Part 1 – “One Like the Son of God”: Christ Before the Manger
The eternal purpose of God, as revealed from the beginning, is to dwell forever with His beloved Son — who is the resurrection and the immortal expression of the Father bodily — and with redeemed of humanity raised to bodily immortality in likeness to Him, in a new heaven and new earth where death is no more. This is the highest good God could achieve through creating mankind in His image: in bringing forward the voluntary conformity of many sons to the likeness of His one and only uniquely begotten eternal Son, to the everlasting praise of the glory of His eternal grace and sovereignty.
Long before the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), the eternal Son — the radiance of the Father’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature (Heb 1:3) — was already active, being worshiped, and revealed in veiled but glorious ways.
A true human body for Him did not yet exist, yet from eternity He was pre-ordained to take up and occupy that body in the womb of a virgin, to live, die, rise, and reign forever as the God-Man, the “firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29), the Captain of our salvation (Heb 2:10).
In the centuries before Bethlehem, whenever God broke visibly into history, it was almost always the pre-incarnate Christ who appeared:
“Look! I see four men walking in the midst of the fire… and the fourth is like a son of the gods” — or, in the Aramaic, “like a Son of God.”
Centuries later, the same Person appeared to Daniel in a night vision:
“One like a Son of Man” coming with the clouds of heaven, receiving everlasting dominion and a kingdom that will never pass away (Daniel 7:13–14).
Israel was being prepared — generation after generation — to recognize the One who walked among them long before Bethlehem, the One who would finally step fully into history when “the fullness of time had come” (Gal 4:4).
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was taken by God without seeing death (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5), a prophetic sign that the power of death would one day be broken by the coming Seed. Yet Enoch himself, like every other saint before the cross, was saved only by faith in that promised Redeemer — not by his own righteousness, but by the righteousness of the One who was yet to be revealed.
Only one human being has ever pre-existed His own conception, and indeed all creation.
Only one was truly begotten, by the direct agency of the Father — the eternal Son who took on flesh in Mary’s womb.
All the rest of us — Enoch, Elijah, Abraham, David, you, and me — are all only saved through Him and in Him alone.
He is the Lord from heaven, now enthroned in an immortal, glorified body, holding authority over death and resurrection (1 Cor 15:22–26). At His return He will raise and change every believer into the likeness of that same glorious body (Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
The long centuries of types, shadows, and fiery visitations were all pointing forward to one moment:
When “one like a Son of God” walking in the flames would finally be born as a baby in Bethlehem, live among us, die for us, rise victorious, and bring many sons to glory.
This is the story the Old Testament was always telling.
This is the glory the prophets saw from afar.
And this is the hope in which, and by which every believer — from Adam to this very day — has been saved.
The eternal purpose of God, as revealed from the beginning, is to dwell forever with His beloved Son — who is the resurrection and the immortal expression of the Father bodily — and with redeemed of humanity raised to bodily immortality in likeness to Him, in a new heaven and new earth where death is no more. This is the highest good God could achieve through creating mankind in His image: in bringing forward the voluntary conformity of many sons to the likeness of His one and only uniquely begotten eternal Son, to the everlasting praise of the glory of His eternal grace and sovereignty.
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…
Even so. Amen.” (Rev 1:7)(End of Part 1)
Long before the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), the eternal Son — the radiance of the Father’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature (Heb 1:3) — was already active, being worshiped, and revealed in veiled but glorious ways.
A true human body for Him did not yet exist, yet from eternity He was pre-ordained to take up and occupy that body in the womb of a virgin, to live, die, rise, and reign forever as the God-Man, the “firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29), the Captain of our salvation (Heb 2:10).
In the centuries before Bethlehem, whenever God broke visibly into history, it was almost always the pre-incarnate Christ who appeared:
- To Hagar in the wilderness — “the Angel of the LORD” who spoke as God Himself (Gen 16:7–14).
- To Abraham on the plains of Mamre — one of three “men,” was identified in worship as God (Gen 18).
- To Jacob at Peniel — the Man who wrestled with him, blessed him, and changed his name to Israel (Gen 32:24–30; Hos 12:3–5).
- To Moses in the burning bush — the Angel of the LORD who declared, “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:2–14).
- To Joshua outside Jericho — the Commander of the LORD’s army, who received worship (Josh 5:13–15).
- To Gideon, to Manoah and his wife, to Isaiah in the temple (Isa 6) — again and again the same glorious Figure who is both sent by God and is Himself God.
“Look! I see four men walking in the midst of the fire… and the fourth is like a son of the gods” — or, in the Aramaic, “like a Son of God.”
Centuries later, the same Person appeared to Daniel in a night vision:
“One like a Son of Man” coming with the clouds of heaven, receiving everlasting dominion and a kingdom that will never pass away (Daniel 7:13–14).
Israel was being prepared — generation after generation — to recognize the One who walked among them long before Bethlehem, the One who would finally step fully into history when “the fullness of time had come” (Gal 4:4).
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was taken by God without seeing death (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5), a prophetic sign that the power of death would one day be broken by the coming Seed. Yet Enoch himself, like every other saint before the cross, was saved only by faith in that promised Redeemer — not by his own righteousness, but by the righteousness of the One who was yet to be revealed.
Only one human being has ever pre-existed His own conception, and indeed all creation.
Only one was truly begotten, by the direct agency of the Father — the eternal Son who took on flesh in Mary’s womb.
All the rest of us — Enoch, Elijah, Abraham, David, you, and me — are all only saved through Him and in Him alone.
He is the Lord from heaven, now enthroned in an immortal, glorified body, holding authority over death and resurrection (1 Cor 15:22–26). At His return He will raise and change every believer into the likeness of that same glorious body (Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
The long centuries of types, shadows, and fiery visitations were all pointing forward to one moment:
When “one like a Son of God” walking in the flames would finally be born as a baby in Bethlehem, live among us, die for us, rise victorious, and bring many sons to glory.
This is the story the Old Testament was always telling.
This is the glory the prophets saw from afar.
And this is the hope in which, and by which every believer — from Adam to this very day — has been saved.
The eternal purpose of God, as revealed from the beginning, is to dwell forever with His beloved Son — who is the resurrection and the immortal expression of the Father bodily — and with redeemed of humanity raised to bodily immortality in likeness to Him, in a new heaven and new earth where death is no more. This is the highest good God could achieve through creating mankind in His image: in bringing forward the voluntary conformity of many sons to the likeness of His one and only uniquely begotten eternal Son, to the everlasting praise of the glory of His eternal grace and sovereignty.
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…
Even so. Amen.” (Rev 1:7)(End of Part 1)
Thank you for reading this. My prayer for you:
Father of glory, fully invested irreversibly in the body of Jesus Christ, eternal and immortal, build up the Church in faith and expression by the gift of Your Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh from the 10th day after Your ascension to where You are now.
Let the mystery of Your Kingdom from heaven be more greatly revealed to all who call upon Your name, which was never previously given throughout all ages before Your manifestation in Mary's womb.
Ah, Lord God, how great are the glories of Your plans and purpose of redemption to the body in immortality from the beginning!
And just as Peter first proclaims in Acts 3:21, and Paul declares in Romans 8:23, You have preordained our salvation, and redemption in the body to immortality, but we must choose it in Your beloved!
Thank you for opening the eyes of our understanding and bringing us along in as much as anyone may perceive Your desire to save and deliver, so much so, that they come near by calling upon Your Holy name today.
If anyone read this testimony of Your glory today, and believe in their heart, and open up their mouth to call out to you, they may receive the corresponding witness of Your love for them and be changed by the gift of Your Holy Spirit, the internal witness of Your glory be invested in them in the moment being born again by believing the truth, and saved from glory to glory preserved by Your power to the end.In Jesus' Name Amen!
Father God, in the beautiful body of Jesus Christ, let us also more greatly understand that You have died the first death in Your own body, as commanded over Adam, so that being redeemed by faith and partnership with your eternal glory and Godhead, neither Enoch nor Elijah will ever die at all, and in the generation of Your return, we who believe in You to the saving of the soul, will also be changed without every dying, in the greater performance of Your promise and our blessed hope, because You died the death as once appointed unto men, so that we could live forever with You in the greater body of immortality!
Forever and ever in a new heaven and earth that You will provide for us to dwell together with You after the consummation! Amen! Amen!
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