For what it's worth, these are my thoughts on this issue.
NO ONE is getting to Heaven by ANY other means than the Blood of Christ. PERIOD. OT or NT makes no difference. Those faithful in the OT looked forward to their Messiah saving them.
I like the way this guy explains "set the captives free"
Q
After Jesus died, did he descend into Hades to set the captives free? If so, who were the captives?
A
There are two answers to your question, one general and one specific. In
Luke 4:18 Jesus said that His mission was to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and to release the oppressed. This is a general reference to freeing all believers from the bondage of sin and the impossible requirements of religious work by paying for our sins on the cross.
Specifically
, Matt. 27:52-53 says that after the Resurrection many holy people who had died came out of their tombs, and
Ephesians 4:8 tells us that “When He ascended on High He led captives in His train.”
Before the cross, the spirits of all dead people went to Hades, the abode of the dead. After He had paid the price for our sins with his death, Jesus went there too (
Luke 23:43). There were two sections there, one called Paradise where believers went and one called Torments where unbelievers still go. Those who had died in faith that He would one day come to redeem them were released from their temporary place in Paradise and when Jesus ascended into Heaven, they went with Him.
I think this principle also applies to the Gentile people of antiquity that followed the Law in their hearts, spoken of in Romans. Jesus
went to preach the Gospel to them in Hades, and I believe they are saved.
I do NOT believe that those who heard and rejected the Gospel while alive, OR those that hadn't heard the Gospel while alive, yet suppressed the the Truth and the clearly seen invisible attributes of God in unrighteousness, will have a second chance after death.
Every time we go down this universalism road, as much as our hearts mourn at the thought of everlasting death, we MUST remember Jesus sweating BLOOD, praying to His Father, that if there be ANY other way, to please take it. And we all know what the Father's silent response meant.
It really borders on trampling on His Blood to think there could possibly be another way.