Timeless Covenant
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Here are four of many Old Testament verses that stress heart condition untosalvation above ritualistic observance:Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.Hab 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shalllive by his faith.Psa 51:16-17 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightestnot in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and acontrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.Mic 6:8 ... what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,and to walk humbly with thy God?
again was all about. So here is the question: How couldNicodemus have understood the born-again principle before Jesusdied on the cross? Answer: He could only have understood beingborn again before the cross if Old Testament believers
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beborn again before the cross. Jesus expected Nicodemus to know,as did a scribe of his time, that it was not correct doctrine, but achanged heart that resulted in salvation:
Mar 12:32-33 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master,thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there isnone other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with allthe strength, to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
The Old Testament is full of verses declaring that a changedheart, rather than sacrifice, is the central aspect of salvation.
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The whole 11th chapter of Hebrews teaches that Old Testament saints were saved by faith. They were not justified by the Levitical code,nor by the deeds of the law any more than we are. Old Testamentbelievers were given a changed heart before the cross – were bornagain – just like Christians are after the cross.Since Jesus said, “Except a man be born again he cannot seethe kingdom of God,” then Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah,Job, Daniel, and all the rest of the Old Testament saints had to beborn again, or we will not see them in Heaven. We saw Moses andElijah in their glorified bodies on the Mount of Transfiguration –before the cross – so we can prove they were born again, unless we wish to believe that God would permit His glory to radiatethrough the faces of the unregenerate. Obviously, those elderbrethren had changed hearts, and a changed heart is what beingborn again is all about.
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