His Servants' Ministry

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HIS SERVANTS' MINISTRY

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What is a Theophany? What is a Christophany?

A theophany is a manifestation of God in the Bible that is real to the human senses. In its most restrictive sense, it is a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament period, often, but not always, in human form. Some of the theophanies are found in the following Passages.
***** Gen.12:7-9 . . . the Lord appeared to Abraham on his arrival in the land God had promised to him and his descendants.
***** Gen.18:1-33 . . . One day, Abraham had some visitors: two angels and God Himself. He invited them to come to his home, and he and Sarah entertained them. Many commentators believe this could also be a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.
*****Gen.32:22-30 . . . Jacob wrestled with what appeared to be a man, but was actually God (vs 28-30). This also may have been a Christophany.
***** Ex.3:2 – 4:17 . . . God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush, telling him exactly what He wanted him to do.
***** Ex.24:9-11 . . . God appeared to Moses with Aaron and his sons and the seventy elders.
***** Deut.31:14-15 . . . God appeared to Moses and Joshua in the transfer of leadership to Joshua.
***** Job ch.38-42 . . . God answered Job out of the tempest and spoke at great length in answer to Job’s questions.

Quite often, the term “glory of the Lord” is a theophany, as in Exodus 24:16-18. The pillar of cloud has a similar purpose in Exodus 33:9. A common introduction for theophanies may be seen in the words “the Lord came down” as in (Gen.11:5; Ex.34:5; Num.11:5, 12:5).

Some Bible commentators believe that whenever someone received a visit from “the angel of the Lord,” this was in fact the pre-incarnate Christ. These appearances can be seen in (Gen.16:7-14; 22:11-18; Judg.5:23; 2 Ki.19:35), and others. Other commentators believe these visits were in fact angelophanies, or appearances of angels. While there are no undeniable Christophanies in the Old Testament, every theophany wherein God takes on human form foreshadows the incarnation (Jn.1:14), where God took the form of a man to live among us as Emmanuel, “God with us” (Mat.1:23).