"Abraham saw My day and was glad"
John 8:56
This is in response to my statement...
P1LGR1M said: ↑
The Old Testament Saints were not believing in Jesus Christ either.
Abraham was not believing in Jesus Christ either.
We are told specifically what Abraham was believing when he was temporally justified:
Galatians 3:6-8
King James Version
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Abraham "rejoiced to see Christ's Day" according to a veiled Gospel. He understood that God would give him a son of his own loins from a wife beyond the age of bearing.
He was not eternally justified by Christ in His day and died still offering up animal sacrifice for the provisional remission of sin it accorded to men in all Ages prior to Christ dying on the Cross.
We see this in Romans 4 as well:
Romans 4:18-22
King James Version
18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Not even the disciples of Christ were believing in Him because the Gospel was still veiled to them. This is why it is important to distinguish the Gospel given to men veiled (i.e., Genesis 3:15, Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 53) and the Gospel revealed by the Spirit sent down from Heaven, the Comforter.
Abraham died still offering up animal sacrifice, as did Noah, as did Jacob. Their sins were redeemed in an eternal context when Christ died for them:
Romans 3:25
King James Version
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;
Hebrews 9:15
King James Version
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.
For those unfamiliar with the Book of Hebrews the "First Testament" is a reference to the Covenant of Law. It was necessary that a Better Sacrifice from a Better Priest be offered to redeem the transgressions of men in an eternal context.
Thus the necessity of a New Covenant was the promise of God to all mankind beginning with the Proto-Evangelium in Genesis 3:15.
The Gospel of Christ began there and was, over time, given more information for men to place faith in God.
Abraham did not have the revelation Israel did. He was not aware of a singular Messiah that would sit upon the Throne of David. He was not even aware of David.
What made him rejoice was that God had promised him a son, and that through his offspring (which was given in a plural context) all families of the earth would be blessed.
And we have Scripture to confirm that this is the Gospel as it was presented to Abraham:
Galatians 3:6-8
King James Version
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
God bless.