PREINCARNATION THEOPHANIES OF JESUS
A theophany is the appearance of God ( in human form ) to man.
Different names and titles are given to Christ (Jesus) in the Old Testament.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Gen. 3: 8).
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. … Then the Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son. … (Gen. 18: 1-2, 10).
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going (Gen. 16: 7-8)?
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, Let me go, for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied. I will not let you go unless you bless me. The man asked him, what is your name? Jacob, he answered. Then the man said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome (Gen. 32: 24-28).
Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God (Exod. 3: 6).
Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, he said, Listen to my words: When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord (Num. 12: 5-8).
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, Are you for us or for our enemied? Neither, he replied, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, What message does my Lord have for his servant? The commander of the Lord’s army replied, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so (Joshua 5: 13-15).
A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. … Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, what is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true? He replied, Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding (Judges 13: 2-3, 17-18).
The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word (1 Sam. 3:21).