Did God have a physical form before Jesus?

A theophany is an appearance of God. God appears in the Old Testament in different ways: as an angel of the Lord (Acts 7:30-32; Exodus 3:2; Judges 2:1), apparently in physical form (Gen. 3:8; Exodus 24:9-11), in visions and dreams (Num. 12:6-8), and in flame (Judges 13:20-21). However, there are verses that say that you can't see God: Exodus 33:20; John 1:18). If this is so, then is there a contradiction in the Bible? No, there isn't.

Study the following verses, read them in context in the Bible, and see if you can figure out what is going on. If you can't, continue reading and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

These verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Please note that "LORD" is equivalent to YHWH, Yahweh, and Jehovah which is the name of God.

Plurality of God:

Gen. 1:26, "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..."

Gen. 19:24, "Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven."

Amos 4:10-11, "‘I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,' declares the LORD. ‘I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah...'"

Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me...‘" See also, Isaiah 48:16.

Appearances of God

Gen. 17:1, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless."

Gen. 18:1, "Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day."

Ex. 6:2-3, "God spoke further to Moses and said to him, ‘I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I did not make myself known to them.'"

Exodus 24:9-11, "Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they ate and drank."

Exodus 33:11, "Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend..."

Num. 12:6-8, "He [God] said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD..."

Acts 7:2, "And he [Stephen] said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran...."

Can't see God:

Exodus 33:20, "But He [God] said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!'"

John 1:18, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father; He has explained Him."

1 Tim. 6:16, "[God] who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see."

John 6:46, "Not that any man has seen the Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father."

John 8:58, "Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

Exodus 3:14, "And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM'; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'"

Zech. 12:10, "And I [God] will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son..."

It is evident above that God was seen. But, considering the "Can't-see-God" verses, some would understandably argue that people have not seen God; otherwise, there would be a contradiction in the Bible. A possible explanation for this is that people were seeing visions, or dreams, or the Angel of the LORD (Num. 22:22-26; Judges 13:1-21). But the problem is that the verses cited above do not say vision, dream, or Angel of the LORD. They say that people saw God (Exodus 24:9-11), that God was seen, and that He appeared as God Almighty (Ex. 6:2-3).

At first, this is difficult to understand. God Almighty was seen (Ex. 6:2-3) which means it was not the Angel of the Lord, for an angel is not God Almighty, and at least Moses saw God, not in a vision or dream, as the LORD Himself attests in Num. 12:6-8. If these verses mean what they say, then we naturally assume we have a contradiction. Actually, the contradiction exists in our understanding, not in the Bible--which is always the case with alleged biblical contradictio

no.

"God is a Spirit" - John 4:24

Jehovah told Moses that no man may see God and live. It is simply out of the realm of possibility that mere humans can ever have an up-close-and-personal encounter with God. We cannot even glance directly at the sun for more than a few seconds without doing permanent damage to our eyes. How do you suppose we shall look upon the Creator of billions upon billions of suns without instantly vaporizing?

Jehovah made us with the intention of our having a spiritual relationship with him. In order for us to be able to relate to him, God has revealed himself in human terms. Jehovah likens himself to humans "anthropomorphically."

Thus, we read in Genesis that Jehovah strolled about in the Garden of Eden about the breezy part of the day. Since we already know that Adam could not literally see God and survive, it is evident that the expression is intended to help us appreciate the intimate spiritual communion that Adam had with God before he rebelled.

Who is the Lord, God or Jesus? Who is the Redeemer, God or Jesus? Who is the Alpha & Omega, the first and the last, God or Jesus? He has a head, arms, hands, heart and feet. He has white hair. Does God have a throne that He sits in? If God is but a vapor, how could we serve Him day and night in His temple? How could He wipe away all tears from our eyes? Best of all, we shall see His face. Read Revelation.

Yes.God is omnipresent. He has been shown to make himself manifest in the bible to people in several ways. He chooses to appeal to their senses as he sees fit. Here it says they "heard" him, not saw him. Jesus IS God manifest in the flesh.For the scripture states, " I and my Father are one".This verse could be easily explained by Jewish beliefs, though I'm Jewish.At least according to what you have listed above about God.God as a spirit was letting his presence be known by being"heard" walking in the garden.In another instance, he let his presence be known by a mighty rushing wind.

Daniel 7:9

As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.

Daniel is describing the Ancient of days in a physical form.

Daniel 7:13

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence."

Daniel says before him was one like the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

The man on the cloud is Jesus because,

Luke 21:27: At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

He (being Jesus) approached the Ancient of days and was led into his presence. Jesus can only be LED into the presence of someone who is higher than him, which would have to be God the father. So yes, God did show Himself in a physical form before Jesus.

none of us can really answer that, i mean we haven't seen God himself YET. i don't think he really has a home form. i know hes there, but when he has to make an appearance, he'll use whatever he pleases, for example, the burning the bush with moses. and when i read, in the bible it said that Moses was able to see God's backside. so who knows what the heck Moses saw that day.

In the Old Testament, it was Yahweh in particular, that physically interacted with man. The god El, was the more subtle of the two, preferring to communicate with man through revelations and such. I can post you a link that explains this in painstaking detail if you wish.

Here, read this link. I warn you, though, it may shake your faith if you are a Jew or Christian.

The Bible And Christianity -- The Historical OriginsA secular view of the origins of Christianity and its scriptures.

http://www.bidstrup.com/bible.htm - 145k - Cached - Similar pages

HI PAUL, NOW THIS IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION. I DON'T THINK THAT GOD HAD A PHYSICAL FORM. I INTERPRETED THE STATEMENT THAT "ADAM AND EVE HEARD GOD WALKING IN THE GARDEN" AS I INTERPRETED THE "FOOTPRINT"S" READING, IT'S ALL ABOUT FAITH. GOD CARRY US AND WALKED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN IN THE SPIRITUAL FORM, NOT PHYSICAL FORM. HE HAD NO PHYSICAL FORM.

God would not permit Moses to see His face but he passed by Him and Moses was able to see God walk by.

Jesus came on earth as a human

Back in the old days they just made it up as they went along. Then as the story developed you started seeing some consistency.