The Son Appeared to Abraham in the Plain of Mamre…Genesis 18

This is the third in a series of posts on the Old Covenant appearances of the Son of God.  These events relate to a significant point that Christ makes in John 3:13.   He says that “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.”   Christ is making the point, long before He was resurrected, that there is only One person who has ascended to heaven and it is that One who came down from heaven.  What is significant is that He speaks of this ascension into heaven as though it has happened in the past.  And in fact it did – many times - these Old Covenant events we are discussing are some of those times that the One who came down from Heaven ascended back there.

In Genesis 18 the Son of God gets up off the throne that He shares with the Father and comes down to visit with Abraham in the plains of Mamre.  This is a relatively long passage.  I’ll just make a few comments and then let you read through it.  In this event, the Lord appears to Abraham as a man along with two angels who also appear as men[1].  The sequence of events is that first the Lord and the two angels speak to Abraham and Sarah, then the three separate and the two angels continue on to Sodom.  The Lord speaks alone to Abraham for a time and then goes His way. 

The passage begins by saying specifically in verse 1 that the Lord appears to Abraham.  As you make your way through the passage more and more detail is added consistent with the idea that one of the three is God Himself. 

In verse 17, the Lord continues to speak in the first person: shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?  In verse 22, the three men separate and two of them head toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD (the one who stayed).  In verse 25, the Lord identifies Himself as the judge of the whole earth: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?  In verse 27, Abraham recognizes that he is talking to God: Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. 

Gen 18:1  And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

Gen 18:2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

Gen 18:3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

Gen 18:4  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

Gen 18:5  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

Gen 18:6  And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

Gen 18:7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

Gen 18:8  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

Gen 18:9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

Gen 18:10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Gen 18:11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

Gen 18:12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

Gen 18:13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Gen 18:15  Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Gen 18:16  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Gen 18:17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Gen 18:18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Gen 18:19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Gen 18:22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

Gen 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Gen 18:24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

Gen 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Gen 18:26  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

Gen 18:27  And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

Gen 18:28  Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

Gen 18:29  And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

Gen 18:30  And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

Gen 18:31  And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

Gen 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

Gen 18:33  And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

Gen 19:1  And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

If we are willing to just listen to what God says then it is evident that God appeared in the form of a man and spoke to Abraham in this passage. Since we know it is the role of the Son to descend from heaven and speak to men face-to-face, then it follows that this is the Son who appeared to Abraham.

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[1] It is not uncommon for angels to appear as men in the scriptures.  See Daniel 9:21 and Hebrews 13:2.

The Son Appeared to Jacob Again in Bethel…Genesis 35:9-15

This is a second in a series of posts on the Old Covenant appearances of Christ.  All Scripture references are from the King James Version. 

In this post we’ll look at an event in Genesis 35:9-15.  This event is a follow-on to`Jacob’s Genesis 32 wrestling match with the Son of God that I posted about previously.  Verse 9 tells us that God[1] appeared[2] unto Jacob again.  The word again is a reference back to the Genesis 32 wrestling event.  Let’s look at the verses:

Gen 35:9  And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.

Gen 35:15  And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

Gen 35:10  And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

Gen 35:11  And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Gen 35:12  And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

Gen 35:13  And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

Gen 35:14  And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.

In verse 11, God speaks in the first person, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply.  This is a very clear statement that this is God Himself, not an angel who is speaking to Jacob. 

In verse 13, God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.  This brings up a significant point that Christ makes in John 3:13.   He says that “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.”   He is making the point, long before He was resurrected, that there is only One person who has ascended to heaven and it is that One who came down from heaven.  What is significant is that He speaks of this ascension into heaven as though it happened prior.  And in fact it did, this event in Genesis is one of those times that the One who came down from Heaven ascended back there.

Jacob recognizes that he has talked with God, and so sets up a pillar, offers offerings and even names the place Bethel to commemorate this fact (verse 15). 

The two passages – Genesis 32:24-30 and this passage - with their very clear statements about who Jacob is talking to reinforce one another and together make plain that God is coming up and down from heaven in a physical form and actually appearing to Jacob.  Particularly the Genesis 32 wrestling match makes clear that this is God manifest in the flesh – that is the Son of God – who is appearing in these events.

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[1] ‘Elohyim

[2] The Hebrews word ra’ah is translated as appeared in the English.  It means to see, look, behold.

Jesus Wrestles with Jacob…Genesis 32:24-30

This is a first in a series of posts on the Old Covenant appearances of Christ.  All Scripture references are from the King James Version.  We’ll start with a few verses on the whether or not one can see God.

John 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Exo 33:20-23  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

These and other scriptures tell us that no man has seen God at any time and that if someone did see God that person would die[1]. It is actually the face of God the Father that man is not allowed to see.  Moses saw God the Father’s back parts.  Daniel and John could see enough about Him to tell He was seated on a throne and also that He had hair and hands[2].   They weren’t allowed though to see His face. 

Many times in the Old Covenant scriptures there are events that indicate men are seeing the face of God yet they do not die.  There is even one event where a man wrestled with God – the event we will look at in this post.  If we understand the Son rightly, there is no reason to think that this is not the Son that is being seen.  In other posts we have seen that the Son was physically manifest before the creation of the worlds.  That’s what the titles “The Firstborn of Every Creature” and “The Bright and Morning Star” refer to.  We know from the transfiguration that the Son has the ability to show and hide His glory at will[3].  

What scriptures would it violate to say the Son physically appeared to men prior to the virgin birth?  What about Hebrews 1:1-2, where Paul says that in times past God spoke to the fathers by the prophets and in these last days has spoken unto us by the Son?  I don’t think this is violated.  There is a significant difference between the nature of the Old Covenant appearances of the Son and the time when He walked this earth 2000 years ago.  In the Old Covenant appearances of the Son the encounters are typically brief and limited primarily to communicating with one or a few people.  Two thousand years ago the Son walked the earth for thirty-three years speaking to us through an example that started in childhood and continued all the way to death.  Any man living or passing through the land of Palestine could have seen and talked with the Son of God during this time.  Further, His deeds and teachings were observed and recorded by those who followed Him such that we can benefit from this example even today.  Truly, this was a different way of speaking to us than had been experienced in Old Covenant times.

You might ask, if the Son had already been manifest as a man, how could He enter the womb and be born as a babe?  The answer is simply that this is exactly what happened as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah prophesied that the Lord would start a new thing in the earth with a miracle in which a woman compasses a man (Jeremiah 31:22). 

I think that because of the way men have been taught to view Christ and the virgin birth it doesn’t at first seem right to think that the Son would have been physically present in Old Covenant times.  However, if we just let the scriptures speak, this is what we find.

So let’s look at our first event, The Son of God comes down from heaven and wrestles with Jacob.

Gen 32:24  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled  a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Gen 32:25  And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
Gen 32:26  And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Gen 32:27  And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28  And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Gen 32:29  And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

If you read this literally and simply it is clear that Jacob wrestled with God.  He was amazed – he had wrestled with God and didn’t die.  This is a reference to this truth that Jacob knew very well – you cannot see the face of God and live.  For those Jews with an eye to see this would have been a significant new dimension to their understanding of God and a further refinement of this truth about seeing the face of God.  They would have learned that God has a physical body – you can’t wrestle with a spirit – and that you can see the face of God and live.  The Jews would be learning that God manifest in the flesh – that is the Son of God – can be looked upon and handled as the Apostle John put it in 1 John 1:1-2.

Some believe that it was an angel who wrestled with Jacob. This is based on Hosea 12:4 which refers to this event and says Jacob had power over the angel.  However this is letting the translation of a word override very clear statements made by Jacob. 

The Hebrew word malak, translated angel in this passage, means messenger and is not used exclusively for angelic beings.  If you take this into consideration and also take into account the literal translation of verse 30  you get back to the simple truth that Jacob wrestled with God.  The literal translation of verse 30 is, “for I have seen ‘Elohiym face to face, and my life is preserved.”  ‘Elohiym is a name for God.  For example, ‘Elohiym is the word used for God in Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God ['elohiym ] created the heaven and the earth. 

It seems odd to us that God would wrestle with Jacob, but God does things that are not our ways. There is important symbolism here portraying a major theme of God’s relationship with His chosen people. This event foreshadowed how God and Israel would contend with one another resulting in Israel’s failure to walk with God.  This failure to walk with God was symbolized by Jacob’s thigh injury that likely caused him to walk with a limp – i.e. an abnormal walk – for the remainder of his life.  The fact that at the end of the wrestling match Jacob persuaded God to bless him points to how in the end God will return to the Jews and heal them.  This truth that in the end the Jews will turn back to God and He will heal them is a major theme in the scriptures (see for example Isaiah 6 and 10).

Jacob physically wrestled with God in Genesis 32.  Specifically he wrestled with the Son of God, the One who is the physical manifestation of God.  As they wrestled Jacob saw God’s face and commemorates the event by naming the place  the wrestling match occurred Peniel - the face of God.

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[1] John 1:18, John 6:46, John 14:7-9

[2] See Revelation 5:5-7, Daniel 7:9-14.  In this event, the Son is receiving His inheritance from the Father.  This transaction occurs by the Father handing the Son a book (Daniel 7:14). Significantly, both the Father and the Son have the form we recognize as a man.  The difference is the Father is a spirit with that form, the Son is a physical being with that form.  Knowing this gives further meaning to statements like “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26)” and “who [referring to the Son] is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15),” and “Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his [referring to the Father] shape” (John 5:37).

[3] Mark 9:1-9