PREINCARNATE APPEARANCES OF OUR LORD
Scripture supports the fact that our Lord was intimately involved on the earth with humanity throughout history:
[1 Cor 10:1-4]:
(v. 1) "For I [Paul] do not want you [fellow Jews] to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers [our ancestors: Jews - believers - who lived in the Exodus generation when they escaped out of Egypt] were all under the cloud."
["under the cloud" = the cloud which led them to freedom from Egypt and then through the wilderness as a guide by day, (Ex 13:21). This cloud that was present at the Red Sea when the Exodus generation of Jews came to the shore of that sea and were going to cross - this cloud was the evidence of the glory of God - of His Almighty power. The Jews described this as the shekinah glory of God in their commentary writings on the Old Testament called the Targums.
(v. 21) "By day the Lord went ahead of them [the escaping Israelites] in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
(v. 22) Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."
The Jewish people became identified with the shekinah glory of God - of Jesus Christ, (I Cor 10:4) - day and night, night and day. That cloud was a manifestation of the Lord God Himself - His visible glory. The Jews called this God's shekinah glory. The shekinah glory of God, the manifested glory of God, was identified with God's Chosen People Israel:
"The people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the DIVINE GLORY [the shekinah glory of God], the covenants, the receiving of the Law, the temple worship and the promises."
[1 Cor 10:1-4 cont.]:
(v. 1 cont.) "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the [Red] Sea" [to freedom]
(v. 2) and all were baptized [identified] into Moses in the cloud [in the glory of God] and in the sea;"
"baptized with Moses" = means that they were identified with Moses. Identified with what respect?
"and all [the Jews] were baptized into Moses in the cloud [in the glory of God] and in the sea =
This is obviously not water baptism because the Israelites did not get wet when they were baptized in the cloud nor when they "passed through the sea". Nor is it Spirit baptism because they were all baptized into Moses and not into the Holy Spirit.
The Greek word "ebaptisauto" = "were baptized"= comes from the Greek verb "baptiso" = to immerse, to be identified with. In this case - the Israelites were identified, 'baptiso'd' - with God's purpose for Moses - to cross the 'Red Sea' to freedom from the Egyptians and into the Promised Land as God's Chosen People with with God's chosen man, Moses, as their leader.
All the Jews of the Exodus generation were identified with Moses as God's chosen people and God's chosen man to lead them. Moses and the Exodus generation Jewish people were baptized in the cloud and the sea - identified with God in His manifestation of Himself as the cloud and they were also identified with Moses leading them through the sea in the event of their escaping through it from the Egyptians.
Dr. John Danish states it this way, (op cit):
"[The Jews were] identified with the glory of God which was present there among them. While passing through the miracle of the Red Sea, they were identified with Moses in the experience of walking dry shod through that sea and escaping the approaching attacking forces of Pharaoh."
The Jews were identified with the shekinah glory of God as our Lord Jesus Christ led them by day manifesting Himself in the cloud and by night manifesting Himself in the pillar of fire:
[1 Cor 10:1-4 cont.]:
(v. 2) "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(v. 3) They all ate the same spiritual food
(v. 4) and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, [that Rock Who was the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night] AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST"
"and drank the same spiritual drink..." = what follows this part of verse 4 indicates that it was the Lord Jesus Christ Who was "the Lord" in Ex 13:21-22 Who was with them every step of the way, He was the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by day:
(v. 4 cont.) and [the Israelites] drank the same sprirtual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock [acconpanying] them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST."
["accompanying" = "akolouthousen " = genetive, singular, feminine - modifying the feminine noun "petras " = "rock", ("they" is masculine). This word is a present active, participle = "accompanying"]
[Compare Ex 13:21-22:
(Ex 13:21) By day the Lord......................
["Lord" = "yhwh" = "yahweh" =
THE ONE AND ONLY JEHOVAH GOD WHO IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST]
(Ex 13:21 cont.) By day the Lord................
[Jesus Christ] went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. (Ex 13:22) Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."]
[Gen 18:1-33; 19:24]:
(v. 24) "The Lord God [Jesus Christ] reigned down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gommorrah...from the Lord God [the Father] out of the heavens."
[The angel of the Lord Who was present with Abraham along with two angels was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ]
[Christ appeared to Ezekial]:
Whom Ezekial, having fallen face down on the ground, worshipped Him.
[Cp Dan 7:13-14 & Rv 1:13-17]
This could only be Jesus Christ in all three passages.
So the baptism of Moses was a baptism that identified the Exodus generation of Jews with Moses with respect to the freedom to which they were being led and it identified them with the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of the shekinah glory cloud - He was their God and they were His people:
(v. 6) " 'Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
(v. 7) THEN I WILL TAKE YOU FOR MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD;
and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."