Evidence for God from Science

Is it true that people under the Old Covenant had no lasting forgiveness under their covenant and the only way they could ultimately be forgiven was for their covenant to be removed and replaced by the New Covenant where they are forgiven through Jesus Christ?

If this is true then my confusion lies in forgivness of sins before the New Covenant? How did a person repent, ask for forgiveness and be cleansed from their sin?

This is a quote from Kevin Cauely, "In Hebrews 10:1, the writer of that book as inspired of the Holy Spirit makes the case that the sins under the Old Covenant were not actually forgiven. The first point he makes in this regard is that those who offered sacrifices under the Old Law were not made perfect/complete. If they were, then they would have ceased to offer the sacrifices and they would have no more consciousness of sins. That is, they would not have to continually be reminded of their sins with their sacrifices. He then says that with every year those sacrifices brought to their consciousness a remembrance of sins. That is, every year, they were reminded of their sins. Why is that? They were reminded of their sins every year because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. "

I know that Jesus provided us Salvation from our sins by accepting the ultimate sacrifice and through His sacrafice our sins are washed clean. But my question is, and forgive me if I sound ignorant here, did those people under the Old Covenant that performed the sacrifices yet were reminded of their sins every year, enter Heaven with unforgiven sins?

phiver4 wrote:Is it true that people under the Old Covenant had no lasting forgiveness under their covenant and the only way they could ultimately be forgiven was for their covenant to be removed and replaced by the New Covenant where they are forgiven through Jesus Christ?

If this is true then my confusion lies in forgivness of sins before the New Covenant? How did a person repent, ask for forgiveness and be cleansed from their sin?

This is a quote from Kevin Cauely, "In Hebrews 10:1, the writer of that book as inspired of the Holy Spirit makes the case that the sins under the Old Covenant were not actually forgiven. The first point he makes in this regard is that those who offered sacrifices under the Old Law were not made perfect/complete. If they were, then they would have ceased to offer the sacrifices and they would have no more consciousness of sins. That is, they would not have to continually be reminded of their sins with their sacrifices. He then says that with every year those sacrifices brought to their consciousness a remembrance of sins. That is, every year, they were reminded of their sins. Why is that? They were reminded of their sins every year because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. "

I know that Jesus provided us Salvation from our sins by accepting the ultimate sacrifice and through His sacrafice our sins are washed clean. But my question is, and forgive me if I sound ignorant here, did those people under the Old Covenant that performed the sacrifices yet were reminded of their sins every year, enter Heaven with unforgiven sins?

I think the differnce is that the OT saints' sons were only covered, but not cleansed completely until when Christ came. Also keep in mind that it has always been faith that God required....not burnt offerings and sacrifices. God always looked for hearts full of faith and blessed those who walked in His way.

I'm not sure that helps but there ya go.

I side with FFC. God will judge the heart. If their heart was truly towards God, regardless of how well they kept the law, they were saved.

A good example would be the man who was stoned to death in the OT for stealing gold and stuff from Jericho. He was stoned by his own people. He broke the law. HOWEVER, i believe that if his heart was right and he was truly sorry (repent), then we will see him in heaven.

Enigma

I am not making any point about whether or not a person entered into Heaven. I am only looking for an explanation as to the forgiveness of sins under the Old Testament.

From what I understand, in order to be forgiven in the O.T., sacrifices were required to be offered to God. Thankfully Jesus came and made the ultimate sacrifice for us all!

jenwat3 wrote:From what I understand, in order to be forgiven in the O.T., sacrifices were required to be offered to God. Thankfully Jesus came and made the ultimate sacrifice for us all!

Yes! And even with those sacrifices if they were done without the right heart motive they were meaningless to God. Thank God that Jesus did it all, because if we honestly examined the motives behind much of our service to God we may be in for quite a shock.

I believe that sins were forgiven the same way in the OT as the NT, God responding to repentant hearts.

Thank you all very much for your help on this. The examination of one's heart along with the sacrafice makes more sense to me.
How do those of the Jewish Faith and who follow the O.T. teachings then get around these O.T. Laws or are they still performing sacrafices for the forgiveness of their sins?

phiver4 wrote:Thank you all very much for your help on this. The examination of one's heart along with the sacrafice makes more sense to me.
How do those of the Jewish Faith and who follow the O.T. teachings then get around these O.T. Laws or are they still performing sacrafices for the forgiveness of their sins?

That is a very good question. Since the Moslems Dome of the rock is smack dab in the middle of Jerusalems Temple mount where their Temple should be, and the temple is the only place, I'm told, where they are allowed to offer sacrifices, I'm not sure how they get around this.