Before the World Began: Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament
“It is a mind-stretching exercise to ponder that before the creation—indeed, before time even began—the three persons of the Trinity enjoyed uninterrupted and blissfully loving fellowship for all eternity.” – Ron Rhodes, Christ Before the Manger[1]
Do you, somewhere back in the hidden resources of your mind, think that Jesus “began” when He was born in Bethlehem 2,000-plus years ago? If you believe that, you have deprived yourself of half of an eternity’s worth[2] of opportunities to get to know and love this one who is—and has always been—our Lord and Savior!
Let’s begin with just a few verses from the New Testament that help inform us as to just exactly how long Jesus has been around. Ephesians 1:4 tells us that “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world,…” Then, Hebrews 1:2 explains that Jesus was Himself involved in the creation of the universe: “…through whom He also made the universe;” and John 1:3, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” And, of course, we cannot forget John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
As long as there has been God, there has been all three persons of the Trinity—there has been Jesus. Barry Cooper explains how God revealed His eternality to Moses at the Burning Bush:
“When, in Exodus chapter 3, Moses asks God His name, God says to Moses: ‘I am who I am…. Say this to the people of Israel: “I am has sent me to you.”’
“One of the reasons God identifies Himself as ‘I am’ is because God always was and always will be. As it says in Hebrews, He is ‘the same yesterday and today and forever.’ Or take Revelation chapter 1: He is the one ‘who is and who was and who is to come.’
“The theologian Charles Hodge put it this way: ‘With [God] there is no distinction between the present, past, and future; but all things are equally and always present to Him. With Him duration is an eternal now.’
“Sometimes we think of eternity as the place where God lives and where His people will one day join Him. But as Stephen Charnock points out, “God is His own eternity.” It’s not that eternity is the place that God lives; God is the place that eternity lives.”[3]
Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus claim this name, I AM, as His own. We see it in His 7 “I Am” statements in John:
- I am the bread of life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)
- I am the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5)
- I am the door (John 10:7, 9)
- I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
- I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
- I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6)
- I am the true vine (John 15:1, 5)
We see Him claim this name again in 8:58 where we read, “I tell you the truth,… before Abraham was born, I am!” And in John 18:4-5 He responds to the mob by saying, “I am He.” There is no question that Jesus was staking claim to being the eternal God!
But there are many more ways we can discover Jesus in the Old Testament. Some are overt, others more covert. In the coming weeks we will look at how Jesus may be identified through Prophecy, through Promises, and through what I’ll call “Nouns,” persons, places and things that clearly point us to Him in the Old Testament.
- Ron Rhodes, Christ Before the Manger: The Life and Times of the Preincarnate Christ (Ron Rhodes. Kindle Edition), p. 16. ↑
- Well, okay, I suppose you can’t really divide eternity, but from our earthly perspective half is “behind” us, and half is yet ahead of us, so,… ↑
- Barry Cooper, “The Eternity of God,” https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/the-eternity-of-god. ↑
