At Christmas we celebrate this most wonderful miracle — the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, was born in human form to redeem a world of lost sinners. But it is important to understand that Jesus pre-existed His birth in human form. Before He was incarnate as the Son of Mary, He was the Son of God, sharing eternal fellowship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He shared in the work of creation and long before there was a world to redeem, He committed Himself to be our Redeemer.
Jesus, The Eternal God
1. In chapter one of John’s Gospel, the apostle presents Jesus as the Word of God: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1,2). John uses this term, the Word, to refer to the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus. In the beginning, Jesus, the Word of God, existed and John attests that the Word was God (John 1:1). Obviously, if Jesus existed in the beginning He must be eternal.
2. The prophet Micah, ministering seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, prophesied of the coming Messiah, But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2). Jesus’ pre-existence is from the days of eternity, everlasting.
3. Isaiah prophesied, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6). Notice the wording — a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. The child was born of Mary but the Son was given — He already existed. Therefore He is Eternal Father or Father of Eternity (meaning the Source of Eternity).
Testimony of Jesus, Eternal Member of the Godhead
1. Before Abraham was born (or came into being), I am (John 8:58).
Jesus was not only testifying of His eternality but also of His Deity. He could have said, “Before Abraham was born, I was.” But in using I am, He was intentionally invoking the name of God -- Yahweh / Jehovah / I Am (the name revealed by God to Moses, Exodus 3:13,14).
In a related text, Jesus said, For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins (John 8:24). In the Greek text, the word He is not present. Jesus literally said, For unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. This is the same phrase that was used when God revealed His name to Moses, I Am Who I Am, Yahweh / Jehovah (Ex. 3:14).
When Jesus invoked the name of God in John 8:58, His listeners understood exactly what He meant, that He was claiming Deity. That’s why in 8:59 we read, Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him. Refusing to believe that Jesus was God in human flesh, they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy.
2. Now Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:5).
After washing His disciples feet, sharing a last meal and instituting Holy Communion, Jesus prayed what is known as the High Priestly prayer (recorded in John 17). In only a few hours He would be arrested, tried in a mockery of justice and hung on a cross. There He would bear the sins of the world as the wrath of His Father would be poured out upon the sacrificed Lamb. Yet in this prayer Jesus looked beyond the cross to restored fellowship with His Father in the glory of heaven. It is the glory He had enjoyed from eternity, before the world was. Again, Jesus claimed to be eternal, pre-existent Deity.
3. For You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
Again in the High Priestly prayer, Jesus refers to the perfect communion of love which the members of the Trinity had enjoyed from eternity. In the above verses, among many other references, Jesus testified that He existed with God in eternity, before creation, before time or history began.
Other witnesses testified of Jesus’ eternal Deity:
1. The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, testifies that Jesus is God and therefore, eternal: Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phlpns. 2:6).
2. John the Baptist testified that Jesus is eternally God: The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me … I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God (John 1:29,30,34).
We know from the Christmas story that John was born several months before the birth of Christ (see Luke 1:24, 36, 39-41). Yet he testified that Jesus, existed before me (John 1:30). This can only be taken as a reference to the pre-existence of Christ. By divine inspiration, John recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God and eternal Son of God in human form.
3. The Apostle Nathaniel recognized Jesus as the Son of God (John 1:49). The term Son of God implies Christ’s Deity and therefore, His eternal nature.
4. The Apostle Peter recognized Jesus as the Son of God (Matt. 16:16), which again implies His eternal nature.
5. Even the Roman officer who presided over Jesus’ crucifixion recognized His Deity, confessing, Truly, this was the Son of God (Matt: 27:54).
The Deity of Jesus testifies of his eternal being and His eternity testifies of His Deity. Before He was born in human form, He was God. Then He must be eternal for God is everlasting.
Jesus, Eternal Creator
Jesus, as a member of the eternal Trinity, shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the work of creation. This truth is expressed in chapter one of John’s Gospel.
All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3). Jesus existed before creation. All of creation — all physical and spiritual creation, the laws and forces that govern creation, the tiniest sub-atomic particle, all of time and eternity — all things came into being by God’s creative act through His Son and with the Holy Spirit. Time began with creation, therefore anything that existed before time is, by definition, eternal. Jesus is eternally existent as Creator.
The Apostle Paul adds, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:16,17).
Thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities refer to categories of angels and expand on the previous phrase, visible and invisible. Jesus shared in the work of creation. Nothing was created without His participation. As Creator, all things hold together or consist in Him (Col. 1:17). He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebr. 1:3). That is, He continually sustains all that He created.
Jesus’ participation in the work of creation speaks of His Deity and His eternal pre-existence. As Creator, Jesus must be uncreated. If He is uncreated, then He must be eternal.
Jesus, Eternal Redeemer
Somewhere in the ancient councils of eternity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit agreed and decreed that Jesus would take human form and offer Himself as the holy Sacrifice for our sins.
1. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8, NIV).
Some translations read, All who dwell on the earth will worship him, (the beast) everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (13:8, NAS).
The Greek syntax supports the traditional, Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. However, even the alternate translation supports the concept that the redeeming sacrifice of the Lamb of God was decreed from the counsels of eternity. There could have been no names written in in the Lamb’s book of life if there had been no plan of redemption. There could be no eternal plan of redemption without an eternal Redeemer.
This does not mean that Jesus was slain before the worlds were created but that it was understood in the mind of God that His atoning sacrifice would be necessary. God understood that if He created morally free creatures, we would eventually use our freedom to sin against Him. We would then either perish in our sin or require a Redeemer. The members of the Trinity agreed that Jesus would be that Redeemer.
2. This idea is expressed by the Apostle Peter, who reminds us that we were not redeemed with silver or gold but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:19,20).
Foreknowledge, as used here, implies predetermination. God not only knew that humanity would need a Redeemer; God determined to provide the Redeemer. Before humanity fell, indeed, before there was a created universe, our Lord determined to be the atoning sacrifice for fallen humanity, the Lamb for sinners slain.
Since Christ's redemptive sacrifice was determined before the creation of the world, it preceded anyone sinning or falling from grace. Jesus was our Redeemer before there was anything or anyone to redeem. This sheds new light on the verse, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). In fact, God loved us before we were sinners. His redeeming love is more ancient than creation itself.
The Eternal God Puts on Human Form
In a manner unexplained but merely stated as fact and truth, the angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and cause her to conceive (Luke 1:35). In Matthew 17, at the transfiguration of Jesus, it says that a bright cloud overshadowed those on the mountain. That is the same word used by Gabriel to describe to Mary the conception of the Messiah.
What was it that overshadowed Mary at the conception of Jesus and overshadowed the disciples on the mountain? It was the manifest glory of God. We call that the shekinah glory.
God Himself, the sovereign Creator of the universe, overshadowed Mary’s womb with creative power and glory. Because of this divine creative miracle, the angel declared, The holy offspring shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
The glory of God in Jesus was veiled because the womb of Mary could not have contained the full expression of the glory of God and because sinful human flesh could not have looked upon the unveiled glory of God. Perfect glory and imperfect humanity are mutually exclusive. That's what it means in Philippians 2:7 when it says that Christ emptied Himself before He was born in human flesh. He didn't empty Himself of His Deity — He was perfectly God and perfectly man, two natures, one Person. Jesus did not empty Himself of His Deity but in a manner of speaking, He emptied Himself of some of the rights and privileges of Deity, while veiling His glory — He took off the robe of the fullness of His glory — so that He could exist in human form.
Yet Jesus was the embodiment of the glory of God. The Apostle John, who knew Jesus in His earthly ministry and in His resurrection, said, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14).
The word begotten does not refer to an act of creation — Jesus is the uncreated second Person of the Trinity, eternal Son of God, self-existent, uncreated. It refers to the unique, eternal relationship of Jesus and God the Father. Jesus existed in glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity, was conceived in the womb of Mary, born into time. He was the glory of God in a body, the embodiment of the shekinah glory.
The writer of Hebrews reveals, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son ... And He is the radiance (brightness) of His glory (1:1, 2a, 3a). Jesus is the radiant expression of the glory of God but born as a servant:
Who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men (Phlp. 2:6,7).
The Son of God existed from eternity in the form of God but also took the form of a servant. The word form, in both uses here, is the Greek word morphe. There are two Greek words that can be translated into the English word form: schema and morphe.
Schema refers to the outward form or appearance which may change from time to time. Morphe refers to the inner, unchanging substance of being. For example, you are a human being in your morphe and that will always be true. However, your schema, your outward appearance, has changed throughout your life from a baby to a child to young adult and so on through the years.
Jesus from eternity, existed in the morphe of God, possessing the true essence and nature of God. He also took the morphe of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men (likeness — homoioma, which refers to the true reality of something). Jesus remained truly God while becoming truly man — two natures, one Person — perfectly God, perfectly Man — the God / Man.
When God became man, He did not cease to be God. Paul declares, For in Him (in Christ) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col. 2:9). In Jesus, perfect God and perfect humanity are joined. Jesus Christ is the express image of God, the character, the fullness of God perfectly revealed in human form.
Whereas the first Adam grasped at equality with God (Genesis 3:5,6), Jesus, though truly God, emptied Himself and took the form of a bond-servant. He became the second Adam, born in human form to serve God’s purpose in redeeming a fallen human race.
The pre-existent, eternal Son of God entered time. God the mighty Creator became a humble creature to show us the heart of the Father. Jesus’ greatest act of revelation was His redeeming death on the cross. There the Father displayed His judgment of sin and His mercy to sinners. On the third day, the Father displayed His love for His Son by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at the right hand of the majesty on high.
On that cross we see the reason for Christmas — God born in human form to redeem a world of lost sinners. At the empty tomb we see the promise of the eventual triumph of God — death destroyed, sin abolished, redeemed, resurrected saints standing in glory, worshipping the Holy Lamb and risen Lord.
Charles Wesley wrote,
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity
born as Man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.
Hark the Herald angels sing,
glory to the new born King.