4. Only Jesus to All Those Since Adam

【John 1:17】 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

【Heb. 8:5-8】 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Regarding to the gospel which Jesus went to preach to the spirits in the prison, The apostle John called it grace and truth, and the book of Hebrews called it the new covenant. It means that the people of the Old Testament who had already died in faith heard of the new covenant and were forgiven of their sins through the blood of Jesus. The new covenant was fulfilled as God had previously promised the Old Testament people.

【Jer. 31:31, 34】 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. …… “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

After Adam, all mankind is saved through the new covenant of the blood of Jesus Christ. All the Old Testament people who prayed by calling on Jehovah’s name are saved only in Jesus’ name. Hebrews wrote this as follows:

【Heb 11:39-40】 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

There is no other name given to men by which we must be saved, excepting Jesus. It was the firm belief of the apostles of the Early Church that there was no name to give the power of salvation except the name of Jesus after the creation of the world.

【Acts 4:11-12】 He is ” ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Some churches claim that the above verse does not apply to the Old Testament. Some churches claim that the above verse does not apply to the Old Testament.

They say that the Old Testament people should be saved in the name of Jehovah, and that Jesus’ name applies only to the New Testament people. However, the verse above is what Peter said to those who believed in Jehovah. If they were already saved in prayer in the name of Jehovah, there would be no reason to tell them like this.

Beyond the Old and New Testament, the name of the savior is Jesus alone for all mankind after Adam. The only name that becomes a power and a joy to the suffering human race in darkness is the name of Jesus. In response, the apostle Paul wrote as follows by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

【Phi. 2:9-11】 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.