The Eternity of Christ – Son of Righteousness

· Did you know there are incidents of Christ appearing to people in the Bible even before He was born in Bethlehem?

· These incidents are called theophanies.

· In Matthew 5:1-6, King Herod was told by the chief priests and scribes that a new king had been born in Bethlehem.

· Jesus’ birth was prophesied by the prophet Micah more than 700 years earlier.

Micah 5:2 predicts Bethlehem as the place of the Messiah’s birth.

Micah 5:2 NKJV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

Micah 5:2 (NLT) – whose origins are in the distant past,

Micah 5:2 (ESV) – from ancient days.

· Ironically, while Micah referred to a future birth, he referenced an eternity past.

· How is this possible?

· Before Jesus was born to Mary, He existed throughout history in a pre-incarnate state.

· Even though Jesus was not in a human body until the New Testament times, the Bible records many divine interventions of God’s grace and love through Jesus!

John 1:1 NLT

1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

What is John teaching?

· The DEITY of Jesus:

o “and the Word was with God” (“with” indicates there was more than one person).

o “and the Word was God.”

John 1:2 NLT

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

· The ETERNITY of Jesus:

· The CREATOR of Jesus

John 1:3 NLT

3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

Colossians 1:15–17 NLT

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Colossians 1:16 NLT

16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

The Pre-incarnate Christ

· Jesus also appeared many times throughout history in many ways:

Jesus is a Burning Bush

· Although it was in the form of a burning bush, It was Jesus who spoke directly to Moses and commissioned him to lead God’s people out of 430 years of Egyptian slavery.

Exodus 3:14–15 NLT

14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

Jesus is a Covenant Promise

· Naturally speaking, Abraham was born about 1,300 years before Christ.

· Supernaturally speaking, Jesus never had a beginning.

· When the Pharisees argued with Jesus regarding who His Father was, they emphatically declared that they were the direct descendants of Abraham.

· In response to this challenge, Jesus replied:

John 8:58 NLT

58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!”

Jesus is a Watering Rock

· During the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, Jesus took care of a million Jews during their trek through the Wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

1 Corinthians 10:4 NLT

4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.

· Christ will take care us too, on our journeys through life!

Jesus is a Protecting Angel

· When the time arrived for the children of Israel to take possession of the Promised Land, Jesus was with them in the form of an angel of war, who cleared their enemies from before them.

Joshua 5:13–15 NLT

13 When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?” 14 “Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.

Tony Cooke:

“How many times had Joshua heard the story of the Great I AM telling Moses to take his shoes off at the burning bush, because he was standing on holy ground? This appearance of Christ is different in form—here he appears as the Commander of the army of the Lord—and yet Joshua bows before him and worships him. This could not have been an ordinary angel as only God is to be worshipped, and no holy angel or man of God would have allowed such reverence from Joshua.”

· May we also honor and respect the presence of the Lord in our lives!

Jesus is a Loving Teacher

John 13:1 NLT

1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

Jesus is a Sharing Savior

· Jesus wants us to share in the eternal love of God!

John 17:5 NLT

5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

John 17:24 NLT

24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

Jesus is a Coming King

Revelation 1:8 NLT

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Revelation 21:6 NLT

6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.

Throughout the Bible, we see Jesus fulfilling in the New testament the types and shadows of the pre-existence of Jesus represented in the Old Testament.

Though Christ was born as a human at Bethlehem, he always existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity past.

“Jesus was unique among men in that His birth did not mark His origin, but only His appearance as a man on the stage of time.” - Oswald Sanders