What happen to the people that died before Jesus Christ died on the cross?

Answer 1

The first Messianic [Having to do with the Messiah] prophecy is recorded at Genesis 3:15. The moment Jehovah uttered that prophecy, however, the ransom price was as good as paid from his viewpoint, for nothing can prevent God from fulfilling what he purposes. So on the basis of the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Jehovah could forgive the sins of descendants of Adam who exercised faith in that promise.

(Romans 3:24-25) "and it is as a free gift that they are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness through the release by the ransom [paid] by Christ Jesus. 25　God set him forth as an offering for propitiation through faith in his blood. This was in order to exhibit his own righteousness, because he was forgiving the sins that occurred in the past while God was exercising forbearance"

Here is what the bible answers--

When Job was suffering he prayed to die, this is what he said to God--

Job 14:13, Who will grant me this, that thou mayst protect me in (the grave)... and appoint me a time when thou wilt remember me?

Among those who through faith and patience will inherit the promises is the God-fearing patriarch Abraham. (Hebrews 6:11,�12)Isaac and Jacob were heirs of the very same promise. However, in faith all these died, although they did not get the fulfillment of the promises. Accordingly, God has made a city ready for them. (Hebrews 11:8-16) Yes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their godly wives, patiently awaited God's heavenly Kingdom, under which they will be resurrected to life on earth.

All those who died BEFORE Jesus are sleeping in their graves awaiting a resurrection to the new earth, under God's heavenly Kingdom.

In John 8 v 56 Jesus said '......Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad.' Thus, even though he obviously didn't literally see Jesus come as the Messiah he saw it in faith. The above answer explains the application of this well.

Their body will revert to it's separate chemical composition, will become food for others and will rise up no more. Joshua 2314This day I [Joshua] am going the way of all the earth.Job 79As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.Job 1410. 12But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? ... So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.Job 207Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung.Psalm 65For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?Psalm 885The dead ... whom thou rememberest no more.Psalm 11517The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.Ecclesiastes 319For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast.Ecclesiastes 95The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward.Ecclesiastes 910For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.Isaiah 2614They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased they shall not rise.Isaiah 3818For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

They might have been left out. But a prophecy that Christians live by is that "Jesus will come in glory again to judge the living '''and the dead'''. So if they had been left out the first time they will not be left out of judgment when Jesus comes again.

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Some claim that when Jesus "descended into hell" it was to gather and release all the faithful who died before Christ's redeeming work.

They go to their own Heaven or Nirvana or Swarga loka or whatever their concept of Heaven is. Or they go to their own Hell, or Naraka or whatever their religion's concept of Hell is.

When Jesus descended into Hades (or hell) at His Resurrection, He did this in order to preach the Gospel to every human being from Adam and Eve until His appearance on earth as the promised Messiah at the age of 30. This was so that every human being is given the opportunity to either accept Christ or to reject Him. For the same reason, before the Second Coming of Christ, the Good News of the New Testament will have reached every place on earth and every human being on earth will have heard of Christ. The end of the world will not happen until the Gospel has been preached to every nation. This is because God is a merciful God and gives everyone the opportunity to be saved before the final Judgment Day.

In Luke there is the story about the beggar at the rich man door begging for food. later both are dead the rich in hell (not because he was rich) and the beggar in "Abraham's Bosom." luke 16:22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

When Jesus died for our sins these saints were carried to heaven. of course in another part of the Bible. also another way to see this is that when people go to hell they will have all the senses that we have now. we will feel pain, see it, and know it.

Another view

All of those who died in a state of Grace (aka free from deadly/mortal sin) are with Mary, contained within GOD's shield of honor, which has guided and proctected since the fall of men through satin. Mary is the only one still free from original and all deadly sin and the only one who ever loved GOD, the way HE should have been. She is just careing for them, until GOD is freed-up from other important matters and is able to reclaim them.

ANSWER:

This really depends on what (if anything) you take to be the "true" bible. The Anglo-Saxons believed very strongly in the "Harrowing of Hell", which is the idea that, between his death and resurrection, Jesus descended into hell and freed the worthy people who had been born before his death (especially Old Testament characters). This idea was popular in the Middle Ages when people sought to reconcile great ideas (from, eg. Aristotle) with non-Christianity. The idea that Aristotle "would have been Christian if he'd known about Christ" , and therefore could be saved, was attractive to people who wanted to make sure their thirst for ideas didn't sit uncomfortably with their faith. Similarly for the Anglo-Saxons, who were converted by continental Christians centuries after Christ's death. Since they were particularly fond of their ancestors, it was comfortable to be able to think that they would be forgiven since they didn't know any better.

The Harrowing of Hell is not included in most of the common versions of the bible today. But it is important to remember that the bible has a long and complicated history. The bibles most people know today have come to be that way after a long process of consideration and revision by different religious authorities, and it's really a historical accident that the bible we know is as it is. This is not to say it's not the "right" version - if you believe it is, then that's fine. I'm not Christian, so I have no authority to speak on that count. But there are a lot of different possible answers to that question, and it really depends on what biblical material you choose to accept.

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The sacrifices were a type of the coming savior. All who exercised their faith in that savior died in faith of salvation and are covered by the blood of Christ.

Just an Idea:

Is it at all possible that God in the Bible sense is not what most people think he is I mean there is evidence of people living in S.America,Mexico,N.America and other places on earth when Christ was alive yet the Bible only speaks of the Middle East region is it possible that the Bible is a book written by a man basically a past Stephen King with bad guys, good guys, and a final chapter that reads no other it just seems that these questions are simply dismissed by Christians as "nuts" but when you look at history and proof they seem "nuts" I'm not saying that God is not real that something more than us is not out there but maybe the Bible like Ancient Greece is a book to explain what we did not understand at the time and Jesus was a good man that simply believed he was chosen I mean that Nut-job at Waco said he was the son of God too and society wrote him off as nuts maybe Jesus was just a better version of a good man we have no proof of miracles we have no proof life after death only faith that one has or does not have but if anyone here thinks that Egyptians and Jew slave labor built pyramids then I suggest that you read how much STONE WAS IN WEIGHT and do some basic figures on how long and how many people it would take to build those things what I'm saying is that 2012 was never said to be then end just a new beginning perhaps solar flares will destroy all communication that would be terrible we would have to start over but humans and whoever or whatever made us has destroyed the world in the past see those pesky dino's we use for fuel so maybe God gets pissed every so many million years or maybe there are worlds that are beyond our sight that have been around for billions of years if God is the end all and the be all the Alpha and the Omega WE ARE THE BEST OF HIS INVENTION?

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When Chirst died, you will read in the Bible that many others rose from the dead with him. It is my belief, reading the Bible, that before Christ died there was a Paradise side of hell separated from the other side since there is:

Luke 16:24

So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

So from the above, both could see each other. I believe when Christ died, he went to this paradise and brought these people with him.

Answer 2

Much of modern professing Christianity teaches that all the generations of mankind before Jesus was born in the flesh are "lost"... and they are supposedly "burning forever in hell."

Which is really silly... and really bad timing on the part of the God they are worshiping.

Fortunately, for all those generations of mankind... The Bible doesn't support this teaching.

The Bible lists many names of people in the Old Testament whom God regards as "faithful" way before the cross. In fact, Jesus even says that those faithful "pre-cross" people will be with Him in His Kingdom... and He hadn't even died yet!

"...there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when YE SHALL SEE Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and you yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13:28)

We can assume that their names should be recorded in the "Book of Life" that prophecy says will be opened on "Judgment Day."

Judgment Day is another prophecy that speaks of a time at the conclusion of Jesus' thousand year rule on the earth, when all the generations of mankind will give an accounting to their Creator [Jesus Christ - John 1:3 & 10] for the works they accomplished in their respective lifetimes.

"...and death and hell [the graves] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev.20:13)

The Bible calls it "Judgment" day... not, "condemnation" day. It's a time of "assessment" so that a judgment or decision may be rendered regarding the vast majority of mankind who never knew the Truth of God, which will be revealed to all of the resurrected generations of mankind at that time.

Even today, the Truth of God is hidden from the vast majority of deceived mankind still living on earth more than two thousand years after Christ's birth.

Man's teachings about the "immediate judgment" of people's souls instantly at the time of their death and their immediate sentencing to eternal life in heaven or eternal life in hell is contrary to God's Word and the "Last Great Day" following Christ's millennial rule on earth - Judgment Day.

The people who died before Christ died on the cross will have the same opportunity for salvation as any who die today ignorant of the Truth of God... and be given their first opportunity to choose to obey their Creator or reject Him on Judgment Day.

All during all the generations since Adam and Eve, God has been calling "His elect"... those whom He has predestined to become "co-rulers with Christ" in His coming Kingdom. Many of their names are in the Bible: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, David, Elijah... the names go on.

God is now calling the "rulers of His Kingdom"... the "first generation" of His future Family... not all of mankind, yet.

By the time the thousand year rule of God's Kingdom over the mortal nations of man on earth is done, it will be firmly established and ready to accept the vast majority of mankind who were never called. This sea of mankind will make up the innumerable company of "ordinary citizens" in God's Eternal Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God doesn't need all of God's Children to be "leaders." Only those whom the Father has been calling and giving to His Firstborn Son to train and prepare for the limited jobs and positions know God's Truth, now. These will be the priests and kings who will administer the Kindgom with Christ. The firstborn generation of God's Children... the Family of God.

The earth shall be renewed and remade, again. And God the Father will descend from heaven with the Holy City, New Jerusalem and His throne and make earth the universal headquarters of His universal Kingdom.

"...Behold, I make all things new... IT IS DONE... I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the Water of Life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit ALL THINGS [the universe]; and I will be his God, and HE SHALL BE MY SON." (Rev.21:5-7)

The people who died before Christ died on the cross are doing the same thing as those who die today. They are "asleep"... they are "dead in their graves"... awaiting Judgment Day. They know nothing, they feel nothing.

"...the dead know not any thing... for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, IN THE GRAVE, WHITHER THOU GOEST." (Eccle.9:5 & 10)

That's where they all are to this very day. Believe it, or don't.