Anticipating Jesus: Jesus in the Life of Abraham
—And what it means to us as children of Abraham by faith.
The last two weeks we’ve been looking for Jesus in the Old Testament. You can catch up at the links below:
Finding Christ in the Old Testament
The Story of Creation and The Promise to Come
What is a Christophany?
In this post, I want to look at an example of a Christophany. James Borland defines Christophany in his classic book Christ in the Old Testament as “those unsought, intermittent and temporary, visible and audible manifestations of God the Son in human form, by which God communicated something to certain conscious human beings on earth prior to the birth of Jesus Christ.”
An Encounter in Genesis 12
We don’t have to go far in Genesis to find a really important example. Genesis 12:1-7 says—
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
First, God speaks to Abram, telling him to leave his country and go to a land God will show him. Once Abram gets there, it says “The LORD appeared to Abram.” That’s a big shift from hearing God to actually seeing Him. Could this be a Christophany? Let’s look back at Borland’s definition.
Unsought
Borland says Christophanies are unsought. Unsought means these appearances were initiated by God and God alone. There are only two occasions where man asked for an appearance and God obliged: Moses and Manoah.
In all other instances, God appeared unexpectedly. Ludwig Kohler says, “There is no human process, no prayer, sacrifice or technique of any kind, whereby man could induce a divine apparition. Man is always the recipient only, never the author of revelation.” In other words, you can’t summon God like He’s some kind of genie. He’s not at our beck and call. We don’t get to boss Him around. He’s God.
We see that Abram did not seek God. In fact, the area that Abram is from is known for being worshippers of the moon. God initiates this interaction with Abram. First, God speaks to Abram, and then He appears to him.
Intermittent and Temporary
Borland’s definition says that Christophanies are intermittent and temporary. They are irregular, unpredictable, and brief. We sometimes imagine that God talked to people all the time in the Old Testament. Abraham, the father of faith, lived 175 years. The Bible only mentions God contacting him 8 times. In this particular instance, God appears to Abram intermittently and temporarily.
Visible and Audible
Borland goes on to say that Christophanies as visible and audible appearances of God the Son in human form. They’re not dreams or visions. These are real, physical encounters. People don’t just hear God; they see someone standing in front of them, in human form. The descriptions of what He looks like are usually pretty vague, but somehow, the people involved seem to recognize that He’s divine.
Verse 7 tells us that the Lord appeared to Abram and spoke. Abram built the altar “to the Lord who had appeared to him.” He was visible and audible in human form. Isn’t that interesting?
David Murray says:
Just as the Son of God is the usual way God speaks to humanity, so also the Son of God is the usual way God appears to humanity.
No one can see God the father and live, but Jesus says in John 14:9, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Not only is the Son the Word of God, but He is also the visible face of God.
Jonathan Edwards wrote:
When we read in sacred history what God did from time to time towards his church and people, and what he said to them, and how he revealed himself to them, we are to understand it especially of the second Person of the Trinity. When we read of God’s appearing after the Fall, from time to time, in some visible form or outward symbol of his presence, we are ordinarily, if not universally, to understand it of the second Person of the Trinity.
To put it simply: Jesus appeared to Abram. He wasn’t called Jesus yet, and He hadn’t been born of a woman—but He was there in human form. Abram may not have known His name, but he encountered the second person of the Trinity.
A Message with a Promise
The last part of Borland’s definition is that Christophanies communicated something to a certain individual, not a group. These appearances were revelatory and had a specific purpose. The messenger claimed divine authority and communicated a divine message with promises, warnings, or instructions.
What is the message to Abram? In verse 1, God told Abram He would make him a great nation. Here in the Christophany, God appears in human form and says, “To your descendants I will give this land.” God promises Abram, who is childless, that He will give his offspring the land of Canaan. This is the single most repeated promise in the Torah. God made it in person, visibly and audibly.
Fulfilled in Christ
That promise was fulfilled in part when Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land. But that was just a glimpse of something greater. One day, Jesus, our greater Joshua, will lead His people into the eternal Kingdom. What God promised Abraham finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:29).
Where else do we see Jesus in the Old Testament? There’s still more to uncover. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss next week.