There are two terms that are used to describe the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament..
Christophany : These are appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. In particularly the OT. Some liberal theologians say there is no such thing as a Christophany or a and others will say that it is Christ appearing to people after the resurrection. This is simply not true. A Christophony is Jesus pre-incarnate in the OT.. For the trinitarian this poses no problems as it affirms the deity of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.
Theophany: The Old Testament also records a number of theophanies. A theophany is “an appearance of God.†In these theophanies God took on various visible forms to show himself to people. God appeared to Abraham (Gen. 18:1–33), Jacob (Gen. 32:28–30), the people of Israel (as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night: Ex. 13:21–22), the elders of Israel (Ex. 24:9–11), Manoah and his wife (Judg. 13:21–22), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1), and others.
A much greater visible manifestation of God than these Old Testament theophanies was found in the person of Jesus Christ himself. He could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father†(John 14:9). And John contrasts the fact that no one has ever seen God with the fact that God’s only Son has made him known to us: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God,4 who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known†(John 1:18, author’s translation). Furthermore, Jesus is “the image of the invisible God†(Col. 1:15), and is “the bright radiance of the glory of God†and is “the exact representation of his nature†(Heb. 1:3 author’s translation). Thus, in the person of Jesus we have a unique visible manifestation of God in the New Testament that was not available to believers who saw theophanies in the Old Testament.
But how will we see God in heaven? We will never be able to see or know all of God, for “his greatness is unsearchable†(Ps. 145:3; cf. John 6:46; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16; 1 John 4:12, which were mentioned above). And we will not be able to seeâ€â€at least with our physical eyesâ€â€the spiritual being of God. Nevertheless, Scripture says that we will see God himself. Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God†(Matt. 5:8). We will be able to see the human nature of Jesus, of course (Rev. 1:7). But it is not clear in exactly what sense we will be able to “see†the Father and the Holy Spirit, or the divine nature of God the Son (cf. Rev. 1:4; 4:2–3, 5; 5:6). Perhaps the nature of this “seeing†will not be known to us until we reach heaven.
Although what we see will not be an exhaustive vision of God, it will be a completely true and clear and real vision of God. We shall see “face to face†(1 Cor. 13:12) and “we shall see him as he is†(1 John 3:2). The most remarkable description of the open, close fellowship with God that we shall experience is seen in the fact that in the heavenly city “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads†(Rev. 22:3–4).
When we realize that God is the perfection of all that we long for or desire, that he is the summation of everything beautiful or desirable, then we realize that the greatest joy of the life to come will be that we “shall see his face.†This seeing of God “face to face†has been called the beatific vision meaning “the vision that makes us blessed or happy†(“beatific†is from two Latin words, beatus “blessed,†and facere “to makeâ€Â). To look at God changes us and makes us like him: “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is†(1 John 3:2; cf. 2 Cor. 3:18). This vision of God will be the consummation of our knowing God and will give us full delight and joy for all eternity: Àœin your presence there is fulness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore†(Ps. 16:11).
Wayen Grudem
Here is a website that was provided to me by my friend and brother StoveBolts. Its an easy to read and understand.
http://www.goarch.org/en/special/listen ... any/learn/
