Untitled Document
WHO IS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD?
The “Angel of the Lord” is the messenger of Jehovah. I believe that Christ is the “Angel of the Lord“. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the manifestation of Jehovah. That is to say, Christ was in bodily form in the Old Testament, and in a human body in the New Testament as a manifestation of Jehovah. This suggests that Christ existed before His birth to Mary. That is exactly what Scriptures tell us is the case. We read in John 3:13, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He That came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven”. Consider also that “all things were created by Him” (Col. 1:16 ). And John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God“. (Please see the paper on this web-site Jesus Christ Is The Manifestation Of Jehovah.) But then, one might object, if Christ is the manifestation of Jehovah and also of the Angel of Jehovah, that means that Christ sent Himself as a Messenger. Let us search the Scriptures for the answer to this seeming difficulty.
I believe that the answer to this seeming difficulty is found in John 4:24, “God is spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”. Many believe that Jesus is saying in this verse that God the Father is spirit. While it is true that “theos” (the word translated “God” in this verse) is often used of the Father, it is also used of the Holy Spirit, Who has, by definition, also never been seen. “Father” and Holy Spirit” are two of the offices of Jehovah (please see the paper on this web-site, Is God Three Persons In One? for the Scriptural evidence of that statement). Because we are to worship God, Who is spirit, not God in one particular office, I believe that in this passage the Greek “Theos” is not put for the Father or for the Holy Spirit, it is put for Jehovah. That is to say, Jehovah is spirit. Let us examine this verse in its context for the scriptural evidence that it is Jehovah Who is spirit.
In John 4:7 we read of the Samaritan woman at the well. In verse 9, John writes that “the Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans”. But the Samaritans were Israelites; we know that from verse 12 where the Samaritan woman said to our Lord, “Art Thou greater than our father Jacob“. The fact that this Samaritan woman refers to Jacob as “our father” proves that she was an Israelite. And she was aware of the promise of Messiah. Verse 25 reads, “The woman saith unto Him, ‘I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ, when He is come He will tell us all things”. This woman was an Israelite and knew at least some of the Old Testament teachings. I think we may conclude that for her, “God”, referred to Jehovah, as presented in the Old Testament because Jehovah is the only true God. We must, in my opinion, interpret this passage from the view point of the woman to whom our Lord was speaking. In this case He was speaking to an Israelite who would have understood that “Theos” was Jehovah.
I believe therefore, that Jehovah is spirit. In order to make Himself known, Jehovah, in His matchless grace, took on the form of Man and spoke with human beings in that form. So when we read of Man speaking with the Angel of Jehovah or, as in Gen. 18:22-33, where Abraham spoke with Jehovah, we are reading of them speaking to a manifestation of Jehovah. In those cases, Jesus Christ appeared in bodily form as the manifestation of Jehovah, Who is spirit, and He also appeared as the Angel of the Lord. The answer to our “seeming difficulty” then, is that Christ is the manifestation of Jehovah and one of the ways in which He manifests Jehovah is through His office of “Angel of the Lord”.
That Christ is the manifestation of Jehovah also answers another seeming difficulty as we compare two Old Testament passages. Ex. 33:20, “And He (Jehovah) said, ‘Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me and live“. But we read in Ex. 33:11, “And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend”. We know that there are no contradictions in the Word of God, so why do these verses seem to contradict themselves?.
The solution to that difficulty is that those who spoke “face to face” with Jehovah did not die because they did not see Jehovah. They could not have seen Jehovah because Jehovah is spirit. What they saw was Jehovah manifest in bodily form; i.e. they saw Christ.
Is speaking to Christ, as the manifestation of Jehovah, the same as speaking to Jehovah? I would say that it is. We will read of Christ, as the Angel of Jehovah, speaking words that only Jehovah can speak. And in Gen. 18 we read of Abraham speaking to Jehovah manifested in bodily form.
We come now to our study of the Angel of Jehovah.
The first occurrence of the term “Angel of Jehovah” is found in Gen. 16:7-11. In this passage the Angel of Jehovah appears to, and speaks with, Hagar. In verses 13-14 we read, “And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, “Thou El seest me….wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi….”. Hagar proclaims that El (one of the many titles of Jehovah) had seen her and she then named the well where this had taken place “Beer-lahai-roi”. E. W. Bullinger gives the following translation of that name, “the well of living after seeing“. There are two things in this passage that point to the Angel of the Lord being Jehovah manifested in bodily form, i.e. Christ. 1) Hagar’s proclamation that she had seen Jehovah in His office of “El”. 2) The naming of the well points to the fact that Hagar recognized that this was no ordinary angel with whom she was speaking. Angels often appeared to men but, especially in New Testament times, there had been no fear of death associated with those appearances. Hagar knew that she was speaking to a manifestation of Jehovah, Who is spirit, and named the place where this happened accordingly.
The second passage where we read the title “Angel of the Lord” is in Gen. 22:11 and 15. This passage tells of Abraham’s attempt to offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to God. In verses 15-16 we read that “the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time. (The following phrase is key in determining Who this Angel was). “And said, ‘By Myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah.…’.”. If one is tempted to consider that the Angel of the Lord was simply representing Jehovah, this passage, in my opinion, puts that notion to rest. That is to say, Jehovah said to Abraham, “By Myself I have sworn”. A simple messenger could not have said that, this could have been said only by Jehovah. And that is Who did say those words, Jehovah manifested in bodily form, i.e. Christ.
Judges 2:1-4 is a passage where the Angel of Jehovah speaks to the “children of Israel” (verse 6) where, again, the words spoken could not have been spoken by anyone but Jehovah. What He said is recorded in verses 1-3, “An Angel of the Lord ….said, ‘I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you…….”. No ordinary messenger could have uttered these words, they could have been spoken only by Jehovah. Once again, it was Jehovah that spoke those words as He appeared in bodily form, i.e. Christ.
Judges 6:11-23 is yet another passage where the Angel of the Lord appears in the form of a Man, in this case to Gideon, Verses 22-23 are of particular interest. “And when Gideon perceived that He was an Angel of the Lord, Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Jehovah Adonai! for because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face: and the Lord said unto him, ‘Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die“. As when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, Gideon too was afraid for his life because he had seen Jehovah “face to face”. Here too, Gideon would not have been afraid for his life if he had “perceived” that he had been talking with an ordinary messenger from Jehovah. I believe that Gideon was speaking face to face with Christ as the Messenger from Jehovah. And Gideon recognized that this Messenger was a manifestation of Jehovah, who is spirit
Judges 13:3-18 is a very interesting passage that will, I believe, add further insights to our study of the Angel of Jehovah. In verse 3 we read that “the Angel of Jehovah appeared unto the woman (Samson’s mother)”. When she tells her husband of this encounter she says in verse 6, “A Man of Elohim (another title of Jehovah) came unto me, and His countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of Elohim, very terrible…..”. Skipping to verse 16 we read, “And the Angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, ‘Though thou detain Me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering , thou must offer it unto Jehovah“. Does this suggest that the Angel of Jehovah is not Jehovah? As stated above, Jehovah is spirit. As He makes Himself known to Man, Jehovah takes on several offices. We have already read of “El”, “Elohim” and “Adonai”; they are but three of those titles or offices. Each of Jehovah’s offices allow Him to be seen in a different way, fulfilling a different function of Himself. The Angel of the Lord is yet a different office or function of Jehovah. So, the Angel of the Lord does not reveal all that Jehovah is, any more than any of His offices reveal all that He is. But because the Angel of the Lord is not Jehovah, Who is spirit, but fulfills one of His offices, the Angel of the Lord told Manoah to sacrifice to Jehovah rather than to Jehovah’s Angel.
Verses 17-18 offer, what is, in my opinion, the strongest scriptural evidence that points to Christ as being the Angel of Jehovah. “And Manoah said unto the Angel of the Lord,’What is Thy name, that when thy saying comes to pass we may do Thee honor?’ And the Angel of the Lord said unto him, ‘Why askest thou thus after My name, seeing it is secret?'” It is the Hebrew word translated “secret” that is so compelling. The Hebrew word is “pilee”. This Hebrew word is used only once, other than in Judges 13, that is in Ps.139:6, “such knowledge is too wonderful for me”. “Pilee” is from the same root as is the word “pehleh”. “Pehleh” is the word translated “Wonderful” in Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful.…”. Obviously, Is. 9:6 is referring to Christ. And this verse tells us that one of Christ’s Names shall be “Wonderful”. In other words, in answer to the question as to what is the Name of the One to Whom Menoah is speaking, the Angel of the Lord says that His Name is “Wonderful“. Christ’s Name will be “Wonderful” according to Is. 9:6. This is not accidental. I believe that the Angel of the Lord is telling all those who study God’s Word that He, the Angel of the Lord, is Christ, the child that was to be born and the Son that was to be given.
Zech. 12:8, “In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them”. Here “God” is equated with “the Angel of Jehovah”. Only God can be equated with God, therefore, I believe that this verse also points to the fact that the Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah manifest in bodily form, i.e. Christ.
CONCLUSION
Jehovah is spirit. As spirit, Jehovah could not be seen or heard and Man would know nothing of Him. To remedy that situation, Jehovah took upon Himself a bodily form and then a human body of flesh and blood. That Person, we know as Jesus Christ.
In making Himself known, Jehovah took on many offices including, for example, “Elohim” as creator. Gen. 1:1 reads, “In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth”. He took upon Himself the office of “Father” (see Is. 9:6). One of the offices Jehovah took on was the Messenger to His people, i.e. the Angel of Jehovah. The above mentioned paper on the manifestation of Jehovah proves from scripture that Jesus Christ manifested all the offices of Jehovah except for the Holy Spirit, Who, by definition, is invisible. It is not surprising therefore, that Christ also fulfills the office of Angel of Jehovah.
This paper is written by Joyce Pollard.
I would be happy to hear your response to this paper. Please e-mail me at: [email protected]