What is a Christophany?

from the old testament

• A “Christophany” refers to manifestations of the Son of God in the Old Testament. It is a subcategory of “Theophany,” a broad term for all manifestations of God, such as the pillars of smoke and fire that led the Israelites out of captivity (Exodus 13:21–22).
• The term Christophany is reserved specifically for the Angel of the LORD. He is believed to be the Son of God, so these are times when the Son appeared on earth before His birth. Scholars recognize Him as such because He operates much like Christ.
• First, the Angel of the LORD accepts worship. Only God can be worshiped, and all other angels refuse worship (i.e., Revelation 22:8–9). For example, the Angel of the LORD visited Manoah and his wife about their future child, Samson. At first, they thought He was a normal human and offered Him food (Judges 13:15–16). However, He told them to sacrifice it to God. When they did and “when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar” (Judges 13:20a). The couple suddenly realized who was before them, and they “fell on their faces to the ground,” an act of worship (Judges 13:20b). They were not rebuked or killed. Instead, their sacrifice was accepted (Judges 13:23).
• Second, the Angel of the LORD speaks in the first person as God. In Genesis, after Isaac was born, we read, “God tested Abraham and said to him, … 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you'” (Genesis 22:1–2). Later, right before Abraham was about to kill Isaac, the Angel of the LORD intervenes, saying, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12). It was God who gave the command and yet the Angel of the LORD said Abraham had obeyed Him.
• Third, the Angel of the LORD is distinct from God yet also identified as God. The previous Genesis 22 example already illustrated this, but Genesis 16:7–13 provides another. In that account, Hagar had just fled from Sarai and was about to die in the wilderness with her son Ishmael. The Angel of the LORD appeared to her, told her to return, and comforted her, saying, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude … because the LORD has listened to your affliction” (Genesis 16:10, 11c). In that account, we see the Angel of the LORD speaking both in first and third person about God. He was God and also spoke about God.
• Christophanies showed the Son’s willingness to interact with humanity and anticipated His future arrival as Jesus, at which time He would permanently add on human nature to be like us (e.g., Hebrews 4:15).

from the new testament

• Christophanies are not mentioned in the New Testament because of the incarnation. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who existed before His birth and actively participated in creation (John 1:1–3, 14; Colossians 1:16–17). That means His work didn’t begin in Bethlehem—He has always been present and active.
• Jesus existed in a real, personal form before the incarnation and could appear in ways that anticipated His coming in the flesh (John 8:58; Philippians 2:6–7).
• The New Testament emphasizes that only God is worthy of worship, and Jesus receives that worship without correction (Matthew 14:33; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:6). This is significant when compared with created angels, who refuse worship (Revelation 22:8–9).
• All of Scripture points to Christ as the center of God’s redemptive plan (Luke 24:27, 44).

implications for today

When Jesus was born, it was not the first time the Son of God had been on earth! As the Angel of the LORD, He came many times before to advance God’s plan of salvation another step. Through Him we learn about God’s hatred of sin at Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24), His preservation of the righteous line through Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22), His desire to save His people at the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), His willingness to have a relationship with us by giving us His name (Exodus 3:14), and the clear lines God draws between obedience and disobedience (Exodus 23:20–21). Each time He appeared, the Son of God was preparing humanity for its Savior: He Himself!

At the appropriate moment in time (Galatians 4:4), the Father sent His Son (John 3:16) to be born (Luke 2:6–7) and to die for sinners (Romans 5:8). When the Son, Jesus, resurrected, He moved salvation forward to the final step: the defeat of death (1 Corinthians 15:54–57), the appeasement of God’s wrath (Romans 3:25), and the one way of salvation (John 14:6), faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8).

Looking for and appreciating Christophanies and other Theophanies in the Old Testament helps one see that salvation is not an after-the-fact doctrine in which God was trying to solve a problem. Rather, it was His plan from the beginning (Genesis 3:15; Ephesians 1:4), which He worked out over time.

If you are a believer, read Scripture and see just how much God has been doing for you, long before you were born! If you are an unbeliever, know that God has done all of this to make a way to be saved. Respond to His offer of salvation—repent of your sin and trust in Jesus, and you will be saved (Romans 10:9–10)!