Dr. J. Vernon McGee :: Before Bethlehem

Before Bethlehem

An abundance of Scripture supports the fact that Christ was before Bethlehem. He is just as real in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. The great difference, of course, is that He became flesh. He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Also He said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” He and the Father were working long before Bethlehem. John opened his matchless Gospel with this majestic statement:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1, 2)

The prophet Isaiah had made a very careful distinction about His birth at Bethlehem: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The Child was born, but the Son was given, because He was before Bethlehem.

Micah, the contemporary of Isaiah, had said that He would come forth from Bethlehem but that His “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

His footprints were manifested in this world before the prints were made in His hands.

He appears in the first verse of the Bible — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The word for “God” in this passage is Elohim, which is plural. Without being technical, let me say that the Hebrews had a form of the noun which is called dual since it meant only two. When the plural was used without a number, the natural thought was that it was three — the next number to the dual. As you see, there is the suggestion of the Trinity in the first verse of Genesis, and the part that He had in the creation is clearly stated in the following Scriptures:

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. (Colossians 1:16)

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. (Hebrews 1:1, 2)

Not only is Christ referred to in the first verse of Genesis, but there also are many evidences of His presence throughout the Old Testament. There is a rather strange statement occurring in the record of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden:

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)

This expression for God is rather unusual — “The voice of the LORD God.” Then, to add to the strangeness of the verse, it is stated that “the voice of the LORD God walked in the garden.” Now, it is most unusual to have a voice walking. It reminds us of the old bromide, “Did you ever see a board walk, or did you ever see a horse fly?” However, this statement is not so unusual when we discover that the Lord Jesus Christ identified Himself as the “alphabet of God.” He said, “I am Alpha and Omega.” He is further identified by John as the “Word of God.” As you know, words are formed from the alphabet. The voice is the word made articulate. The alphabet is translated into a word, and the word is energized into a voice. “The voice of the Lord God” was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not far-fetched, for it is in perfect harmony of Scripture when the mixed metaphor of Genesis chapter 3 is compared with the one in Revelation 1:12:

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.

John said, “I turned to see the voice that spake with me.” There was a voice walking in the Garden of Eden, and John turned to see a voice on the Island of Patmos, and the voice on the Island of Patmos is identified as none other than the Lord Jesus Christ after His glorification. The voice of the Lord God in Genesis chapter 3, which Adam saw, and the voice of the Lord God in Revelation chapter 1, which John saw, are identical. Furthermore, the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ can be followed through the remainder of the Old Testament. The Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is apparently none other than the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament. He was before Bethlehem.

It is a glorious tribute to Christ to measure time from His birth, but actually the expression “B.C.” is inaccurate. You cannot get before Christ in time. He stood on the threshold, when time began, as “The Ancient of Days.”