Christ Before Bethlehem: Old Testament Appearances of the Preincarnate Jesus Christ

By Raymond Horne

Yes, Christ was born in Bethlehem, but Christ’s existence didn’t begin with His coming to this earth as a baby in Bethlehem. The Apostle John emphasized this in the beginning of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3, ESV). Jesus was present at the beginning of creation. He was and is our creator. His pre-existence is further affirmed by His many appearances documented throughout the Old Testament.

John F. Walvoord, Christian theologian, pastor, and president of Dallas Theological Seminary believed and taught that “It is safe to assume that every visible manifestation of God in bodily form in the Old Testament is to be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

These pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ are called Christohanies. In this book Dr. Raymond Horne digs deep into Scripture giving details of Christ’s pre-incarnate appearances to Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Moses, Balaam, Joshua, Gideon and Sampson’s mother, lifting out life principles and practical applications for today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973673088

Raymond Horne

Raymond Horne has served as a pastor, missionary and professor for over 50 years. He has ministered extensively overseas, preaching and teaching in Africa, Australia and Europe.  You will find his teaching true to the faith and practical for everyday living. He received his B.A. from Belmont University and his M.A. and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Raymond Horne.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7307-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7308-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019913753

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/10/2019

NIV: All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

HCSB: Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Used by Permission HCSB ©1999,2000,2002,2003,2009 Holman Bible Publishers. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.Undo

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Who can find an excellent wife?

She is far more precious than jewels.

—Proverbs 31:10 (HCSB)

To my darling wife, Janice. She was and is a beautiful blessing from God. She is a rare and precious jewel that my heart was blessed to find. I praise God for the fifty years we have shared as husband and wife. This book would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1     Christ Appears to Abraham

Genesis 12:1–9

Chapter 2     Christ Appears to Hagar

Genesis 16

Chapter 3     Christ Appears to Jacob

Genesis 32

Chapter 4     Christ Appears to Moses

Exodus 3:1–4:17

Chapter 5     Christ Appears to Balaam

Numbers 22:23–25

Chapter 6     Christ Appears to Joshua

Joshua 5:1–15

Chapter 7     Christ Appears to Gideon

Judges 6:1–24

Chapter 8     Christ Appears to Manoah’s Wife

Judges 13

Postscript.

Notes

INTRODUCTION

My favorite time of the year is the Christmas season. I love the focus Christmas gives to the birth of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite Christmas carols is a beautiful Appalachian ballad written by William Howard Doane (1832–1915), titled Christ Was Born in Bethlehem.¹ The first verse says:

Christ was born in Bethlehem, Christ was born in Bethlehem. Christ was born in Bethlehem and in a manger lay.

And in a manger lay, and in a manger lay,

Christ was born in Bethlehem and in a manger lay.

Yes, Christ was born in Bethlehem and in a manger lay, but Christ’s existence didn’t begin with His coming to this earth as a baby in Bethlehem. Christ existed before Bethlehem. The apostle John emphasized this in the beginning of his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-3, ESV).

The apostle Paul also affirms this truth in the book of Colossians: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15–17).

Jesus was present at the beginning of creation. He was and is our creator. His preexistence is further affirmed by His many appearances documented throughout the Old Testament. Theophany is a theological word that refers to an encounter with God prior to Christ’s incarnation.

The Holman Bible Dictionary tells us that The phenomena of theophanies were temporary, for the occasion that required them, and then disappeared. On the other hand, in the incarnate Christ His deity and humanity were joined, not for time alone, but for eternity.²

However, in the early days of humanity, before men had the written Word, before the incarnation, and before the Holy Spirit had come to make His abode in human hearts, God sometimes appeared and talked with men. Before man sinned, he walked and talked with God, but after sin entered, Adam and his wife hid when they heard the voice of God (Genesis 3:8). God spoke to Cain (Genesis