John 3:16 teaches Jesus came into the world in order to save it. So what about those who died before the coming of Jesus? Who will save them?

All mankind are born sinners and have inherited Adam’s death sentence.(Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12,18).  So, how could Adam (and all his children) be released from the prison house of death? Justice required that someone else had to take Adam’s place in death. It was the man Jesus Christ who died and fulfilled Adam’s death sentence. Thus God’s just law of a life for a life was satisfied. Since Jesus paid this price, the release Adam and all of his descendants (every man woman and child on earth) from sin and death is certain. It does not matter if one lived before, during, or after Jesus’ life on Earth.  Jesus’ sacrifice saves all men (1 Corinthians 15:22).  That is why the scriptures in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 read, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all – to be testified in due time.”  

Jesus’ ransom price applies to everyone.  When the scripture says that this ransom will be “testified in due time,” it means that the application of the ransom will be applied at the right time for each person in God’s plan.  God’s plan includes Christ’s 1,000-year kingdom during which all mankind will be raised from the dead – some to a heavenly resurrection as part of Christ’s church and others as part of a resurrection here on Earth (Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29).  For those on Earth, it will be a time of judgment when they will learn the perfect law of God without the influence of Satan. 

There is further testimony about the salvation of those that lived prior Jesus.  The scriptures declare that God “wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” – this “all” includes those who lived prior to Jesus (1 Timothy 2:4).  The Bible also shows that people from the Old Testament like Abraham, Job, and Hannah are all noted as believing in a resurrection.  Abraham “reasoned that God could raise the dead” (Hebrews 11:19).  Job said “If only you would hide me in the grave … If only you would set a time and then remember me!  If a man dies, will he live again?  All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come” (Job 14:13-14).  Hannah said, “the Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.”