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God’s View of Time I Prophesy, Theophanies, and Christophanies
CS Lewis Writes:
“God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created.” (From CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Time and Beyond Time).
How does an omniscient God view time? Does he move through time as we do, see the future, and steer things as was required to meet a desired end? Or did God come up with the plan from his above all time viewpoint and appear though out history as required to steer it to that end? Or perhaps it is all beyond my comprehension.
Many Bible scholars believe that as Jesus is God in the form of a man, any appearance of God in the form of a man in the Old Testament was Jesus.
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58).
These appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament are called Christophanies.
Here is a case study of a prophesy, including what I believe is a Christophany.
The Angel of the Lord
Sometimes, in old testament times, God would give visions of the future to his profits, or would send messengers, offering warnings or giving instructions in order to bring about a known future in which he already knows and exists. He knows when his warnings will not be heeded; yet still offers, presumedly in order to give us beings a choice.
Consider the foretelling of the birth of Sampson by the “Angel of the Lord”:
"And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Excerpts from Judges 13, NASB)."
These instructions offered by the Angel of the Lord showed that God knew in advance that Sampson would fulfil a planned purpose. Sampson would be free to make his own choices, good and bad; however, God knew what the final outcome would be.
So who was this messenger that gave Manoa and his wife these instructions? The Strongs concordance (a Greek and Hebrew lexicon), shows the “Angel of the Lord” here to be a combination of Strongs H4397 “Melak” a messenger or Angel, plus H3068 “Yehovah” Lord, or often God.
So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he asked, “Are You the Man who spoke to my wife?”
“I am,” He said.
The messenger then was a 1)Angel (Melak), 2)Yehovah(Lord), and 3)Man!
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
Interpretation: Angel Yehovah Man God!
Perhaps this was the same “Angel of the Lord” that appeared to Hagar, concubine wife of Abraham. After receiving instructions and prophecy from the “Angel of the Lord”, Hagar exclaims:
“You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Genesis 16:13, NASB).
Yet in Exodus 33:20, God tells Moses:
“You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20, NASB).
Yet, God does appear in the Old Testament in the form of a man. Perhaps then, these appearances must be Christophanies, or preincarnate appearances of Christ.
Jesus apparently did, in fact, exist since the beginning of our creation:
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,”(Jesus, Luke 10:18).
Refers to the witnessing of an event that occurred even before man was created!
Gods view of Time
How would you describe Jesus appearing throughout history from his point of view? As a man, time seemed to have flowed for him as for us. But after rising to heaven, did he view events from beyond time, and then appear in the past when he desired? How else would this be possible?
Even if you don’t believe such early appearances were Christophanies, how would you describe an omniscient God’s view of time?
Evan
CS Lewis Writes:
“God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created.” (From CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Time and Beyond Time).
How does an omniscient God view time? Does he move through time as we do, see the future, and steer things as was required to meet a desired end? Or did God come up with the plan from his above all time viewpoint and appear though out history as required to steer it to that end? Or perhaps it is all beyond my comprehension.
Many Bible scholars believe that as Jesus is God in the form of a man, any appearance of God in the form of a man in the Old Testament was Jesus.
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58).
These appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament are called Christophanies.
Here is a case study of a prophesy, including what I believe is a Christophany.
The Angel of the Lord
Sometimes, in old testament times, God would give visions of the future to his profits, or would send messengers, offering warnings or giving instructions in order to bring about a known future in which he already knows and exists. He knows when his warnings will not be heeded; yet still offers, presumedly in order to give us beings a choice.
Consider the foretelling of the birth of Sampson by the “Angel of the Lord”:
"And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Excerpts from Judges 13, NASB)."
These instructions offered by the Angel of the Lord showed that God knew in advance that Sampson would fulfil a planned purpose. Sampson would be free to make his own choices, good and bad; however, God knew what the final outcome would be.
So who was this messenger that gave Manoa and his wife these instructions? The Strongs concordance (a Greek and Hebrew lexicon), shows the “Angel of the Lord” here to be a combination of Strongs H4397 “Melak” a messenger or Angel, plus H3068 “Yehovah” Lord, or often God.
So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he asked, “Are You the Man who spoke to my wife?”
“I am,” He said.
The messenger then was a 1)Angel (Melak), 2)Yehovah(Lord), and 3)Man!
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
Interpretation: Angel Yehovah Man God!
Perhaps this was the same “Angel of the Lord” that appeared to Hagar, concubine wife of Abraham. After receiving instructions and prophecy from the “Angel of the Lord”, Hagar exclaims:
“You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Genesis 16:13, NASB).
Yet in Exodus 33:20, God tells Moses:
“You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20, NASB).
Yet, God does appear in the Old Testament in the form of a man. Perhaps then, these appearances must be Christophanies, or preincarnate appearances of Christ.
Jesus apparently did, in fact, exist since the beginning of our creation:
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,”(Jesus, Luke 10:18).
Refers to the witnessing of an event that occurred even before man was created!
Gods view of Time
How would you describe Jesus appearing throughout history from his point of view? As a man, time seemed to have flowed for him as for us. But after rising to heaven, did he view events from beyond time, and then appear in the past when he desired? How else would this be possible?
Even if you don’t believe such early appearances were Christophanies, how would you describe an omniscient God’s view of time?
Evan
