Where was Jesus in the Old Testament?
The Fiery Furnace by. Gustave DoreAs Christians on the other side of Christ’s resurrection and ascension, it can seem strange to us given our belief in a triune God that Jesus is not explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament. Of course, the New Testament refers to Christ’s pre-existence in several places. Consider texts like “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” or Jesus’ own prayer to God the Father when he says “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” and not to mention Jesus’ confession before the Pharisees “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 1:1, John 17:5, John 8:58 ESV). These are classic texts that the church has had to uphold and defend against the onslaught of anti-trinitarian doctrine ever since the canon of scripture came to a close over 2000 years ago. Specifically, these texts assist in proving the pre-existence of Christ before the foundation of the world. Orthodox Christians have always agreed that Jesus existed before the world began, let alone the virgin birth. The author of Hebrews tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). In a mystery too deep to comprehend, while Christ as God condescended to become like us and ultimately died on the Cross, God was still ruling from heaven. Just as the Father and the Holy Spirit are omnipresent (at all places at the same time) so is the Son, each person sharing all the divine attributes of the Godhead. We know that the Father directly manifested Himself in the OT but one may ask if Christ was directly present at all in the OT. Was He hidden away in Heaven until the day of his incarnation or just as active as the Father? The short answer is ‘yes’ considering that when one person of the trinity does something they are all involved. However, what I want to focus on are instances where Christ does directly appear in the OT even if He is not explicitly referred to as Jesus.
Defining Theophany
Before we look at the texts that show Christ’s direct involvement in the Old Testament there is a theological term I want to briefly define. That term is theophany. It is a very simple concept. A theophany is anytime in scripture that God appears directly to someone. To break it down further, the root word ‘theos’ is the greek word for God used in the New Testament. The term is also similar to the word epiphany which usually means a sudden thought or idea that pops into our head. Epiphany is a celebration that some churches celebrate around Christmas time. A Theophany simply is an appearance or revealing of God to a specific person or persons. This can be anything such as the LORD appearing to Moses at the burning bush or Him wrestling with Jacob in the form of a man. There are actually many examples of this all throughout the OT. The texts we are going to look at specifically are thought to be theophanies of the pre-incarnate Christ. These are usually referred to as Christophanies.
Christ’s Appearance to Abraham
In Genesis 18, Abraham has already been through many trials. He has gone to war to rescue Lot, had a child with his servant Hagar (against God’s promise to bless him with his own offspring), and God had made his covenant with him. After God reassures Abraham of his promise to give him a son by Sarah he is visited by a mysterious stranger and his two servants.
(Genesis 18:1-2) “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth”
At this point in the narrative, it is not clear that Abraham knows who came to visit him. From his point of view, he sees a stranger passing through. But we as the readers see that it is the LORD (YHWH). Abraham pays proper homage to his guests and asks Sarah to bake them cakes. What is interesting is that these heavenly visitors are physically eating and drinking. This points to the idea that they actually appeared in a physical yet temporal form. We know from the text that this is literally God appearing to Abraham yet we observe from Exodus that no one can look upon God and live “‘But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” (Exodus 33:20). What makes this and many other encounters different than when Moses saw the glory of God pass before him? Many theologians believe that because God is appearing to Abraham in the likeness of human flesh He is manifesting Himself as the pre-incarnate Christ. A Christophany! It is very important to note here that there are respectable pastors and theologians who may disagree with this point. I am not pushing this idea as a primary doctrine that one must confess to be saved. However, being convinced by this idea of a pre-incarnate Christ appearing in the Old Testament, it is my hope is that it will help encourage and lead the reader to a deeper appreciation and worship towards Jesus, our great high priest who was present even before the virgin birth. Theology must eventually be followed by doxology, otherwise, this blog is a waste of time.
Joshua and The Commander of the LORD’s Army
We now skip ahead to Joshua. While Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness witnessed many theophanies of God, none of them are specifically Chrisophanies. It is worth mentioning that some theologians believe that the burning bush may have been one but that seems to be stretching the text. The next figure we are going to look at was alluded to in Exodus 23:20,21 “‘Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.’” This is an announcement that God delivered to his people by the lips of Moses. As they prepare to enter into the land of Canaan, which God promised to Abraham and his offspring, He is going to send His angel with them as a guide. They are to give special attention to all that this figure has to say to them “for my name is in him”. The name of the LORD would be upon this angel which means this person is likely more than a mere seraph. God fulfills the announcement of this coming angel in the book of Joshua.
(Joshua 5:10) “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’ And he said, ‘No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’ And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.”
The first of the ten commandments is “I Am the LORD thy God! Thou shalt have no other gods!”. Joshua would have been there when Moses came down from the mountain to deliver these commandments. What does he think he is doing bowing down and worshipping this man? No other angel in the entire bible accepts worship for they are merely servants of God. The fact that this figure does not tell Joshua to stand up and cease from worshiping him should tell us something. This is made even more clear by the fact that he even told Joshua to “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” God told Moses to do the exact same thing when we manifested Himself in the burning bush. In the Exodus passage above, God even said that His name “is in” the person we see before us now. It should be perfectly clear by now that the man standing before Joshua is another theophany. Because of the distinctness of this figure from the one sending Him I believe that this is a more convincing example of a Christophany than the one we just discussed with Abraham. The LORD says He will send someone who has His name in him just as we know Jesus to share in the name of the LORD (YHWH) when he says “before Abraham was, I am”. Again, we have another instance of Christ manifesting Himself in a visible human form before He comes to earth via the virgin birth.
Son of God in the Furnace
Almost 1000 years have passed since the events in the book of Joshua and we now turn our attention to Israel’s captivity at the hands of the Babylonians, specifically under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. Since Israel was taken captive they were never looked upon favorably. Some Chaldeans maliciously came after Israel by harsh religious persecution. They convinced Nebuchadnezzar to punish anyone who does not bow down and worship a golden Idol he made. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were devout Jews who would never worship anything other than the true God of Israel. When it was reported that they refused to worship the golden idol Nebuchadnezzar was enraged and ordered them to be thrown in the furnace while it was ignited seven times hotter than usual. Most of us grew up hearing this story and know what happens next. When the three men did not perish in the flames Nebuchadnezzar was taken back.
(Daniel 3:24,25) “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ He answered and said, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.’”
Not only were the men not harmed in the fire but a fourth man was with them. To the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, this could have been anyone but he could sense the divinity in the person when he said he looked like “a son of the gods”. This causes Nebuchadnezzar to call out “‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!’” (Daniel 3:26). Though he still believed in a pantheon of gods, this display caused him to declare that the God of Israel was the supreme God. This is another theophany in the form of a man. There are those who believe this may have just been your typical angel but the human form he took leads me to believe this is yet another manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ. Just as he stood in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego He too stands ready to be with us through all the fiery trials of life.
Conclusion
Regardless of what these manifestations of God truly are they do not change the fact that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. For Christ “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15-16). Christ was omnipresent with the Father and the Holy Spirit during the creation of the world and throughout all the events of the OT. These Christophanies show that the Son of God was preparing to come down to earth by taking on human flesh and becoming one of us. The difference is that his flesh born of the Virgin Mary would not be temporal. When Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven he received a glorified body. He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty to judge the living and the dead, yet he still retains the flesh of man. He truly is our great high priest interceding on our behalf at all times, so that we too someday will be raised from the dead and receive a glorified body.
