I’ll start right off with a disclaimer so you won’t just shut me down immediately: yes, faith in Jesus brings eternal life. The Bible is crystal clear about that. But let’s consider an analogy:
I can get to Florida in a number of different ways. I can walk, I can fly in a plane, I can drive a car, I can ride a bicycle, I can swim. If I state that driving in a car is the only way to get to Florida, then I would be wrong. Right?
Now, I’m not saying that there are a number of ways to salvation. Jesus is the only way. But that’s not the title of this article. The title refers to how to get to heaven. Or, more accurately for my purposes here, how people throughout the ages have gotten to heaven. And what role does Jesus play in all this?
Will Abraham be in heaven? Moses? John the Baptist? King David? Elijah? He was taken to heaven without dying! Of course they will be in heaven. But all of these heroes of the faith died BEFORE Jesus suffered for the sins of the world. How can that be? If Jesus is the only way to heaven then how will these pre-Jesus saints get there?
Although there is very little talk about heaven or hell in the Old Testament, it is clear that Old Testament saints expected to see God in His glory in heaven:
“With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:24)
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11).
“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).
“But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me” (Psalm 49:15).
So if lovers of God lived hundreds or thousands of years before Christ died, how did they get to heaven? And if there was a legitimate pathway to heaven before Jesus died, then what was the purpose of his suffering, death and resurrection?
Let’s first consider what eternal life really is. Jesus makes it crystal clear in John 17:1-3:
“Jesus spoke these things; and raising His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, so that the Son may glorify You, just as You gave Him authority over all mankind, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’”
Eternal life, then, is primarily a relationship. It’s an intimate relationship with God, a relationship so intimate that the Old Testament saints longed to experience it for themselves, but they couldn’t.
It’s also a quality of life. Consider some other uses of this word “eternal” (aiōnios in the original language):
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
“And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Revelation 14:6).
“For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (2 Peter 1:11).
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will” (Hebrews 13:20-21).
Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).
In these examples, the word “eternal” is used as an adjective that does not only convey the idea of perpetuity in life but a quality of something other than conscious life.
Aiōnios can indeed refer to perpetual life, but it can also refer to a quality of life that exceeds what can be accomplished through just our fleshly physical life.
If you have only placed your faith in Jesus in order to get to heaven, and that’s the only end game, then you’re not really experiencing eternal life. Galatians 1:4 says that Jesus “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”
Eternal life is for the here and now not just the sweet by and by. If you’re a Christian, then it’s in the bag. You’re going to heaven. But don’t use that as an excuse to lie on the couch with a bag of potato chips on your belly and wait for the rapture. That kind of lukewarm servant is not spoken highly of in the Bible.
So, back to the really good part in all this. If there was already a pathway to heaven before Jesus died, and if the sacrificial system in the Old Testament was deemed adequate to forgive you of your sins, and if that system was still in place, then we could still go to heaven today without the sacrifice of Jesus.
This is why I find the real truth of the sacrifice of Jesus to be so incredibly powerful: Jesus died to give us a better way. The Bible says “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).
Jesus, in His great love for us, suffered horribly and died in our place. He died the death we deserved. He is the only one who was able to live a perfect life and thus be considered eligible to become the perfect sacrifice. His shed blood paid for all the sin of the entire human race. And if He had done this in order to provide the only way to heaven it would have been an incredible undertaking. But there’s much more.
I believe that there are some who would offer their lives for a really noble cause. Our history is replete with examples. But Jesus said, in effect, “Although there is already a pathway to heaven, I will nevertheless suffer this horrible fate in order that my Father’s children will have a better way to live, a life with the Holy Spirit living inside them. They will have the fruits and gifts of the Spirit available to them at all times. They will be able to experience eternal life while they walk this earth. They will be lights in the darkness, and their light will draw others to the love of the Father. They will be one with the Spirit in their inner being, and they will have free and confident access into the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of the Father, because of what I am about to suffer.”
It required unlimited, unconditional love for Jesus to die not just for those who loved God, but also for those who hated Him. I think it takes an even greater love to die to give people a better way to live, PLUS eternal life!