The name of Jesus Christ is spoken far too carelessly in today’s society. It is an expletive, a “four-letter word” and a mere *bleep* on our television screens. And yet such usage has nothing to do with the meaning intended by God, who “bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Php 2:9-11, NASB throughout). While we are often quick to blame the world for this error, as Christians we are often just as quick to lose sight of the Lordship of Christ in our lives. In our brief studies here we seek to restore the name of Christ by examining his role as the pre-incarnate Word, the incarnate Christ and the glorified Savior.

Christ’s story begins much earlier than the day He was born in Bethlehem.  The apostle John begins his gospel account with this in mind. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Joh 1:1). So when and where was Jesus prior to His incarnation? What was His role? The first manifestation of the Word before He came in the flesh permanently is as the Angel of the Lord. In Genesis 18, Moses describes to us the scene in which Abraham and Sarah are promised a son. “Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre [and] When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth” (Gen 18:1-2). Note that in this passage the Lord appears in the form of a man accompanied by two others (Gen 18:22, 33; 19:1), has His feet washed (vv. 3-4), and rests His body and eats the food that has been prepared for Him (vv. 5-8). This same Angel appears later in a more familiar account in the burning bush (Exo 3). Here the Angel is called both Lord and God (v. 4), He commands worship (v. 5) and He commissions Moses as the deliverer of His people (vv. 7ff). The Angel of the Lord then (at least in these passages) is both human and divine; a fleshly manifestation of the spiritual God (Joh 4:24; cf. Jackson, 2001).

Secondly, the pre-incarnate Word manifests Himself as the Captain of the host of the Lord. Before Israel could begin the conquest of the Promised Land God ensured that they knew who would be responsible for the victories that lay ahead. There, near Jericho, a man appears to Joshua with sword in hand and declares that He had come, “‘as captain of the host of the Lord.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, ‘What has my lord to say to his servant?’ The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy’” (Jos 5:13-15). Note that this Captain is distinct from the Lord, is in the form of a human and commands the host of the Lord. That this “captain of the host” was indeed “the preincarnate Word” is “shown immediately afterward by the declaration that this was holy ground” (v. 15; Rhodes, 2007) and therefore worthy of Joshua’s reverence (cf. Rev 19:10; 22:9).

The third manifestation of Jesus is His apocalyptic role as Michael the archangel (contrast with Lyons). Although the first mention of Michael occurs in the book of Daniel, this connection is best demonstrated beginning in Revelation 12. There we see Michael given charge of the messengers of God (v. 7), battling and conquering Satan and his false messengers (vv. 8-9) and achieving victory “because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” (v. 11). Why did Christ choose this symbol for Himself in His revelation to John? Because He has always looked out for the people of God both as their Prince (Dan 10:21; cf. v. 13) and their Advocate (Dan 12:1; cf. Jde 1:9).

A close look at the Scriptures then reveals that Christ is not only promised in the Old Testament; as the pre-incarnate Word He submits Himself as the messenger of God, the commander of His armies and the Leader of His people. This is the Word who then “became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Joh 1:14).