Christ Before Bethlehem

CHRIST BEFORE BETHLEHEM

by Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer

At Christmastime it's understandable that we focus on the birth of Christ. Many years ago when our oldest daughter was a child, she asked me this question, "Who was looking after the world when God was a baby?"

The answer to that question is that Christ was looking after the world even when He was a baby. That baby had a divine nature. He was God, and continued to be God, even as an infant. As God, He existed long before that holy night in Bethlehem.

Of all of us, it can be said that our existence began at our conception and our birth. But Jesus had actual existence before Bethlehem. What was He doing? Well, He was running the world He created. He was sustaining the world. He was interacting with human beings, and He was connecting God the Father with the human beings on this planet.

Did you realize that in the Old Testament whenever you read the expression "the Angel of the Lord" it is referring to Christ, the second person of the Trinity? In Exodus chapter 3 we read about Moses, who was called from the burning bush. "And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush was bunting with fire, and yet the bush was not consumed. And God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, 'Moses, Moses.' And he said, 'Here I am.'"

The angel of the Lord of verse 2 is God. And later on, when the Lord reveals Himself to Moses, He says in verse 14, "I AM that I AM. " And it is the Angel of the Lord who is claiming deity, claiming to be God. But if the Angel of the Lord is God, what makes us think that it must be the second person of the Trinity, namely Christ?

Just stay with me! In the first chapter of Zechariah, the prophet is having a vision and the Angel of the Lord appears. We read, "The Angel of the Lord answered and said, 'Oh Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou have no compassion for Jerusalem, and for the cities of Judah, with which Thou has been indignant these seventy years?"' And the Lord answered the Angel who was speaking with gracious words.

What's happening here? The Angel of the Lord is interceding. Now follow carefully. The Angel of the Lord can be shown in the Old Testament to be nothing less than God. And yet we have Scripture like this that show Him to be distinct from Jehovah. There is only one explanation - it must be the second member of the Trinity, it must be Christ. And you have the Angel of the Lord talking to Jehovah God.

Then who could this be; who is doing this intercession but the second person of the Trinity? And just like in the New Testament, you have Jesus Christ talking to God the Father. In the same way in the Old Testament, Christ who is the "Angel of the Lord" is speaking to God the Father.

Interestingly, the Angel of the Lord never appears again in all of Scripture after the incarnation. You find Urn only in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament as well as in the Old Testament, you have many references to 'an angel of the Lord.' The Bible says that an angel, the angel Gabriel, came to Mary. But that is an angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord is always a reference to the second person of the Trinity. It is a reference to Christ. Theologians call it a theophany, that is, a manifestation of God in the Old Testament.

But there were thousands, perhaps millions of angels in the Bethlehem skies to welcome the birth of the Son of God...a fitting tribute to the King of Kings.

Let's look briefly at three ministries that the Angel of the Lord performed in the Old Testament and that Christ still does today.

First of all, in the Old Testament as in the New Testament, He revealed God. Interestingly, in the New Testament in John 8:58 when Jesus was being accused. He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." And that's why they took up stones to stone Him; they knew He had claimed to be God, Jehovah. The "/ AM" of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is the "I AM" of the incarnate Christ in the New Testament.

And may I add that if Jesus had not come to explain God, if there was no Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, and if there was no Christ incarnate in the New Testament, we would have no idea as to what God is like. We would look at earthquakes, famines, hurricanes, and tornadoes and we would see the angry side of nature; we'd never know that God is love. We would never know that we could be reconciled to God. All that we could do is to grope in our blindness. How thankful we are that Christ explains God to us!

Secondly, He intercedes. If He is the revealer, He is also the intercessor. We read in Zechariah 3 that the Angel of the Lord is interceding on behalf of Joshua the high priest.

What does Jesus do for us today? He intercedes for us. The Bible says, "...if is Christ that died,' yea rather (hat is risen again and is even now at the right hand of the throne of God, Who makes intercession for us. "

Third, He comforts His people.

In Genesis 16 we find the first time in all the Old Testament where the Angel of the Lord appears. There's a woman by the name of Hagar who is living in the home of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah is barren; she can have no children. And yet God said, "Abraham, you are going to be the father of a multitude."

So one day Sarah says to Abraham - and this was the custom in those days - "I am unable to bear children for you; have children with my servant, Hagar." So Abraham accepted her suggestion and Hagar became pregnant. She bore a son called Ishmael and the conflict in the home was absolutely overwhelming. So Sarah begins to despise Hagar, and sends her out of the house.

Here is this lonely woman, kicked out of her house, alone, going through the desert, and she comes to a well. The Bible says that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Her. He said, "Hagar, don't be discouraged; let me comfort you. I want you to know that you will bear a child and I am going to bless him, too and make him also a father of a multitude."

God saw this destitute, disappointed, rejected woman. And He sees you today in your apartment which is far too small. And He sees you in the midst of a family with all of its struggles and hassles. And He has eyes that look into your room and even into your ghetto, whatever that might be, and God sees you there.

The Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament comforted those who were hurting. And in the New Testament, Jesus does the same thing. "Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. "

I know what you're thinking. You're saying, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, why the incarnation? Why didn't the Angel of the Lord just keep on ministering to people, comforting them, interceding for them, revealing God to them? Why Bethlehem? Why Christmas?"

Here's where the news becomes breathtaking. It's because there were some things the Angel of the Lord could not do unless He assumed human form: therefore the Word would become flesh. For this I want you to turn to the book of Hebrews and find four or five ministries that Christ can have only as man, that He could never have had as the Angel of the Lord. What a wonder the incarnation is!

Number one, He could not be our Savior. God could not forgive our sins, finally and eternally, until He became one of us, to become a sacrifice for us. We read, "Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power, and when He made purification of sins. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3).

Why couldn't the Angel of the Lord simply wipe out people's sins? Why the need for the incarnation? Because, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And you could not take the Angel of the Lord and nail him to a cross, could you? And if you could, there would be no blood. There had to be someone who would become like us to redeem us. And blood had to be shed, and a sacrifice had to be made. And for that, Christ had to become one with us.

Notice, to become Israel's king He had to become a member of the human race. He had to come through the lineage that had been predicted - the lineage of David.

And then also, He had to become one of our brothers. In the book of Hebrews we read, "For both He who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified...." That's a reference to us. "...we are all from one Father, for which reason He...", that is, Christ, "is not ashamed to call them His brethren."

Isn't this astounding? Do you realize what benefits come to those who believe in Christ? We have God as our Father; we have Christ as our brother.

He also had to become man to become our high priest. Later on in the book of Hebrews it says that "we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. " No, we have somebody who partook of flesh and blood, somebody who was hungry and thirsty, Who knew the power of rejection. Somebody who hurt when stones were thrown at Him. And Somebody who felt the full effect of the whippings and the beatings that He received on His way to the cross.

The exaltation of Jesus reminds us of our own triumph. The fact that He is in heaven today is evidence that we will participate with Him as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

You may wonder how to get in on all these benefits. Are they ours simply because we are human? Emphatically, No! There are multitudes who will never benefit from the coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, they will be judged by Him. You must begin by understanding the real purpose of Christ's coming; the entry point is becoming one of His children. It's the entry point of forgiveness, receiving the gift of eternal life.

Many years ago, I am told, during the days of Czar Nicholas of Russia, a young man whose father was a friend of the Czar was given a great responsibility. He was charged with doling out the money to the troops in the barracks. The problem was that this young man had a gambling habit. He used the troops' money and was losing it rapidly. The troops were not being paid. An awesome debt was mounting. When he was told that Czar Nicholas himself was going to come to look at the books, he sat down and found out how much he owed and then wrote beneath it, Too much to pav! Who can pay?" He put a gun at his side and said that at midnight he would do the only honorable thing - blow his brains out!

As he was sitting there, he fell asleep. The Czar himself walked by and had heard stories of the young man's dishonesty. He looked at the ledger and was ready to have him arrested. But then when he saw those words, "Too much to pay! Who can pay?", his heart was touched. The Czar himself wrote under the words in the ledger, "Nicholas can pay." And when the young man awoke, he checked the authenticity of the signature and found that it truly was that of Nicholas. He was so overwhelmed that he became a most loyal supporter of Nicholas from that time on. Because in truth, only one person could pay, and that was Nicholas, the highest ranking representative of the government.

And that's the bottom line of the Christmas story. Not one of us can pay. The debt is too much. Our sin is too great. But thankfully, Jesus Christ can pay and He came to pay. Not as the Angel of the Lord, but He came as man. The Word became flesh, and He died on a cross. He shed real blood that dripped onto some real dirt. He felt some real pain on a roughly hewn real cross and He died for sinners.

And for those who now say, "I have nothing to pay but I cast myself upon His mercy totally," they receive from Him the words, "Christ can pay." And then along with the forgiveness comes the brotherhood of Christ, comes the high priesthood of Christ, comes the exaltation with Christ.

And it's all free when we repent of our sins and believe.