Charles Curwen Walker (1856–1940) was a writer and editor of The Christadelphian Magazine from 1898 to 1937, taking over the role of editor after the death of Robert Roberts (1839-1898), the second “pioneer” of the Christadelphian movement.
In his 1929 book, Theophany, in the “Author’s Preface”
(dated August, 1929) we read the purpose of this book and its relationship to
John Thomas’ 1869 Phanerosis:
Phanerosis,
though in the main very excellent, contained certain mis-statements and errors
that had become evident through criticism, friendly and otherwise; . . . Under
these circumstances we had either to drop the book and the subject, publish a
corrected edition of Phanerosis, or write independently on the subject.
The last alternative has been chosen, the present book containing the substance
of articles that have appeared in The Christadelphian during the last
five years.
As with Thomas and Roberts, he believed that Jesus, in light of “theophany”
or “God-manifestation” was the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7:
Daniel “behold (verse 9) till the
thrones were placed (R.V.) and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was
white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like
the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came
forth form before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set and the books were
opened.”
It is quite obvious from the comparison
of this with the climax of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, and with the visions of Ezekiel
and John, that we have here again the vision of “the manifestation of the
sons of God”. In verse 13 the phrase “the Ancient of days” evidently stands
for the Father in heaven, and Jesus in effect so interpreted it in his parable
of the absent nobleman (Luke 19). But in verse 9 the same phrase stands for the
Father in manifestation in the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is to occupy “the
throne of Yahweh” over Israel “in the regeneration”. At the express and
anxious request of the prophet, the angel interpreted the vision in some
degree, and specifically with reference to the fourth beast. “These great
beasts . . . are fur kings (kingdoms) which shall arise out of the earth. But
the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for
ever, even for ever and ever” (verses 17, 18). (C. C. Walker, Theophany: The
Bible Doctrine of the Manifestation of God Upon Earth in the Angels, in the
Lord Jesus, And Hereafter in “The Manifestation of the Sons of God” [Birmingham:
The Christadelphian, 1929, 1967], 124-26, emphasis in bold added)
Commenting on “Joshua and the Adversary,” Walker provided the
following summary of Zech 3:
Joshua the High Priest, like
Zerubbabel the Governor, was “a man of sign” and represented Jesus. The prophet
saw him standing before the angel of the Lord, and the adversary standing at
his right hand to resist him. And the Lord rebuked the adversary, saying of Joshua,
“Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” The prophet saw that “Joshua was
clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel”. And further, that,
at the command of God, these filthy garments were taken off him. “And unto him
he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I
will clothe thee with change of raiment.” (Ibid., 140-41, italics in
original)
Walker, basing his comments on John Thomas’ Eureka, vol. 1,
pp. 54-86, interprets this event in light of Jesus as a “God-manifestation” of
the “Ancient of Days,” as Zechariah was
Instructed that the action
represented the putting away of iniquity which the priest is supposed to bear. In
this we see, by light of the New Testament, the change of nature, or
body, in relation to Christ, ‘whom’, says Paul, ‘we know henceforth no more
after the flesh’. He was crucified in ‘flesh of sin’; and then sin was ‘condemned
in the flesh’. But when he rose again he became spirit body . . . He
is now the Angel-High-Priest of Jehovah, no longer oppressed with our filthy
nature but ‘clothed in a garment white as snow’ (Dan 7:9) reaching to the foot
(Rev. 1:13): and the words of Jehovah are now addressed to him, saying, ‘If
thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt
also judge my house (rile my kingdom), and shalt also keep my courts (be High
Priest of Israel), and I will give thee places to walk among those that stand
by’, the Angel-Princes of Elohim”. (Ibid. 141, emphasis in bold added)
With respect to “the manifestation of the sons of God” referenced
by Walker, the following is instructive to understand (1) what he means by this
and (2) how it is an aid to understanding his doctrine of “theophany” and how
it relates to Jesus being a “God-manifestation” of the “Ancient of Days”:
In Isaiah, chapter six, the plural
seraphim (R.V.) is found (verses 2, 6) in connection with a vision of
the glory of Christ. We are told this by John (12:41). “These things said
Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him.” What the prophet saw was a
vision of the temple-throne of God in Jerusalem when the whole earth is filled
with the glory of the Lord. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in
the Kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43; Ezek. 43:1-9). If Jesus be the
central manifestation of the glory that the Father has given him (John 17:22),
the SERAPH by pre-eminence, who are the seraphim but those whom the father has
given him, as he says, “The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and
has loved them as thou hast loved me.”
This does not exclude the idea
that the seraphim of Isaiah may also represent other immortal sons of
God (angels) who actually ministered to the prophet, and afterwards to Jesus,
in the days of the flesh; for Jesus promises that the “worthy” shall be “equal
unto he angels, and the children of God, being the children of the resurrection”
(Luke 20;36). The prophet was made the subject of a purification by “one of the
seraphim”, who touched his lips with a live coal taken from off the altar,
saying, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and
thy sin is purged” (verse 7). (Ibid., 104-5)
