A different perspective does wonders to understand what God has planned
Ever try looking at things through God’s eyes? As we come to God by His Son whom He sent to reveal Himself, we most naturally view our Father from looking at Christ, by what he said and what he did, rightfully so as He intended. However, it helps at times to try seeing things the way God the Father does. This we want to do regarding a key verse in scripture relating to His plan for the ages, that is, John 1:1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The word Word (Logos in the Greek) is commonly attributed to speak of Christ, and of course it does, but as so often occurs in scripture, the verse can mean so much more than what first strikes the eye. Note how Strong’s concordance defines the word:
Something said (including the thought); by implication, a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ).
Scofield’s comments about the word Logos also help our understanding. He notes that “it means 1) a thought or concept and 2) the expression or utterance of that thought.” With this in mind, we get a better grasp of the word by looking at it as God’s plan that he would execute to accomplish His purposes? Certainly we know God had a plan to reveal Himself by His Son, as I Peter 1:20 states, “He [Christ] indeed was foreordained [the plan] before the foundation of the world, but was manifest [the plan executed] in these last times for you.” Now, of course, we weren’t there with God in the beginning, and to try reading God’s mind would be the epitome of foolishness. But we can know much about His plan by studying what He has executed, as it has been revealed in our Bibles. Surely, whatever has come to pass was first ordained by God. Based on this, let’s take a deeper look at our God and His plan.
We begin with God in the beginning as expressed in Isaiah 46:9, 10:
“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.”
Yes, God had a plan but how would He execute it? As God, He had a problem. Why? Because God is spirit (John 4:24); He is invisible, “No one has seen God at any time.” (John 1:18); and He cannot change in any of His attributes, “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). How could the invisible, unchangeable God become a man? The solution? Though God could not become a visible man whose attributes are the exact opposite of His, He could nevertheless, create a man, a perfect man, and indwell Him by His spirit, to which I Peter 1:20 quoted above attests. Let us here, as if along side the Father, endeavor to see how He initiated and completed His purpose.
Let’s begin at the beginning, Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The Hebrew word translated God is Elohim. Aside from the awesome creative power and knowledge of Elohim, many aspects of His nature initially remained to be revealed. Here is God in His holy ascendancy that transcends our understanding. Then, in verse 1:26, we read that God (Elohim) says “Let us make man in our image.” This should strike an immediate question for anyone. How can one God speak as if He is more than one? God’s choice of the word elohim gives us an answer to that, as we will see. Also, since we are created in God’s image, this should tell us something about God, even though we have become a marred image because of Adam’s sin.
In His relationship to mankind, God reveals as early as Genesis 2:4 that He determined from the outset to be known as Jehovah Elohim, that is, by His Son. His Son wouldn’t be born until after the virgin Mary was impregnated by God’s Spirit thousands of years later, but God saw it as an accomplished fact. The creeds say that Christ was begotten by God before creation, but where is any scripture to support this? The Bible gives us only one record of his birth, in a manger in Bethlehem. Nevertheless, God’s Son was always in the Father’s heart and mind, so much so that He credits His Son with all His works, even creation itself. It was because of His union with His Son that He would bring to pass the words of II Corinthians 5:14. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” Standing outside of time, God formulated in the Old Testament all kinds of footprints leading to His Son who would come, as Hebrews 1:1, 2 declares:
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”
Certainly, as the Gospel of Mathew especially confirms, Christ was the fulfillment of prophecy. God’s words in Isaiah 44:7 not only give proof of God’s absolute Deity but reveal the method He used to establish the purposes of His plan.
Who can proclaim [prophesy?] as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. and the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure
God not only spoke to His prophets and others by His Spirit, but throughout the Bible we see Him making Himself known in the form of a man. It is in Genesis 18-19 that we definitely first see God’s appearance as a man to Abraham. Here Abraham appears to recognize the man, perhaps because of a previous visit by the LORD recorded in Genesis 12:1. God has devoted two entire chapters to this account, so it deserves our closest scrutiny. As a fascinating, true story of God spending a whole day eating, drinking and having fellowship with Abraham and Sarah, God’s appearance by this “Genesis man” provides a picture of how He will speak through His forthcoming Son. Since other accounts lack the detail depicted here, this first account is most helpful. It is the one and only instance, where God appears in human form credited with the titles of His Deity. It would be natural to say that the man speaking is God. Five times he is addressed as Adonai, a name used only of God and never of man, nine times as LORD (Jehovah), a total of 14 times as Deity. The man is called by the names of God; he speaks as God; he makes promises as God; he holds the power of judgment as God, and executes that judgment. Nevertheless, this man cannot be God because of two good reasons—God is invisible (John 1:18), and he changes not (Malachi 3:6). Certainly He can create things and reveal Himself through them, but He Himself cannot change. To do so would violate His nature as expressed in His word; for Him to become anything finite would require the loss of His infinite Deity. No, He cannot be anything other than what he is, though He can express Himself in different ways by created means. He cannot become a man. There are instances in scripture when God is said to have appeared to men, but since God is invisible, that cannot be. Then, is there any possible explanation? We are convinced the answer is in His dual nature. However, before we elaborate, let us take a closer look at the man Abraham beheld.
Notice what the passage does not say. Nothing suggests it is a type of Christ. Neither can the appearance of the man be considered a Christophany. There is no shadow of Christ here, only a clear illustration of God appearing as a man. Nothing is said of the man regarding his birth, lineage, or character. He appears to be no more than a vehicle through which God could appear to Abraham. You might say he was a kind of robot, a perfectly functioning body by which God could communicate. Unlike us so often, the man didn’t get in God’s way but was perfectly usable. Can we not see God using this man in Genesis to “role-play” the way God would reveal Himself through Christ, giving us a prototype of His dual nature? Since this is the first instance, according to the “law of first mention” it can rightfully be the criterion by which to judge future appearances of God by man. In the case of the man in Genesis, we know he could not really be God. Neither was he a typical human being born into the human race. We must assume God created him miraculously, perhaps simply speaking him into existence (or would that be too difficult for God? See Gen. 18:14). The Genesis account marks the first of many such appearances as an Angel of the Lord, often attributed to be the pre-incarnate Christ. The angel always seems to appear as a man. We read of him staying Abraham’s hand when Isaac was on the altar, of Moses beholding him in the burning bush; there is the story of Jacob’s wrestling match, of Gideon’s encounter, of the angels appearing to Balaam and even to his donkey, too many instances to recount here. Whether or not the man always had the same appearance or was even the same man, we can see how God repeatedly used a man in many instances to reveal Himself. It may help, and it cannot hurt, to clarify our thinking if we assume the man always to be the same. For now, the thing to see is how God was working out His plan in all these many instances to give us a preview of the one and only coming attraction, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having set the stage with so many prophecies and instances pointing to Christ, at exactly the right time and place, we see God fulfilling them all in the New Testament. He brings to pass the words of Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” [God with us], and He fathers a Son by His Spirit in accord with His promise to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). At last, God has the perfect man He needs, one so obedient to Him that he can perfectly express Himself to the world. His thoughts, His words, and His power He will reveal by His Son. Causing Jesus to increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men, when he is full grown, God enters into Jesus’ person by His Spirit. As John the Baptist remarked, “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.” Now, to see Jesus is to behold God, for his every thought, word, and action are inspired and executed by His Father. Reflect upon Jesus’ words in John 14:10:
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” [miracles].
Notice how the people regarded his words, “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (John 7:29), yet he explained later in John 12:50, “whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Consider also his miracles, for instance, his seeming omniscience when he saw Daniel under the fig tree (in prayer, we are sure), and his omnipotence in such instances as when he stilled the storm and when he walked on water. Are we not in astonishment to conclude just as Matthew 4:8 testifies: “when the multitudes saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.”?
So it was that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Corinthians 5:19). What God couldn’t do was to be tempted and to die. That required Christ as a man “who became obedient even to death upon the Cross.” But as Christ, the first fruits, was raised from the dead, so God will raise all those who have believed in Him. Now ascended to heaven, Christ awaits the day when the world will be His footstool and all who have believed in His name will rule with Him in His coming kingdom.
By looking at the scriptures through the eyes of God, let us not minimize the role of His Son, of his faith and obedience, of taking upon His head our sins, so that Satan could be disarmed and God made free to forgive us who are in Christ. Truly God the Father and His Son were a team by which both hold title as Savior. The one and only unknowable God expressed Himself by the man Jesus. As God, alone and without any gods before or after him, declared in Isaiah 43:11, “I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior,” and as I John 4:1 affirms, “The Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” What an awesome God; what a perfect man—each with equal billing! End of story.