What did Jesus do before and after he became human?
Before the Incarnation Since the Son of God is eternal, we begin with noting his work before the incarnation, before Christ took upon himself a human nature. With the Father and the Spirit, Christ was involved in creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2). More on this in chapter 22, where we consider his lordship. Another important aspect of Christ’s Old Testament work was delivering God’s messages. The “angel [messenger] of the LORD [Yahweh]” normally is understood to be Christ himself, and the technical term for these occurrences is theophany (appearance of God). These are pre-incarnation manifestations of the Son of God in human form— Christ took upon himself human appearance to accomplish something specific before taking upon himself a permanent human nature (in the incarnation). This “angel” is no ordinary angel. For example, when Hagar fled into the desert after conceiving Abram’s son, the angel of the LORD told her to name her son Ishmael and to re...