Discovering the Eternal Jesus

     When we think about Christmas, our minds often drift to the familiar scene: a humble manger in Bethlehem, shepherds in the field, and wise men following a star. We picture the baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying peacefully in a feeding trough. It's a beautiful image and one that has captured our hearts for two millennia. But what if there's  more to the story than we often imagine?

Before Bethlehem: The Eternal Word
     The Gospel of John opens with words that should stop us in our tracks: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
     This isn't just poetic language or religious rhetoric. John is making a staggering claim that Jesus didn't begin His existence in the manger. No, He existed before time itself, before creation, before anything we know came to be.
     The title "the Word" carries profound significance. In ancient Jewish thought, there was an understanding of a divine figure who appeared throughout their history. This divine figure was a manifestation of Yahweh Himself who would interact with humanity. This wasn't just God's voice speaking from heaven, instead this was God taking a form that could be seen, heard, and encountered. This divine figure according to John was Jesus.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Jesus Throughout the Old Testament
     One of the most fascinating aspects of Scripture is discovering how Jesus appears throughout the Old Testament, long before His birth in Bethlehem. He shows up at pivotal moments in Israel's history, sometimes identified as "the Word of the Lord," other times as "the angel of the Lord."
     Consider Abraham, the father of faith. In Genesis 15, we read that "the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision." This wasn't merely an audible voice or a dream. Abraham encountered a divine person who said, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." This Word of the Lord made promises, brought Abraham outside to count the stars, and declared, "I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans."
     Later, when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac in obedience to God's command, who intervened? The angel of the Lord called out from heaven, stopping Abraham's hand and providing a ram caught in the thicket as a substitute sacrifice. Of course the foreshadowing is breathtaking. Here we see a father who was willing to sacrifice his only son, a substitute provided, a ram (an adult male sheep) offered in his place.
     And just like Abraham, later on Moses encountered this same divine presence in the burning bush at Mount Horeb. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire, and from within the bush, God spoke, revealing His name and His plans to deliver Israel from Egypt.
     Perhaps most dramatically, we see this pre-incarnate Jesus in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When these three faithful men refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, they were thrown into a blazing furnace heated so intensely that it killed the guards who threw them in. Yet the king looked into the fire and saw four men walking around unharmed. His words are telling: "The appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God."

The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed
     Throughout Scripture, there are hints of God's plural nature. In Genesis 1:26, God says, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." Later, in Genesis 3:22, the Lord says, "Behold, the man has become like one of us." These aren't editorial "we's" or royal pronouns, they're glimpses into the mystery of the Trinity.
     The truth is that Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, was present and active in creation itself. John tells us plainly: "All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." The God who would one day be born in Bethlehem was the same God who spoke the universe into existence.

Why This Matters for Christmas
     Understanding the eternal nature of Jesus transforms how we view Christmas. This wasn't simply a good man being born, or even a prophet entering the world. This was the God of the universe. This was the One who appeared to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets choosing to take on human flesh.
     The One who created the stars became small enough to be held in human arms. The One who spoke galaxies into existence entered the world through the birth canal of a young virgin. The God who needs nothing made Himself dependent on human parents for food, warmth, and protection.
     This is the miracle of the Incarnation. The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The God who had appeared throughout history in temporary, mysterious forms now took on humanity permanently. He didn't just visit us, He became one of us.

The God Who Comes Close
     What makes Jesus' appearances throughout the Old Testament so powerful is that they reveal God's heart. He isn't a distant deity, unconcerned with human affairs. He's the God who shows up in crucial moments to encourage a fleeing servant woman, to stop a father from making a tragic mistake, to call a reluctant leader from a burning bush, and to stand with faithful believers in a fiery furnace. And ultimately, He's the God who came all the way down to earth, born in the humblest circumstances, to live among us and to offer Himself up as a final sacrifice for us to cleanse us of our sin.
     As we celebrate Christmas this year, may we see beyond the familiar manger scene to the cosmic reality it represents. The baby in Bethlehem was the eternal Word, the Creator of all things, the God who walked with our ancestors in faith, now taking on flesh to accomplish our salvation.
     This Christmas, we're not just celebrating a birth. We're celebrating the moment when heaven touched earth, when the eternal entered time, when the infinite became finite, all because God loved us that much.
     That's the miracle worth celebrating.