probably be, nevertheless, in the back of the mind, a number of Old

Testament passages that seem at first sight to contradict this testimony.

For example, in Genesis 35 we read:

`... God appeared unto Jacob ... I am God Almighty ... And God

went up from him in the place where He talked with him ... And

Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him,

Bethel' (Gen. 35:9-15).

Here, Jacob obviously had very personal dealings with `The Lord

God Almighty'. Moreover, on an earlier occasion where Jacob had

travelled from Bethel to Jabbok, we read:

`... there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day ...

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God

face to face, and my life is preserved' (Gen. 32:24,30).

Again, in Exodus, we read:

`Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy

of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Israel ... they saw

God, and did eat and drink' (Exod. 24:9-11).

`... the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh

unto his friend' (Exod. 33:11).

We have already dealt with the place that the incarnation holds in

the Divine scheme, and have drawn attention to the fact that John 1:14

does not say, `The Word became man', but that `The Word became

flesh'. The New Testament declares that Jesus Christ was a `man', but

it does not say that He became such at the incarnation. Philippians 2

declares that He was found in fashion as a man, and Romans 8 that He

was made in `the likeness of sinful flesh', but Genesis 32 had already

indicated that the God of Jacob was a `man' long before the lowly birth

at Bethlehem. All this we have already considered when dealing with

John 1:14, but it is so important that we repeat some of our conclusions

here. The invisible God expressed Himself before time began. He

Who created the world and all things, first of all humbled Himself by

taking visible shape. He became the Image of the invisible God, the

Firstborn of every creature, the Beginning of the creation of God. He,

the visible God, was the One after Whose image and likeness Adam

was created, and He it was Who walked in Eden in the cool of the day.

He, the visible God, was the God of Israel seen by Moses and the