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Welcome to Critical Thinking Aloud’s Ancient Near Eastern Advent’s Christmas Day Devotion
How we are going to learn
In this Christmas devotional we will be looking at the topic of Jesus as the embodied man theophany in the ancient Near Eastern biblical authors worldview. As I have done in the past with other teachings I want to quote from scholarly sources to make my point. I do this in hope that you will see this isn’t just my interpretation of the Scriptures but that this view is steeped in acadeemia.
We will be using two amazing sources which we highly recommend.
- Faithlife Study Bible: This is an amazing resource that is free if you download the app or use it online. To download the app or use this resource online visit their website here. This resource is also available in print which you can purchase here.
- The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: This is my favorite resource for gaining a better understanding for the ancient Near Eastern worldview of the Biblical authors. This is available in a multitude of variations all of which you can find on our resource page here.
Let’s get started
Our Ancient Near Eastern Advent devotional has centered around the ancient Near Eastern biblical authors description of the Invisible God revealing Himself Visibly to humanity through the theophany of a man. In the Old Testament this man theophany is describe by four motifs.
This devotion will be covering the embodiment of these motifs which the ancient Near Eastern biblical authors used to described this man theophany.
Theophany
Remember theophany is a visible manifestation of a deity revealed to humanity. Throughout this Advent devotion have looked at the ancient Near Eastern view of theophany and the role it plays in the pantheon of a nation.
Here is a quote for our recommended resources
“Since people cannot possible process God’s nature as a disembodied, formless spirit, theophany allows God to make His presence known in a physical way that people can discern through their senses.”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the Article: Theophany in the Old Testament.
God uses theophanies many times throughout the Hebrew Bible. Earthquakes, a pillar of smoke, an East wind, are only a couple of examples of theophany.
During these devotionals we have be focusing especially on the ancient Near Eastern theophany of a person and its counterpart in the belief of the Godhead of the ancient Israelites.
Over the coarse of the past four installments we learned that the Invisible God appears to humanity visibly in the form of The Word of the Lord, The Angel of the Lord, The Name, and The Rider on the Clouds. If you haven’t yet gone over that content yet check it out here.
Christmas Devotion
For our Christmas day Devotion we are going to be reflecting on Yahweh’s man theophany now embodied which appeared to humans at the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
God Chose to Appear to Us
The Trinity that we have come to know as Christians is rooted in Old Testament theology. Ever since the beginning the Invisible God has chosen to make Himself known to humans through His visible manifestation in the form of a Man.
In the four weeks of Advent we have discussed all of Yahweh’s man theophany motifs. The Word, The Angel of the Lord, The Name, and The Rider on the Clouds are all use in the Old Testament to describe the Invisible God appearing in a visible form to humans as a man.
Before His incarnation, Jesus, the Visible Yahweh, was known in the Old Testament as the second person of the trinity by these four different descriptions.
After each weeks devotion I left you with this quote
“Theophanies set the precedent for Jesus. They help make sense of why and how God chose to appear in human form.”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the Article: Theophany in the Old Testament
The Word, The Angel of the Lord, The Name, and The Rider on the Clouds are how the Invisible Yahweh revealed Himself through their theophany in the form of a man in the Old Testament.
Advent and the Old Testament
At the beginning of this devotional I told you that I have discovered that the Advent season and Old Testament serve very similar roles for us in the church today.
Both help to bring awareness of the promised Messiah who is the visible manifestation of the Invisible Yahweh. By observing both the Old Testament and Advent anyone can learn and reflect on who Jesus is.
The ancient Near Eastern Biblical authors had precedent for there being two powers of Yahweh in heaven. We have said many times how the concept of the trinity is based in this Old Testament idea of two powers in heaven.
Two Powers in Heaven
Here is a quote from our recommended resources to help us out
“Jewish thinkers in the Second Temple period (circa 516 BC-AD 70)- who were quite familiar with these patterns in the Hebrew text-did not indicate that any of it violated monotheism. Yahweh, quite simply, was alone at the top of the heavenly host, albeit in two forms. In fact, Jewish theologians and writers during this period devoted a great deal of speculation to more precisely identifying the second Yahweh. Their guesses ranged from divinized humans from Israel’s history (Adam, Abraham, and Moses were leading candidates) to exulted angels (Gabriel, Michael) to other intermediate figures (e.g., Philo’s ‘the Word’). These guesses were solidified into religious sects, and thus emerged the ‘two power in heaven’ doctrine of Judaism.”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the Article: Old Testament Godhead Language
Please, don’t get tripped up too much on the “Two Powers” language when it comes to our understanding of the Trinity. In the Old Testament there is precedent for the Spirit being Yahweh as well.
When we are talking about this “two powers” doctrine we are specifically taking about the Invisible and Visible forms of Yahweh.
Jesus = Yahweh Embodied
The Word, The Angel of the Lord, The Name and The Rider on the Clouds are all motifs that the ancient Near Eastern Biblical authors used to describe Yahwehs theophany in the form of a man.
After the Incarnation this same visible Yahweh was now revealed not by the motifs that described the man theophany but by His physical embodiment in human form.
Here is another quote from the same resource from above
“However, the early Christians (who were also Jews), altered the course of there speculations when they identified the second power, or second Yahweh with Jesus. This identification allowed the first Christian converts- all of them Jews- to simultaneously worship both the God of Israel and Jesus of Nazareth without acknowledging any other god. Affirming Jesus’ incarnation as a man went beyond affirming Yahweh embodied in human form- Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer who made Himself equal with God. (The idea that Jesus was the incarnate second Yahweh offended Jews who had formerly accepted the “two powers.”) It wasn’t until the second century AD that Jewish authorities declared the “two powers” teaching to be heresy.”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the Article: Old Testament Godhead Language
As you can see there was a deep connection made between the “second power” of Yahweh and the incarnate Christ in the minds of the ancient Near Easter biblical authors and their constituents.
How this influenced the New Testament
Now that we have all same information about the man theophany of Yahweh as the ancient Near East Biblical authors did, lets take a fresh look at some passages in the New Testament together.
The Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
John 1:1-4
With out any of the ancient Near Eastern context behind it, John 1 is still an amazing passage of scripture. Now, how much richer a meaning do we get with all the ancient Near Eastern Biblical authors significance of The Word motif.
The Angel of the Lord
“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved* a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”
*Some manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved
Jude 1:5 ESV
We don’t think about this much but when Yahweh came to destroy the first born sons of Egypt, God used The Angel of the Lord to accomplish this task. In multiple places in the Old Testament, the narrative makes it clear that it was none other than The Angel of the Lord who freed Gods people out of slavery by killing Egypts first born sons.
As reflected in the original manuscripts the New Testament ancient Near Eastern authors felt completely comfortable interchanging the Lord in this verse with Jesus since in their worldview both are one and the same.
The Name
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—”
John 1:12
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:30-31
The same thing is true here. This ancient Near Eastern Biblical author is pulling from his cultures wealth of understanding about The Name theology.
The difference of coarse being that now this author is equating that this same Name theology must be applied to the Visible Yahweh incarnate Jesus of Nazareth.
The Rider on the Clouds
In my opinion this is the most incredible of all of these motifs being fulfilled in the New Testament.
“The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered.”
Matt 26:63-66
Incredible! Jesus when question under oath if He is the Messiah (who was revealed to be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) He quotes from Daniel 7:13.
Surely the meaning of what Jesus was communicating is not lost on these religious leaders as they immediately charge Jesus with blasphemy and condemned Him to death.
If we look at why Jesus is sentenced to death with the ancient Near Eastern worldview the picture gets even clearer.
“Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God?”
But I say to all of you: from now on you will see the Son of Man (I, Jesus not Baal) at the right hand of the Mighty One (EL) and coming on the clouds of heaven.
This is simply amazing! No matter the context, Jesus could not have been anymore clear in affirming that He is the Messiah.
Not only did Jesus use the ancient Israelites worldview but also that of the whole ancient Near East to affirm that He is the visible Yahweh in human form.
Praise God! Jesus, known in the Old Testament as The Word, The Angel of the Lord, The Name, and The Rider on the Clouds, is the visible Yahweh in human form. The Invisible Yahweh embodied is Jesus.
What a great and Mighty God we serve who’s brith we celebrate today.
I want to leave you with this last quote that I feel sums this whole matrix of ideas nicely
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Colossians 1:15-20
Peace and Blessing! We hope you enjoyed this Critical Thinking Aloud’s Ancient Near Eastern Advent Devotion.
Merry Christmas!
Citations:
Faithlife Study Bible. J. D. Barry et al. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012
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