Welcome to Part 2 of our November Series: Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament.

This series is an introduction to seeing Christ in the Old Testament and covers four key ways we can find Him in the text (if you missed last week’s newsletter, click Part 1 below to catch up!):

1. Part 1: Christ in Old Testament Promises & Prophecy
2. Part 2: Christ in Christophanies (pre-incarnate appearances)
3. Part 3: Christ in Typology (Old Testament people and things that foreshadow Christ)
4. Part 4: Christ in Patterns (Old Testament events that predict and foreshadow Christ)

Learning to see Christ in all of Scripture is a beautiful way to learn more about Him and to see the cohesive unity of the Bible on display. 

The Old Testament is not simply the history of Israel, it is the story of God’s work in this world to redeem mankind. Therefore, it all points to Christ. Christ is the eternal second person of the Trinity, the very one whom John writes about:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

Christ is the theme of Scripture, and He is present (in one way or another) throughout it all, including the whole Old Testament. 

This week we will discuss Christ’s presence in the Old Testament through Christophanies, or pre-incarnate appearances. This is a fascinating study that will stretch our minds as we see Christ’s connection to Yahweh and will cause us to marvel at our Triune God. 

Part 2: Christophanies in the Old Testament

In the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches us two important things that we need to remember to help us understand Christophanies:

1. Jesus said that “no one has ever seen God” but Jesus has made Him known:

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)

2. Jesus explains that He is the image of the invisible God:

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9)

Paul teaches it this way:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col 1:15)

The author of Hebrews explains it like this:

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Heb 1:3)

In the New Testament, we learn that Christ is “God with us.” As He told the Jews in John 8:58:

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’,” (emphasis mine).

In this verse, Jesus links Himself to Yahweh’s famous self-declaration to Moses from Exodus 3:13-14:

“Then Moses asked God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you”.”

Knowing that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and understanding Jesus’ deity are the keys for our Old Testament comprehension of Christophanies. Therefore, theologians recognize that in the Old Testament, sometimes when we meet Yahweh we are “catching glimpses of the coming Christ” (DeRouchie, 99).

For example, sometimes Christ comes in a pre-incarnate human form. As Jason DeRouchie explains, “at least in some instances where Yahweh becomes embodied in human form in the Old Testament, we are likely meeting the preincarnate Son” (DeRouchie, 100). Most scholars agree that the following refer to Christ:

1. He is Abraham’s 3rd guest in Genesis 18:22
2. He is the one who wrestled Jacob in Genesis 32: 24-30
3. He is the commander of the Lord’s army in Joshua 5:13-15
4. He is numerous instances of the “angel/messenger of Yahweh”
5. He is the “son of man” that Daniel speaks of in Daniel 7:13-14

Besides these examples, Jesus is connected to other Old Testament situations, too. “When we hear Yahweh speaking or see him acting in the Old Testament as the object of people’s faith, we are encountering the very one who would embody himself in the incarnate Christ” (DeRouchie, 101).

For example, the following refer to Christ:

1. He led Israel out of Egypt according to Jude 1:5: 

“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

2. He is the glory seen by Isaiah in the throne vision of Isaiah 6:1:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.”

And John confirms this was Jesus in John 12:41 (NIV):

“Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.”

There might be other Old Testament appearances we could link to Christ, but this represents a faithful summary. As you study further and come across other examples, it is important to not move past where Scripture leads. 

As we wrap up week 2, you might be wondering, what is the point of knowing about Christophanies (besides that they’re cool to think about)? Barry Cooper reminds us that these appearances teach us that God wanted to be “physically and visibly and inseparably present with His people.” We can marvel at these appearances because they show us that:

“The Christ, who in the Old Testament, appeared in an always-visible pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and led His people through the wilderness and (we are old) ‘did not depart from them’ is the same Christ who says, in the New Testament, “I am with you always.”

What a beautiful reminder as we get ready to celebrate the birth of our Immanuel–“God with us”!