles

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He WAS a pre-Christ Gentile. And God heard his prayers before he was preached the gospel. If he was saved by the gospel before he was preached it, I guess one could consider him a post-Christ Gentile but that would then have us concluding that Peter was sent to him for no real purpose.

Zachm531 said:

Scripture that gentiles could be saved please

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Exodus 12:48 "But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

Israel at no time was exhorted to seek Gentile converts. But it was open for non-Israelites to live as Israelites. Ruth was a Moabite and Uriah a Hittite. Moses' father in law was a Midianite. Caleb was a hero and of a Caananite tribe. Rahab the prostitute is mentioned in the New Testament as being a woman of faith. Hebrews 11:31

Every person you talked about was Jewish besides King Neb and Cornelius.

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I am amazed you even said the above! Abel wasn't a Jew. Enoch wasn't a Jew. Noah wasn't a Jew. A Jewish nation didn't even exist then! Same for Abraham. He came from a pagan idol believing family. The Jews didn't exist until Jacob had the twelve sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel. Yet God did choose Abraham & provided a miracle child in Isaac that would eventually lead to the twelve tribes of Israel coming into existence.

Cornelius was granted repentance AFTER Jesus' work on the cross. So even though he was a Gentile before, he wasn't granted repentance until after the cross.

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While it is true that Cornelius was saved after Christ's sacrifice of Himself & we assume he repented (text does NOT use the word repentance), in order to be saved by grace through faith, you miss the various examples all through the OT & in the NT before Christ was crucified.

I already named a number of them in Hebrews 11. How many more do I need to name? If there is only ONE, you are in error for your presupposition & false interpretation.

Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram (Gentiles) is another example. (see 2 Kings 5).

At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.” And Naaman went & told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said. “Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.”

And the letter that he took to the king of Israel stated: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman, so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing & giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see that he is seeking a quarrel with me!”

8Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let the man come to me & he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9So Naaman came with his horses & chariots & stood at the door of Elisha’s house. Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go & wash yourself 7 times in the Jordan & your flesh will be restored & you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy.

12Are not Abanah & Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them & been cleansed?” So he turned & went away IN A RAGE.

13Naaman’s servants, however, approached him & said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash & be cleansed’?”

14So Naaman went down & dipped himself in the Jordan 7 times, according to the WORD of the man of God & his flesh was restored & became like that of a little child & he was clean.

15Then Naaman & all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him & declared, “NOW I KNOW FOR SURE that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

16But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused. “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry.

For your servant will NEVER AGAIN make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the LORD. Yet may the LORD forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there & he leans on my arm & I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant in this matter.”

“GO IN PEACE,” said Elisha.

So many examples & so little time or space! The whole city of Ninevah, pagan Gentiles, repented at the preaching of Jonah, who didn't want them to be delivered from God's judgment because Jonah knew God would be merciful to them if they repented.

And don't forget! Jesus used Jonah as the prophetic example of His suffering, death, burial & resurrection in 3 days! And that is what happened to Jonah. He suffered at the judgment of God, was swallowed by the big fish, died, went to Sheol & 3 days later was spit back up on the land.

I can imagine what must have gone through the minds & hearts of those in Ninevah, hearing about & seeing this man come back to life, bleached white by the acid in the big fish's stomach. That would do it for me. I would repent in dust & ashes.

Jonah 3:1-10
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh & proclaim to it the message that I give you.” 3This time Jonah got up & went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the LORD.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey to cross. On the FIRST day of his walk, Jonah set out into the city & proclaimed, “Forty more days & Nineveh will be overturned!”

5And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast & dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth & sat in ashes. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king & his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. Furthermore, let both man & beast be covered with sackcloth & have everyone CALL OUT EARNESTLY TO GOD. Let EACH ONE TURN FROM his evil ways & from the violence in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn & relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

10When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

Jonah 4:7ff When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered...Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?”

“I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!” But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night & perished in a night. So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left & many cattle as well?”

Dr. Gleason Archer said that the theme of the book of Jonah “is that God’s mercy & compassion extend even to the heathen nations on condition of their repentance” (1964, p.295). Jonah is sometimes called “the first apostle to the Gentiles.”

Four Gentile women were woven into the genealogical fabric of the Messiah—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth & Bathsheba—in both legal, biological & spiritual senses (Matt 1:5-6; Luke 3:31-32).

Heb 11:31,39,40 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient. These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

Ruth 1:15ff “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people & her gods; follow her back home.” But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go & where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people & your God, my God. Where you die, I will die & there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me & ever so severely, if anything but death separates you & me.”

Jethro, a Midianite (Gentile) priest, Moses' father-in-law, came to believe in the one true God, Jehovah, when Moses shared with Him all that the one true God had done for the nation of Israel.

Exodus 18:7-12 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law & bowed down & kissed him. They greeted each other & went into the tent. Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh & the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way & how the LORD had delivered them.

9And Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had rescued from the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro declared, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians & of Pharaoh & who has delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

11NOW I KNOW that the LORD is greater than ALL OTHER GODS, for He did this when they treated Israel with arrogance.” Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering & sacrifices to God & Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

"There always has been a way for honest people of faith to be right with their Creator—if they seek after him, repent & choose to please Him." (Acts 17:27ff) Wayne Jackson

And King Neb although he acknowledged that God is the God above all else, never repented.

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I gave you plenty of Scripture to read in Daniel that clearly showed otherwise. His pride & then his being humbled & confessing the one true God & telling everyone about this one true God. If ever there was an evangelist to the then known ancient empire, Nebuchadnezzar was one.

Noah was one. Scripture called him a 'preacher of righteousness.'

The woman at the well, a Samaritan, was an evangelist to her people. Jesus made a distinction between what the Samaritan's believed & what the Jews believed. Salvation came from the Jews not the Samaritans. Their salvation was before Jesus was crucified.

John 4:22-24 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming AND HAS NOW COME when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit & in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit & His worshipers must worship in the Spirit & in truth.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them & He stayed two days. And because of His words many more became believers.

42They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves & we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

The Gadarene demoniac was another evangelist.

The Greeks & then the Romans, had built up ten cities known as the Decapolis to the south & to the east of the Sea of Galilee. These cities were exemplars of Hellenistic culture & power – temples to worship idols, bathhouses, stadiums & theaters. These were unclean places to go & represented a sinful presence in the land. It was “all bad” in the eyes of a practicing Jew.

Luke 8:36-39 Meanwhile, those who had seen it reported how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

The man whom the demons had left begged to go with Jesus. But He sent him away, saying, "Return to your house & declare what great things God has done for you." He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Prophet after prophet in the OT not only warned the nation of Israel to repent & turn to God but there are many warnings to the various Gentile nations in their books as well!

Ezek 18:32 For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent & live!

Jer 18:7,8 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down & destroyed & if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent & not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

Jer 12:14-17 This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land & I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them & return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

16And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people & swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people. 17But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it & destroy it, declares the LORD.”

I have already shown many examples & many more can be shown, yet I will stop here on more examples. If you believe that all Gentiles perished before Christ's crucifixion, with no chance of repenting & being saved, may God have mercy on your calloused heart & your stubbornness in not believing the Scriptures.

In the resurrection, there will be many Gentiles in the OT who repented & were saved by grace through faith, who will stand with Jewish believers as well before God. There will be a 'great cloud of witnesses' (Heb 12:1).