Christians can have strong feelings about Christmas, and I do not think either side should be mocked. Some believers gladly use the day to remember that the Son of God came in the flesh, while others stay away because certain customs trouble their conscience. So what does Scripture actually allow, and where does it draw firm boundaries?
The Promised Son Came to Save
The Bible does not command an annual celebration of Christ’s birth. It never identifies December 25 as His birthday or makes Christmas an ordinance for the church. Since God has not commanded the day, no Christian has the right to bind another believer’s conscience as though He did. Yet Scripture also does not forbid someone from setting aside a day to thank God for sending His Son.
A date on the calendar cannot save us or make us spiritual. What I want to understand is whether we can remember Christ’s birth to the Lord in genuine faith. That means speaking truthfully about Him and acting with a clean conscience, while loving believers who choose differently. Scripture gives us direction without giving our customs the authority of God’s commands.
We need to begin with Christ Himself before we consider our nostalgia or suspicions about Christmas. The reason for His birth reaches back to Eden, where sin entered the world and death followed. Adam and Eve hid because they could not remove their guilt or restore what they had broken. God sought them and judged their sin truthfully. Before they could offer a plan of their own, He gave them a promise.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.
Genesis 3:15
God’s promise begins with conflict between the serpent and the woman and between their offspring, then narrows to one coming Deliverer. The Hebrew word translated “seed” is zera, which can describe descendants as a group or a particular descendant. Here the wording points toward one promised Champion who would deal the decisive blow. It does not reveal every later detail about the Messiah, but it gives the first clear pointer to Him and helps us follow God’s work of redemption through Scripture.
The serpent would bruise His heel, so the promised victory would involve real suffering. Jesus would bleed and die, yet that blow would not be final. The Seed would crush the serpent’s head. We cannot separate Christ’s birth from that conflict with sin and death and turn it into a sentimental scene. The Son did not enter the world to decorate a season. His birth points us toward the cross and the empty tomb, and He will finally destroy the devil’s work.
That promise gives me a reason to rejoice in Christ’s birth beyond the peaceful appearance of the scene. The Deliverer God promised actually entered the world. We celebrate more than the birth of a child, because His coming was part of God’s answer to the rebellion that separated humanity from Him and brought death into creation.
Genesis also reminds us who moved first. Adam and Eve had hidden from God, but He called to them and spoke hope after confronting their sin. Grace begins with God, not with human religious creativity. If we choose to remember Christ’s birth, the center cannot be what we offer God through a holiday. The center must be the mercy God has shown by giving His Son.
The rest of the Old Testament builds on that first promise. God told Abraham that all families of the earth would be blessed through him. Later, He promised a King through David’s line. The prophets then tied that hope to events in real history.
The birth of Jesus showed that God kept His word, so the incarnation cannot be reduced to a private religious feeling. Its meaning did not come from later holiday customs. The details of His coming belong to the plan of redemption Scripture had been revealing from the beginning.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
Immanuel means “God with us.” In the New Testament, that promise reaches its fullest meaning when the eternal Son takes on true humanity. Micah 5:2 joins Bethlehem with eternity: the Messiah would be born in a real town, yet His goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Jesus did not begin to exist at His birth. He is fully man, and He is eternally God.
Jesus Is More Than a Seasonal Symbol
Matthew connects Jesus’ name with the salvation He came to accomplish. That explanation keeps the manger and the cross together, because sin was the problem He came to address.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
A Christmas celebration has drifted from Scripture if it speaks warmly about a baby but cannot speak plainly about sin and the salvation He accomplished. Jesus was born to die as the completely sinless substitute. He came for the whole world, and His genuine offer of salvation may be resisted or received. Anyone who repents and believes in Him is forgiven and justified before God. God gives that person new birth and makes him new. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within him and seals him, and he is eternally secure in Christ. This security never gives anyone permission to live lawlessly. A shallow profession is not proof that someone has truly been born again.
Jesus came to deal with sin at its root, obeying the Father perfectly and suffering at the hands of sinners. His purpose went far beyond encouraging kinder habits for a few weeks each year. If our celebration avoids that mission, we may keep using Christ’s name while overlooking the reason He was born.
Wicked men physically tortured Jesus and inflicted real punishment upon Him before killing Him. He willingly bore that punishment for our sins in His innocent body. He shed His blood and died, and after He was buried, He rose bodily. The Father did not punish or curse Jesus, and He did not abandon Him. Nor did the Father strike or bruise Him, or pour wrath on Him. Christ’s resurrection secured His victory, and He will finally destroy every work of the devil.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11
The angel called the child Savior, Christ, and Lord. Those titles keep me from treating Him as an ordinary baby or a harmless mascot for seasonal kindness and nostalgia.
We need a Savior because we cannot rescue ourselves from sin. The title Christ connects His birth to God’s promises, while Lord calls for more than warm feelings about the manger. He has rightful authority over our lives, which leaves no room to treat Him as a shallow seasonal symbol.
Luke shows us how people responded to His coming. Mary took the news to heart and considered what God had done, rather than treating it as religious entertainment.
But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:19
Mary’s quiet attention makes me consider how easily activity can crowd out thought. Between travel and events, a season can fill with meals and gifts before we have given much attention to the incarnation. Even church activities can keep the calendar full without leading us to think deeply about Christ. Mary allowed God’s word to settle within her. If we celebrate, we can follow her example by slowing down enough to consider the truth.
Truthfulness also requires us to separate the biblical account from details added by tradition. The shepherds were outside Bethlehem when the angel announced the birth, and they went that night to find Mary, Joseph, and the baby in a manger. Matthew records that the wise men came later, entered a house, and saw the young Child. Scripture never says there were three wise men; that number is inferred from the three kinds of gifts. Recognizing those details does not spoil the account. It helps us speak accurately about what God has revealed.
After Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary brought Him to the temple in obedience to the Law. Simeon had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Lord’s Christ before he died. When he held the child, he understood that God’s salvation would reach beyond Israel to the nations.
For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.
Luke 2:30-32
Through Israel’s Messiah, God was fulfilling His promises to Israel and opening salvation to the nations. Yet Simeon also warned Mary that Jesus would expose hearts and be spoken against. The account of His birth includes division as well as joy. We have to respond to the Messiah God actually sent, rather than make Him a symbol we each define for ourselves.
John takes us behind Bethlehem and speaks of the Son from eternity. The Word who was with God and was God took on flesh. Jesus is not a created savior or merely a human teacher.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The Greek verb translated “dwelt” is skenoo, which is commonly connected with tabernacle language. Understanding that connection helps us see how John describes God’s presence. He had made Himself known among His people in the tabernacle, and His glory is now revealed in the incarnate Son. The eternal Son became fully human without ceasing to be God and lived among us in grace and truth.
I find far more reason for wonder in the Son living among us than in a vague seasonal message of goodwill. A decorative tradition does not create that wonder. Recognizing who Jesus is should move us to receive the grace and truth found in Him.
Christian Liberty and the Observing of Days
How does remembering His coming fit with Christian liberty? Romans 14 addresses disagreements about food and the observing of days. It does not mention Christmas, so I would not claim that Paul names this particular celebration. His principle does apply, though, to an optional annual remembrance.
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Romans 14:5-6
A believer may set aside the day to thank God for the incarnation and read Scripture with the family. Talking about Christ may lead them to sing and give generously. They might also serve someone in need. Another believer may abstain because the surrounding customs trouble his conscience. Both belong to the same Lord and can thank Him in the choice they make. Neither may take Christ’s place as judge of His servant.
Paul’s concern is not that every Christian make the same optional choice. He wants each believer to live before the Lord while recognizing that the other believer also belongs to Him. This keeps liberty from becoming independence. I am free from a human rule about the day, but I am not free from Christ’s authority or from the command to love His people.
I cannot measure someone’s love for Jesus by whether he celebrates Christmas, or his purity by whether he refuses it. God knows the true state of the conscience and sees whether we act in faith and love. Outward displays of holiness do not impress Him, so either choice calls for humility.
Romans 14 concerns acts that God has neither commanded nor forbidden. Christian liberty gives us no permission for idolatry or deception, and it cannot excuse drunkenness, greed, or anything else Scripture condemns. We exercise freedom before the Lord, with love for the person who might otherwise stumble because of our choice.
We also need Jesus’ warning about tradition. A familiar practice can carry religious language while the heart remains far from God.
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
Matthew 15:8
A tree and decorative lights do not honor God simply by being present, any more than songs, gifts, or a family meal automatically do. Used thoughtfully, these customs may be ordinary and harmless. But they can also conceal greed or pride, encourage debt, or expose impatience. When a tradition takes so much attention that worship is neglected, attaching Christ’s name to it cannot make those works of the flesh holy.
A family might keep the day simple by reading the Bible and speaking honestly about Christ, then praying together to turn their attention toward God. They could help someone in need or invite someone who would otherwise be alone. Parents can direct their children toward the Savior instead of letting presents control the day. These are ways to remember Him with gratitude, not reasons to make Christmas a commanded holy day.
A family is just as free to simplify further or leave the day unobserved. No one should treat a family’s decision not to spend money or attend a Christmas gathering as disobedience to God. Decorations and church activities must not be forced on anyone either. A tradition that is meaningful in one household may burden another. Love should make us attentive to that difference rather than insistent on outward conformity.
Origins, Idolatry, and Jeremiah 10
We need the same honesty when discussing where Christmas customs came from. Confident historical claims can go beyond Scripture without being carefully sourced. Rumors cannot establish doctrine, whether we use them to defend the holiday or condemn it.
The Bible does not identify the date of Jesus’ birth, so Christians should not present December 25 as though God revealed it. Historical evidence shows that the church in Rome observed the Nativity on December 25 by AD 336. Why the date developed is debated. Some explanations connect it with Christian calculations about the date of Christ’s conception; others point to its place near Roman winter festivals. The available evidence does not justify the sweeping claim that Christmas was simply stolen from one pagan holiday.
I do not see admitting uncertainty as weakness, and I would not give a debated account of history the authority of Scripture. A believer may find the associations too troubling and abstain. Another may see the modern practice as an ordinary cultural setting for remembering Christ. An uncertain historical explanation does not weaken the biblical commands about worship and conscience.
Deuteronomy 12 gives us clear instructions to consider. Israel was preparing to enter Canaan, where they were to destroy the nations’ idolatrous worship sites and worship where the LORD chose. They were not to study pagan rites in order to redirect that worship toward Him. The command protects worship from idolatry without making every ordinary cultural practice an act of false worship. It gives us no permission to rename idolatry or invent a required Christian holiday.
Paul addressed a similar distinction in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 among believers surrounded by temples and sacrifices. An idol is nothing, and ordinary food remains God’s provision. A Christian could buy meat in the marketplace without investigating its whole history. But eating at an idol’s temple in religious fellowship joined the worshiper to a demonic table. Believers had to refuse that false worship and also care about someone whose conscience was wounded by the association.
I need to distinguish an object’s past association from participation in false worship. Paul does not tell believers to fear every ordinary item with such a history, but neither does he call false worship harmless. What does the act mean, and how is it being used? We also need to care about a brother or sister who connects it with the worship they left behind.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
That distinction helps us evaluate decorations and customs. An ordinary object does not become an idol just because a similar object was once used in false religion. But we must not treat an object, image, or ritual as spiritually necessary or bring it into God’s worship on human authority.
Jeremiah 10 is often raised in discussions about Christmas trees, but Jeremiah describes the making of an idol. A craftsman cuts and shapes wood, then the object is decorated and fastened in place. It cannot walk or speak, yet people fear it and put their trust in it.
For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.
Jeremiah 10:3-4
Jeremiah condemns idolatry rather than describing every decorative tree in a home. I do not want to weaken his warning by overlooking what makes an object spiritually dangerous: treating it as worthy of reverence or necessary for protection. A seasonal ritual can also become an idol when someone regards it as magical or makes it a test of faithfulness.
I would not use Jeremiah 10 to accuse every Christian who has a tree. Its warning should search my heart as well as anyone else’s. A custom that has become an idol must go, and a believer whose conscience is troubled should leave it alone. If we keep a custom, we should regard it as ordinary, never as an act of worship or proof of devotion.
Faith, Conscience, and Truthful Practice
Romans 14 also addresses the believer who cannot take part in a disputed custom faithfully before God. He should not force himself to participate.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
Romans 14:23
Family expectations and church events do not justify pressing a believer into celebrating against his conscience. Yet my conscience does not give me authority over everyone else’s choice. It can tell me what I must not do without adding a command to Scripture for the whole church. Love calls us to refuse both pressure and contempt.
I should listen to my conscience while also allowing Scripture to teach it. My fears do not automatically become rules for everyone else. We need to examine the relevant passages and refuse what we cannot do in faith, while giving others room to grow in understanding. Shaming someone into a decision does not accomplish that.
We should also ask what our customs are producing. Greed and unnecessary debt signal a need for change. A holiday cannot excuse drunkenness or bitterness, and it gives no permission for lying or repeated family conflict. If habits feed impatience and draw us away from worship, nostalgia is no reason to protect them. We should simplify or refuse those habits.
Parents should think carefully about Santa Claus for the same reason. Imaginative stories and family play are not the same as deliberately teaching a child that a fictional person is real. Christian parents should answer direct questions truthfully. No seasonal amusement is worth training a child to distrust the person who also teaches him about Jesus.
Truthfulness extends beyond Santa Claus to the way we speak about Christ’s birth and the history of our customs. We should not embellish the biblical account or present doubtful historical claims as facts. Keeping our promises belongs to the same commitment. Deliberate dishonesty undermines a celebration meant to honor the One who is full of grace and truth.
The day remains optional within clear biblical limits. We may neither command Christmas as an ordinance nor forbid the date as though Romans 14 did not exist. Jeremiah 10 condemns idols rather than every decoration, and questions about history need careful treatment. Enjoyment never excuses idolatry or dishonesty. Whatever we choose, we should seek God’s glory with a clear conscience and genuine love for other believers.
My Final Thoughts
After working through these passages, I believe a Christian may celebrate Christmas to the Lord or abstain to the Lord. The day is not commanded, and a personal choice must never become law for the church. If we celebrate, we should tell the biblical account truthfully and remove customs that feed sin. Jesus Himself must remain at the center because the eternal Son took on flesh and shed His blood for our sins. After dying and being buried, He rose bodily. If we cannot participate in faith with a clear conscience, we should abstain without shame and give fellow servants of Christ the same room to obey Him.
The phrase “the word of the LORD” appears so often in the Old Testament that we can easily read past it without asking what happened. Did God give someone a message, or does the passage describe Him personally appearing? I want to look at how Scripture uses that phrase before we come to John, who tells us that the eternal Word became flesh.
The LORD Revealed Himself at Shiloh
When the LORD speaks, we are hearing from God Himself. His Word reveals what is true and commands His people, but it also brings things into being and pronounces judgment. Through His promises, He makes known what He will do and places His people under covenant responsibility to Him.
A prophet cannot give God’s message its authority or change it to suit himself. That authority belongs to the LORD whose character stands behind every word. We can depend on His promises because He is truthful, and we need to take His warnings seriously because He is holy. Even when a passage simply says that His word came to a prophet, the hearer is being called to respond to God.
That does not make every mention of “the word of the LORD” a visible appearance of Christ. Often the passage describes God giving a message that His prophet must faithfully deliver. It is divine revelation because it comes from the LORD, not a religious opinion the prophet has formed.
Other passages describe an appearance or vision in which God personally addresses someone. He may give a covenant promise or commission a servant to act under His authority. We see this in 1 Samuel 3:21, where the LORD appeared at Shiloh and revealed Himself to Samuel by the word of the LORD. I want to take that connection seriously without assuming that every prophetic message describes a Christophany, which means an appearance of Christ.
To understand 1 Samuel 3, we need to consider what was happening at Shiloh. Eli was an aging priest whose sons had corrupted Israel’s worship while serving at the tabernacle. Samuel was still a boy ministering before the LORD under Eli’s care. The chapter tells us that the word of the LORD was rare and there was no widespread revelation. Priests still served and sacrifices were still offered, but that activity did not make up for the lack of God’s clear Word or the people’s dullness toward Him.
When the LORD called Samuel in the night, Samuel thought Eli had called him. He ran to the priest three times before Eli recognized what was happening and told him how to answer. What Samuel received was a difficult message of judgment against Eli’s household. Eli knew about his sons’ persistent sin but had not restrained them. Through this encounter, the LORD restored prophetic revelation in Israel and established Samuel as a trustworthy prophet.
Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
1 Samuel 3:21, NKJV
Notice how the verse describes what happened. The LORD appeared and revealed Himself, and His Word was the means by which He made Himself known. We shouldn’t treat the speech as a minor detail added to the encounter. The LORD spoke as He revealed Himself to Samuel.
Samuel did not arrange this meeting with God. The LORD took the initiative, and Samuel had to learn to listen and obey. That makes me consider whether I’m ready to hear what God says. Knowing Him begins with His willingness to make Himself known, not with our cleverness or ability to reach Him.
The Hebrew wording translated “revealed Himself” describes something being uncovered and made known. The phrase “by the word of the LORD” uses dabar, a Hebrew word that can mean speech or a word. Depending on the context, it can also refer to a matter, event, or thing. Here the preposition tells us how the revelation came about: the LORD made Himself known by His Word. Understanding the Hebrew helps us follow the statement accurately, but the grammar alone should not be made to prove more than it says.
That is why I wouldn’t treat 1 Samuel 3:21 as though it merely said that Samuel received a message. It expressly connects the LORD’s Word with His appearing and revealing Himself. Other uses of the phrase may not describe a visible appearance. This passage, however, helps us understand the connection between Old Testament prophetic revelation and John’s declaration that the eternal Word became flesh.
The Word Comes with Personal Authority
When Scripture says “the word of the LORD came” to a prophet, it identifies the source of his message. His responsibility was to deliver what God said faithfully. The prophet’s personality could not make the message true, nor could his popularity or courage. Its authority rested with the LORD who spoke.
Genesis 15 lets us see how personally God dealt with Abram. He had obeyed God’s call and left his homeland, and he had just returned from rescuing Lot from a coalition of kings. Yet he still had no son. How would God’s promise be fulfilled while he remained childless? The word of the LORD came to him in a vision amid that fear and uncertainty.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Genesis 15:1, NKJV
The Word came in a vision and addressed Abram directly: “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Abram could bring his questions about the promise to the LORD, who continued dealing with him and later made covenant with him. I notice that the promise rested on God’s own faithfulness. Abram was receiving personal covenant revelation, not trying to work out the meaning of an inward impression.
Jeremiah 1 describes a different calling. The LORD called Jeremiah during King Josiah’s reign, before Judah’s final collapse and exile to Babylon. His service would bring him before rulers and priests who did not want to hear about the coming judgment. Before sending him into that difficult work, the LORD declared that He had known Jeremiah before birth and appointed him as a prophet to the nations.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:4-5, NKJV
Jeremiah objected because he was young and understood the cost of speaking against sin. Rather than flattering him, the LORD sent him with a command not to fear and a promise to deliver him. The account then says, “the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9). I wouldn’t try to supply details about what Jeremiah saw beyond what Scripture tells us. We are given enough to see that the LORD personally claimed this man for His service.
In 1 Samuel 15, the word of the LORD came to Samuel with judgment against Saul for disobeying God. Being king could not excuse that disobedience. Neither Saul’s public standing nor his military success could change the verdict God had given.
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”
1 Samuel 15:10-11, NKJV
We should notice both the similarities and the differences in these encounters. Genesis 15 describes a vision and a covenant promise, while Jeremiah’s commission includes the LORD touching his mouth. In 1 Samuel 15, the emphasis is on prophetic judgment. God was speaking with authority in each case, whether He was making a promise, calling a servant, or warning a sinner and giving His verdict as King.
I don’t need to make the experiences of Samuel, Abram, Jeremiah, and Saul identical to recognize their common source. Where a vision or appearance is described, we should acknowledge it. Where the passage emphasizes a message, we should listen to what God said. The phrase connects these accounts through the LORD’s authority without requiring that He revealed Himself in the same way every time.
God’s Word Acts
The Hebrew word dabar can describe speech or a matter being discussed, and in some contexts it refers to an event or thing. That range helps us understand the active way Scripture speaks of God’s Word. It expresses His will and carries His authority into action. We don’t need to search the word’s definitions for a hidden doctrine when the passages themselves show us what God does through His Word.
Psalm 33 praises the living God who brought creation into being by speaking. Its purpose is worship rather than a technical explanation of the process of creation.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
Psalm 33:6, NKJV
The psalm connects God’s Word with the breath of His mouth. His command accomplishes what He says because He is God, not because the words have the power of a spell. That gives us a foundation for understanding John’s statement that all things were made through the Word. John identifies the Person through whom God created, building on what the Old Testament has already taught us.
Isaiah 55 invites the thirsty to come freely and calls the wicked to forsake their ways because the LORD is ready to pardon. His thoughts are higher than ours, but He sends His Word to accomplish His purpose. Isaiah compares it to rain that waters the earth. Just as that rain has an effect, His Word does not return empty.
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11, NKJV
God’s Word is true whether people approve of it or not. It exposes sin and brings down pride, yet it also gives us hope and builds our faith. Jeremiah 23:29 asks, “Is not My word like a fire?” That question warns false prophets whose lies cannot withstand what the LORD says. For someone who needs truth stronger than human opinion, the same authority is a comfort.
We need to let Scripture explain its own use of “word” instead of treating the expression as an invitation to speculate. Depending on the passage, it may refer to God’s speech or to a particular command, promise, prophetic message, or effective decree. In several passages, His Word is also the means by which He personally makes Himself known. The New Testament brings us to the eternal Word Himself, who is the Son rather than an impersonal force.
The Son Makes the Father Known
The New Testament helps us understand how people could encounter God without confusing the Persons of the Trinity. Abraham and Jacob met Him in the ways the Old Testament describes, as did Moses and Manoah. Isaiah also received genuine revelation. We should preserve those accounts while listening to what the New Testament tells us about the One who makes God known.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1:18, NKJV
John 1:18 explains those encounters rather than denying them: the Son makes the unseen Father known. Jesus says in John 5:37, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” I cannot identify the Father as the visible Person in the Old Testament encounters without setting them against Jesus’ words. The Son is the One who reveals Him.
That helps me understand the appearances of the LORD as revelations of the Son. Where the distinctive Angel of the LORD speaks as God and bears His authority, we recognize a Christophany. He receives fitting reverence and exercises God’s right to forgive or judge, while the account both identifies Him with God and distinguishes Him personally. Melchizedek is likewise a Christophany, and his role as priest and king points to Christ’s eternal priesthood.
We still need to distinguish these appearances from visits by created angels. The same care applies when we read “the word of the LORD came” because some passages simply describe God giving a message. Others describe an appearance or vision. In 1 Samuel 3:21, the LORD revealed Himself by His Word, and Genesis 15 records His personal speech and covenant dealings with Abram. Those passages prepare us for what John says about the Word: He is Someone who is with God and is God, not merely something God says.
The Word Was God and Became Flesh
John opens his Gospel with “In the beginning,” taking us back to Genesis. Before anything was created, the Word already existed. John does not describe Him coming into being at the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, 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, NKJV
We need to hold John’s statements together. The Word already existed in the beginning, so He is eternal. Being with God means He is personally distinct from the Father, while being God means He is fully divine. We cannot make sense of all three statements by treating Jesus as an exalted creature or a lesser god.
John 1:3 draws a firm line between the Creator and His creation. All things were made through the Word, and nothing made came into existence without Him. If every created thing was made through Him, then He is not one of those things. The Word stands on the Creator’s side of the line.
The Word was with God, so the Father and Son cannot be one Person simply changing roles. That mistaken view is called modalism. The Son comes from the Father and speaks to Him. He obeys and reveals the Father before returning to Him. Those are real personal relationships, yet they do not make the Son less than God. John plainly says that the Word was God.
Some readers look to Greek philosophy to explain Logos, the Greek term John uses for “Word.” I would begin with the explanation John himself gives us rather than let Plato determine who Jesus is. John draws on Scripture’s teaching about creation and light as he writes about life and faithful witness. He shows us divine glory and tells us that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. His testimony to the Son explains how he is using the term.
The connection to the Old Testament becomes clearer when we put these passages beside John. Psalm 33 attributes the making of the heavens to the word of the LORD. In 1 Samuel 3, the LORD revealed Himself by His Word, and Isaiah says His Word accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it. John identifies the divine Person who has always existed and was active in creation. Those earlier passages prepare us to recognize the glory he describes without replacing what John 1 itself tells us.
I don’t assume that every Old Testament reader understood everything John would later explain in John 1. The earlier passages need to be heard in their own setting, where they establish the authority and effectiveness of God’s Word. But John isn’t beginning a discussion unrelated to those passages. He tells us more fully who the Word is: an eternal, divine Person.
Then John 1:14 tells us that this eternal Word became flesh. He took on true humanity without ceasing to be God. I want to be clear about that, because the incarnation was not a temporary disguise or a costume. The Son truly became man while remaining truly God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14, NKJV
The word translated “dwelt” carries the idea of pitching a tent or tabernacling. In the wilderness, the tabernacle stood among Israel’s tents as the place God appointed for His presence and worship. John uses wording that draws our attention to God living among His people. In Christ, that nearness went further: the Word lived among us in real flesh. He experienced hunger and weariness, and He wept. He obeyed the Father as a real man, and the blood He shed was physical blood.
At the beginning of Hebrews, Paul brings these truths together. God had spoken through the prophets in many ways, and now He has spoken by His Son. This Son is the heir of all things and the One through whom God made the worlds. He is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:1-3, NKJV
Notice that Hebrews moves from what the Son reveals to what He did to save us. The One who makes God known and sustains creation also purged our sins by Himself. Jesus bore the punishment for our sins in His innocent body as wicked men tortured Him and shed His physical blood. He died for the whole world and then rose bodily from the dead.
That helps me see why we cannot separate the Son’s revelation from His saving work. He did more than add information to what the prophets had said. He entered the world they described and fulfilled the promises of redemption. The One who upholds creation gave Himself for people who had rebelled against Him. He is now alive and seated at the Father’s right hand, having purged sins and risen from the dead.
We receive salvation in Christ by grace through faith, not by moral effort or religious insight. His invitation is genuine and open to everyone, though people can resist and reject it. A person who is truly born again becomes a new creation, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit. That believer is eternally secure in Christ, but this security never gives permission to treat sin lightly.
Colossians 1 also places the Son before everything He created. All things were made through Him and for Him, and they continue to hold together in Him.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Colossians 1:16-17, NKJV
Paul goes on to speak about redemption through Christ’s blood, connecting the One who made us with the One who saves us. The Word entered His own creation to redeem sinners. Revelation 19:13 identifies the returning Christ as “The Word of God.” The One who existed in the beginning became flesh and shed His blood, and He will return with the authority of the King.
Reading and Answering the Word Faithfully
We should not read every Old Testament occurrence as though it must describe an appearance. “The word of the LORD came” often means that God gave a prophetic message. I don’t regard that as something less worthy of our attention. If God has spoken, we already have a reason to trust and obey Him.
A prophetic message carries more than the prophet’s observations about current events or his religious feelings. It comes from the LORD. Our responsibility to listen rests on His authority, not on how interesting we find the person delivering it.
We also need to preserve what Scripture tells us about God Himself. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each God, yet there is only one God. The Son is neither a creature nor the Father. He is fully God and became fully man. John 1:18 and John 5:37 help us understand His work of making the unseen Father known through visible divine encounters.
John 1 does not describe “a god” or a highly exalted creature. Nor was the Word an attribute that eventually became a person. He already existed with God in the beginning and was Himself God. Since every created thing was made through Him, we cannot place Him among those created things.
This also affects where we look for God’s direction. He has given us Scripture, so we don’t need to chase fresh voices. The Holy Spirit truly lives in believers and guides His people, but every spiritual claim must be tested by the written Word. Scripture is inspired and inerrant, sufficient as our final authority. Through it, the Lord who spoke by the prophets still corrects His people and steadies them in obedience.
The Holy Spirit will not lead us to contradict the words He inspired. I cannot make a strong feeling God’s Word by speaking confidently about it, and no claim of private revelation can overrule Scripture. We have a written standard that the whole church can read and test. That also protects people when a leader demands obedience to his impressions while evading what God has actually commanded.
I could spend a great deal of time studying “the word of the LORD” and still fail to respond to what He says. Understanding the phrase is not the whole purpose of the study. The God who reveals Himself also commands us and exposes our sin. The Word became flesh to save sinners, not simply to answer our questions.
Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10). I want to come to Scripture with that willingness to listen. When it exposes sin, the right response is honest confession and a real turning back to God, rather than negotiating with what He has said. We can also receive its comfort and worship the Christ it reveals. Its promise of mercy through His blood calls us to trust Him instead of our works.
A church can be busy and energetic while hearing very little of God’s Word. Religious language and well-run programs cannot make up for that absence. The conditions described in 1 Samuel 3 should make us examine what our churches are receiving. Entertainment or novelty won’t supply what is missing. We need the living God speaking through His written Word, received with faith that leads to repentance and obedience.
If you belong to Christ, you don’t have to guess whether God has spoken. He has given us Scripture and revealed Himself most fully in His Son. The Word who made the world took on flesh to die for sins. He rose again and will one day return. We can open the Bible with reverence, looking for Christ wherever the Old Testament reveals Him and receiving the fuller revelation given in the New Testament. He was active all along, and what we learn about Him calls for obedience.
For related studies, see A Complete Bible Study on the Angel of the Lord and Christophanies in the Old Testament.
My Final Thoughts
I do not believe every “word of the LORD” passage describes a visible appearance, but every word from Him deserves to be heard as more than information. He speaks with authority, and some passages describe Him personally making Himself known through His Word. John reveals that the eternal Word was with God and was God before becoming flesh for us. When I open the Bible, I am reading the written Word that faithfully bears witness to this living Word. I want to listen with Samuel’s humility, trusting the Savior it reveals and obeying what the Lord has commanded.
Did Jesus appear to people before He was born in Bethlehem? We know that the Son already existed, but I want to look at the passages that help us recognize Him in the Old Testament. Some give us much more to work with than others, so we need to consider the evidence before calling an angel or an unexplained figure a Christophany.
The Eternal Son Makes God Known
When we open the Old Testament, we aren’t opening a book from a time before Christ existed. The Son became truly man at Bethlehem without ceasing to be truly God, but His existence did not begin there. He is the eternal Creator who makes God known and saves sinners. That helps us understand why we should expect the Old Testament to speak of Him long before we reach Matthew.
An appearance of Christ is called a Christophany, while the broader term theophany means an appearance of God. Because Christ is fully God, an appearance of Christ is also an appearance of God. The broader term alone, however, doesn’t tell us which divine Person appeared. To understand that, we need the details of the passage and what the New Testament later reveals.
We should also distinguish an appearance from the incarnation, when the Son became man. Before Bethlehem, He could appear visibly without permanently taking human nature. When the Word became flesh, He truly became man and remains so. Those earlier appearances were real encounters, but they were not earlier incarnations or a series of births.
God speaking from heaven is different from someone seeing Him appear, so I want to pay attention to what each account actually describes. Sometimes a figure introduced as the Angel of the LORD speaks as the LORD Himself. Elsewhere, a Man accepts worship or makes the ground holy by His presence. These are claims to authority that belongs to God alone. When the Messenger is distinguished personally from the LORD and yet identified as the LORD, we have more to consider than an unusual visitor. Later Scripture may also identify the glory seen in that encounter as Christ’s.
The Old Testament also describes visits from ordinary created angels and human beings. Some visions use symbols, and some accounts leave the visitor’s identity unexplained. I can’t take that lack of information as proof that the visitor was Christ. At the same time, I don’t want to overlook the evidence God has given when a passage does identify Him.
My confidence in these appearances grows as I see how the passages agree. In Genesis, the LORD appears and the divine Messenger speaks in His own name. Exodus identifies the Messenger with the God of Israel, whose presence makes the ground holy, and Judges continues that identification. The prophets show His glory as He rescues His servants and removes iniquity. When the New Testament tells us that the eternal Son makes God known, it helps explain what we have been seeing in those earlier passages. We can follow those connections without supplying details from our imagination.
John gives us a clear place to begin. At the opening of his Gospel, the Word already exists with God and is Himself God. He is personally distinct from the Father, and all things were made through Him. John then tells us that this same Word became flesh and lived among us.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1:18, NKJV
How can John 1:18 say that no one has seen God when the Old Testament describes people encountering Him? John explains that the Son makes the unseen Father known. Jesus adds in John 5:37, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” I don’t understand those Old Testament encounters as appearances of the Father, because that would conflict with Jesus’ words. They fit the work of the eternal Son who reveals Him.
Colossians 1:15 calls Christ the image of the invisible God, and Hebrews 1:3 describes Him as the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person. We shouldn’t read those descriptions as though the Son were simply one of God’s created messengers. All things were made through Him, so He cannot belong to the creation He made. He is fully God while remaining personally distinct from the Father.
Jesus makes His existence before Abraham clear in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” His words agree with the eternal identity John has already described at the beginning of the Gospel. The One who became flesh did not begin to exist when He became man.
We need to keep both truths in view as we consider these appearances. The Son is neither a created angel nor a lesser divine being, but that doesn’t make Him the same Person as the Father. The Father sends the Son, and the Son reveals the Father. They share the same deity while remaining personally distinct.
Melchizedek, the Priest-King
After Abram rescued Lot, Genesis 14 introduces us to Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram, who gave him a tenth. We are told very little about him here, yet later passages return to this encounter to explain Christ’s priesthood.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
Genesis 14:18, NKJV
Psalm 110 says that the Messiah is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. When Paul explains the Genesis account in Hebrews 7, he draws attention to the way Scripture describes this king of righteousness and king of peace. Melchizedek is presented without father or mother, with no recorded genealogy or beginning of days or end of life. Hebrews says he was made like the Son of God and remains a priest continually.
Some readers understand Melchizedek as an ordinary historical king whose missing genealogy makes him a picture of Christ. I understand him as a Christophany, and it isn’t only the missing family record that leads me there. Abraham recognized the greatness of this priest-king by receiving his blessing and giving him tithes. Psalm 110 connects his priestly order with the Messiah, while Hebrews describes him in terms that fit Christ’s eternal priesthood. Paul also uses Abraham’s encounter to show the superiority of Melchizedek’s order to Levi, whose priestly descendants were still in Abraham. Together, those details point me to more than a man whose life foreshadowed Christ.
Hebrews says Melchizedek was “made like the Son of God,” and we need to read that description with the whole argument. I wouldn’t try to settle Melchizedek’s identity from the phrase alone. His name fits a righteous king who is also a priest, and the absence of a genealogy in Genesis belongs alongside Hebrews’ description of his continuing priesthood. Psalm 110 then assigns a permanent priesthood to the Messiah. My understanding rests on those connections, not simply on information Genesis leaves out.
What draws me to this passage is what it helps us understand about Jesus. His priesthood will never pass to someone else because He lives forever. That means He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him. Studying Melchizedek should bring us to a greater appreciation of that Priest-King, rather than leave us absorbed in a mystery with no bearing on our confidence in Christ.
The Angel of the LORD Speaks as God
We see the clearest repeated evidence of Christophany in the Angel of the LORD passages. The word angel means messenger, which tells us about the work being done without necessarily telling us the messenger’s nature. Ordinary angels are created servants, but this distinctive Messenger speaks as God and bears His name. He also claims works that belong to the LORD. Those details are what we need to examine before deciding who He is.
In Genesis 16, Hagar had fled after Sarai dealt harshly with her. The Angel of the LORD found this vulnerable servant beside a spring and called her by name. He promised, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly” (Genesis 16:10). Hagar then called the LORD who spoke to her “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.” Notice who was making the promise. The Messenger spoke with divine authority about what He Himself would do, and the account identifies Him as the LORD.
I don’t want to become so occupied with identifying the Messenger that I pass over His mercy toward Hagar. Others had used and afflicted her, yet the Lord saw her and spoke to her personally. His care for her belongs in our understanding of who He is.
In Genesis 22, the Angel of the LORD stopped Abraham before Isaac was harmed. He said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD” (Genesis 22:16). Hebrews 6 explains why God swore by Himself: there was no one greater by whom He could swear. That helps us understand the authority of the One speaking to Abraham. This was a unique test in God’s covenant dealings with him, and God Himself stopped the knife.
At the burning bush, Exodus 3 first identifies the One who appeared to Moses in the flame as the Angel of the LORD. As the account continues, it says that the LORD saw Moses and God called to him from the bush. The Speaker identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses had to remove his sandals because God’s presence made the ground holy.
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:5, NKJV
Exodus 23 tells us that the Angel bears God’s name and must be obeyed. Then, in Judges 2, He speaks of bringing Israel out of Egypt and making covenant with them. I find it difficult to understand Him as an ordinary created angel when He claims the LORD’s own acts and covenant in this way.
We can compare these encounters with Revelation 22:8-9, where John fell before a created angel and was told, “Do not do that” and “Worship God.” That angel refused worship. In the Angel of the LORD accounts, however, the Messenger is identified with the LORD even while remaining personally distinct from Him. That may seem difficult to understand if we read the encounters by themselves, but it agrees with what Scripture later teaches about the unity and personal distinctions within the Trinity.
The title alone would not persuade me that this Messenger is the Son. His words and actions carry divine authority, and the way people receive Him agrees with that identity. We can also recognize the connection to the New Testament, where the eternal Son is sent to reveal the Father. In the Old Testament, the Angel of the LORD is sent while speaking and acting as the LORD Himself. Calling Him a Messenger doesn’t make Him a creature; it describes the divine Son at work before Bethlehem.
The LORD Appears to His Servants
Genesis 18 tells us that “the LORD appeared” to Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre. When Abraham looked up, he saw three men. Two later went toward Sodom, while the LORD spoke with Abraham about Sarah and the promised son. Their conversation then turned to the judgment of Sodom.
Genesis leaves some questions about the three visitors unanswered, but it gives us enough to recognize who was speaking with Abraham. The LORD appeared visibly and received Abraham’s hospitality. He spoke about things that only God could know and do. Abraham’s question, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25), shows that he understood himself to be speaking with the LORD who judges perfectly.
In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled through the night with a Man who touched his hip and changed his name to Israel. After receiving His blessing, Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30). Hosea 12:3-5 looks back on this same struggle and speaks of the Angel and the LORD God of hosts.
Jacob’s struggle doesn’t mean that he was stronger than God. The Lord met him in a form that allowed a real struggle, and through it broke his self-reliance. I notice that Jacob left with both a blessing and a limp. His new name did not come with a new reason to boast in his strength. He had to go forward in dependence on the Lord who had met him. These appearances changed the people involved and directed how they would live.
Before the battle at Jericho, Joshua saw a Man with a drawn sword who identified Himself as Commander of the army of the LORD. Joshua 5 records that Joshua fell on his face and worshiped. The Commander accepted that worship and told him to remove his sandal because the place was holy. The encounter closely resembles what happened to Moses at the burning bush.
Although the passage doesn’t call Him the Angel of the LORD, His acceptance of worship and the holiness of the ground point to a Christophany. He also placed Joshua under His command. I think we can easily miss that part if we only ask who the Man was. The Lord had not come to endorse whatever Israel planned to do. Joshua had to bow before the true Commander and receive his orders from Him.
Moses stood on holy ground before being sent to bring Israel out of Egypt. Now Joshua stood on holy ground before Israel entered Jericho. In both encounters, the Lord revealed His holiness and directed His servant toward the work ahead. We can see Him carrying His covenant promises forward through the people He called to serve Him.
In Judges, we see the Lord respond mercifully to people who feared Him. Gideon was hiding from Midian when he met the Angel of the LORD. After the visitor spoke, the account says that the LORD turned to Gideon and commissioned him. When the offering had been consumed and the Angel had departed, Gideon feared that he would die because he had seen the Angel of the LORD face to face. The LORD answered him with peace: “Do not fear, you shall not die” (Judges 6:23).
Manoah and his wife met the Angel of the LORD in Judges 13. He announced Samson’s birth and later ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah cried, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” (Judges 13:22). I appreciate the way his wife answered that fear by considering what the LORD had actually done. If He intended to kill them, why had He accepted their offering and promised them a child? She reasoned from His mercy instead of letting fear lead her to a conclusion His actions did not support.
Zechariah 3 describes a courtroom scene in which Joshua the high priest stood in filthy garments while Satan accused him. The LORD rebuked Satan, and Joshua’s filthy garments were removed. He was told, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes” (Zechariah 3:4). The Angel of the LORD was at the center of this encounter, where the accusation was answered and Joshua’s iniquity was taken away.
These encounters help me understand the Lord’s mercy as well as His identity. Gideon expected death but heard a promise of peace. Manoah’s offering was accepted, and Joshua’s accuser was silenced as Joshua’s guilt was removed. We see the fullness of that saving work in Jesus Christ, our Advocate and our righteousness. Our peace with God comes through Him because He alone can save us.
Daniel, Isaiah, and the Glory of Christ
Daniel 3 gives us another appearance to consider, though the identifying evidence is less detailed than in some of the passages we have read. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were thrown into the furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. The king expected three bound men to die, but instead saw four walking freely in the fire. He described the fourth as “like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:25) and later called Him a messenger sent by their God.
I understand the fourth Man as a Christophany, but I wouldn’t rest that conclusion on Nebuchadnezzar’s description alone. He wasn’t speaking from a mature understanding of biblical truth, and this account gives us fewer identifying details than Exodus 3 or Genesis 16. What leads me to recognize the Son here is the divine Deliverer’s presence with His servants. It agrees with the wider pattern of Him making God known and rescuing His people. These men were not alone in the fire, and the flames could not consume them.
With Isaiah 6, we have a direct explanation in the New Testament. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up on His throne while the seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” He knew he was undone because he had seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Later, while explaining the unbelief that followed Jesus’ signs, John applied Isaiah’s vision to Christ.
These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
John 12:41, NKJV
John identifies the glory Isaiah saw as Christ’s glory. I don’t have to infer that connection from the appearance alone, because John makes it for us. This affirms the Son’s full deity and His part in Old Testament revelation without dividing God into competing gods. The Son who later came humbly and was rejected by men is the Lord Isaiah saw on the throne.
Once we recognize who appeared, we can see how these encounters belong to God’s work of making Himself known and redeeming His people. The Son was already speaking and blessing them before Bethlehem. He judged with perfect justice and rescued those who trusted the LORD. When He became man, He came to accomplish the redemption those earlier encounters anticipated.
Jesus willingly shed His physical blood for sinners and died before rising bodily from the grave. He bore the punishment for our sins in His innocent body. The Father and Son remained united in that saving work. The Father did not personally punish or curse Jesus, nor did He abandon Him or pour wrath upon Him. He did not strike or bruise His Son. Christ willingly gave Himself and is now the only Savior and Mediator between God and man.
He died for the whole world, and His offer of salvation is genuine even though people can resist and reject it. Everyone who repents and believes in Him is born again. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals that person, and a truly born-again believer is eternally secure. That security never turns sin into something harmless. The eternal Son who appeared in the Old Testament now gives new life to everyone who comes to Him in faith.
Reading These Appearances Without Guessing
As we draw these passages together, we need to be clear about what we mean when we call the Son a messenger. We are describing His mission, not placing Him among the created angels. Colossians 1 says that all things were created through Him and for Him. Hebrews 1 also distinguishes Him from the angels and commands them to worship Him.
We also need to keep the Father and Son personally distinct. The Father sends the Son, who reveals Him and prays to Him. The Holy Spirit is likewise a divine Person, not a force. The one God has eternally existed as three coequal and co-eternal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity helps us understand these appearances because the Son is fully God without being the Father, and the LORD remains one.
There will still be passages where we don’t have enough information to identify the person who appears. Some describe created angels, and others use symbolic visions. I’m willing to leave an identity unexplained when Scripture leaves it unexplained. Where it does give us evidence, we should consider that evidence along with what the New Testament tells us about the Son.
One objection is that the word Christophany never appears in the Bible. That is true of Trinity as well, so the question is whether the term accurately describes what Scripture teaches. I find such terms useful when they help us explain the passages. We go wrong when we let a label determine what a passage must mean.
Others understand these accounts as created angels speaking on God’s behalf. A created messenger can repeat God’s words, but that doesn’t account for everything we have read. The Angel bears God’s name and claims His covenant works as His own. His oath is sworn by Himself, and His presence makes the ground holy. He does not refuse worship, and Zechariah places Him at the removal of iniquity. Taken together, those details identify Him with the LORD while preserving His personal distinction.
The suggestion that the Father appeared visibly doesn’t fit John 1:18 or John 5:37. Those passages tell us that the Son makes the unseen Father known. As the image of the invisible God and the express image of His person, the Son is the One whose work fits these visible appearances.
I also want to resist the temptation to identify every mysterious figure as Christ simply because the possibility interests me. Confidence needs a reason in the passage itself. When a figure is clearly identified as divine and other Scripture supports the connection to the Son, we have a stronger basis for recognizing a Christophany.
We should also remember why the Son appeared in these encounters. He was carrying out God’s covenant purposes while meeting people’s actual needs. Hagar learned that He saw her, and Abraham received a promise that would shape his family. Moses was sent to serve, while Joshua had to recognize the divine Commander’s authority. Gideon received peace when he expected death. In Zechariah’s vision, the accuser was rebuked and the high priest received clean garments. The Lord’s presence called for faith and obedience in each person’s circumstances.
What persuades me is how these passages support one another. Melchizedek directs us to the eternal Priest-King, while the Angel of the LORD is identified as the LORD and yet personally distinguished from Him. Abraham received the LORD at Mamre, and Jacob spoke of seeing God face to face. Moses and Joshua stood on ground made holy by His presence, while Gideon and Manoah feared after encountering Him. Zechariah saw iniquity removed, and Daniel’s account shows the fourth Man with God’s faithful servants. Then John explicitly identifies the glory Isaiah saw as Christ’s. Each passage contributes to the conclusion, though they do not all identify Him with equal clarity.
For a closer look at the main parts of this study, see The Angel of the Lord, The Trinity, and Melchizedek. Each study develops one part of the same biblical witness.
My Final Thoughts
I believe these passages show us the eternal Son appearing before His incarnation. We don’t need to find Him in every unexplained encounter to appreciate how much Scripture does reveal about Him. He is the Creator and eternal Priest-King who made God known long before Bethlehem. The Lord who gave promises and commands to His people also came to their rescue, and He later took on flesh to save us. That gives me a deeper reverence for the Old Testament. I’m reading about the same Lord I worship today, so I want to recognize Him where Scripture reveals Him and be careful where it leaves questions unanswered.
