Did Jesus Christ Pre-Exist? New Testament Teaching Let Us

8/14/2019 Did Jesus Christ Pre-Exist? New Testament Teaching Let Us

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Did Jesus Christ Pre-Exist?

New Testament Teaching

Let us begin by stating the obvious. Only in the New Testament do we readof Jesus as someone who is alive and taking part in the affairs of humanbeings living on the earth. And, equally importantly, it is only in the NewTestament that we read about the God of heaven being described over andover again as "Father", a term which is extremely rare in the Old TestamentScriptures.

That does not mean that there is no mention of Jesus in the Old Testament.As the coming Jewish Messiah, much is made of the fact that God would send

a Saviour and Deliverer. But the Jewish Scriptures only speak of Jesus in thesense of looking forward to his Coming.

He is not spoken of as already existing, but as someone who would exist oneday, when the time was right. Let us look at this more closely.

From the time when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden through to theend of the Old Testament there are repeated prophecies about the futurecoming of Jesus. Here are some of them.

Old Testament Prophecies

In the Garden of Eden a 'Seed' - a descendant of Eve - was promised, whowould overcome sin and reverse the problem introduced into the world byAdam and Eve when they disobeyed God.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed andher Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel"(Genesis 3:15).

In Psalm 22, David wrote about Jesus, using many phrases that pointed

forward quite explicitly to the crucifixion. For example "they pierced my handsand my feet"and "They parted my garments among them".

Once the prophet Isaiah met wicked King Ahaz and made one of the mostfamous prophecies of the Old Testament. He said that a virgin would one daybear a son:

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his nameImmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).


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The prophet Micah predicted that a ruler would come from the town ofBethlehem to reign over the people of Israel, adding something of muchinterest to our theme.

"You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands ofJudah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the One to be ruler in Israel,whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). Thisruler, he says, has been planned from the beginning of time. We willcome back to this point later.

Zechariah predicts the entry into Jerusalem by Jesus, an event that occurredjust before Jesus was crucified just outside that very city. He too speaks ofJesus as a king but we know from the events themselves that this prophecy isfulfilled when Jesus is about to suffer his greatest trial(see Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 21:4-5).

None of the men who wrote these things met Jesus. They did not hearhis voice; they did not see him crucified; they do not claim that heexisted in their time. They all expected him to appear in the future, at atime to be decided by God himself.

Mortality of Jesus

There is an even more important reason for limiting the existence of Jesus toNew Testament times. It has to do with the fact that Jesus came into this world

to bring salvation to all people. They had become a mortal race becauseAdam and Eve disobeyed God and the removal of the curse could only bedone if another human being could obey Him perfectly. Jesus came to dothis.

For that to really happen it had to be possible for Jesus to be tempted asother humans were, and it had to be possible for him to disobey. That isexactly what happened. His temptations were absolutely genuine and so werehis accomplishments.

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our

weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin"(Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus perfectly obeyed his Father and salvation for mankind wasaccomplished. Jesus rose from the dead and became immortal - the firstto rise from the dead never to go back into the grave again.


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Exalted by God

The notion that Jesus had lived as a spirit before he was born takesaway the power of his triumph over sin and death and the Bible knows

nothing of such an idea. Indeed it carefully explains that Jesus wasrewarded for his faithful obedience by his Father, who exalted him to sit at Hisright hand in heaven because he had been faithful. He was not returning tosomewhere he had been before, but was being elevated to a new statusand position by and with his Father:

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in theform of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but madehimself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in thelikeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbledhimself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the

cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the namewhich is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shouldbow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to theglory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).

Although he was the Son of God, because God was his Father, Jesus wasborn a man, lived a life serving others, and was willing to go to the cross - allin obedience to his Father. Then, and only then, did God exalt him and givehim a name above every name. It is only at this stage in the plan of salvationthat Jesus is given the greatest honour. Again the idea that he had existedbefore his birth does not fit in with these Bible truths.

Key Principles

The Birth of Jesus and important details about his life on earth are

often mentioned in the Old Testament, but he is always spoken ofthere as someone who was to come, when the time was right, notas someone who was already in existence;

It was vital that Jesus should be born a mortal man if the purpose ofGod was to be accomplished - he had to be made like Adam,

tempted like him, but obedient - unlike him!As we all know, weinherit characteristics from our father and mother when we are born;Jesus inherited his mortality from Mary, and all that came withthat. It was an important part of his make-up; so he could nothave lived in heaven beforehand as the same person who thenlived on earth - otherwise Mary would havecontributed nothing -except a mortal body;

God rewarded Jesus for his faithful obedience by exalting him to a

place at His right hand in heaven. He did not return there because itwas his original abode. Scripture says that God his Father, whoraised him from the dead, also exalted Jesus to glory.


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Perfect Plan

God's purpose was known to him from the foundation of the world, as theBible makes clear: "Known to God from eternity are all his works"(Acts 15:18).

Now and again that Divine foreknowledge is specifically referred to. Jeremiah,for example, said that he was known by God even before he had been born:"The word of YAHWEH came to me, saying: 'Before I formed you in the wombI knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you aprophet to the nations'" (Jeremiah 1:4,5).One New Testament passage says that the names of all God's people wereboth known and recorded from the beginning, and the same passage tells ussomething very important about the person and origins of the Lord Jesus. ..."Authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And all whodwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in theBook of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"

(Revelation 13:7,8).It is the description of the Lamb that we particularly need to notice. He isdescribed as having been "slain from the foundation of the world". What doesthis mean? It cannot mean that he was slain at the foundation of theworld. We know when the crucifixion took place.We also know that God was able to predict to Adam, Eve and many othersthat Jesus would come to bring salvation. The only way we can understandthis verse in Revelation is to recognise that God knew from the beginning thatHis Son would overcome and give his life in a most painful way.

The Right Time

The great truth that arises from these things is that God loved the world fromthe beginning and put His plan in place at the very start of the creation of theworld. This plan centred on Jesus - but Jesus would not appear immediately.He would only appear in the fullness of time. Then he would be born of Mary:"When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of awoman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that wemight receive the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4,5).Let us not interfere with the wisdom of God. Clearly Jesus came intoexistence when the time was right for God's only-begotten son to be born. He

had been in God's plan and purpose from the beginning; now that plan cameinto effect.


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Jesus before Abraham?

There is a passage in John's gospel which is perfectly consistent with what wehave already considered. Here it is:"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad."

Then the Jews said to (Jesus), "You are not yet fifty years old, and have youseen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, beforeAbraham was, I am" (John 8:56-58).This passage has often been used to support the idea that Jesus existedbefore he was born. When reading the Bible we must remember that it alwaysgives us the same message. It is consistent throughout and verses that seemto conflict require closer consideration. If we have questions about a verse weshould always look at its setting. In this case one thing is quickly seen.

Heated Debate

There are many other references to Abraham in the discussion Jesus ishaving with the Pharisees. In v33 they boast of their descent from Abraham.In v39 Jesus tells them that they ought to follow in the ways of Abraham ifthey were truly his descendants.Because of what Jesus says they ask an important question in verse 53: "Areyou greater than our Father Abraham, who is dead?"Remember that we have a big advantage when answering this questionbecause we know what happened to Jesus after this and those eventsestablished him as much greater than Abraham. But, when the question wasasked, the Pharisees did not know and Jesus still had to try to convince allJews that he really was their Messiah. You sense the hostility from v53: "Whodo you make yourself?"Now look at the answer Jesus gives in v56 - "Your father Abraham rejoiced tosee my day, and he saw it and was glad". How could this be? The Phariseeswere dismissive: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seenAbraham?"Note the way in which they have changed round the words ofJesus. He did not claim to have seen Abraham, but that Abraham saw hisday. What could that mean?

Gospel to Abraham

In Paul's letter to the Galatians we are told that God could see in advance theway things would work out for the Gentile nations:The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith,preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all thenations shall be blessed"(Galatians 3:8).God knew that Jesus would come into the world and that, through faith in him,all nations would then have the opportunity to be saved. This plan was givento Abraham through one of the major promises of God: "In you shall allnations be blessed" (Genesis 12:3) and, Paul says, this was the gospelpreached to Abraham.Note carefully the fact that this development was foreseen by God and was

told to Abraham as something yet in the future, something we know was dueto happen "in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4).


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In John chapter 8 therefore - the passage we were looking at - we are toldthat Abraham saw Jesus' day - he looked forward to it as something thatwould happen in the future and, because that day contained so muchpromise, he rejoiced in the knowledge that he would be there to see thepurpose of God come to its fulfilment, when he [is in the Resurrection] ...

raised from the dead.This the Pharisees did not understand, so Jesus had to spell it out for them.When he said "Before Abraham was I am"he was gently explaining to themthat he is more important than Abraham in the purpose of God, becauseGod has built His whole plan of salvation around the Lord Jesus. It was amatter of who has the pre-eminence; not of who preexisted. We do well torecognise the truth of God's plan ourselves, so that we can take our placealongside Abraham and many others who are looking forward to the day whenJesus will be revealed as the Saviour of the world.

Creation Account

Step by step God brought our world into existence. As the Psalmist wouldlater say:

"By the word of YAHWEH the heavens were made, and all the host of themby the breath of his mouth ... For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded,and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6,9).

That "word"of command and control was with God from the very beginning. Inthe Old Testament it is spoken of as God's wisdom - His wise purpose bywhich all things came to be and, as befits the Hebrew language which oftendescribes abstract things in poetic form, wisdom is pictured as though it werea woman who was present with God at creation:

"YAHWEH possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old.I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before therewas ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, whenthere were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains weresettled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet he had not made theearth or the fields, or the primeval dust of the world. When he prepared theheavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep ... Then I

was beside him, as a master craftsman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicingalways before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and my delight was withthe sons of men" (Proverbs 8:22-31).

Read that carelessly and you might think that there was indeedsomebody there with God from the beginning - another God perhaps, orthe Lord Jesus Christ. But read it in its context, and it is quite clear that this isa poetic, and very beautiful, way of explaining to us that everything Goddid was governed by and executed with wisdom. He did everything in theright way and for the best possible reasons.


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Word Made Flesh

The New Testament says the same thing, in language that is very similar tothat of the Book of Proverbs. Talking about the wisdom or purpose of God, it

tells us that:

"in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Wordwas God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made throughhim, and without him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).

God had a plan and purpose - which is what the Greek word 'logos'really means - from the beginning. That plan, that 'logos', was His'Word'. It was spoken at Creation, when God brought everything intoexistence by a Word of Command. It found expression in a very special way"in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4) when the Lord Jesus was born. Then

God 'spoke' to us in a Son (Hebrews 1:2) or, as John expresses it:

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, theglory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ... No onehas seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of theFather, he has declared him" (John 1.14,18).

When Jesus lived on earth he showed us as never before what the Father islike - he 'declared'Him to us, and to this day that revelation helps us to

understand what a kind, compassionate and gracious God we have, who soloved us that He sent His Son into the world to save us (John 3:16).

John Shemeld

Did Jesus Christ Pre-Exist? New Testament Teaching Let Us

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