My Red Letter Old Testament

Subtitle: “The Eternal Existence of God the Son”

One of the most basic beliefs of all Christians is that Jesus is God, that He is one of the three Persons of the Trinity. This truth was being obscured in the 3rd and 4th centuries by heresies like “Arianism”, teaching about the Word of God that “once He was not.”

One of the most influential of Christian books since New Testament times is The Incarnation of the Word of God written by Athanasius, about 318 AD. The belief outlined and defended in that book has some amazing corollaries, which we don’t often think of. For instance, it means that Isaiah was absolutely right when he said “unto us a son is given.” (Isa.9:6) The Baby born in Bethlehem that night had existed far longer than nine months—in fact, infinitely longer, since He was the eternal God.

We know from Paul’s writings (1 Tim. 3:16) that Jesus is “God manifest in the flesh.” We know too that “no one has ever seen God [in His unveiled glory].” (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12.) This means that any visible appearance to man by God has to be in Jesus. And this means that as we read through the Old Testament, wherever the “Angel of the Lord” or a “Man” appears Who is acknowledged as God, it has to be Jesus.

Quotations of the Lord in the New Testament are fairly straightforward and easy to identify. I’ve been working my way through the Old Testament with a red highlighter, marking what I believe are also the words of Jesus.

Moses, at the burning bush, may or may not qualify as an example but, for now, I’ve confined myself to physical appearances that the viewers reported. Several examples should get us on our way:

One. Genesis 3:8-19. “The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden…’Where are you?’ [red letter]…’Who told you that you were naked?’ [red letter]…’He will crush your head.’ [red]” This seems to be a visible Person in Eden with Adam and Eve.

Two. Genesis 16:7-14. “The angel of the Lord found Hagar…’I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count’ [red letter]…she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ “ Hagar saw the Lord. It seems to have been Jesus in pre-incarnate form.

Three. Genesis 18:1-33. “The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord… The Lord said, ‘If I find fifty righteous people…’ [red letter]” One of the men who appeared to Abraham was Jesus, again in pre-incarnate form, and visible as a man.

Four. Judges 6: 11-26. “The Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel…’ [red letter]” Gideon was hiding his wheat and threshing it in a winepress when the Lord—I believe it was Jesus—appeared and gave him instructions.

I’ve had a fun time working on my “red letter” Old Testament. I hope this encourages you to think about the eternal significance of the Baby of Bethlehem. Since He really has come to us from “before the dawn of time”, we owe Him our utmost attention.