The mystery of Jesus Christ grows larger and larger in my thoughts and devotion. For example, where was Jesus during the Old Testament? The “green room” is where people wait to go on TV or relax after their appearance. Many Christians imagine Jesus was in the “green room” during the Old Testament, awaiting His big appearance. “Do you not yet perceive or understand?” (Mark 8:17).
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3:1-2). “Angel of the Lord” occurs 58 times in the Old Testament. “In a number of OT passages there is a certain ambiguity as to whether an angel is simply an angel, that is, a created spirit being, or whether it is THE angel of the Lord, a preincarnate appearance of God the Son, the Word not yet become flesh, Jesus Christ.” (Horace Hummel, Ezekiel 21-48; 1195).
Exodus 3 makes clear that this angel is God. God who? When Moses for His name, “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14). What does Jesus say seven times in the Gospel of John? “I am.” “I am the bread of the world” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51). “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the door of the sheep” (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, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). “I am the true vine” (John 15:1, 5). So, who appeared to Moses at the burning bush? Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Not clear.
The Old Testament was not a “green room” for Jesus. The Trinity was already on a mission to save God’s people, then and today. “Great indeed, we confess is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16).
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