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Dec 15, 2024

Jesus’ Christophanies Before Birth

Jesus’ Christophanies Before Birth

Passage: John 1:18

Speaker: Chip Dean

Series: Before All Things

   Watch Choir & Orchestra Service

   Watch Worship Band Led Service

 

 

Jesus’ Christophanies before Birth

Christophany comes from two Greek words:

“Christos" meaning “Christ"
"Phaneia" meaning "appearance"

A Christophany is an appearance of Jesus before His birth.

 

God’s Reasons for Christophanies

- Jesus’ divine and human nature
- Jesus’ role in redemptive history
- Jesus’ involvement in the lives of God’s people
John 1:18

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made him known.

7 Examples of Christophanies in the Old Testament

1. Jesus walked with Adam in the Garden (Gen 3)
2. Jesus visited Abraham (Gen 18)
3. Jesus wrestled with Jacob (Gen 32)
4. Jesus is the burning bush with Moses (Exo 3)
5. Jesus is the Cloud and Fire (Exo 14)
6. Jesus is the Rock in the Wilderness (Exo 17)
7. Jesus is The Angel of the Lord (53 x’s)

3 Truths Jesus’ Christophanies Teach You

1. Jesus is Fighting For You.

Joshua 5:13 

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

2. Jesus is Forgiving You and Sending You.

Isaiah 6:1

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 

John 12:41 

Isaiah said these things because he saw [Jesus’] glory and spoke of Him. Who did Isaiah see? He saw Jesus! 

3. Jesus is With You in Life’s Furnace.

Daniel 3:19 

Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside[f] the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. 

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Matthew 1:23 

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name “Immanuel” (which means, God fwith us).

Matthew 28:20

I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Hebrews 13:5

I will never leave you nor forsake you.