I raised a question on the is Jesus God thread but am not getting any answer so I thought I would open up the discussion for the rest of the forum as I am currently trying to research this topic. Bare with me while I give some background here and please read it carefully:
In the Old Testament there were times when people said that God sent an Angel to them to relay information. But there are also times that it says that people in the OT "saw" God himself. Now, the NT clearly says "no one has seen the father at any time" So if the OT people did not see God and they did not say they saw an Angel, was it Jesus they saw as the "image of God?" Or was it really an Angel and they thought it was God?
The reason I use the term "image" is that the NT calls Jesus "the image of the invisible God"
The reason I ask is I think I found some texts that seem to show (notice I said seem) that Christ did appear in the image of God to Moses and Abraham as well as some others. That is why they said they "saw" God and why they lived through it. Because I am sure no one can see the father and live. But most people say no it was only an Angel. If that is correct and Christ never appeared to anyone prior to coming to earth then my question is this Why is Jesus absent from the OT?
I am not talking about prophecies about Jesus or OT types and symbols that Christ represented. I am talking about actual sightings of him or words he spoke to any of God's people.
Can anyone give an answer for this and scriptures to support it - without turning this into the whole trinity debate again (if possible). I am mostly looking for scriptural proof in the OT of what Jesus was doing prior to coming to earth and whether or not he spoke to any of God's people. Thanks so much, Lilly