Why couldn't Old Testament believers go into glory when they died?
Old Testament believers could not go into glory because their sins were not atoned for, only covered. The blood of animals could cover sin but could not take it away. They awaited the true atoning work of the cross; afterward, sins were atoned for and paradise was taken into heaven.
Les teaches that atonement is at-one-ment, but no man can become one with God until he has experienced the resurrection power and the finished work of the cross, which had not yet happened. The blood of animals could not take away sin; it could only cover it. The Hebrew word Kephar meant to cover, as when something was covered with bitumen, so the Day of Atonement was not a day of removing Israel's sin. David said, Blessed is the man whose sins are covered; they were not done away with. That is why the Old Testament believer could not go into glory when he died: his sins were covered, not atoned for. They were waiting for the true atoning work of the cross. After the cross and the supreme sacrifice, when divine blood had been shed, their sins were atoned for, and God took paradise up into heaven.