How did Old Testament saints experience Christ?

The Old Testament is rich with accounts where faithful believers interacted with manifestations of God that are understood to be pre-incarnate appearances of Christ. For example, Moses, in Exodus, conversed with God face to face, representing an encounter with the divine. Similarly, in passages like Daniel 3, the fourth figure walking in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is often identified as Christ himself. These manifestations provided Old Testament believers a glimpse of the coming Messiah, giving them an understanding of God that was both relational and redemptive. By faith, they looked forward to the fulfillment found in Christ, illustrating that even before His birth, Christ was active in the redemptive history of God's people.