A Christmas Christophany
I am very much a fan of JRR Tolkein’s classic story, The Lord of the Rings. I like it all. From the movies to the books to Lord of the Rings-themed RISK, I love the Lord of the Rings. I think one of the things I love so much about the Lord of the Rings is that there is so much story that happens before the story. As you watch or read the epic tale, you learn that the events of the book took generations and generations to unfold. Strangely enough, the events of the book seem to tie up loose end after loose end. Prophecy after prophecy is fulfilled. King after king is crowned or dethroned. It is an amazing story.
And yet, the story of the Lord of the Rings is fantasy. None of it happened. While there are some great themes in the book, it is little more to us than a fun story.
The manger in Bethlehem, on the other hand, is nothing but true. And yet, like the Lord of the Rings, there is a great story which occurs before the story. This is a story that gives prophecy upon prophecy. A story that speaks of kings and thrones and dominions. A story about hope and longing. If we read the story behind the story, the manger becomes a much richer story through and through.
It is a tradition in our household that in the 25 days leading up to Christmas, we sit down night by night and open 25 individual little ornaments, each one telling a small part of the story leading up to the baby in Bethlehem. These ornaments are based on a book entitled The Advent Jesse Tree. A few years ago, a church member gave us this book and all the handmade ornaments that go along with it. It has been a fun thing in our house to celebrate the birth of Christ and remember the story behind the story.
But as well as you might think you know the story, there are always new surprises. I discovered a Christophany this Christmas. It has always been there right in front of me, but I had always missed it. The God who has come as a babe in Bethlehem has been telling of his coming for many, many years.
Christophany?
Christophany is a big word used in theology to describe a pre-incarnate revelation of the second person of the Trinity, the Son. This is God uniquely showing himself for a unique purpose. Technically speaking, it is not Jesus that we are seeing, but the second person of the Trinity. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but the Son is the Son from eternity past. It is really a mind-blowing thing to consider. However, it reminds us that long before the Word became flesh that the Word was with God and was God. While we don’t see a Christophany on every page of Scripture, a few clear examples are given in the Old Testament.
Likely the clearest example of a Christophany is when King Nebuchadnezzar finds 4 men in the fiery furnace instead of 3, stating that the fourth is like a son of the gods (Dan. 3:25). Another would be Jacob wrestling all night with “the angel" (Gen. 32). Christophanies are often debated, as the revelation of the Son is veiled and mysterious. Some think of Melchizedek in Genesis 14 as a Christophany. Another popular Christophany is when Hagar is sent away from Abraham and sees the Angel of the Lord. Mysteriously, however, Hagar says in verse 13 that it was the Lord who spoke to her. These are a few examples of Christophanies in the Old Testament.
The Sacrificial Son
This leads me to consider a Christophany I had never noticed before. In Genesis 22, the Lord commanded Abraham to take Isaac up Mt. Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering. Isaac was to be tied up, have his throat cut, his blood drained, his flesh burned, and his ashes disposed of. This was what God commanded, and it was surely a strange command. Yet Abraham did exactly what God had commanded, and as he raised the knife to kill Isaac, he did not know how God would make good on his promises.
And yet, at the last moment, an angel from heaven calls out to Abraham, stopping him from taking his son’s life. But if you look closely at the text, you find that this is not any Angel, but this is the Angel of the LORD (Gen. 22:11). This expression is used elsewhere to designate a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity. The only begotten Son of God himself stops Abraham from killing his son, the only son of Abraham.
Isaac was the son of promise, spared by the God who keeps his promises. One day the knife would fall on the divine Son, slain in the place of sinful human beings like Abraham, Isaac, Mary, Joseph, you, and me.
The God of life spares Isaac from death so that he could one day die in Isaac’s stead. There is a remarkable picture of substitution and sacrifice as the Angel of the Lord calls to Abraham atop Mt. Moriah.
The Son of God was able to spare the Son of Abraham because the Son would one day come to die. He would die to redeem the children of Abraham from their plight of sin. We see a picture of the gospel on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. If we consider this angel to simply be a divine messenger, some of the force is lost in the drama of the story. Rather, consider that this angel is no ordinary angel, but is the pre-incarnate Son. this is the very God who demanded the sacrifice coming down to foreshadow that he will one day be the sacrifice for the people of God.
Initially, it seems like the tradeoff atop Mt. Moriah is not a fair one. There is a ram, caught in the thicket, that takes the place of Isaac. The life of the ram is not as costly as the life of an only son. And yet, the ram simply points to the Son who will one day come and save his people from their sins. I think it is helpful to consider the substitution when we consider that the God who stopped Abraham from killing his son was the same God who allowed for the substitutionary ram. The Son was able to provide the ram in Genesis 22, because the Son would give up himself on Calvary’s cross, showing that Christ as a substitute for sinners was always the perfect plan of God.
John Owen says it like this:
“By this angel no other angel is to be understood but the great Angel of the covenant, the second person of the Trinity, who thus appeared unto the fathers under the Old Testament…He it was that spake, and sware by himself.”
- John Owen, Commentary on Hebrews, Vol. 5, 236
What does this mean? It means that the Son of God spared the Son of Abraham because one day the Son of God himself would not be spared. He swore that Abraham would be blessed and that he would multiply, a work that would come when Christ descended from the seed of Abraham, the lineage of David, and would be born in Bethlehem. It was through this Son that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in Abraham.
The Son from eternity past would become the son of Joseph and Mary. Jesus would be a lowly man who would live a lowly, yet holy life. And this man, Jesus, would not be spared when it came time for the sacrifice to be made. By sparing Isaac, he was pointing forward to his own work which would one day come. And when Christ died, he paid for the sin debt of Abraham, Isaac, and all those who would come to have faith in the Son.
Do you see the tender mercy of the Son of God? Who could not bear to see Abraham kill his own son, so he took his place upon Calvary’s cross? It is the same Savior who speaks tender mercy to us today, through his blood shed upon Calvary.
We might not see a Christophany this Christmas season, but we can surely see Christ by the eyes of faith.
While Isaac was the son of the promise, by Christ’s sacrifice, all those who believe on his name will receive his promise. They will all come to be called sons of God.
1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
The baby born in Bethlehem was foretold in ages past, given in the fullness of time, and will stand as Mediator for God’s people forever (Heb. 6:20).
I hope and pray as you consider the Savior’s story this Christmas season, that you will thank God for this immeasurable gift, his one and only Son.