Bible Basics 7.3 Christ’s Place in God’s Plan: No pre-existence of Christ

Bible Basics 7.3 Christ’s Place in God’s Plan: No pre-existence of Christod does not decide on His plans on the spur of the moment, devising extra parts to His purpose as human history unfolds. God had a complete plan formulated right from the beginning of creation (Jn. 1:1). His desire to have a Son was therefore in His plan from the beginning. He loved that Son before he was born, just as parents may love a child still in the womb. The whole of the Old Testament reveals different aspects of God’s plan of salvation in Christ.We have frequently demonstrated that through the promises, the prophecies of the prophets, and the types of the Law of Moses, the Old Testament is constantly revealing God’s purpose in Christ. It was on account of God’s knowledge that He would have a Son that He brought creation into existence (Heb. 1:1,2, Greek text; “by” in the A.V. is better translated “on account of”). It was on account of Christ that the ages of human history were allowed by God (Heb. 1:2 (Greek). It follows that God’s revelation to man down through the years, as recorded in the Old Testament, is full of references to Christ.The supremacy of Christ and his fundamental importance to God is difficult for us to comprehend fully. It is therefore true to say that Christ existed in God’s mind and purpose from the beginning, although he only came into existence physically through his birth of Mary. Heb. 1:4-7, 13,14, stress that Christ was not an angel; whilst in his mortal life he was less than angels (Heb. 2:7), he was exalted to a far greater honour than them seeing he was God’s “only begotten Son” (Jn. 3:16). Christ did not exist as a ‘spirit’ before his birth. 1 Pet. 1:20 sums up the position: Christ “was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times”.Jesus was the central pivot of the Gospel, which God “had promised afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made (created by begettal) of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).This summarizes the history of Christ.1. Promised in the Old Testament - i.e. in God’s plan;2. Created as a physical person through the virgin birth, as a seed of David;3. Due to his perfect character (“the spirit of holiness”), shown during his mortal life4. He was resurrected, and again publicly declared to be the Son of God by the apostles’ spirit-gifted preaching.The Lord Jesus was the promised descendant of Abraham. Mic. 5:2 speaks of Him as having these very "ancient origins". The same Hebrew term used there is to be found in Dt. 32:7; Mic. 7:14; Amos 9:11; Is. 63:9,11 with the same connotation. As the Cambridge Bible For