Our Redeemer

Our Redeemer Before His Earthly Ministry

Stages:

1.The Pre-Existent Second Person of the Godhead in Eternity Past

2.The Second Person of the Godhead in The Old Testament

leading up to the stage we are most familiar with

3.The Incarnation, The Word Becoming Flesh and Dwelling Among Men

Stage 1. The Pre-Existent Second Person of the Godhead in Eternity Past

We will begin this study by examining who is God and how does He manifest Himself.

The Name God

The name God is the name for the Divine Nature or Essence.

That is why we read of One God in Scripture (Rom. 3:30, Eph. 4:6, 1 Tim. 2:5, James 2:19).

There is One Divine Nature, One God Kind

Notice Gen. 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God = This is the Hebrew word Elohim. Elohim is a plural form of the word El which means “mighty one”. Some think this plural refers to power or majesty, others believe it to be a reference to the Godhead.

We are told that God created, yet in the New Testament we are told that Christ created all things (John 1:3, Col. 1:16) and also that the Father created all things through Christ Eph 3:9 , vs 11 makes the distcintion in context between God the Father and Christ

Notice Gen. 1:26

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God = Elohim again

Us, Our = These pronouns agree with the plural Elohim where One God

The Godhead

Composed of God Father, The Word, Holy Spirit

Three Persons who possessed that one nature of God

Each is called God, Synecdoche, part stands for the whole

John 3:16 God (The Father) so loved

John 1:1 Word was God (The Son), Word made flesh and dwelt

Acts 5:3-4 Ananias and Saphira, Lied to the Holy Spirit, lied to God

Heb. 9:14 Eternal Spirit

Not the same person as some Oneness Pentecostal’s (Oneness).

Since this study is focusing on the Second Person of the Godhead, who will become Jesus Christ during His Incarnation, we should examine more information The Bible gives us to survey His Existence.

He is Eternal

The 2nd Person of Godhead, The Word of John 1:1, who will become Jesus in His Incarnation, is Eternal.

He did not have a beginning as taught over the course of church history by Docetists, Arius and others. These beliefs were picked up by the Jehovah’s Witness church.

There is lots of Biblical Evidence to show that Jesus Christ is Eternal.

There are 2 options for Existence.

Created or Eternal

Read John 1:1-3 In The Beginning…”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

Note the verbal tenses in John’s gospel. The Word was God (imperfect tense, always was—).

Before Gen. 1:1, Equal to the Father

Jn. 17:5 Christ prayed for the Father to glorify him “with the glory which I had (imperfect tense, always had) with thee before the world was.”

Phil 2:5-11 “In the form(essence) of God thought it not robbery (thought it not something to hold on to)”

-Not the Son of God eternally

Barnes said that. “The expression “son of God” is applied to Christ more than forty times in the New Testament. In not a single case is it used of his existence before he was born of Mary” (Barnes, 21)

Every prophecy of God bearing a Son, was in reference to the incarnation

THE WORD WAS INVOLVED IN THE CREATION

The New Testament makes it clear that the pre-incarnate Christ was a key figure in the creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2)

- But what about after the creation?

Stage 2. The Second Person of the Godhead in The Old Testament

Help us get the full picture in NT passages like John 8:55-58

-  Foreshadowing in Theophanies

-  Theophany- Theos (“Thay-ohs”)= God Phaino “feno”= appear to, “God appearing to”

-  Angel of The Lord (YHWH) / Angel of God (Judges 6:20-21 used interchangeably)

I think this is One of the most fascinating things in the Old Testament to me

What does the word angel mean?

Angel – malak pronounced “malachhhhh= messenger, determined by context whether 1. created angel or 2. human messenger, or 3. something unique

What are the Facts surrounding third case,

This evening I would like to make the case that this Angel of the Lord is Deity

He is the Pre-Incarnate Jesus Christ before He became Jesus, Te Second Person of the Godhead, The Word of John 1

Provide some evidence for that as we look together

Has anyone seen God the Father?

John 1:18 no one has seen the Father, one who was in His Bosom declared him

1 Tim. 6:16 “No man has seen or can see””dwells in unnaproachable light”

What evidence do we have in the Old Testament of The Second Person of the Godhead?

Give you some passages to dig into more on your own...

Genesis 16:7,10, 13 Hagar

He promises to multiply Hagar’s seed, and she confesses, “You are a God who sees” (Gen. 16:10, 13).

NKJV says seen Him (seen the back of Him is footnote)

Notice the NASB translation and her surprise at remaining alive “after seeing Him”

Gen. 18:1-17

3 Men came to tent of Abraham, Gen. 18:2

Gen 18:22 says Abraham stood before the LORD (YHWH)

This was not God the Father as we have noted no man has ever seen God the Father, so who was it?

Gen 19:1 angels, 3 people, 2 were angels, one was the Lord

Let’s keep looking at the Old Testament accounts

Gen. 22 Abraham’s Sacrifice

Read Gen. 22 starting in verse 1-2

Discuss the significance of Mount Moriah

2 Chron. 3:1 tells us that temple was built by Solomon on Mount Moriah

Told in this verse that the Lord appeared to David, yet in that account in 1 Chr. 21 it appears the Angel of the Lord was the one David saw.

This is where Solomon built the temple and This temple mount is traditionally associated with the mountain in the land of Moriah on which Abraham took Isaac to offer a sacrifice to God.

Moriah means “foreseen by God”. What is the significance?

Lets keep reading Gen. 22:3-10

vs.11- 12 Identify not with held your son from ME

Moriah means “Foreseen by God”- vs 13-14 the Lord will provide

God stopped Abraham from offering his son, but on that same mountain range, possibly the same mountain, 2000 years later, God provided the sacrifice of His Own Son on that Mount. possibly the exact same mountain where Abraham was told to take his son

vs 11-12 Angel of the Lord said that Abraham had not withheld his only son from Him (From God).

Gen. 22:15-16 The messenger called unto Abraham, saying, “By myself I have sworn, says Jehovah”

Gen. 31:11,13 The Angel of God (used interchangeable with Lord) says I am the God of Bethel

Gen. 32:24-30 Wrestled with God

Gen. 32:24 wrestles with a man

Gen. 32:28, 30 struggled with God, saw God face to face

Hos. 12:3-5 Confirms wrestled with God and “The Angel”

Exodus 3:2-6 The Burning Bush?

Read 3:2-6

Ex. 3:2 Angel of the Lord appeared to him in midst of bush, God spoke from midst of the bush

Gideon

Judges 6:12 Angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, text drops angel and refers to this character as The LORD, terms seem to be used interchangeably in this text

Judges 6:22 Gideon afraid that he would die

Judges 13:3-8,22 Samson’s father Manoah

Jud 13:3 angel of the Lord appeared

Jud. 16:6 shows that the angel of Jehovah is distinct from Jehovah (The Father)

Judges 16:18 Angel of the Lord says His name is Wonderful

Judges 18:20-22

Read Joshua 5:13-15 worshipped

Worshipped Him, not rebuked

Angels do not accept worship Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9

Rev. 19:11-16, Commander of Lord’s Armies is Jesus Christ

Josh 3:15 Holy Ground – Like Burning Bush in Exodus 3:5

Notice Commander of the army of The Lord (Yahweh Tsaba)

Isaiah 6:1-5

Read 6:1-5

Who’s Glory? The Lord, Lord of Hosts vs. 3, Yahweh Tsaba

Yahweh Tsaba worshipped in Joshua 5:13-15

So if this Angel of the Lord (Jehovah) was Deity, which person was it?

God the Father?

John 1:18 no one has seen the Father, one who was in His Bosom declared him 

1 Tim. 6:16 “No man has seen or can see”

In Is. 6:3 angels cried Holy Holy Holy, same language

Rev. 4:8 using this language of deity

Rev. 19:11-15 Christ commanding the armies of heaven

John 12:37-41

-  12:40 is a quote of Isaiah 6:10

-  Vs 41 saw who’s glory

When we examine these Old Testament passages, they might help us to get a more full picture of the entire “Life of Christ” which did not start with His Earthly ministry” but instead He is Eternal.

Hopefully this will help give us a deeper understanding when we come across passages in the New Testament of Jesus Christ in exchanges with the Pharisees like John 8:57.