Gods Sabbath

C HRIST T HE G REAT C ONNECTOR

41

So, even before the creation of man, Jesus Christ was already the only begotten Son of God. This does not imply that He began to exist at this time, for He, like His Father, is the everlasting One, whose pre-existence has no beginning and whose life shall never know an ending. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. For humans, to be begotten is to begin from nothing, but not so with Christ. It simply means that He entered into a new sphere. Until a certain date, far back in eternity, Christ was God, just as his Father is. Then there came the time when He was begotten into the form of an angel, thus connecting the cre ated angels with the Source of all life. At a later date He repeat ed this incarnation when He became a human being like our selves and was born as a babe in Bethlehem.*

Christ the Angel

Christ is presented as both God and Angel throughout the Old Testament. He is the An gel who appeared to Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, the parents of Samson, and many others. He is Michael the Archangel, and the Angel of the Covenant. Old Testament references are explicit about this fact. * “The Scriptures declare that Christ is 'the only-begotten Son of God.' He is begotten, not created. As to when He was begotten, it is not for us to inquire, nor could our minds grasp it if we were told. The prophet Micah tells us all that we can know about it, in these words: 'But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to

Christ in His two spheres

Christ as God

Chr. as angel

be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.' Micah 5:2, margin. There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite compre hension it is practically without begin ning.” Christ and His Righteousness, 21, 22, by E. J. Waggoner.