Hey and Welcome to the Spark of Hope Blog! So today we are talking about a word that I am betting about 95% of people reading this have never heard which is Christophany. What is Christophany? Well Christophany is seeing or meeting Jesus before he was born and after he died. Basically meeting Jesus without his physical form if that makes sense. However the focus on Christophany that I am talking about today is in the OT (Old Testament).
Now you may be thinking "Hey, Uh, J.C you do realize that the NT (New Testament) is when Jesus was born right?". Yeah I know, but Jesus is found 10 times in the OT (There may be more we don't know about, but I got 10 that I am convinced it was him!). Anyways lets jump into this shall we?
The first time we can find Jesus (Ok I realize he was there at the beginning but Im skipping that for this Spark of Hope) is when he appears to Hagar in the desert when she cries out for "El Roi" or "The God Who See's Me". This is so powerful Hagar was a slave that was taken from Egypt and sent into the desert with a baby boy, and then she cries out in despair and hopelessness for God to help her and his answer was yes. He (God) sent a "Angel" to help Hagar. The reason that there are quotes around "Angel" is because that is the first time we can see Jesus in the OT. (Genesis 16 if you want to read this story)
The Second time we can find Jesus in the OT is Genesis 18:1 "The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day". The beautiful part of this, is that Jesus never just jumps onto scene in OT and says "Hey Im Jesus, if you don't stop sinning Im gonna have to die because of you!". No, it is subtle hints and subtle actions that reveal that it was indeed Jesus. Also I want you to notice something, the word LORD is always all caps because it was a very important and sacred. LORD used to be YHWH, which the Jews believed was so sacred that if one said the name they would instantly die.
The Third time we can find Jesus in the OT is Genesis 22 right as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son! Most people get disgusted when they read this story, but let me defend Abraham ok? He was NOT ready to kill his only son, there were 2 reasons God told him to do this. 1 was to test his faithfulness to him and 2 was to foreshadow Jesus. Anyways how Jesus shows up here was the Angel that speaks to Abraham to get him to spare Issac and show him the ram in the bushes.
The Fourth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Genesis 32:20, the man that Jacob wrestled with! Jacob admits that the man had to have been God himself. Which is really interesting because this is symbolic towards our lives. You don't think so? Oh, when was the last time you went against God's plan? That is you wrestling with God over your life.
The Fifth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Exodus 3:14 when the voice in the burning bush says "I AM WHO I AM". I AM is a name for Jesus because he is everything. A father, friend, brother, helper, teacher, judge, and teacher (and many more!). Some may disagree with this point, but I firmly believe that it was Jesus.
The Sixth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Exodus 13, He is the cloud that led the Israelite's in the desert. They had a need of shade during the blistering days and heat + light during the cold and dark nights. Jesus provides for their needs and helps them.
The Seventh time we can see Jesus in the OT is Joshua 5:13-15, The "Commander of Gods Army". This one I am 100% sure that it is Jesus because he says “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy". Where does that sound familiar? Oh that's right the burning bush when Jesus tells Moses to take his sandals off. Also another point that proves it was Jesus is that if you notice EVERY Angel that appears to people in the Bible says "Don't Worship Me". And yet this being tells Joshua that the ground is holy. Also a name of Jesus is the "LORD of Angel Armies"
The Eighth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Judges 6, when Gideon's offering is evaporated. you'll have to read the full story but my best sum up is, Israelite's disobeyed, God sent enemy army to attack them, the land goes into a drought, the country is starving, Gideon cries out to God for help. Then his offering just like evaporates in front of him and he basically says "Welp Im dead" then Jesus says the Iconic Angel phrase. Can you guess it? "Do not be afraid" see what I mean by iconic though?
The Ninth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Judges 13, when Samson's mother is asking God for a child. Now you may be wondering how Jesus is here. Well, you would be right to wonder but uh...this is one of the funniest and coolest stories in the Bible ok? Jesus shows himself in the fire of the offering that Samson's parents are offering, now the cool part about this is instead of fire coming down from heaven. The fire went up to heaven. And the funny part is how both the parents go from just staring at this flying fire to on their faces on the ground saying "Now we will surely die, for we have seen God". I just think its really cool and slightly funny.
The Last and Tenth time we can find Jesus in the OT is Daniel 3:25, The fourth man. It is noticed when the king says “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Just saying this is most likely him, however there is a HUGE debate on this topic so Im not gonna go into it too much.
Anyways these are the Christophany's of Christ found in the OT
Until next time, God Bless
J.C. Bridgewater
94:18 Christian Studios
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