What happens to people
who knew nothing about Jesus?
even before God revealed Jesus as the Sa-vior of humanity, he witnessed himself to people in many ways; above all through God-fearing persons whom God called in-to his service to turn apostate people from their evil ways and to teach them his righ-teousness. Israel was the first people cho-sen by God to share in his promise of eter-nal life. Previously, it was individual people like Noah, who built the ark, and Abraham, from whom the people of Israel emerged and with whom God made his covenant to realize his plan of salvation for humanity.
From the beginning, after people turned away from their Creator, God gave them the promise that one day the Savior will come through whom God wants to recon-cile humanity with himself and through whom we can again have access to eternal life, that man has lost as a result of his turning away from God. This person whom God has appointed to be the Savior of all people is Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all people. Through his shed blood, which atones for the sins of all people, Jesus can save from death all who convert to God through faith in him. This also applies to all God-fearing people of past generations who did not know Jesus personally.
In addition, the Bible testifies that God ad-dresses every person (both then and now) several times in their lives and gives them the opportunity to repent of their sins and make peace with God. All those people who have heard about Jesus and the message of the gospel are called upon to make a de-cision. Jesus says that anyone who rejects God's grace will be subject to God's wrath. This means that he will be judged by God for his sins and damned for all eternity. On the other hand, anyone who listens to Jesus and turns to God will receive for-giveness for their sins and can share in the eternal life that God promises us through faith in his Son.