1 John 5, the verse that I want to point out is in verse number seven there. The famous verse that says, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." What I want to preach about tonight, is the subject of Old Testament appearances of Christ. I want to show you some things in the Old Testament about Jesus Christ physically, bodily appearing even in those days. Before we get into to that I wanted to read 1 John 5:7 just because it's important to understand the truth of the trinity in order to understand these pastors in the Old Testament where Jesus Christ appeared in bodily form even before Bethlehem's manger.
Now the doctrine of the Trinity is under attack and it's under attack from two different sides. On one hand it's under attack from those who do not believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. They would say that Jesus Christ is the son of God, but he is not God himself, he's a created being or something of that nature. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe something along those lines. The Mormons believe something along those lines. I'm not going to preach on the deity of Christ, but there are so many scriptures that tell us for example, Hebrews 1:8, "Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." Jesus himself said, "Why calleth thou me good? There's none good but one. That is God." If Jesus Christ is good, which of course we know he is, that means he's also God.
The Bible says, "Without controversy, great is the mystery of God that has ...," God was manifest in the flesh as speaking of Jesus Christ in second Timothy 3:16. So over and over again, we see all these references to Jesus being God, but the doctrine of the Trinity is under attack also from another angle of what's called the "Jesus Only," movement. These are people who don't believe in the Trinity. Instead they believe that basically Jesus is the father. They are one in the same. Now, in a sense they are one. The Bible says right here these three are one. On the surface, when you first hear it, it doesn't sound wrong to you. You hear it and you're, "Oh yeah, of course. Jesus is God. No big deal." When you go a little deeper with that doctrine it actually does not jive with scripture when they have this teaching where they say there is no Trinity.
We'll get into that a little bit later in the sermon too. You say, "Well the word Trinity is not in the Bible." Well the Trinity is right here in this verse. It says, "These three are one." That's all the word trinity is, is just the tri meaning three. That prefix. Then the unity meaning one. Trinity is just a shortened abbreviation meaning three in one. So if we wanted to we could go around saying, "Well I believe in the doctrine of three in one. These three are one." Just saying, "I believe in the these three are one doesn't roll off the tongue as well as Trinity." So there's nothing wrong with the word Trinity to express exactly what this verse is expressing.
Now, those who are in the "Jesus Only," movement will take accept ion to the term "God in three persons," and they'll try to to make it all about that term, three persons, three persons. This is just because a lot of people just copy and paste statement of faiths for the last several hundred years. They're still stuck on the 1689 Baptist confession or something, I don't know. There's a lot of copying and pasting going on with statements of faith. A lot of people aren't even reading these things or [inaudible 00:03:40]. So you hear a lot of these things. I wouldn't use the term persons just because it's not a biblical term. That becomes a straw man of, "Oh it's three different people because persons means people." Okay?
Again, instead of getting into those silly Symantec's, if we want to just have a biblical view of what the Trinity is, it's that these three are one. There is only one God according to the Bible. That God is also three. The father, the son, and the holy ghost, and these three are one. Case closed. That's what the bible teaches. Now to say that there is absolutely no difference between the father and the son is false. There is a difference. There is the father and then there is the son. Now they're both God, there's only one God. You say, "Well I don't understand it." Well it doesn't matter whether you understand it. It's what the Bible says. There are probably a lot of things you don't understand about the Bible. There are things I don't understand about the Bible.
If you look at us as human beings, we are a similar creature because we are body, soul, and spirit. In fact, body, soul, and spirit can be separated. The Bible says, "The body without the spirit is dead." When I give up the ghost as the bible says or die, my spirit will leave my body. The spirit will go unto the Lord and the body will remain. If someone walked up to that dead body and identified and said, "That is Steven Anderson," that would be accurate. If they walked up to me in heaven and said, "You're Steven Anderson," that would also be accurate even though we're in two different places and even though we're the same guy. Steven Anderson, because there's the body, the soul, and the spirit. At this point united. At some point in the future separated unless I'm alive and remain until the coming of our Lord which I'm praying for.
I'm going to be one of the ones that survives if it happens in our lifetime. That's what I'm praying for. That should help you understand the Trinity hopefully. People who attack the Trinity, they're teaching false doctrine because the trinity is the biblical view of who God is. Let's go to some of these Old Testament appearances. I'm not going to be conclusive tonight or say, "Hey we're turning to every Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ." That's not the point of the sermon. The point of the sermon is to teach you the doctrine here. So flip back first of all to the most obvious one that there is which is Daniel 3:25. This is the most obvious one that we just instantly pop into your mind because of the fact that it literally mentions the son of God. Pretty hard to escape this one isn't it?
It says in Daniel 3:24, "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." So in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar looks in and says, "Hey we only threw in three guys. There are four men in the fire." He said, "The form of the fourth is like the son of God." Now, you say, "Well that's just Nebuchadnezzar just said that." Here's the thing about it, there was somebody in that fire wasn't there?
Why would God have recorded those words? It would be misleading to record those words of Nebuchadnezzar if it had nothing to do with what was actually going on in that fire. It's very significant when he says, "The form of the fourth is like the son of God." Read it for from the non-inspired version. You say, "Why are you always pulling out the NIV?' Because of the fact I want to continually remind you how much perversion and corruption exists in these modern versions. This needs to be harped upon because of the fact that sometimes if we don't take heed unto the things which we've learned, we could let them slip. Listen to Daniel 3:25. You look down at the King James version, he's going to read from the non-inspired version.
Garrett: He said, "Look I see four men walking around in the fire unbound and unharmed. The fourth looks like a son of the Gods."
Pastor: Did you hear that? Looks like a son of the Gods. Not the son of God, but a son of the God. Now it's just some pagan utterance out of the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar instead of being this amazing Old Testament appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to Genesis chapter 18. Let's look at something a little more concrete. Genesis chapter 18. I don't have any doubt in my mind even for one split second that in Daniel 3:25, Nebuchadnezzar was right and that Jesus Christ was the fourth man in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Back in Genesis 18, we have a very interesting appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ in bodily form before Abraham. Look at verse 1 of Genesis 18. "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre; and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day."
Now let me point out to you the word Lord there in all capital letters the LORD, "This is Jehovah, God himself.' The Bible says, "The Lord appeared unto Abraham." It says in verse 2, "He lift up his eyes," this is Abraham, "And looked, and, lo, three men stood by him, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground." So remember this is the Lord appearing unto Abraham and these three men show up and he runs out to meet them, verse 3, "And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant; Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it."
Man you want to talk about fresh food. I mean they're killing the animal right then and there before it's served. Those were the days. "And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." So is this just a spirit or an apparition? This is somebody is there in bodily form because they are eating the food that he has prepared. It says in verse number 9, "And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
By the way, her Lord, this is referring to as her husband, and the bible tells that in the New Testament, that's the same way that women should think of their husband according to 1 Peter, chapter 3. That's a whole other sermon of itself. That chapter will be preached at another time. It says, "Is anything to hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will return unto thee. According to the time of life; and Sarah shall have a son." Did you notice that at the beginning of verse 13, "And the Lord," you see that? "The Lord said unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh." So who's talking to him? These three men are there, she laughs, and the Lord says to Abraham, why did she laugh? She says, oh I didn't laugh, and he's like, oh yeah, you laughed.
It said, "I laugh not." In verse 16 it says, "And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way, and the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" He's obviously speaking to the other two men. The lord speaks to the other two men and says, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord."
So notice, three men showed up and have talked and eaten with Abraham. The Lord is the one who is doing the talking. Then it says, "The men go their way and head off towards Sodom; and he remains yet before the Lord." So he's still in front of one person. The Lord. How many guys just left? Okay, go to chapter 19 verse 1. Just a few verses later, when we get to chapter 19, verse 1 it says, "And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground." So it becomes extremely obvious here who those two men that were with the Lord were. Two angels. Two men walk away, and then a few verses later, enter Sodom. Two men. He said, "Well it's just two angels. Right, but the two angels are referred to by the Sodomites as what? Bring out the men which came in of you.
These guys to the outward appearance just look like normal men. So when Abraham looks, he sees three men walking toward him. Two of those men walk away. Those two men walk into Sodom. We know that they're angels that were with the Lord. So this proves as we see this, that the Lord was literally in bodily form talking with Abraham. He had a couple of angels with him that are sent down to Sodom, but he was bodily, physically there talking with Abraham. Think about this, it couldn't have been God the Father. It could not have been God the Father and I'll prove that to you. Go to John, chapter 1. We're going to look at a few scriptures on this. We're going to go to John 1, and then next we're going to Exodus 33 if you want to get your fingers in both places. This ... Well you say, "That's not Jesus, that's not the son of God. That's not Christ. That is the God the father perhaps." Well, let's look at it.
In John chapter 1, verse 1, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." You say, "Well how can the word be with God and be God at the same time?" Well there's your 3 in 1. In the sense of the three, he was with God, and in the sense of the 1, he was God. It say's "The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him," talking about the word or Jesus Christ, "And without him was not any thing made that was made." That was made ... of course verse 14, "And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Look at verse 18. Here's the key. "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."
The son, who yes he is God, but he's not God the father. Nobody has seen God the father is what this is teaching. Only the son is what they've seen. So could this statement be really be made if God the father walked up to Abraham? No way. It wouldn't make any sense. Go to Exodus 33 where I had you turn. Verse 18. It says, "And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory." This is Moses talking, "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Verse 20 of chapter 33, "And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen."
This would make no sense if God the father had appeared unto Abraham in Genesis 18. It had to be the son. Go to 1st Corinthians, 15, and Revelation 22. Actually just go to 1st Corinthians 15, I'll read for you from Revelation 22. I just want to prove this further that seeing Gods face and living is not something that mortal man can do. "There should no man see my face and live," he said. He also talked about the fact that no man had seen God at anytime. Now Revelation 22:3 it says, "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads." So in Revelation 22, at the millennium which is in the new heaven and the new earth, God makes this statement, "They shall see his face and his name shall be in their forehead."
Why is that significant? I mean, we’ve seen Jesus Christ face the moment that we're caught up in the clouds with him, we're going to see him at that point. We're going to follow the lamb wheresoever he goeth. We're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ a 1,000 years. So why would it be significant in the new heaven and new earth to see his face? It's talking about seeing God the fathers face at that time. Look at 1st Corinthians 15. It says in verse number 22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end." So this is the order of the resurrection. The first fruits of the resurrection was Jesus Christ. He was the first fruits of the resurrection. He was the first.
Then they that are Christ said is coming. That's the resurrection of the rapture. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So should we ever be with the Lord." What that's referring to, that's the first resurrection. So there's the first fruits of Jesus, one guy. Then there's the first resurrection. By the way, if you read Revelation 20 it's clear who's included in that first resurrection. People who did not worship the beast, neither his image, neither received his mark on their forehead or on their hands. He said, this is the first resurrection. Then it says, "The rest of the dead live not again until the 1,000 years were finished. Okay, let's look at that resurrection 1st Corinthians 15.
It says, "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign," meaning Jesus must reign, "till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." So what we see here is that after Jesus has reigned and after the final victory over death, then the kingdom will be delivered up from Jesus to the father it says. There will be a resurrection at that time. That's the second resurrection. Remember it said, "The rest of the dead live not again until the 1,000 years are finished." So when the 1,000 years are finished, the rest of the dead live again. That's not the unsaved. The unsaved will never live again.
The Bible says I saw the dead small and great stand before God. Notice they're not living again are they? No, they're the dead standing before God. The dead were judged out of the things written in the books. No, the rest of the dead who live again are people who God saved after the rapture or were born after the rapture. They didn't go up in the first resurrection, they're going to go up in the second resurrection after the millennium. The rest of the dead from there on out. It talks about "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth." Talking about the fact that there are going to be more that die. Why are we in this passage? By the way, there aren't 7 raptures as these pre-tribbers will try to tell you.
Three raptures, seven resurrections. This is the resurrection. This is the order. Jesus Christ, first resurrection at Christ coming. Did you notice that afterward they that are Christ that is coming. Then the end, which is after the millennium. Those are the only resurrections that the Bible records here. Talking about a resurrection unto immortality. Yeah, there were people in the bible that came back to life, Lazarus died again. You know. It's talking about being resurrected unto immortality. Jesus was the first one. So, what we see here in verse 28 is key. "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." Now does that jive with this "Jesus Only" movement teaching that there's no distinction between the father and the son?
If there is no three that are one, if there is no Trinity, if there's no distinction between the son and the father, then how can Jesus deliver up the kingdom under the father and then he himself be subject unto the father? There is a distinction. This does not take away from the deity of Jesus Christ whatsoever. In the beginning was word. The word was with God, the word was God. No question about the deity of Christ. The word was God. Jesus is God, but there is a distinction between the father, the son and the holy ghost. Just like there is a distinction between body, soul, and spirit. That's what the Bible teaches. So in this passage, the "Jesus Only" doctrine is laid to rest and it shall not be resurrected ever again.
Go back to Genesis chapter 14 if you would. Genesis chapter 14. So all that was to say this, when did the Bible say that the kingdom will be delivered from Jesus unto the father? After the millennium. When do we look upon the face of God and the father? After the millennium. See how it's all consistent and it all fits together perfectly? That proves that in Genesis 18, we had a bodily appearance of the Lord and since we know it wasn't the father, and we know it wasn't holy spirit because he ate and drank. It was none other than the second of the God head, the son of God, the word of God that appeared unto him. It was Jesus. It was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. By the way, tell that to these bunch of Sodomites that tell you, "Oh Jesus never condemned being a homo." Have you heard that one? "Well what did Jesus say?"
Look, this whole sermon is so important to help us understand the deity of Christ because if Jesus is appearing in the Old Testament and he's making statements, this should get us off this weird doctrine that says only the red letters matter. Have you heard this? Catholics will do this to you. You'll say, "Hey turn to Romans." "Oh, I don't care what Paul wrote, what did Jesus say?" That's what the Catholics will say. Tell me what Jesus said. Then you'll try to tell these God hating communist liberals, "Hey what did the Bible say about all this?" "Well yeah, but what did Jesus say about it?" Jesus is the word, and anything in the Old Testament is also the mind of Christ. Not just what we see in the red letters. The whole thing should be in red letters. I'm going to come out with a red letter edition. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ in red. This is the whole thing. It's all red. Why not?
It's the truth. I'm not against red letter bibles, they are handy to find stuff. I'm not against it. I'm just saying, don't let those red letters go to your head and take them to seriously. So what we see here is Jesus Christ was the original person in the bible who condemned homosexuality. He was the first one to really ... He said, "We're going to go down and destroy it." That was Jesus! So again, these people are out to lunch that say, "Well Jesus wouldn't condemn it." He already did. He's the one who sent them to go destroy Sodom. He sent them. Anyway, if you understand the deity of Christ, and if you understand the fact that Christ appeared in the Old Testament, you understand that the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament and then the whole bible becomes your authority not just part of the Bible. The whole Bible.
I believe the whole Bible. I believe the Old Testament, I believe all of it. It's all Gods word, and it's all Jesus. The word made flesh, and his name is Jesus. Look at Genesis 14, here's another Old Testament appearance of Jesus. It says in Genesis 14:18, "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich," and on and on.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 7. You say, "Well Pastor Anderson, on what authority are you saying that Melchizedek is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ? I mean, that's Melchizedek, that's not Jesus." What does the Bible say in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 1? First of all in Genesis 14 it called Melchizedek the priest of the most high God and the king of Salem. Salem would later be known as Jeru-salem. All right? So he's called the king of Salem and he's the priest of the most high God. Of course we know that Jesus Christ is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. You say, "Well it's not the same person." Here's why I believe it is. In Hebrews chapter 7, verse 1 it says, "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace." Notice we're on the same sentence.
Verse 3, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." How could that statement be made about Melchizedek if he was not an Old Testament appearance of our lord, Jesus Christ? How could you say he's without father? He's without mother? He's without descent? How would that make any sense about any human being? Where is Melchizedek in the ... no mention, just without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days ... Who does this sound like? No beginning of days, no end of life but made like unto a son of God, abided a priest continually saying he's still the priest today. Whoever Melchizedek is. Let's keep reading.
"Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham, but he whose descent is not counted from them," talking about Melchizedek, "Received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. For here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth." Where is it witnessed that he liveth? Well it's witnessed that Christ liveth. The son of God liveth. There are witnesses to that.
It says, "And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him." Now, some people might disagree and say, "Well I don't think that Melchizedek was literally Jesus Christ," and that's okay if you disagree with that one. It's not okay if you disagree with Genesis 18. That one's crystal clear. This one, some people could legitimately say, "Hey I don't think it's the same person." I strongly believe that Melchizedek was literally Jesus from study he was [inaudible 00:30:16] Hebrews 7. Who else would have no beginning of days, be greater than Abraham and so on and so forth. Everything that it states here. The fact that he seems to still be receiving tithes and still is a priest continually forever and so forth. That's why I believe that, that is an instance of Christ.
Go if you would to Genesis 32. So the first mention that we talked about was we talked about Daniel 3:25. There's no doubt about that being a reference to Jesus because it says the son of God. Genesis 18 leaves no doubt when he appeared before Abraham, the lord in bodily form. Genesis 14, I believe is clearly an Old Testament appearance of Christ. Some people could debate that. In Genesis 32 we have another one that is debatable in peoples minds. Again, I am fully convinced that this was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. It says in Genesis 32, verse 24, "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."
So at this point we just know it was a man. "And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
So again, some people would interpret [inaudible 00:32:14], some people would say that Jacob was wrong here. In order to fully understand this, let's go to Hosea 12. You've often heard of this story referred to as Jacob wrestling the angel haven't you? Now did it say angel in Genesis 32? No. Where that come from, is when this is referenced in Hosea 12, the word angel is used. Look at Hosea chapter 12, verse 2. It says, "The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: He wept, and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us." Now the "There he spake with us," reminds me of other times in the Bible when God refers to himself as us.
For example, when he says, "Let us," in Genesis 1. Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Genesis 3, the man has become like unto us. Genesis 11, let us go down and confound their language and so on and so forth. Here it talks about him wrestling the angel and in the context of that, it says, "There spake with us," and it's the Lord speaking. This is Hosea, chapter 12, verse 4. Hosea 12:4. Again, this one some people would say, "Hey it was just an angel of the Lord." Jacob believed that it was God himself and again this passage could lead you to believe that as well. You say, "Wait a minute Pastor Anderson, if it says it's an angel, case closed. It can't be Jesus." Here's the thing about it. I'm going to show you now a couple of appearances of the lord Jesus in the Old Testament where he is called the angel of the Lord.
I'm going to show you why I believe these are references to an Old Testament appearance of Christ. Go to Joshua chapter 5. Joshua chapter 5 ... Actually I'm sorry, he's not referred to as an angel in this one but he is in the next one. Let's make a stop in Joshua 5 on our way to Judges 6 to be efficient about your page turning. So let's go to Joshua chapter 5, verse 13. Watch this appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. It says, "And it came to pass," verse 13 of Joshua 5, "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay."
Now I love that answer because that wasn't one of the choices. He says, and you got to put yourself in Joshuas shoes. Joshua is about to start invading the promised land. This is the first battle. Jericho. It's the first city in a long campaign of about 7 years of conquering the promised land. He comes up, and he's been planning everything and they're getting together and he sees a man coming toward him with a sword drawn. One guy. Sword drawn. So Joshua wants to figure out is this guy an enemy, is this guy [inaudible 00:35:45] so he says, "Are you for us or are you for our enemies?" He just says, "No." I'm not for you, you're for me is basically what he tells him. I'm not on your side, you're on my side. He says this. "No! But as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." He said, "No, I'm actually in charge. I'm the leader, I'm the captain. Of course this is emphasizing the fact that when the children of Israel conquered the promised land it was through the power of the Lord.
He brought them in to the promised land. By the way it says in Acts 7, he brought them in with Jesus into the promised land. Go to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter number 7 [inaudible 00:36:35] how Joshua is a picture of Jesus also, just symbolically because of the fact that the Old Testament name Joshua is the New Testament name Jesus. It's the same name. Look at Acts chapter 7 when it talks about them going into the promised land. I didn't have this in my notes, somebody help me out what verse it's in. I'm just looking for it right now. Let's see, there's Moses, it's got to be shortly there after. Here we go, verse 45. It says, "Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David."
So it talks about them going into the promised land, it says they did it with Jesus. There's kind of a double meaning there because when you see the word Jesus there, the name Joshua is also brought into the New Testament as Jesus in Hebrews 4. All Old Testament names go through a little bit of a transformation or most of them do when they come into the Greek. Right? For example the Old Testament Elijah becomes what in the New Testament? Elias. Old Testament Elijah becomes Elisius. All right. Hosea becomes Osea, Noah becomes Noie, and on and on we could go with all the differences in names as they're brought into the New Testament. You know, Boaz becomes Boaz. Slight difference there.
So it's kind of a double meaning here because it says they went in with Jesus. You can interpret that as ... We talked about Moses and now we're talking about Joshua. Or you could interpret as they went in with Jesus because Jesus was the captain of the Lords host. If you're reading the NIV they'll just figure it out for you because they just change it to Joshua that way you don't have to think to hard or anything. So you can just be a fool and read the NIV. Anyway, back in Joshua 5, you say, "Well how do you know it was Jesus?" Well look at it in Joshua 5 there. It says, "Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come; and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? The captain of the Lords host said, don't worship me, I'm not God." Is that what he said?
"Hey don't worship me.” No. He accepted the worship and look what his answer is when he says, "What says my Lord under his servant. And the captain of the Lords host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off they foot for the place where I now standth is holy and Joshua did so." Look, that's just like when Moses is before the Lord at the burning bush and the shoes come off. When he's before the captain of the Lords host, he worships him and the shoes come off. Look, Jesus is even called the captain of our salvation in the book Hebrews. That God made the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings.
So Jesus is known as the captain of salvation. Here he's the captain of the Lords host. He's the Lord of hosts. Go to Judges chapter 6. These are really interesting aren't they? It's really a fascinating study in the Old Testament and it helps drive in the teaching of the deity of Christ. It helps drive in the doctrine of the Trinity. It helps really strengthen our understanding that all of Gods word is associated with Jesus and that Jesus is the theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Mostly figuratively in the Old Testament, but here are some places where he literally shows up. Bodily. Judges 6, verse 11, it says, "There came an angel of the Lord." Now at this point we don't know that this is Jesus. It just says an angel of the Lord. "And sat under an oak which was in Ophrah," don't pronounce that Oprah, Ophrah, "That pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press, to hide it from the Midianites."
He's probably going to in trouble for tax evasion. Anyway, verse 12. "An angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." So the angel of the Lord says, "The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor," keep reading. "And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? Where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?" Who looked upon him and said go in this thy might?
Pastor: Verse 14, the Lord looked upon him. Verse 15, "And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel?" Notice by the way the difference between the Lord in all caps and the lower-case Lord. Lower-case Lord is just Lord as in boss, sir. The upper-case is the name the Lord. It says, he said to them, "Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.' Let's for a second time jump down to verse 22. "And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face." So he's scared that he saw an angel of the Lord.
The Bible, the narration told us that it was the Lord who looked upon him and talked with him saying go in this thy might. Just to summarize the ones that we looked at tonight because we only looked at six. There are other places that we could have turned, but these are I feel the key six or the six that stand out the most. We saw the fiery furnace, which I say there's no debate unless you're reading one of these goofed up versions. No debate on Daniel 3:25. Genesis 18, absolutely no debate. Case closed. There's no doubt. Then there was Genesis 14 which some people could take exception with. Melchizedek. I say it was definitely Jesus, but some people could have doubts about that one and I can see where they're coming from. Jacob wrestling with the man until the break of day. I would put that in the one where there could be some doubt in peoples mind on that one. Then, the appearance under Joshua, no debate. Put off your shoes from off your feet, he's the captain of the Lords host. He's worshiping him and so on and so forth.
Then the Gideon story, I think it's crystal clear, but again some people might not agree. We looked at six tonight but really three of them there's no way around it. So the doctrine is there. Even if only one of these was for sure you'd have to acknowledge the doctrine of Jesus appearing in the Old Testament and you'd have to acknowledge the doctrine of Jesus being the Lord. Jehovah. It's the deity of Christ. So even if you throw out half of them that you might be shaken on, again let me make my position clear. I believe all six of these are a clear reference to an Old Testament appearance of Christ. Even if you were to be really skeptical and throw out the three that you doubt, you still have those three that you can't escape.
By the way, when Jesus appeared unto Jacob and wrestled with him, that is the first MMA fight in the history of mankind. It's funny, I actually literally picked up a book, I picked up a book about MMA fighting which stands for mixed martial arts. I picked up a book one time about mixed martial arts and I turned to this section that said, "The History of MMA," and it literally said, and this is a secular worldly book, it said the first MMA fight recorded in history was Jacob in Genesis 32 wrestling with the man. It literally said it, because it said he tapped out. There's no holds-barred. There's no time limit, no rounds and eventually he says "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." Pretty much you have to say uncle, you have to tap out. Again, just wanted to point out that key doctoral point about the first MMA fight in the history of man-kind.
You know, God did all the coolest stuff first. We think we come up ... There's nothing new under the son. Anyway, I hope that this helps sure you up on some important doctrine and as you're reading your Old Testament going forward, especially the book of Genesis, we noticed that half the sermon was in Genesis. That as you read your Old Testament you'll be looking out for this doctrine. Really, this removes all doubt that anybody could have about the Trinity or the deity of Christ. It's so clear once you let these Old Testament appearance really sink in. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much Lord for the Bible. It's such an amazing book and we never cease to be amazed and to learn new things Lord. Thank you so much for giving us the entire Bible in our language. We know that there are some people in this world that do not have the luxury of the full Bible translated perfectly, accurately into their language so that they can read it. Lord help us not to take it for granted but to treasure it, study it, love it, memorize it, and enjoy it. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
