where did all of the souls go that died before jesus made his sacrifice?

if he died for our sins so we could go to heaven what happened to the souls before him?

not trying to cause argument or debunk religion i cant find it in the bible and im just curious and my pastor didnt answer my question very well

It's not that there was no salvation prior to Jesus, it's that the methods for achieving it were just different (because man was different at that time). Most of this is spelled out fairly clearly in the Old Testament. There were specific laws and guidelines to follow, including the steps to receive forgiveness and be cleansed of sin (which includes many different types of sin, and the steps involved to be cleansed of it varied with each type of sin). Also, Christianity was originally Judaism, and it's important to note that Jesus marks the beginning of Christianity, as was prophesied in the Old Testament in Judaism (which still uses the OT, but does not believe Jesus ever and has not yet returned).

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
“By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:18—20.)
“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6.)

The souls/spirits of those who passed before were waiting for Jesus and after his mission they were afforded the opportunity for salvation.

we were judged according to our deeds joy! joy! for i was received! in my knock i heard an open door ..brought the lamb with the 7 horns..AMEN!

And if I may add to this a touch of my beleifes...Jesus was the "easy button" office supply stores also use in there advertising campaigns. It is my belief that Christ will accept us if we believe in him and ask for forgivness of our sins.

This is a good question.

I myself thought about this a while back and came to two possible conclusions:

1) If the people had faith, they were saved by God.

2) They have not been judged yet and are awaiting it still.

I'd lean towards #1, though I am open to discussion. #1 would seem to fall into the explanation given above already by Paul.

heres the thing, yes, they had to have faith, but:

(also,i dont think "saved" is the correct word, due to the fact that it is a Christian word, more-or-less and at the point before Jesus died, Christianity didn't exsist yet.)

back then when someone sinned, they had to make a burnt offering, a sacrafice, and go into crazy prayer to get that black filth washed away.

Then Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice, and the ultimate savior took over that role.

Remeber, the Old Testament, where God said all souls are mine, and the soul that sins shall die? Also in Ecclesiastes the preacher said that a man lives his life and his flesh returns to the ground, but his spirit returns to God who gave it. Earthly death and spiritual death are not the same. Natural death is of the flesh, but spiritual death is seperation from God who is the giver of all life. The souls before Christ's crucifixion, were raised at the time of the resurrection of Jesus, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt waiting judgment. We read that in Daniel chapter 12. And Jesus speaking it in John chapter 5. I don't know a whole lot, but I believe God is in control and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour who is blessed forevermore!!!! Praise the Lord

imo christians took the lazy way out.

lazy..? dude i really dont think walking in the spirit is lazy "at all" keeping your eyes on him is so not lazy..he said "now go and sin no more" actually imo there is no free lunch...yes he paid our debt ..but whats more we have a debt to pay "there is a debt" never forget that its not just im ok your ok...im not going to get into the legalism of it all. i am just going to say there is a relationship there are seed's that need to be sown there is fruit that need's to be harvested ..we have the choice of being baptized by water when we repent, or by fire ..most of the time i get so disgusted with sin and the world that i want and think it deserves to be taken away..lazy? no not really at all.

"Open wide, my door,
My Lord, my Lord.
Open wide, my door,
to whatever makes me love you more.
Open wide, my door,
while there's still light to run towards
Open wide, my door"-aaron weiss taken from the song "c minor"