There Has Always Been Only One Plan Of Salvation

Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

The following very helpful truths are being quoted from Dr. John R. Rice's invaluable verse-by-verse Bible commentary titled, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pages 250-252:

All Prophets Preach the Same Savior, the Same Plan of Salvation

Not only are the Apostles witnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and above five hundred other witnesses who saw Him after His resurrection, but “all the prophets,” that is, every prophet in the Old Testament as well as the new Testament times, bears witness to the same Saviour and the same plan of salvation!

There are some who think that the Old Testament saints were saved by animal sacrifices and the ceremonies of the law. They are utterly mistaken. The sacrifices and ceremonies of the Old Testament were simply object lessons pointing to Christ and salvation by faith in Him. Baptism now pictures that one is buried in the likeness of Christ's death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 5), and those that take the Lord's Supper in the bread and cup “do shew the Lord's death till he come” (I Cor. 11:26). So Old Testament sacrifices taught the same thing, that salvation is only through Christ. Every prophet in the Old Testament pictures Christ. So Jesus could preach to Nicodemus the Gospel from Numbers 21:5-9, about the serpents in the Wilderness. So Philip could preach to the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53:4-6, preaching the same Saviour and the same Gospel. It was this Saviour whom Abraham saw and believed in (John 8:56; Rom, 4:3). It was by faith in this Jesus that “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” the firstling of his flock which pictured an atoning Saviour. It is Christ and salvation by faith in His shed blood that is pictured in the passover.

There are those hyper-dispensationalists who think that John the Baptist preached a different Gospel from Christ when he commanded repentance (Matt. 3:2). But it is the same repentance Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17, in Luke 13:3 and 5, and the same repentance that Paul preached in Athens that God “now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30 31). Repentance is not a different plan of salvation from having faith: it is part of the same plan of salvation. Or rather repentance is simply another way of describing or looking at the plan of salvation. One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ. A change of mind toward sin is necessarily involved in saving faith.

Everyone who genuinely repented under the preaching of John the Baptist put his trust in the Saviour John the Baptist preached, and was regenerated. There is no such thing as being “a disciple of John the Baptist” in any honest sense without being a disciple of Jesus, that is, without trusting Christ for salvation.

There are those who think that Peter in Acts 2:38 and 39 preached that baptism was essential to salvation when he said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” But the phrase “for the remission of sins” could well be translated “referring to the remission of sins” for the indefinite preposition of reference and so used many, many times in the Bible. People are not baptized in order to be saved, but baptized with reference to the salvation they had when they repented. So it has always been among Bible-believing Christians who follow the Scriptures.

So here in Acts 10:43 we have the statement by Peter, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Get this great doctrinal matter settled: God has only one plan of salvation and that is all He ever had! He has only one Saviour, and that is Jesus Christ. Every Old and New Testament prophet agrees in this that “whosoever believeth in him shall have remission of sins.”

SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 250-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963

For emphasis, I want to repeat a paragraph of what you just read, because it is so crucial. I am going to highlight some portions, which I want you to see clearly...

There are some who think that the Old Testament saints were saved by animal sacrifices and the ceremonies of the law. They are utterly mistaken. The sacrifices and ceremonies of the Old Testament were simply object lessons pointing to Christ and salvation by faith in Him. Baptism now pictures that one is buried in the likeness of Christ's death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 5), and those that take the Lord's Supper in the bread and cup “do shew the Lord's death till he come” (I Cor. 11:26). So Old Testament sacrifices taught the same thing, that salvation is only through Christ. Every prophet in the Old Testament pictures Christ. So Jesus could preach to Nicodemus the Gospel from Numbers 21:5-9, about the serpents in the Wilderness. So Philip could preach to the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53:4-6, preaching the same Saviour and the same Gospel. It was this Saviour whom Abraham saw and believed in (John 8:56; Rom, 4:3). It was by faith in this Jesus that “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” the firstling of his flock which pictured an atoning Saviour. It is Christ and salvation by faith in His shed blood that is pictured in the passover. [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 250-251; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963

There is a growing number of false teachers on the internet, especially YouTube. They are; namely, Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, Pastor Gene Kim, Bryan Denlinger, Chett Hensley, Dr. William P. Grady and Robert Breaker. These men all falsely teach that people were saved by faith PLUS WORKS in the Old Testament. They also claim that people will again in the future be saved by faith PLUS WORKS during the Tribulation and Millennial periods. Bryan Denlinger preaches hardcore Lordship Salvation today as well. I 100% agree with Dr. John R. Rice in that “They are utterly mistaken.” 

The Old Testament ceremonials laws were OBJECT LESSONS, just like the Lord's Supper and water baptism today, which have no special grace nor saving power. No one was ever saved by faith PLUS WORKS at any time in human civilization, nor ever will be. Galatians 3:9-11, “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” Not one verse, neither in the Old or New Testaments, teach that salvation has ever been by anything other than faith. The prophet Habakkuk bears witness in Habakkuk 2:4b that “the just shall live by his faith.”

Jesus Taught Nicodemus The Gospel From Numbers

This is amazing. To teach Nicodemus the Gospel (Good News), Jesus used the book of Numbers...

Numbers 21:5-9, “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?  for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.  And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

God was teaching the Old Testament Jews (and humanity through the Scriptures - Romans 15:4), through Moses' preaching (Hebrews 4:2), and the ceremonial laws (Hebrews 10:1), that “whosoever believeth in him shall have remission of sins” (Acts 10:43b). Read here what Jesus said to Nicodemus, and see how the Lord used the book of Numbers to expound him concerning Himself. John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God intentionally instructed Moses to pound some brass metal into the shape of a serpent, and to raise that serpent high on a pole, so that whoever looked to the serpent lived. That is so beautiful. What does it mean?

We find the answer in 2nd Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The sinless only begotten Son of God, became as sin Himself; so that we sinful humans, who knew no righteousness, could be made the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” That brass snake which Moses raised up on a pole symbolized our dear Savior, Who became as sin on the cross, bearing the reproach and shame of our sins. The sinless Lamb of God suffered vicariously (as our substitute) on the cross; paying a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay! John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

The very notion that people were saved under the Mosaic law by faith plus works violates umpteen scripture passages, including the ones we just read from Numbers and John. All God wanted the Israelites to is to LOOK AND LIVE! What saith the Scripture? Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” The way of salvation has always been to LOOK TO THE SAVIOR!!!