John 14:6-7
No One Gets to God, Except Through Jesus
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Matthew 19:23-30
Nothing is Impossible for God
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Acts 17:24-31
God Sets Our Appointed Time on Earth and Where We Live
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
John 8:48-59
Jesus' Claims About Himself
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Job 19:25
Job Knew that His Redeemer Lives
25 I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
Are the people saved that were born before Jesus?...The gospel and good news about Jesus were not always around...God works in mysterious ways and He has a Plan and He reveals to all of us, what He wants to reveal to us at the right times...
Jesus was not on earth when Adam was created by God...Jesus was not on earth, until long after Noah and Moses and Abraham...Yet Jesus tells us that He is the Only Way to God...What about those people that lived on earth before Jesus?...
Also, Jesus while He was on earth and immediately after His death was not known by all nations or all countries...It would take a few hundred years to get the gospel of Jesus out and to the world...Traveling and communication back in His time is not like it is now...Jesus teaches that He is the only Way to God...And believers believe that God can do all things, and that nothing is impossible for God...
St. Paul says that God sets our appointed time on earth and where we will live...William Lane Craig says that "God has so providentially ordered the world that any person who would believe in the Gospel if he heard it will be born at a time and place in history at which he does hear it...Thus, no one is lost because of historical or geographical accident...If this proposal is plausible, then it helps to remove any concern that one’s ancestors were lost but would have been saved had they been born at another time and place...On the contrary, anyone who wants or even would want to be saved will be saved."...
St. Matthew writes that Jesus talks to His eleven Disciples before He ascends to heaven...He tells the eleven disciples to go to a mountain in Galilee...When He met up with them in Galilee on the mountain, He gave them a message...When they first saw Him on the mountain, they worshiped Him; but some still doubted...Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me...Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...And surely I AM with you always, to the very end of the age...St. Luke writes that Jesus told His Disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...So Jesus gave His followers this Great Commission to tell all nations about Him, after His death...
Back to the situation of those born before Jesus....I believe that we had God revealing Himself to mankind through different ways including creation...Job knew God, and I would say that He is in heaven...And Abraham did not see Jesus on earth or his son Isaac, or his grandson Jacob...But God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...
So God put Job, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on earth before Jesus, and that was there appointed time on earth to live and to die...Jesus said that, "before Abraham was born, I am!"...And that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad...And that Job somehow knew that His Redeemer lived and one day He would stand on the earth...