Appearances

On Easter Sunday – the first Easter Sunday – two people were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, thoroughly depressed that Jesus had been killed. They had heard the women’s report that the tomb was empty, and an angel had said that Jesus was alive but they, I guess, didn’t know what to make of that and the text says that they were downcast. You know this story.

A man caught up with them, walked with them and asked what they had been talking about. When they expressed their hopelessness, he chastised them for being slow to believe what the prophets had said. Luke 24:27 says, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”.

All of the scripture, means the Old Testament. There was no New Testament yet. The two people did not realise that their companion was Jesus, but what was being revealed to them was that the Old Testament was all about Jesus. The Jesus they had known and were now mourning was the central figure in the Old Testament. That must mean, surely, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And that must mean that this could not be the end of the story.

As they saw Jesus in the Old Testament, their hearts burned within them. This was a revelation; this was exciting; God was opening their eyes.

Later, as they shared a meal, suddenly they realised that He was Jesus. Then He disappeared.

Today and on 15th and 22nd we will look at three of the ways Jesus is in the Old Testament: appearances, prophecies and types. I thought that was apt. Today: appearances.

Does Jesus appear, visibly in the Old Testament? Did people meet Jesus hundreds of years before He was born? Did they know they were meeting Jesus?

In theory, there is no problem saying Jesus existed before He was born. Jesus existed in heaven before He was born as a human baby.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Jesus existed but did He appear to people in the Old Testament? Did Jesus come to earth?

There are eight – possibly nine – examples. We will consider three.

Who was the fourth man in the furnace in Daniel 3?

In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace because they had refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. They were bound with ropes. The furnace was heated seven times hotter than normal. The soldiers who took them up to the furnace were killed by the extreme heat. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown in. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leapt to his feet in astonishment. He asked his advisors, “Did we not throw three men into the fire? Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed and the fourth one looks like a son of the gods.”

Interesting! “Looks like a son of the gods.” Who was the fourth man?

Later, Nebuchadnezzar said that God had sent an angel to rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian emperor. He wasn’t the most reliable person to decide who was God and who wasn’t. That fourth man looked like a son of the gods and/or an angel. Clearly he looked different in some majestic, divine way. Most Christians understand Him to have been the Son of God: Jesus. Describing Him as an angel is not inappropriate because there is a person in the Old Testament called “the Angel of the Lord” who is almost certainly actually Jesus. We will come back to that, but let’s sit with the thought that that fourth man in the furnace was Jesus. What would that say about Jesus?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in an incredibly hot fire, obviously in mortal danger but Jesus was with them. They would not have known it was Jesus. They would simply have known that in some miraculous way, God was with them. God with them: Emmanuel.

He was their saviour, their deliverer. Isaiah had said…

Isaiah 43:1-3a

But now, this is what the Lord says –
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;

Isaiah 43:5a

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego went into the furnace bound but they walked around in the furnace unbound and they emerged unburnt, unsinged and without even the smell of smoke on them. That shows the power of Jesus to save completely. We who were bound in sin have been set free by Jesus. And Jesus did not do it by remote control. He entered the furnace. He entered the fires of judgement in order to save. That is what Easter is about. Jesus Christ took the judgement that we deserve in order to save us.

I mentioned “the Angel of the Lord”. He shows up six times but there are things about Him that show that he was not really just an angel. He is worshipped. Often, He is called both “the Angel of the Lord” and “God” or “the Lord” interchangeably. It seems the Angel of the Lord is actually God revealed.

In the story of Moses and the burning bush Exodus 3:2 says that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames. But the rest of the passage records a conversation between Moses and God. The angel is God.

Exodus 3:4-6

4 When the Lord saw that [Moses] had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’

And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’

5 ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

God the Father is spirit. The Holy Spirit is spirit. When God reveals Himself visibly in human form, people understand that to have been the pre-incarnate (pre-Christmas event) Jesus.

Jesus had come to deliver the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Later Jesus would deliver people from the slavery of sin. He had heard the cry of the suffering and came to their rescue.

Jesus also commissioned Moses to set His people free, just as we are commissioned to take the message of salvation to those who are prisoners of sin. Moses argued that he was not capable, but God just said, “I will be with you” (3:12). We might say, “I cannot do this”, but when Jesus said, “Go and make disciples” He also said, “and I will be with you always to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

It was at the burning bush that God revealed His name.

Exodus 3:13-14

13 Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’

         14 God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”’

John 8:58

‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

They wanted to stone Him because He had claimed the name of God, revealed from the burning bush.

There are other examples but let’s consider just one more.

Genesis 18:1 says that the Lord appeared to Abraham. V.2 says that Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. The Lord appeared as a man. The rest of the chapter records a conversation between “the Lord” and Abraham.

Genesis 18:33 

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

The next verse (Gen 19:1) says, ‘the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening”. It seems that the three “men” who visited Abraham were actually two angels and “the Lord” in human form, that is, Jesus.

If you remember that story, those “men” came to warn Abraham of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19:24 says, “Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah”. Jesus is the judge. Sin has consequences but remember how He also negotiated with Abraham. Abraham said, “If there are 50 righteous people, will you spare the city?” Jesus said yes.

“What if there are 45 righteous people? Will you spare the city?” Jesus said, “Yes”.

“What if there are 40?” “Yes.”

“30?” “Yes.” “20?” “Yes.” “10?” “Yes.” This is the grace of Jesus, willing to save, but there were not even 10 righteous people. In the end, only Lot and his wife and two daughters were saved, and they were not particularly righteous. They might have been more righteous than the other citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. 2 Peter says that Lot was troubled by the sin all around him, but Lot was saved primarily because of God’s covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s prayers for him.

Jesus told those two people on the road to Emmaus that all of scripture is about Him. Jesus is all through the Old Testament, including having actually appeared in human form. The Jesus we see in the Old Testament is the same as the Jesus we meet in the New Testament: God with us, God with us in our most difficult moments, the God who enters suffering in order to save us, the I Am, the God who saves us from slavery, and commissions us to take that news to the world, the God who is judge and will punish rebellion but who is always ready to graciously save those who turn to Him.

The God who died on the Cross that we might be saved, and Who rose again conquering sin and conquering death.

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