United Church of God

Who Was Jesus Christ Before His Human Birth?

You are here

Who Was Jesus Christ Before His Human Birth?

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!

Sign In | Sign Up

×

A primary reason is that Scripture repeatedly tells us that no one has seen God the Father at any time. For example, the apostle John makes this quite clear in John 1:18: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (verse 18).

John had just explained in this chapter that he was a personal eyewitness of “the Word” who became flesh as Jesus Christ, so this cannot refer to Him. The “God” whom no one has ever seen at any time thus has to be referring to the Father.

Notice also that John says that Jesus Christ “declared” the Father. Other versions translate this as “made him known” (New International Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version) or “reveal[ed] Him” (Green’s Literal Translation).

Now, if God the Father was known to the Israelites as God during the Old Testament period, why would Jesus need to make Him known? That doesn’t make sense. There’s no need to reveal the Father if the Father was already known when Jesus came.

John repeats this exact same statement in one of his epistles: “No one has seen God at any time” (1 John 4:12).

We also see two such explicit statements from Jesus Christ Himself. Notice John 5:37: “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form” (emphasis added throughout).

And just to be clear, Jesus again says that no one has ever seen the Father in John 6:46: “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father” (New International Version). Here Jesus plainly says that no one has seen the Father except the One who is from God—referring to Himself. He alone has seen the Father. No human being has ever seen the Father.

The Biblical Record of People Who Saw God

But in the books of the Old Testament period we see that a number of people did see God. They include:

  • Abraham (Genesis 12:7: 15:1; 18:1).
  • Isaac (Genesis 26:2, 24).
  • Jacob (Genesis 28:13; 32:30; 35:9-10).
  • Moses (Exodus 3:6; 33:11, 21-23).
  • Moses, Aaron and the 70 elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-11).
  • Joshua (Joshua 6:2).
  • Gideon (Judges 6:14).

Nearly all of these are described as face-to-face encounters. Two are specifically described as visions, including one of these encounters with Abraham and one with Jacob. But in addition to those visions, Abraham and Jacob had face-to-face encounters with God also—during which Abraham ate a meal with God and Jacob wrestled with God.

In these various encounters, the “God” who appeared and spoke with these individuals is identified as “God” (Elohim), “the LORD” (YHWH or Yahweh), “the God of Israel,” “the God of your fathers,” “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” “God Almighty” (El Shaddai), “the word of the LORD,” “the Angel of the LORD,” “I AM WHO I AM” and “I AM.”

How Do We Reconcile “No One Has Seen God at Any Time” With the Many Individuals Who Saw God?

Earlier we saw multiple statements from the apostle John and from Jesus Christ Himself that no one has seen the Father at any time. So who did these individuals see when they saw God? The only way we can make sense of this is to understand that no man had seen God the Father at any time.

What they saw as recorded in these many passages, and at other times when God appeared to individuals, was the Word who was God (John 1:1), the One who was born in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. With this understanding, which has been the belief of the Church of God for decades, there is no contradiction. We know that “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

What Scripture reveals is that Jesus was the One who interacted with the patriarchs and prophets and the people of Israel as the LORD or God on behalf of the Father. They never saw the Father, but only the Word or Spokesman of God, who came to reveal the Father.

Various scriptural passages show that the God who communicated with them was the Messenger of another who was also God. Still, the One who became the Father was not generally known to the Israelites.

“What Scripture reveals is that Jesus was the One who interacted with the patriarchs and prophets and the people of Israel as the LORD or God on behalf of the Father.”

Again, the One who appeared and spoke to people as God was the One who became Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself clearly said this, and the people who heard Him knew that was exactly what He meant. Notice this in John 8:57-58, where Jesus was in a heated debate with some of the Jews who opposed Him, and He said that Abraham rejoiced to see His day.

“Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’”

Here Jesus specifically told them of His divine identity—that He existed before Abraham, and then that He was the God who had interacted with people during the Old Testament period. Who did He specifically claim to be?

We find the answer in Exodus 3:13-14, where God appeared to Moses at the burning bush and told Moses that He would deliver the Israelites out of their Egyptian slavery.

“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’”

And 15 centuries later, who did Jesus say He was? Going back to what we just read in John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’”

And notice what happened immediately after Jesus said these words: “Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59).

The Jews who heard Jesus say these words knew exactly what Jesus meant—that He was claiming to be the “I AM” who had interacted with Moses. And how did they react? They immediately took up stones to stone Him to death for claiming to be God.

New Testament Writers Applied Prophecies of “the Lord” to Jesus Christ

Let’s notice a prophecy in Isaiah 8:13-14, which reads: “The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel . . .”

This prophecy foretold that “the Lord of hosts” would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. So whom did the title or name “the LORD of hosts” refer to? We find the answer in 1 Peter 2:7-8: “To you who believe, He [Jesus Christ] is precious; but to those who are disobedient, [He is] . . . ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’”

Peter here tells us that “the Lord of hosts” in whom this prophecy was fulfilled is Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul applies several Old Testament passages about the Lord, Yahweh, to Jesus Christ. For example, Joel 2:32 says, “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” In Romans 10:9-13 Paul applies this to Jesus Christ: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved . . . For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

“[In] 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Paul clearly tells us that the God who directly accompanied Israel during the Exodus was the Being who became Jesus Christ.”

And in a prophecy that is so obvious that we tend to read right over it, Isaiah 40:3 foretold the coming of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” This is a prophecy of John the Baptist. But for whom was he to prepare the way? It tells us here plainly. John was to prepare the way for “the LORD,” for Yahweh. How was this prophecy fulfilled? Read Matthew 3:3:

“For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD . . .”’” (see also Mark 1:2-3 and Luke 3:3-4).

John was to prepare the way for the coming of whom? The coming of Yahweh. And who was the Yahweh John prepared the way for? Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ—“the Rock” of the Old Testament

We’ll conclude with one more example that identifies Jesus Christ as “the Rock” who accompanied Israel at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Notice 1 Corinthians 10:1-4: “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

Here Paul clearly tells us that the God who directly accompanied Israel during the Exodus was the Being who became Jesus Christ. But why did Paul use the unusual term “Rock” to apply to Jesus Christ? Clearly he was pointing to the miracle of water coming from the rock (Numbers 20:11), but notice Moses’ repeated references to God as “the Rock” in Deuteronomy 32:

He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

“He [Jeshurun, another name for Israel] . . . abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior” (Deuteronomy 32:15).

“You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth” (Deuteronomy 32:18).

“How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up? For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede” (Deuteronomy 32:30-31).

Paul, an expert in the Old Testament Scriptures, seems to have had at least some of these other references to Israel’s “Rock” in mind when he identified Israel’s “Rock” as Jesus Christ.

These are not all the scriptures pertinent to this subject, but they are enough to abundantly demonstrate why the United Church of God believes and teaches that the One who interacted with human beings in the Old Testament period as God on behalf of the Father was the One we know today as Jesus Christ.

This is why we state in our booklet Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God: “The Old Testament focuses on the God of Israel, who identifies Himself as ‘I AM’ and ‘the LORD God . . . of Abraham,  . . . of Isaac, and . . . of Jacob’ (Exodus 3:14-15) . . . In John 8:58, Christ refers to Himself as ‘I Am.’ Thus, the One the Israelites knew as God, who delivered them from Egypt and accompanied them in the wilderness, was later known in the New Testament as Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). The existence of the One whom Christ referred to as ‘the Father’ was not well understood by many before Christ’s coming—though He is sometimes specifically referred to in the Old Testament” (2009, p. 5). 

You might also be interested in...

Comments

  • blairrn

    John 8:54 Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.

  • Aaron Booth

    Please be considerate and keep your comments limited to one or two post. As per the UCG website comment policy:
    5. Comments that seek a platform to go beyond normal discussion, such as using the comment functionality to enter lengthy debate, are unlikely to be approved. If you would like to suggest additions or corrections to teachings of the United Church of God, please use our contact form .
    https://www.ucg.org/help/what-is-the-comment-policy

  • blairrn

    I Have Part IV
    Regarding the word seen in John 1:8; 5:37 and 6:46.
    The Greek word used is horao strongs g3708 has been translated in other scriptures as see Matt 8:4, knowing Matt 9:4, perceive Matt 13:14, heed Matt 16:15 and understand Mark 4:13. So perhaps seen may not have been the best translation in light of other scriptures which show that people have seen God. Again I ask who says visions don’t count?
    John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
    John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

    Thank you for your answer but I'm not sure you really answered my question, How do we explain the numerous examples of people seeing God.

  • Steven Britt

    Hi, Randy. Mr. Ashley gave, in my opinion, a straightforward response for how the scriptures can be understood as all fitting together rather than choosing to favor some over others. Jesus and the Father are both God, but Jesus said that He came to reveal the Father because people had not seen, heard, or known Him. The examples of people seeing God in the Old Testament are therefore instances where Jesus, before being born as a human, appeared to them rather than the Father, and this is what the article explains.
    As I see it, you haven't raised a question that we have not already answered. I think in order for the discussion to move forward, perhaps you'll have to explain more of your own understanding of how the scriptures fit together, since it appears that we're not directly addressing your specific concern. So, what is your interpretation: how is it that the Father has not been seen, heard, or known, and yet God repeatedly met with man, even "face to face" as Moses did, in the Old Testament?

  • blairrn

    I Have Part III
    Key #6 Let the Bible Interpret Itself
    “If something seems confusing or even contradictory, let clear biblical passages shed light on those you find difficult to understand. Scriptures do not contradict each another; they complement each other. Also, to properly understand a verse in the Bible, don’t force your personal point of view into it. Instead use the context and other relevant scriptures to find the correct meaning (2 Peter 1:20; John 10:35; John 17:17; Isaiah 28:9-10).”
    Are we forcing our own personal point of view when we site four scriptures and ignore the other relevant scriptures on the subject? I ask again, where in the Bible does it say visions don’t count? Are we giving our own private interpretation of scripture?
    How to Read, Study and Understand the Bible
    https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/how-to-read-study-and-understand-the-bible
    “Also be sure to avoid the classic mistake many people make. Don’t start out with preconceived doctrinal ideas and try to find verses that appear to provide support and justification for those beliefs. Read the Bible with an open mind and see for yourself what it says. Have the attitude of Jesus Christ who said..."

  • blairrn

    I Have Part II
    Key #2 Keep an Open Mind
    “Be willing to admit when you are wrong and change, even if it means letting go of a long-held belief or tradition. If you can successfully apply this one principle, you will be far ahead in the search for spiritual truth (Acts 17:11; Isaiah 8:20).”
    Are we keeping an open mind if we refuse to consider that our understanding of these four scriptures may not have the meaning that we are forcing upon them? Are we holding on to tradition and ignoring the Word of God?
    Key #4 Accept the Inspiration of all the Bible
    “The entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God. When studying, keep in mind that He inspired the words you are reading; God is directly speaking to you through them (2 Peter 1:21; Philippians 2:5; John 6:63).”
    Are we rejecting the inspired Word of God when we make up our own rules of Biblical interpretation such as “visions don’t count as seeing God”?

  • blairrn

    I Have Part I
    I have thought it through and I would like to know where in the Bible does it say visions of God do not count as seeing God? The descriptions in the scriptures describe God very clearly and they also show very clearly that Christ is also present making it clear that God the Father has been seen by people.
    I would point your attention to the following Beyond Today articles.
    Keys to Understanding the Bible
    https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets/how-to-understand-the-bible/keys-to-understanding-the-bible
    Key #8 Read the whole Bible
    “Go through the Bible from cover to cover. By reading every section of the Bible, you give yourself a broad familiarity and perspective that will help you shed preconceived ideas about doctrinal subjects. Our Bible Reading Program provides a convenient schedule for accomplishing this and other goals.”
    How can we hang our whole understanding of seeing God on just four scriptures while we ignore many more that clearly describe God as having been seen by multiple people? Are we holding on to a preconceived doctrine that may be incorrect?

  • blairrn

    Part II
    How then do we explain the numerous biblical examples of people seeing GOD?
    Daniel 7:13-14
    “I saw in the night visions,
    and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
    and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
    And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
    that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
    his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
    Ezek 1:26-28
    And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.
    Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

  • Scott Ashley

    Hi Randy,
    If you'll think it through the answer should be obvious.
    As pointed out in the article, Scripture plainly tells us four times that no one has seen God at any time (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46; 1 John 4:12). The article lists a number of examples where people met God face to face. In some of these examples they shared a meal together. In one example Jacob wrestled with a physical being whom he later comes to realize is God. So who was the "God" whom they saw and interacted with? Obviously it was not God the Father, but the one who would later be born as Jesus Christ. Otherwise Jesus Christ and the apostle John were not being truthful.
    So how do we reconcile the examples you give with the clear statements of Scripture above? The answer is simple. All of the examples you gave are clearly visions. That's evident. Scripture does not conflict (John 10:35). The God whom people personally interacted with wasn't the Father, but the one who became Jesus Christ. That is different from those (Daniel, Stephen, John) who saw VISIONS of the Father. Note also that the one who wrote four times that no one has seen God was John—the same one who saw the Father in vision in Revelation 4 and 5.

  • blairrn

    Part III
    How then do we explain the numerous examples of people seeing God?
    Revelation 4 & 5
    Rev 4:2
    Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
    Rev 5:1-6
    ​ And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” ... And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain...Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

  • blairrn

    Part I
    How then do we explain the numerous biblical example of people seeing GOD?
    Acts 7:54-55
    When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
    Dan 7:9
    “I watched till thrones were put in place,
    And the Ancient of Days was seated;
    His garment was white as snow,
    And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
    His throne was a fiery flame,
    Its wheels a burning fire;
    A fiery stream issued
    And came forth from before Him.
    A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
    Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
    The court was seated,
    And the books were opened.

  • Join the conversation!

    Log in or register to post comments