Brief Insights on Mastering Bible Doctrine by Michael S. Heiser;

Author:Michael S. Heiser;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Christian Publishing
Published: 2018-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

*Andrew Zimmerman Jones, “Energy: A Scientific Definition,” ThoughtCo, August 10, 2017, http://physics.about.com/od/glossary/g/energy.htm

CHAPTER 40

God Came to People as a Man before Jesus

Most Christians are familiar with the story of how God visited Abraham (Gen. 12:1–9). The story opens with a command: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’ ” (Gen. 12:1). God then proceeded to make certain promises to Abram (Abraham), that he and his wife Sarah would have a child, and from that child a nation would be born, live in the place God granted them, and be a blessing to all other nations.

But that isn’t the whole story. Later in the same chapter we read: “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7). Twice we are told that God appeared to Abraham. This description goes beyond hearing a voice. Abraham saw God. Abraham saw God at other times, too. In Genesis 15 Abraham sees God in a vision (Gen. 15:1). In Genesis 18 God comes to Abraham with two angels (Gen. 18–19), and they share a meal (Gen. 18:1–8) and have an important conversation (Gen. 18:22–33; cf. Gen. 19:1). The other patriarchs saw God as well. The LORD appeared to Isaac (Gen. 26:1–5), the son God had promised Abraham, and Jacob, the son of Isaac (Gen. 28:10–22; 31:11–12; 32:24–30).

Genesis 12 and 15 both describe God appearing to Abraham to form a covenant relationship with him. Both have Abraham seeing God. But there’s something in Genesis 15:1’s appearance that is easily missed but very significant. It wasn’t just God who appeared to Abraham. The text says, “The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision.” The “Word” was God, the very same description that John later applied to Jesus (John 1:1–3).

The word of the LORD makes other visible appearances in the Old Testament. One of my favorites is 1 Samuel 3. The boy Samuel kept hearing a voice calling his name while he was trying to sleep. This happened three times. Finally, in verse 10 we read: “Then the LORD came and stood there and called out as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ ” We know this was God in human form since the description has him standing, and since the end of the chapter (1 Sam. 3:19–20) says that “the word of the LORD” made a habit of appearing to Samuel.

Jeremiah too had the “word of the LORD” come to him in physical human form (Jer. 1:1–9). Jeremiah identified the speaker as the LORD himself, and the LORD touched Jeremiah with his hand (Jer. 1:9).

These incidents (and others) prepared God’s people for the incarnation, when this same God would be born of Mary as Jesus of Nazareth.

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