Question:
Was Christ a personal being before He came to this earth?
Answer:
Whether our Lord existed before He was born of the virgin Mary is a purely Biblical, not philosophical, question. If we depend upon our early teaching, human reason, and some theological system, we shall go astray; if we take the literal teaching of the Word, there will be no difficulty. Briefly, we present the following pieces of evidence of our Lord’s preexistence as a personal being:
- When God created the heavens and the earth, He addressed not creatures, but some One His equal, possessing creative power. “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” The very term “Elohim,” from which “God” is translated, is plural.
- There is one Being, existing at least four hundred years before Christ, whom Jehovah designates “My Fellow,” who was in the future to be smitten. Zechariah 13:7. The context clearly shows that the term refers to Him who became Jesus, the great Shepherd of His sheep.
- There is one Person revealed to us in the Old Testament, again and again, called “the Angel of Jehovah,” the special representative of God in ministering to His children. Of Him, the great God declares, “My name is in Him.” Exodus 23:21. He is called, in Isaiah 63:9, “the Angel of His presence.” When this angel came to Abraham, it is said, “Jehovah appeared unto him.” Genesis 18:1. Jacob met Him by the brook Jabbok, in the night of wrestling, and said in the morning, “I have seen God face to face.” Genesis 32:22-31.
- This Angel-Jehovah bore a name among the angels, namely, Michael, the meaning of which is, “Who is like God.” (See “JESUS CHRIST WAS AN ANGEL?!”). He is represented as a person who goes and comes, more significant and mightier than Gabriel. Daniel 10:13. In fact, He is called “Michael the Archangel,” the chief of all the angels. Jude 9. It is His voice that raises the dead. 1 Thessalonians 4:16. But our Lord shows that His own voice will raise the dead (John 5:28, 29); therefore, the Michael of the Old Testament is identical with the Christ of the New.
- Seven centuries before Christ, a prophet of God foretold our Lord’s birth as a human and His birthplace (Micah 5:2). Out of Bethlehem would come “One . . . whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting”—language that could not refer to an abstract Word. It implies that the “One” referred to is as personal before that time as He was after it.
- Paul, speaking of the Son of God’s love, calls Him “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,” and says that “by Him were all things created,” and that “He is before all things.” Colossians 1:13-18. Surely this language applies to a person and fits that in Genesis, “Let US make.” The same thing is taught in Hebrews 1:10, 11: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;”
- One more evidence from among others, the words of our Lord Himself: “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:5. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Verse 18. The apostles were persons before they were sent. Even so, our Lord was a personal being.
As a member of the great Godhead, our blessed Lord stepped down to live a servant of God, an Angel among the angels, a Man among men, filled all vacancies with His fullness of life and character, and triumphed for every sinful soul. But all the mysteries, we may not, cannot understand, any more than we can understand the process of creation.
