God can take on any form He wishes to appear to us in a way that won't literally scare us to death.
Jesus looked like a typical human being, yet he was indeed God. The fire that didn't consume the bush was a manifestation of God.
I'm not so sure every appearance is a pre-incarnate Jesus. Jesus is called God's Word, and when we look at him as any human form appearance of God,we make him sound like a separate being - like two deities instead of one.
The Son and Holy Spirit are not separate beings, but forms or manifestations of God Himself in ways that show us a portion of who God is. That makes sense. The purpose seems two-fold. One, that we cannot see God in His entirety and live, and two, these different manifestations of God appear to us in ways that we can understand.
Jesus is God, but God is not Jesus. This doesn't make sense. So, if God is not Jesus, but Jesus is God, then that would indicate that God is more important somehow, but Jesus can be sent by God to appear as a man because it's a part of God that humans can see and not be consumed.
Jesus was fully God and fully man, but God is not a man. Deep, deep thoughts! God is a spirit, right? And since God can do anything, He sends the part of Himself down to man so our finite minds can understand I think. Is that what you are getting at? It's still hard for me to see that they are not two separate persons. But, it's on the tip of my brain at least! hehe
The Holy Spirit is God, but God is not the Holy Spirit.
The fire that didn't consume the bush is God, but God is not a fire. Now, that's getting closer to being understandable. However, God is a bright light, because the Bible says there need not be light in heaven because God will be the light.
Some angelic being are really God, while other are created angels.
Some human beings in the OT are God, but it is not necessarily or entirely accurate to refer to them all as manifestations of Jesus. In fact, I doubt any were actually Jesus. Because the Word of God was prophesied to enter the world in a specific way and these OT men did not come that way, only Jesus did.
If all human manifestations of God are Jesus, why didn't God refer to Himself in the Garden as being the one who would return as an infant? We assume He was in human when He walked with Adam and Eve.
Ginger