This is the first in a series of articles written by Wayne Jackson. This appeared in the May, 1976 edition of The Christian Courier. It was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and was edited by Jackson.
The average person who thinks of Jesus Christ probably reflects for the most part only upon the Lord's earthly existence. A complete consideration of the work of the Second Person in the Godhead however, must involve at least five phases. (1) Christ as an eternal being before creation. (2) The theophanic appearances of the Lord in the Old Testament era. (3) The incarnate God, Jesus of Nazareth. (4) The glorified Christ presently reigning as our Mediator and (5) the future subjection of Christ following the judgment. In a series of articles to come, we propose to examine what the Scriptures reveal about these phases of our everlasting Lord; without doubt, such a study can only enhance our love and appreciation for the Prince of Life.
THE ETERNAL WORD - The Person referred to in the New Testament as Christ, the Son of God, was not a mere being of time. Rather, before the universe was formed, He was existing eternally as the Word. (John 1:1, 14) Evidence for this can be established easily.
(1) The Hebrew name for god was Elohim. Found more than 2,000 times in the Old Testament, Elohim is in the plural number. Richard Watson says, "Elohim seems to be the general appellation by which the Triune Godhead is collectively distinguished in Scripture." (Biblical and Theological Dictionary, p. 1024.) Thus in Genesis 1:1 it is God (Elohim-plural) who created (bara-singular) the heavens and the earth. The plural name suggests the multiple personalities of the Godhead, while the singular verb stresses the unity of the divine nature. Additionally, plural pronouns in the Hebrew text indicate the plurality of the Godhead as in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Some scholars have sought to explain this on the basis that God was simply accommodating His terminology to human expressions as when kings say "We" to indicate the plenitude of their power. However, as Watson correctly observes, the words of Genesis 1, "were spoken before the creation of any of these mortals whose false notions of greatness and sublimity the Almighty is thus impiously supposed to adopt." Moreover, it is significant that no king of Israel ever referred to himself as "we" or "us." The New Testament plainly reveals that Christ was there in the beginning (John 1:1); that He was existing with God before the world was. (John 17:5) In fact, as already indicated in Genesis 1:1, the New Testament affirms that Christ was an active agent in the creation. (John 1:3; I Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2)
(2) The prophet Isaiah called Jesus the "everlasting Father." (9:6) This does not, as the Oneness Pentecostal sect erroneously assumes, mean that Jesus is the same person as God the Father. The expression "everlasting Father" (literally, "Father of eternity") is a strong affirmation of the eternity of Christ. Albert Barnes points out that it was the usual Hebrew custom to refer to one who possessed a trait as being the father of it. Thus, someone strong was termed "father of strength"; one intelligent was called "father of knowledge", etc. Hence, "Father of eternity" means Eternal One. The scholarly Barnes concluded, "There could not be a more emphatic declaration of strict and proper eternity." (Commentary on Isaiah, p. 193.)
(3) In prophesying the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea, the prophet Micah is careful to stress that this is not the commencement of the Savior's existence. He declares that His goings forth are, "from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2) Unquestionably this is an affirmation of the Lord's eternal existence. E. B. Pusey wrote, "Here words, denoting eternity and used of the eternity of God, are united together to impress the belief of the Eternity of God, the Son." (The Minor Prophets, II, p. 70.) Of this passage Hengstenberg wrote, "the existence of the Messiah before His birth in time, in Bethlehem, is pointed out in general; and then, in contrast with all time, it is vindicated to eternity. This could not fail to afford a great consolation to Israel. He who hereafter, in a visible manifestation, was to deliver them from their misery, was already in existence; during it, before it and through all eternity." (Christology of the Old Testament, I, pp. 358, 359.)
(4) In the Gospel of John the apostle several times asserts the eternity of the Word by the use of grammatical tenses. For instance he announces, "In the beginning was (en) the Word, and the Word was (en) with God and the Word was (en) God." (1:1) J. H. Bernard correctly points out: "The imperfect en is used in all three clauses of this verse, and is expressive in each case of continuous timeless existence." (I.C.C., John, I, p. 2.) Again, Christ claimed that He "had" (eichon- imperfect tense) glory with the Father before the world was. (John 17:5) The imperfect verb emphasizes Christ's continuous existence prior to the world's creation. Wuest brings out the flavor of the passage by his rendering: "And now glorify Me, Father, beside Yourself, with the glory which I was constantly having with You before the universe existed." (The New Testament - An Expanded Translation. p. 255.) In John 8:58 Jesus announced: "Before Abraham was born (genesthai - aorist tense, indicating beginning of existence), I am (ego eimi - present tense asserting continuous timeless existence)." The Jews very well understood His eternal claim of Deity and hence promptly sought to stone Him! (NOTE: In an attempt to evade the overpowering force of this argument, the Jehovah's Witnesses, in their New World Translation of the Scriptures rendered the expression ego eimi ("I am") totally incorrect as "I have been." A footnote identified it as the "perfect indefinite tense." The utter absurdity of the whole thing is revealed by the fact that there is no such tense as the perfect indefinite! For further investigation of this see Van Buskirk's book, The Scholastic Dishonesty of the Watchtower.)
(5) In the final book of the Bible, Christ exclaims: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." (Revelation 22:13) Though these expressions may involve several things, it is certain they include an acknowledgment of the eternity of our Lord. In the Old Testament, similar phraseology calls attention to the eternity and omnipresence of Jehovah in contrast to puny heathen gods. (Isaiah 41:4; 43:10; 44:6; 48:12) J. G. Vos shows that Revelation 22:13, compared with 1:8 and 21:6, constitutes a, "strong assertion of the true and eternal Deity of Jesus Christ." He further declares, "The implication includes His eternity, pre-existence and essential Deity. For any created being, however exalted, to claim to be the Alpha and the Omega as these terms are used of Jesus Christ in Scripture, would be blasphemy." (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, I, p. 111.)
OLD TESTAMENT THEOPHANIES - A theophany may be defined as, "an appearance of God in visible form temporary and not necessarily material. Such an appearance is to be contrasted with the Incarnation, in which there was a permanent union between God and complete manhood (body, soul and spirit)." (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 1344.) A careful study of the Old Testament reveals the following facts: (a) A Person who is clearly identified as "Jehovah" or "God" made numerous appearances to people in both the Patriarchal and Mosaic ages. (b) This Being, though identified as Deity, is also distinguished from God. (c) Many characteristics of this divine Person seem to indicate that He was the pre-incarnate Word who became the God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth. Note:
(1) When Hagar fled from Sarai, she was found in the wilderness by, "the Angel of the Lord." (Genesis 16:7) He informed her, "I will greatly multiply thy seed..." (10) The Angel or Messenger speaking with her was in fact Jehovah and she acknowledged: "You are the God who sees." (13) (2) Three men visited Abraham by the oaks of Mamre; one of these was Jehovah. (Genesis 18:1, 13, 17) Jehovah informed the patriarch of His intention to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah because of their grievous sin. (20, 21) So Jehovah went His way (33) separating Himself from the other men who were angels. (19:1) Presently however, the narrative informs us that, "Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens." (24) Clearly, two Persons called "Lord" or "Jehovah" are involved here. (Cf. Genesis 22:11, 15-16) Some scholars believe that this incident may be included in Christ's declaration to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56) The Jews, interpreting this as a claim of being contemporary with Abraham, sarcastically asked, "Have You seem Abraham?" This prompted the Lord's reply that He was existing eternally before Abraham was born! (Cf. Alvah Hovey, Commentary on John, pp. 199-200.) (3) At Peniel Jacob wrestled with a Person who had assumed the form of a man (Genesis 32:24) but who was in fact God. (28, 30) this Person was a messenger of the Lord, and yet, He was called God, Jehovah of Hosts. (Hosea 12:4-5) And note that Jehovah of Hosts is the Redeemer of Jehovah the King of Israel. (Cf. Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 1:17, 22:13) (4) The One who was called God, the great I AM, who spoke with Moses from the burning bush, was also a messenger of God. (Exodus 3:2, 4, 6, 14) (5) In Judges 6, "the Angel of the Lord" appeared to Gideon. Yet He is termed "Lord" multiple times and He received worship. (14, 16, 22-25, 27) These and scores of other passages argue for the existence of a Person operating in Old Testament times who was: (a) distinct from God but acting for Him; (b) of the same nature as God and hence Himself Jehovah God.
Who was this mysterious God, the messenger of God? The older Jewish rabbi's expressed the view that this messenger would be their Messiah (Watson, op, cit., p. 60.) and this is borne out by the Scriptures. (He is called by Messianic names. (Cf. Wonderful- Judges 13:18; Isaiah 9:6, and I AM Exodus 3:14; John 8:58) (b) He is the Redeemer. (Genesis 48:15-16; Isaiah 44:6; 63:9; Luke 1:68) (c) He sustained the Israelites in their wilderness wandering (Exodus 14:19; 13:21) and through inspiration, Paul affirms this was Christ. (I Corinthians 10:4) W. E. Vine comments: "The past tense 'was' implies that the water was provided by the personal presence of Christ; for the Angel of His presence was with the Israelites through all their wilderness journeying. (Isaiah 63:9)" (I Corinthians, pp. 131-132, Cf. Robertson & Plummer, Hodge, Lenski, etc.) (d) He was the "messenger of the covenant", the Lord, who would suddenly come to His temple (Malachi 3:1), the preparatory work for whom John the Baptist accomplished. (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10)
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