A moment of honesty here: When Stephanie assigned me the topic “The theophanies of Christ” as my post for this series on Christ in the Old Testament, I felt really dumb. I had never heard the word theophanies before and I had no idea what it meant.
So, I did what all good researchers do, I Googled it! And with a lot of help from Bible.org, I discovered that I did know what theophanies are.
Theophanies are “the preincarnate appearances of God the Son in angelic or human form.”
There are many examples of these preincarnate appearances in the Old Testament. Here are a few of the people who experienced theophanies (now that I know this word, I’m sure I’ll be using it as often as possible!):
- Abraham – Genesis 22:11-8, 24:7, 40
- Jacob – Genesis 31:11, 48:15-16
- Moses – Exodus 3:2, 13:21, 14:19
- Balaam – Numbers 22:22-35
- Gideon – Judges 6:11-24
This is certainly not an exhaustive list but it gives you a sampling of these experiences.
Today, though, I want to focus on what we can learn from the first recorded theophany. Generally speaking, theophanies reference “The Angel of Jehovah.” We find the first use of this term in Genesis 16:7:
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Hagar … Abraham’s concubine … was the first one to encounter the preincarnate Christ.
And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Genesis 16:8
He found her. Alone and afraid, Hagar had fled from her abusive mistress. And the angel of the Lord sought her.
In the rest of this passage (Genesis 16:9-13) we find Hagar received comfort and assurance from the Angel. He told her of her pregnancy and prophesied about her son.
And her response? She was the first one to give God a name. El Roi, the God who sees me.
Isn’t that one of the most beautiful attributes of Christ in the New Testament – He saw people. The woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan woman at the well, Zaccheus hiding in the tree, shaggy fishermen and arrogant tax collectors … Jesus saw people.
This angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar again in Genesis 21:17 – 19.
God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
Exiled by her son’s father at the command of Sarah, Hagar was, again, in the wilderness. This time, though, she was not alone. She had her son Ishmael with her and she was watching her own son die.
And once again, this God she had encountered, saw her. Speaking words of encouragement and prophecy, He encouraged Hagar not to give up. He met her needs – emotional and physical.
Just as He met Hagar’s needs, Christ met the needs of those He encountered during His earthly ministry. He reached out to the lonely, rejected, and outcast … lepers and lame, blind and broken, He healed them … body and spirit.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Before He came to dwell, He revealed Himself … hints of the fullness of what was to come.
How does reading Hagar’s story encourage you about God’s presence in your own life?
I love the story of Hagar and the God who sees. Before He came, He came–to meet the needs of those who were desperately needy. Thankful He still comes and meets my needs!
I love this because of how personal our God is. He didn’t need to actually ask her what was going on or what she was planning to do because He knew!! But how cool that an all-knowing God would know his daughter would probably like to talk it out and just need a tender heart and open ear. The Lord knows us so well.
What a great explanation of theophanies, I never knew this word before. I feel a little confused still because of wording like “The Angel of God” (Gen 31:11)…I picture an angel and not pre-incarnate Christ. How can I better understand this? It is SO cool but still foggy to me.
Carly, check out the links from Bible.org … that is what helped me. I am certainly NOT an expert and would probably only muddle it up further if I tried to explain. :) {I added the link to my Bible.org search on theophanies to the post above. It’s in the second paragraph. See if that helps you at all.}
~ Teri Lynne
Awesome resource TeriLynne! Thank you for linking me up. I love your insight and this incredible post to help me see more of God’s heart and character revealed. Looking forward to learning more about the particular topic of theophanies.
Her story encourages me in that He not only sees me, but He wants me to “see/know” Him, so He revealed those “theophanies.” ;) (Love knowing those big Bible words …)