OT Tuesday: In the Beginning... Jesus Was There!

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. (Gen 1:1-3)

The Bible is a divinely inspired work of literature, it's Jesus' autobiography as told to our ancestors who wrote it down for us. It starts at the very beginning and ends at the very end, and no other book written covers everything like the bible. But then, God hasn't written any other books for us. So there you have it, right there in first three verses in the bible, all three divine persons of the Holy Trinity are introduced and the grand adventure of God's creation of all begins. 

The fourth word of the bible and our lead 'character' is introduced - God and it tells us one of the awesome things He did; He created everything. The second verse introduces the second divine person of God, the Holy Spirit. Then in line three God speaks the Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

And there you have the introduction of the third divine person, Jesus - The Word. Right there at the start of it all. Throughout the Old Testament God is seen walking with people - Enoch walked with God in Genesis 5:24, Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:8, Moses would have long sit down talks with God face to face: 

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. (Ex 33:11)

So how come, after talking to Moses face-to-face, Moses suddenly wants to see God's glory, and God refuses?

18 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" 19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Ex 33:18 - 20)

I believe this is because Moses was talking to Jesus, God's interface with mankind, in verse 11, and in verse 18 he was asking to see God the Father. 

Jesus' appearances in the old testament are called Christophanies, as compared to theophany (the appearance of God the Father) or angelphany (the appearance of angels). Christophanies are not prophesies that mention the coming of Jesus, but the actual, physical appearance of Christ on the earth walking and talking with people before his physical birth at Bethlehem.

To me Christophanies are new and exciting and really open up my eyes to a whole new way to see what marvels my Lord and Savior have done for us, and tomorrow I will delve a bit deeper into this.