Christophany

A Christophany (or Theophany) is a visible manifestation or pre-incarnate bodily appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The early church taught that in all of the Old Testament theophanies, it was the pre-incarnate Son of God who appeared, not the Father.

Scriptures:

Genesis 3:8 – And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the afternoon; and both Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 11:5 – The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 

Genesis 12:7 – And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I will give this land to your seed. And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him.

Genesis 16:6–14 – 6 And Abram said to Sarai: “Behold, your handmaid is in your hands; deal with her as it seems good to you.” And Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. 7 And the angel of the Lord found her by the spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And the angel of the Lord said to her: “Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, whence do you come, and whither do you go?” And she said: “I am fleeing from the face of Sarai, my mistress.” 9 And the angel of the Lord said to her: “Return to your mistress, and be humbled under her hands.” 10 And the angel of the Lord said to her: “I will greatly multiply your seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, for the Lord has hearkened to your humiliation.” 12 “He shall be a wild man; his hands shall be against all, and the hands of all against him, and he shall dwell over against the face of all his brethren.” 13 And she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me”; for she said: “For I have openly seen Him that appeared to me.” 14 Therefore she called the well, “The well of him whom I openly saw”; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Genesis 17:1, 22 – And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am your God; be well-pleasing before Me, and be blameless.” …. And when He had ceased speaking with him, God went up (ἀνέβη) from Abraham.

Genesis 18:1-4 – And God appeared to him by the oak of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent at noon. And he lifted up his eyes and beheld, and lo! three men stood before him; and having seen them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and bowed to the ground. And he said, “My lords, if indeed I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let water now be brought, and let them wash your feet, and refresh yourselves under the tree.

Genesis 18:8 – And he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and they ate.

Genesis 18:20-23 – ‘The Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorra is great, and their sins are very grievous. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to their cry which has come unto me; and if not, that I may know. And the men turned away thence, and went to Sodom. But Abraham was standing before the Lord; and Abraham drew near, and said, Will You destroy the righteous with the wicked?’

Genesis 32:24–30 – 24 And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the morning. 25 And he saw that he did not prevail against him; and he touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob’s thigh was numbed in his wrestling with him. 26 And he said to him, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 And he said to him, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; for you have prevailed with God and with men, and are powerful.” 29 And Jacob asked and said, “Tell me your name.” And he said, “Why do you ask my name?” — and he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of that place “Form of God” (Εἶδος Θεοῦ); for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life was preserved.”

Exodus 3:1–6 – 1 And Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock beneath the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the bush; and he saw that the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said: “I will go near and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt up.” 4 And when the Lord saw that he drew near to see, the Lord called to him out of the bush, saying: “Moses, Moses!” And he said: “What is it?” 5 And He said: “Do not draw near here; loose the sandals from off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” 6 And He said to him: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses turned away his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Joshua 5:13–6:2 – 13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was in Jericho, that he looked up with his eyes and saw a man standing before him, and his drawn sword was in his hand; and Joshua went to him and said, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said to him, “As Captain of the host of the Lord, I have now come.” And Joshua fell upon his face to the earth and said to him, “Lord, what do you command your servant?” 15 And the Captain of the host of the Lord said to Joshua, “Loose the sandal from off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. 6:1 Now Jericho was shut up and fortified, and no one went out from it, and no one entered in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Behold, I deliver Jericho into your hand, and its king, who is in it, being mighty in strength.”

Judges 6:11–24 – 11 And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the father of Abiezer; and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the face of Midian. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of strength.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, my Lord; if the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils found us? And where are all His wonders which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned toward him and said, “Go in this your strength, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian; behold, I have sent you.” … 21 And the angel of the Lord reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire rose up out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord departed from his sight. 22 And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Alas, alas, O Lord my Lord! For I have seen (εἶδον) the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 And the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.” 24 And Gideon built there an altar to the Lord and called it “The Peace of the Lord” unto this day.

Judges 13:2–23 (LXX) 2 And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the tribe of Dan, and his name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had not borne children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have not borne; but you shall conceive and bear a son.” 4 “And now, take care and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.” 5 “For behold, you are with child and shall bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 And the woman went in and spoke to her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance (ειδος) was as the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome; and I did not ask him whence he was, and he did not tell me his name.” … 15 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Let us detain you here, and let us prepare before you a kid of the goats.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you should detain me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you would offer a whole burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, that when your word shall come to pass, we may glorify you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask after my name, since it is wonderful.” 19 And Manoah took the kid of the goats and the meat offering and offered it upon the rock to the Lord; and the angel performed a wonder, and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 And it came to pass when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar; and Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell upon their faces to the earth. 21 And the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife; then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God (εἴδομεν θεὸν).” 23 And his wife said to him, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a whole burnt offering and a meat offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have made us hear such things as these.”

1 Kingdoms 3:1–10 – 1 And the child Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli the priest; and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, and there was no distinct vision. 2 And it came to pass at that time, as Eli was sleeping in his place—his eyes had begun to grow heavy so that he could not see— 3 and the lamp of God was before it was extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple where the ark of God was; 4 and the Lord called, “Samuel, Samuel!” And he said, “Behold, here am I.” … 10 And the Lord came and stood, and called him as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

Daniel 3:25 – “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form (ορασις) of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Church Fathers:

Moses, then, the blessed and faithful servant of God, declares that He who appeared to Abraham under the oak in Mamre is God, sent with the two angels in His company to judge Sodom by Another who remains ever in the supercelestial places, invisible to all men, holding personal intercourse with none, whom we believe to be Maker and Father of all things; for he speaks thus: ‘God appeared to him under the oak in Mamre, as he sat at his tent-door at noontide. And lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent; and he bowed himself toward the ground, and said …’ Genesis 18:1-2 ‘Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrha, and toward the adjacent country, and beheld, and, lo, a flame went up from the earth, like the smoke of a furnace.’ – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 56

“How do you now say that He walked in Paradise?” Hear what I say: The God and Father of all, indeed, cannot be contained. He is not found in a place, for there is no place of His rest. Instead, His Word, through whom He made all things, being His Power and His Wisdom, assumed the character of the Father and Lord of all. He went to the garden in the person of God, and conversed with Adam…. The Word, then, being God, and being naturally produced from God, whenever the Father of the universe wills, He sends Him to any place. And when the Word appears, He is both heard and seen, being sent by Him. And He is found in a specific place. – Theophilus, To Autolycus, Book 2, chapter 22

How therefore did the Scriptures testify of Him, unless they were from one and the same Father, instructing men beforehand as to the advent of His Son, and foretelling the salvation brought in by Him? “For if you had believed Moses, you would also have believed Me; for he wrote of Me;” [saying this,] no doubt, because the Son of God is implanted everywhere throughout his writings: at one time, indeed, speaking with Abraham, when about to eat with him; at another time with Noah, giving to him the dimensions [of the ark]; at another; inquiring after Adam; at another, bringing down judgment upon the Sodomites; and again, when He becomes visible, and directs Jacob on his journey, and speaks with Moses from the bush. And it would be endless to recount [the occasions] upon which the Son of God is shown forth by Moses. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.10.1

Again, when He speaks in His own person, He confesses Himself to be the Instructor: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2). Who, then, has the power of leading in and out? Is it not the Instructor? This was He who appeared to Abraham, and said to him, “I am your God, be accepted before Me” (Genesis 17:1-2); and in a way most befitting an instructor, forms him into a faithful child, saying, “And be blameless; and I will make My covenant between Me and you, and your seed.” There is the communication of the Instructor’s friendship. And He most manifestly appears as Jacob’s instructor. He says accordingly to him, “Lo, I am with you, to keep you in all the way in which you shall go; and I will bring you back into this land: for I will not leave you till I do what I have told you” (Genesis 28:15). He is said, too, to have wrestled with Him. “And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a man (the Instructor) till the morning” (Genesis 32:24). This was the man who led, and brought, and wrestled with, and anointed the athlete Jacob against evil. Now that the Word was at once Jacob’s trainer and the Instructor of humanity [appears from this]— He asked, it is said, His name, and said to him, “Tell me what is Your name.” And he said, “Why is it that you ask My name?” For He reserved the new name for the new people — the babe; and was as yet unnamed, the Lord God not having yet become man. Yet Jacob called the name of the place, Face of God. “For I have seen,” he says, “God face to face; and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30). The face of God is the Word by whom God is manifested and made known. Then also was he named Israel, because he saw God the Lord. It was God, the Word, the Instructor, who said to him again afterwards, “Fear not to go down into Egypt” (Genesis 46:3). – Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, book 1, chapter 7

For God the Father none ever saw, and lived. And accordingly it is agreed that the Son of God Himself spake to Moses, and said to the people, “Behold, I send mine angel before thy”-that is, the people’s-“face, to guard thee on the march, and to introduce thee into the land which I have prepared thee: attend to him, and be not disobedient to him; for he hath not escaped thy notice, since my name is upon him. – Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, chapter 9

But the Lord Himself at that very time appeared to Abraham amongst those angels without being born, and yet in the flesh without doubt, in virtue of the before-mentioned diversity of cause. You, however, cannot admit this, since you do not receive that Christ, who was even then rehearsing how to converse with, and liberate, and judge the human race, in the habit of a flesh which as yet was not born, because it did not yet mean to die until both its nativity and mortality were previously (by prophecy) announced. – Tertullian, On The Flesh of Christ, chapter 6

Now, with regard to this rule of faith— that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend — it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen in diverse manners by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 13

And it follows that He must be believed to be One and the Same, who is found to be the more fit to receive both the name and the appellation; while the other is excluded, who has no right to the appellation, because he has no reason to show for it. Nor will any other be better entitled to both than He who is the earlier, and has had allotted to Him the name of Christ and the appellation of Son of man, even the Jesus of the Creator. It was He who was seen by the king of Babylon in the furnace with His martyrs: the fourth, who was like the Son of man (Daniel 3:25). He also was revealed to Daniel himself expressly as the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven as a Judge, as also the Scripture shows (Daniel 7:13). – Tertullian, Against Marcion, book 4, chapter 10

It was of Him, too, that he had said in a previous passage: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God;” 1 Timothy 1:17 so that we might apply even the contrary qualities to the Son Himself — mortality, accessibility — of whom the apostle testifies that He died according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3 and that He was seen by himself last of all, — by means, of course, of the light which was accessible, although it was not without imperilling his sight that he experienced that light. Acts 22:11 A like danger to which also befell Peter, and John, and James, (who confronted not the same light) without risking the loss of their reason and mind; and if they, who were unable to endure the glory of the Son, had only seen the Father, they must have died then and there: “For no man shall see God, and live.” Exodus 33:20 This being the case, it is evident that He was always seen from the beginning, who became visible in the end; and that He, (on the contrary,) was not seen in the end who had never been visible from the beginning; and that accordingly there are two — the Visible and the Invisible. It was the Son, therefore, who was always seen, and the Son who always conversed with men, and the Son who has always worked by the authority and will of the Father; because the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do John 5:19 — do that is, in His mind and thought. For the Father acts by mind and thought; while the Son, who is in the Father’s mind and thought, gives effect and form to what He sees. Thus all things were made by the Son, and without Him was not anything made. John 1:3 – Tertullian, Against Praxeas, chapter 15

What if the same Moses everywhere introduces God the Father infinite and without end, not as being enclosed in any place, but as one who includes every place; nor as one who is in a place, but rather one in whom every place is, containing all things and embracing all things, so that with reason He can neither descend nor ascend, because He Himself both contains and fills all things, and yet nevertheless introduces God descending to consider the tower which the sons of men were building, asking and saying, Come; and then, Let us go down and there confound their tongues, that each one may not understand the words of his neighbour. Whom do they pretend here to have been the God who descended to that tower, and asking to visit those men at that time? God the Father? Then thus He is enclosed in a place; and how does He embrace all things? Or does He say that it is an angel descending with angels, and saying, Come; and subsequently, Let us go down and there confound their tongues? And yet in Deuteronomy we observe that God told these things, and that God said, where it is written, When He scattered abroad the children of Adam, He determined the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. Neither, therefore, did the Father descend, as the subject itself indicates; nor did an angel command these things, as the fact shows. Then it remains that He must have descended, of whom the Apostle Paul says, He who descended is the same who ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things, that is, the Son of God, the Word of God. But the Word of God was made flesh, and dwelt among us. This must be Christ. Therefore Christ must be declared to be God. – Novation, On The Trinity, chapter 17

Behold, the same Moses tells us in another place that God was seen of Abraham. And yet the same Moses hears from God, that no man can see God and live. If God cannot be seen, how was God seen? Or if He was seen, how is it that He cannot be seen? For John also says, No man has seen God at any time; and the Apostle Paul, Whom no man has seen, nor can see. But certainly the Scripture does not lie; therefore, truly, God was seen. Whence it may be understood that it was not the Father who was seen, seeing that He never was seen; but the Son, who has both been accustomed to descend, and to be seen because He has descended. For He is the image of the invisible God, as the imperfection and frailty of the human condition was accustomed sometimes even then to see God the Father in the image of God, that is, in the Son of God. For gradually and by progression human frailty was to be strengthened by the image to that glory of being able one day to see God the Father. For the things that are great are dangerous if they are sudden. For even the sudden light of the sun after darkness, with its too great splendour, will not make manifest the light of day to unaccustomed eyes, but will rather strike them with blindness.

And lest this should occur to the injury of human eyes, the darkness is broken up and scattered by degrees; and the rising of that luminary, mounting by small and unperceived increments, gently accustoms men’s eyes to bear its full orb by the gentle increase of its rays. Thus, therefore, Christ also — that is, the image of God, and the Son of God— is looked upon by men, inasmuch as He could be seen. And thus the weakness and imperfection of the human destiny is nourished, led up, and educated by Him; so that, being accustomed to look upon the Son, it may one day be able to see God the Father Himself also as He is, that it may not be stricken by His sudden and intolerable brightness, and be hindered from being able to see God the Father, whom it has always desired. Wherefore it is the Son who is seen; but the Son of God is the Word of God: and the Word of God was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and this is Christ. What in the world is the reason that we should hesitate to call Him God, who in so many ways is acknowledged to be proved God? And if, moreover, the angel meets with Hagar, Sarah’s maid, driven from her home as well as turned away, near the fountain of water in the way to Shur; asks and learns the reason of her flight, and after that offers her advice that she should humble herself; and, moreover, gives her the hope of the name of mother, and pledges and promises that from her womb there should be a numerous seed, and that she should have Ishmael to be born from her; and with other things unfolds the place of his habitation, and describes his mode of life; yet Scripture sets forth this angel as both Lord and God — for He would not have promised the blessing of seed unless the angel had also been God. Let them ask what the heretics can make of this present passage. Was that the Father that was seen by Hagar or not? For He is declared to be God. But far be it from us to call God the Father an angel, lest He should be subordinate to another whose angel He would be. But they will say that it was an angel. How then shall He be God if He was an angel? Since this name is nowhere conceded to angels, except that on either side the truth compels us into this opinion, that we ought to understand it to have been God the Son, who, because He is of God, is rightly called God, because He is the Son of God. But, because He is subjected to the Father, and the Announcer of the Father’s will, He is declared to be the Angel of Great Counsel. – Novation, On The Trinity, chapter 18

And the heretics ought to understand that they are setting themselves against the Scriptures, in that, while they say that they believe Christ to have been also an angel, they are unwilling to declare Him to have been also God, when they read in the Old Testament that He often came to visit the human race. To this, moreover, Moses added the instance of God seen of Abraham at the oak of Mamre, when he was sitting at the opening of his tent at noon-day. And nevertheless, although he had beheld three men, note that he called one of them Lord; and when he had washed their feet, he offers them bread baked on the ashes, with butter and abundance of milk itself, and urges them that, being detained as guests, they should eat. And after I this he hears also that he should be a father, and learns that Sarah his wife should bring forth a son by him; and acknowledges concerning the destruction of the people of Sodom, what they deserve to suffer; and learns that God had come down on account of the cry of Sodom. in which place, if they will have it that the Father was seen at that time to have been received with hospitality in company with two angels, the heretics have believed the Father to be visible. But if an angel, although of the three angels one is called Lord, why, although it is not usual, is an angel called God? Unless because, in order that His proper invisibility may be restored to the Father, and the proper inferiority be remitted to the angel, it was only God the Son, who also is God, who was seen by Abraham, and was believed to have been received with hospitality. – Novation, On The Trinity, chapter 18

To all these things, moreover, is added this, that in like manner as the divine Scripture has frequently declared Him both Angel and God, so the same divine Scripture declares Him also both man and God, expressing thereby what He should be, and depicting even then in figure what He was to be in the truth of His substance. For, it says, Jacob remained alone; and there wrestled with him a man even till daybreak. And He saw that He did not prevail against him; and He touched the broad part of Jacob’s thigh while He was wrestling with him and he with Him, and said to him, Let me go, for the morning has dawned. And he said, I will not let You go, unless You bless me. And He said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And He said to him, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; because you have prevailed with God, and you are powerful with men. And it adds, moreover: And Jacob called the name of that place the Vision of God: for I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been made safe…. Certainly Jacob saw God, with whom he wrestled, although he was holding the man in his own struggle. And in order that there might still be no hesitation, He Himself laid down the interpretation by saying, Because you have prevailed with God, and art powerful with men. For which reason the same Jacob, perceiving already the force of the Mystery, and apprehending the authority of Him with whom he had wrestled, called the name of that place in which he had wrestled, the Vision of God…. And yet, even after this, the same divine Scripture justly does not cease to call the Angel God, and to pronounce God the Angel. For when this very Jacob was about to bless Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, with his hands placed across on the heads of the lads, he said, The God which fed me from my youth even unto this day, the Angel who delivered me from all evils, bless these lads. Even to such a point does he affirm the same Being to be an Angel, whom he had called God, as in the end of his discourse, to express the person of whom he was speaking as one, when he said bless these lads. For if he had meant the one to be understood as God, and the other as an angel, he would have comprised the two persons in the plural number; but now he defined the singular number of one person in the blessing, whence he meant it to be understood that the same person is God and Angel. But yet He cannot be received as God the Father; but as God and Angel, as Christ He can be received. – Novation, On The Trinity, chapter 19

In Genesis, to Abraham: And the Angel of the Lord called him from heaven, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, nor do anything unto him. For now I know that you fear your God, and hast not spared your son, your beloved son, for my sake. Also in the same place, to Jacob: And the Angel of the Lord spoke unto me in dreams, I am God, whom you saw in the place of God where you anointed me a pillar of stone, and vowed to me a vow. Also in Exodus: But God went before them by day indeed in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire. And afterwards, in the same place: And the Angel of God moved forward, which went before the army of the children of Israel. Also in the same place: Lo, I send my Angel before your face, to keep you in the way, that He may lead you into the land which I have prepared for you. Observe Him, and obey Him, and be not disobedient to Him, and He will not be wanting to you. For my Name is in Him. Whence He Himself says in the Gospel: I came in the name of my Father, and you received me not. When another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. – Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 12, book 2, chapter 5

In Genesis: And God said to Jacob, Arise, and go up to the place of Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to that God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of your brother Esau. Also in Isaiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of Sabaoth, Egypt is wearied; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the tall men of the Sabeans, shall pass over unto You, and shall be Your servants; and shall walk after You bound with chains; and shall worship You, and shall pray to You, because God is in You, and there is no other God beside You. For You are God, and we knew it not, O God of Israel, our Saviour. They shall all be confounded and fear who oppose You, and shall fall into confusion. Likewise in the same: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every channel shall be filled up, and every mountain and bill shall be made low, and all crooked places shall be made straight, and rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, because the Lord has spoken it. Moreover, in Jeremiah: This is our God, and no other shall be esteemed beside Him, who has found all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob His son, and to Israel His beloved. After this He was seen upon earth, and He conversed with men. – Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 12, book 2, chapter 6

“His face was as it were the sun.” That is, with respect to the resurrection. “Upon his head was a rainbow.” He points to the judgment which is executed by Him, or shall be. “An open book.” A revelation of works in the future judgment, or the Apocalypse which John received. His feet, as we have said above, are the apostles. For that both things in sea and land are trodden under foot by Him, signifies that all things are placed under His feet. Moreover, he calls Him an angel, that is, a messenger, to wit, of the Father; for He is called the Messenger of great counsel. He says also that He cried with a loud voice. The great voice is to tell the words of the Omnipotent God of heaven to men, and to bear witness that after penitence is closed there will be no hope subsequently. – Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on Revelation, From the Tenth Chapter

… For whose sake He sent His Son upon earth to men, as a man; for whose sake God was pleased that He, who was the Maker of man and woman, should be born of a woman; for whose sake He did not spare Him from the cross, from death, and burial, but permitted Him to die, who by nature could not suffer, His beloved Son, God the Word, the Angel of His great counsel, that he might deliver those from death who were obnoxious to death. – Apostolic Constitutions, book 2, chapter 24

7. But he, by no means neglectful of the reverence due to the Father, was appointed to teach the knowledge of the Father to them all. For instance, the Lord God, it is said, appeared as a common man to Abraham while he was sitting at the oak of Mambre. And he, immediately falling down, although he saw a man with his eyes, nevertheless worshipped him as God, and sacrificed to him as Lord, and confessed that he was not ignorant of his identity when he uttered the words, Lord, the judge of all the earth, will you not execute righteous judgment? Genesis 18:25 8. For if it is unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable essence of the almighty God was changed into the form of man or that it deceived the eyes of the beholders with the appearance of some created thing, and if it is unreasonable to suppose, on the other hand, that the Scripture should falsely invent such things, when the God and Lord who judges all the earth and executes judgment is seen in the form of a man, who else can be called, if it be not lawful to call him the first cause of all things, than his only pre-existent Word? Concerning whom it is said in the Psalms, He sent his Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Psalm 107:20

9. Moses most clearly proclaims him second Lord after the Father, when he says, The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord. Genesis 19:24 The divine Scripture also calls him God, when he appeared again to Jacob in the form of a man, and said to Jacob, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, because you have prevailed with God. Genesis 32:28 Wherefore also Jacob called that place Vision of God [εἶδος θεοῦ] — saying, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Genesis 32:30 10. Nor is it admissible to suppose that the theophanies recorded were appearances of subordinate angels and ministers of God, for whenever any of these appeared to men, the Scripture does not conceal the fact, but calls them by name not God nor Lord, but angels, as it is easy to prove by numberless testimonies.

11. Joshua, also, the successor of Moses, calls him, as leader of the heavenly angels and archangels and of the supramundane powers, and as lieutenant of the Father, entrusted with the second rank of sovereignty and rule over all, captain of the host of the Lord, although he saw him not otherwise than again in the form and appearance of a man. For it is written: 12. And it came to pass when Joshua was at Jericho [ἐν ῾Ιεριχὼ] that he looked and saw a man standing over against him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went unto him and said, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said to him, As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and said to him, Lord, what do you command your servant? And the captain of the Lord said to Joshua, Loose your shoe from off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy. 13. You will perceive also from the same words that this was no other than he who talked with Moses. For the Scripture says in the same words and with reference to the same one, When the Lord saw that he drew near to see, the Lord called to him out of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, What is it? And he said, Draw not near hither; loose your shoe from off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground. And he said to him, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. – Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, book 1, chapter 2

16. Was it without reason that Christ was made Man? Are our teachings ingenious phrases and human subtleties? Are not the Holy Scriptures our salvation? Are not the predictions of the Prophets? Keep then, I pray thee, this deposit undisturbed, and let none remove thee: believe that God became Man. But though it has been proved possible for Him to be made Man, yet if the Jews still disbelieve, let us hold this forth to them: What strange thing do we announce in saying that God was made Man, when yourselves say that Abraham received the Lord as a guest? What strange thing do we announce, when Jacob says,  For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved? The Lord, who ate with Abraham, ate also with us. What strange thing then do we announce? Nay more, we produce two witnesses, those who stood before Lord on Mount Sinai: Moses was in a  clift of the rock, and Elias was once in a clift of the rock: they being present with Him at His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor,  spoke to the Disciples of His decease which fire should accomplish at Jerusalem. But, as I said before, it has been proved possible for Him to be made man: and the rest of the proofs may be left for the studious to collect. – Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 12

25. And why do we speak of human beings, when we have read even concerning the heavenly virtues and powers themselves that no one has ever seen God (John 1:18)? And he added what is beyond the heavenly powers: The Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known (ibid.). Therefore, if no one has ever seen God the Father, it must either be conceded that the Son was seen in the Old Testament—and let the heretics cease giving Him a beginning from the Virgin, who was seen before He was born of the Virgin—or certainly it cannot be refuted that either the Father, or the Son, or indeed the Holy Spirit (if nevertheless there is a vision of the Holy Spirit; cf. Augustine, cited above), is seen in that form which the Divine Will has chosen, not which nature has shaped; for we have also received that the Spirit was seen in a dove. – Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Luke 1:11

On hearing this, the good man was awestruck at the greatness of the One speaking to him, and said, “‘Tell me your name:’ He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ And he blessed him:” (Genesis 32:29) Keep within your limits, he is saying, and don’t trespass beyond them. Do you want to enjoy a blessing from me? Here, I grant you this one: “He blessed him;” the text says, remember. “Jacob called that place Sight of God: ‘I saw God face to face, and my spirit survived:'” (Genesis 32:30) Do you see how much confidence he gained from the vision he had? That is to say, my spirit survived, he is saying, which had almost perished from fear. Since I was privileged to see God face to face, “‘my spirit survived:’ Now, the sun rose on him as he passed the Sight of God:” (Genesis 32:30–31) Do you see how the Lord shows considerateness for our human limitations in all He does and in arranging everything in a way that gives evidence of His characteristic love? Don’t be surprised, dearly beloved, at the extent of His considerateness; rather, remember that with the patriarch as well, when he was sitting by the oak tree, He came in human form as the good man’s guest in the company of the angels, giving us a premonition from on high at the beginning that He would one day take human form to liberate all human nature by this means from the tyranny of the devil and lead us to salvation. At that time, however, since it was the very early stages, He appeared to each of them in the guise of an apparition, as he says himself through the inspired author, “I multiplied visions and took various likenesses in the works of the inspired authors:” (Hosea 12:10) But when He deigned to take on the form of a slave and receive our first fruits, He donned our flesh, not in appearance or in seeming, but in reality. He brought himself to undergo all our experiences, to be born of a woman, to become an infant, to be wrapped in swaddling clothes, to be fed at the breast, and to undergo everything for this purpose, that the truth of the divine plan might be given credence and the mouths of heretics be stopped. For this purpose He slept in a boat, took journeys, suffered hardship, and endured every other human experience, so that He might succeed in giving everyone the certitude that comes from experience. Hence, He appeared before the tribunal, was crucified, suffered death of the most shameful kind, and was laid in a tomb, so that the details of the divine plan might in every way be made clear. After all, if He had not taken on our flesh in reality, neither would He have been crucified, nor would He have died, been buried, and risen again. But if He had not risen, the whole purpose of the divine plan would have been thwarted. Do you see into what extreme absurdity those people fall who are unwilling to take their cue from the canon of Sacred Scripture but rather have complete confidence in their own reasoning? – John Chrysostom, Homily 58 on Genesis

The Big Reversal:

22. It is manifest, accordingly, that all those appearances to the fathers, when God was presented to them according to His own dispensation, suitable to the times, were wrought through the creature. And if we cannot discern in what manner He wrought them by ministry of angels, yet we say that they were wrought by angels; but not from our own power of discernment, lest we should seem to any one to be wise beyond our measure, whereas we are wise so as to think soberly, as God has dealt to us the measure of faith; and we believe, and therefore speak. For the authority is extant of the divine Scriptures, from which our reason ought not to turn aside; nor by leaving the solid support of the divine utterance, to fall headlong over the precipice of its own surmisings, in matters wherein neither the perceptions of the body rule, nor the clear reason of the truth shines forth. Now, certainly, it is written most clearly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when the dispensation of the New Testament was to be distinguished from the dispensation of the Old, according to the fitness of ages and of times, that not only those visible things, but also the word itself, was wrought by angels. For it is said thus: But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Whence it appears that all those things were not only wrought by angels, but wrought also on our account, that is, on account of the people of God, to whom is promised the inheritance of eternal life.

23. But some one may say, Why then is it written, The Lord said to Moses; and not, rather, The angel said to Moses? Because, when the crier proclaims the words of the judge, it is not usually written in the record, so and so the crier said, but so and so the judge. In like manner also, when the holy prophet speaks, although we say, The prophet said, we mean nothing else to be understood than that the Lord said; and if we were to say, The Lord said, we should not put the prophet aside, but only intimate who spoke by him. And, indeed, these Scriptures often reveal the angel to be the Lord, of whose speaking it is from time to time said, the Lord said, as we have shown already. But on account of those who, since the Scripture in that place specifies an angel, will have the Son of God Himself and in Himself to be understood, because He is called an angel by the prophet, as announcing the will of His Father and of Himself; I have therefore thought fit to produce a plainer testimony from this epistle, where it is not said by an angel, but by angels.

25. Can there be any one who will say that the Lord appeared to Moses by an angel, but to Abraham by Himself? Let us not answer this question from Stephen, but from the book itself, whence Stephen took his narrative. For, pray, because it is written, And the Lord God said to Abraham; and a little after, And the Lord God appeared unto Abraham; were these things, for this reason, not done by angels? Whereas it is said in like manner in another place, And the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and yet it is added immediately, And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: of whom we have already spoken. For how will these people, who either will not rise from the words to the meaning, or easily throw themselves down from the meaning to the words — how, I say, will they be able to explain that God was seen in three men, except they confess that they were angels, as that which follows also shows? – Augustine, On The Trinity, Book 3, chapter 11