Christophony
A
Christophany is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. These were events in which
Jesus came in a visible form before He was born of Mary in the manger.
Key
Scriptures
Jn8:56-58 Abraham rejoiced to
see my day... Before Abraham was I am.
Jn1:1 In the beginning was the
word, the word was with God and the word was God.
Heb13:8 Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, today and forever.
Key
Questions
1.
Did
Jesus exist before He came to earth?
2.
Who
was Melchizedek?
Our
understanding of Christophonies
Jesus is
co-eternal with God. He has always existed. He was with God before the
beginning. ”All things that were made were by Him” and “He holds all things
together.” Because Jesus is God, that same in substance and essence we must
acknowledge He has always been. So what was He doing between the time of
creation until His incarnation? The Bible records several glimpses of Him
interacting with people.
In saying
that Jesus has always existed it should not be surprising that He made
appearances on Earth before He was born of Mary. Melchizedek is an example of
this. After Abraham won a great battle and saved the people of Sodom, Melchizedek
seems to appear out of nowhere. He has no genealogy and there is no record of
his death. He is the king of Salem (peace) and high priest to the highest God.
In looking back, who is the King of peace and our high priest? Jesus. It is to
Him that Abraham first tithes.
Angels will
not receive praise (rev22:8-9). So on several occasions when we see the Angel
of the Lord bowed down to worship we should take note. “Angel” is a being
and/or job function. It means messenger. I sometimes hand my wife her mail but
I am not a mailman. She could call me one in that moment because I fulfill that
role. On the other hand there are people that are full time mail carriers and
would call themselves by that tittle. Jesus is not an angel in form or in rank
however there were occasions where He performed the duty of a messenger and is
called “the Angel of the Lord.” These appearances include when Jesus came to
Joshua as the commander of the Lords army, when He came to Manoah and received
praise and an offering, and when Gideon was called.
It was
before investigating Sodom and in telling Sarah that she would conceive that
gave Jesus the right to say; “Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” Jesus had met
Abraham on this occasion.
It was
Jesus that wrestled in the night with Jacob. He was able to speak a divine
blessing and was apparently “more than a man.” Jesus at times appeared to hint
at His divine nature in some of these appearances. He was the fourth man in the
fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, “one like the son of God.”
From these occurrences
we learn much about Jesus. We see Him as Gods messenger, as the Commander of
the Lords army, as the One who calls us, the One that heals us, the One that
changes us and the One that stands by us in the fire. These are
foreshadowments. We see a fuller picture in the gospels and even fuller in the
book of Revelation. The Christophanies are confirming to the identity of Jesus
as revealed in the New Testament. They are important as they shine light on His
nature and His desire to interact with humanity.
Conclusion
Without
proper understanding of Chrisotphanies we are very prone to angel worship. If
the Angel of the Lord was not Jesus we will think too highly of angelic beings.
Christophaneis connect Jesus with all the scripture. He was present in the
creation and in calling the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). He was a
friend to Abraham and a saver of the Jewish people on several occasions. He
always was. This aids in establishing the doctrine that Jesus was and is 100%
God.
Driving it
home
Take a few
minutes and see if you can give a reasonable answer to the questions we started
with;
1.
Did
Jesus exist before He came to earth?
2.
Who
was Melchizedek?
If you
can’t answer these questions, what further information is needed?
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