Here are biblical passages that show that people outside of ancient Israel and the law of Moses had a level of the knowledge of God, most likely because God revealed himself to them.

Let’s get started.

Melchizedek was priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:17-24);

God spoke to Pharaoh in a dream to rescue pagan Egyptians: “Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, […] ‘God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do'” (Gen. 41:25).

God revealed himself to Balaam (Num. 24);

Rahab the prostitute had faith (Josh 2:1-11; Heb. 11:31);

Jonah preached to Nineveh, and they repented in sackcloth and ashes. After he left, did some of them experience lasting salvation, even though they were not part of the covenantal chosen people (Jonah 3-4)? Jonah preached in the early to mid 700’s and Nineveh was sacked in 612 B.C., but maybe at the time of Jonah some experienced a level of salvation.

King Hiram acknowledged God (2 Chron. 2:11-12);

Naaman acknowledged God (2 Kings 5:15);

2 Chron. 9:16 says: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Surely the implication is that he found some who were committed to him after a fashion. It does not seem the eyes of the Lord came up empty.

Ruth the Moabite accepted her new life in Israel, even though a Moabite could not enter the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation (Deut. 23:3); she was an ancestor of David and Jesus.

God spoke through Neco, king of Egypt (2 Chron. 35:20-24);

After God through Isaiah prophesied judgment on Egypt, he promised that Egypt would be God’s people, and so would Assyria (Is. 19:19-25). Egypt is called “my people.”

Nebuchadnezzar spoke words of faith (Dan. 2:46-47, 3:28, 4:34-37, 6:25-27);

The Lord moved on the heart of Cyrus, the Persian king, to allow the temple to be rebuilt (Ezra 1:1; Is. 45:1);

And here’s one in the New Covenant Scriptures (New Testament), as Jesus was currently ushering in the kingdom of God: A pagan Canaanite woman sought him and had great faith (Matt. 15:21-28). Admittedly, she may have had this faith because she had observed Jesus in action or had heard of him before she approached him.

Those passages indicate that God spoke through and to these pagans; they had a certain kind of faith and knowledge of God, and he approved of them. It seems God overlooked some things and his judgment was not as severe, as they walked in the light that moral law offered them.

I believe these are just samples of what he actually did, outside of recorded history. We will never know, nor can we deny for sure whether God revealed himself in the same way around the globe, just because he loves people.

It is natural that the question of final judgment will come up.

Let’s look at the clearest teaching of all about God’s judgment before the law of Moses was sent down from heaven. This is relevant because the people listed above lived outside Israel, where revelations were the clearest.

In Gen. 18:23-25, Abraham asks God, before the law of Moses, about punishing righteous and wicked people together, as if God would get them mixed up.

Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:23-25, emphasis added)

Yes, God will judge righteously in answer to the question in v. 25. So whatever happens to the righteous and wicked before the law of Moses was thundered from on high at Mt. Sinai, God will not be confused. He gave humanity moral law. Some people followed it and can be called righteous, and other people did not follow it and can be called wicked. Clearly the righteous are judged by a different set of standards than the wicked.

For more information about God’s final judgment of those living outside Israel and the biblical revelation, please click on this link:

What Happens at Judgment to People Who Never Heard Gospel?

Let’s conclude.

Living far away from the gospel of Christ or before his gospel came, some people lived exemplary moral lives. How did they know to do this? Moral law is a gift of God. Many of these people followed it as closely as humans could. There is a strong probability that God will judge them by good or bad works as they walked in the light of the moral law that he gave them.

Everyone who is outside of Christ and biblical revelation will face the great white throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). Whatever happens to them, he is perfectly loving and perfectly just, so he will judge them with perfect justice and perfect love.

We can trust him in that.

For more information about God’s final judgment of those living outside Israel and the biblical revelation, please click on this link:

What Happens at Judgment to People Who Never Heard Gospel?