The Angel of the Lord

We have been taking a few weeks to study spiritual beings in the bible. We started out by looking at the word “Elohim.” It is the word often used as a name for God, however the translated meaning of the word is “spiritual being.” That means that the word “Elohim” is more of a category than a name. It also in no way diminishes the significance of God. Put simply, God is an Elohim, a spiritual being. He is the Elohim of Elohim, the ruler of rulers, chief among the other spiritual beings. No one in the physical or spiritual realm is beside Him. However, just like other beings exist in the physical realm, other beings exist in the spiritual realm as well.

Last week we looked at three spiritual beings that are God’s workers. The biblical authors viewed God’s kingdom similar to the way they saw earthly kingdoms of their day. When contemplating God’s Kingdom they envisioned God ruling over all of His creation with the help of His heavenly staff team, the Divine Council. The Divine Council fulfill a similar role in the spiritual realm to the role that humanity was to serve in the physical realm.

Along with the Divine Council, God would send out messengers to speak on His behalf. These messengers would also give comfort and provision for people, as well as perform wonders or acts of deliverance for God’s people. Today, we call these spiritual messengers Angels. Unlike our current idea of what angels look like, biblical angels would often show up in people’s lives without them even knowing because they have the appearance of a human being. The New Testament author of Hebrews cautioned us not to forget to show hospitality to strangers because we may be entertaining angels without even realizing it! (Hebrews 13:2)

We also talked about the chubby little floating babies with wings called Cherubim. Just like our popular view of angels today, the image that often comes to mind when thinking of Cherubim is a little inaccurate. The Cherubim are the guards at the gates. They are God’s spiritual muscle that guard the holy places. Some were stationed to the East of the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were evicted. They were symbolically placed all over the tabernacle and the temple. They were placed atop the ark of the covenant. When they are described in the bible, instead of visualizing chubby babies the images that come to mind are of creatures of God’s creation. They are described as having body parts from multiple animals and even humans. Their appearance is a form of worship to God, along with their actually singing praise to Him.

On one hand, what we lose in translation and several thousands of years of cultural separation really waters down the power and amazing imagery that is contained within scripture. It can be disappointing to know that there is so much buried in the words of the bible that we will never fully be able to unpack and understand. On the other hand, it can also be very strange and confusing. Maybe it’s a good thing because it helps us to get our feet wet before we dive in and get lost in the puzzling stuff. As confusing and strange as these spiritual beings are, today we are going to talk about one of the most puzzling.

The Angel of the Lord

The Angel of the Lord may not be strange looking or spy-like in his interaction with people, but he does cause us to pause and ask a lot of tough questions. Who is the Angel of the Lord, or more literally the messenger of Yahweh? Some sort of high-ranking angel? Is it Yahweh himself? Is it some other class of spiritual being entirely?

This is a topic that deserves much more time and meditation than we could possibly spend on it. For one thing, there is a lot of ground worth covering. For another thing, mentally, it would be impossible to read over all of this and come to any type of conclusion in one sitting. I have tried to put plenty of notes in the slides that you can study in your free time, and I can also get you a copy of the Bible Project study notes on this subject if you are interested in digging into this further.

We all have a basic idea of who God is. We know that He is the transcendent creator who is above all, while also being present and involved within every part of His creation. Sometimes God appears directly to his creation. Other times, God will send messengers such as angels and prophets to interact with his creation. There are also times when the “Angel of the Lord” appears.

When you have read passages about this figure, you may have done the same thing that many people have done and thought “that’s an Angel,” then moved on. Maybe in another place you thought, “that’s God,” then kept reading. At some point though, you probably started out thinking that it was an angel and then when God showed up you had to pause due to the confusion.

All of the stories that involve the Angel of the Lord are packed with puzzling features that are there on purpose. These confusing features focus on a core paradox about the angel of the Lord…

The angel of God is both God and distinct from God at the same time.

If you want to study this topic further you might want to take a picture of the list on the next screen. Alternatively, all of the slides from today should be on the church website where you can view or download them later.

Here is a key list of appearances of the angel of the Lord in the Hebrew Scriptures...

Genesis 16:7-13 The angel of Yahweh appears to Hagar the Egyptian.

Genesis 22:11-18 The angel of Yahweh appears to Abraham and Isaac.

Exodus 3:1-9 The angel of Yahweh appears to Moses.

Numbers 22:22-35 The angel of Yahweh appears to Balaam.

Judges 2:1-5 The angel of Yahweh appears to the Israelites.

Judges 6:11-24 The angel of Yahweh appears to Gideon.

Judges 13:1-23 The angel of Yahweh appears to Samson’s parents.

1 Kings 19:1-8 The angel of Yahweh appears to Elijah.

Zechariah 1:7-17 The angel of Yahweh appears to Zechariah.

1 Chronicles 21:14-27 The angel of Yahweh appears to David.

Reading these stories carefully will reveal a pattern where the narrator switches back and forth between various titles in a way that blurs the identity of the speaker. Is it God? Is it an angel? In the video we watched earlier, the Bible Project explored the passage in Genesis 16 where the angel of the Yahweh appeared to Hagar. One minute we see an angel speaking to Hagar. Suddenly, that angel is described as God Himself speaking to her.

On the surface it seems like the story might just be confused by language or possibly even patched together. Some scholars in the past have even offered these conclusions in the past. However, if you look at the other stories where the angel of Yahweh appears, you will see the same exact thing happening in them as well. One of my favorites is in the story about Gideon in Judges...

Judges 6:11–12 NLT

11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

Right off the bat this confusing scenario is written out. The angel of Yahweh is with Gideon, but he says God is the one who is with him. Which one is it? Maybe the angel is just giving him a general greeting. If you have a friend who is going through difficult times, you might greet them in a similar way, “Hey man, I know it’s tough, but God is with you.” After all, Gideon immediately responds as if that is the case.

He starts saying, “If God is with us, then why does all of this bad stuff keep happening? No, God has abandoned us.” That makes sense, but at the very least the narrator sees it the other way. This is the very next verse after Gideon’s disagreement…

Judges 6:14 NLT

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

So now it IS God speaking to Gideon?! Even Gideon must have been a little confused, because he tells God to give him proof that he is having a conversation with God. So God agrees and Gideon prepares this test and presents it to God. So picture Gideon presenting an offering to God who was sitting under an oak tree. Next verse…

Judges 6:20 NLT

20 The angel of God said to him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did as he was told.

What? Where’s God? Gideon is presenting this offering to God, where did the angel come from? After this, the angel of God touched the offering with the end of his staff and it was consumed in fire and then he vanished. So now Gideon is left by this oak tree with a meal that looks like he left it in the microwave far too long…

Judges 6:22–24 NLT

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, “Oh, Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” 23 “It is all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” 24 And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.

Wait! What? It was the angel, then it was God, then it was the angel, then Gideon was alone, then God was still with Gideon… How confusing is that? All of these stories where the angel of Yahweh appear work together to lead us to a profound claim about God’s identity…

The one God of Israel is a complex unity who is both transcendent and above all, yet simultaneously present and accessible within creation through a mediating person who is both Yahweh and distinct from Yahweh.

The Bible Project created another short video that I really want to show you if there is time. That video does a great job at explaining this concept in a way that is easy to understand. We will probably do what we did last week and show it after we close today so that whoever is interested can watch it and whoever needs to leave can feel free to do so.

There are other ways that scripture connect the angel of God to God himself. Throughout the book of Exodus both God and the angel of God are connected through titles and images. When Moses encountered the burning bush, the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire…

Exodus 3:2 NLT

2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.

Yahweh was described as going before the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night…

Exodus 13:21 NLT

21 The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.

The angel of God went before and behind the Israelite’s camp, as did the pillar of cloud…

Exodus 14:19 NLT

19 Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them.

The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai in fire and it was all in smoke.

Exodus 19:18 NLT

18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

When God’s presence filled the tabernacle, it was described as fire and smoke…

Exodus 40:38 NLT

38 The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.

These descriptions follow the same pattern of creating a narrative portrait of God as a complex unity, such that the angel of Yahweh is both Yahweh and distinct from Yahweh at the same time.

This is all very confusing and simultaneously fascinating, but what makes it important? Why do I need to know this information? The portrait of God that is painted by the Old Testament provides the crucial key for understanding how the New Testament makes its claims about the identity of Jesus. In other words, knowing God’s nature before Jesus arrives on the scene helps us to make sense of who Jesus is and how He can both be God and distinct from God at the same time. To put it yet another way, if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then it would be impossible to suddenly become something different at some point.

John describes the pre-human Jesus in the same manner as the angel of the Lord was depicted, as a being who is both God and distinct from God at the same time…

John 1:1–3 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

This passage will also help us to understand something else John says later when he is referring to the unbelief among the Jews. In Chapter 12, John notes that even after Jesus performed many signs in front of them, they still would not believe in him. According to John, this fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy. In verse 40, John quotes Isaiah to show why they couldn’t believe…

John 12:40–41 NIV

40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

In this passage, John is quoting from chapter 6 of Isaiah. You may recognize it as Isaiah’s most famous vision where He is in the presence of God, who was sitting on His throne, surrounded by mighty winged snake creatures who were singing praises to God. Also known as chubby babies. There was also lots of smoke and fire in here. In fact, one of the seraphim took a hot coal from the fire and touched Isaiah’s lips.

In the most quoted moment, God asked, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And Isaiah said, “Here am I. Send me!” Ring any bells?

John is saying, “Hey, you know that famous prophesy where Isaiah saw God? Yeah, he was talking to Jesus.” John really liked mic-drop moments. This was another one. Actually, John would have made a great movie maker today. You know how they try to hit you with a major plot twist every 5 minutes and then end every movie with a cliff hanger. John would have been all over that. I can just see the other disciples getting sick and tired of it. After the forth or fifth time of reading his letter to people, I bet they would just pause in the middle of it and say, “It’s Jesus. He’s talking about Jesus here. ‘The one God loved’? Yeah, he’s just talking about himself. In fact, every time it says ‘the one God loved’ we are just going to say ‘John’, but for his sake you should just know that what he actually wrote is, ‘the one God loved.’ We know, it’s really annoying, and we’re sorry.”

The apostles believed that the human form of Yahweh in the Old Testament is the same being who they met in the person of Jesus. In fact there are more examples of them using the same conceptual imagery of the angel of the Lord to describe Jesus. The apostles also quoted from texts in the Hebrew Scriptures that are about the angel of God and applied them to Jesus. Even so, they never called Jesus “the angel of the Lord.” Why not? There are two important reasons…

Jesus is not merely an angel.

The apostles wanted to avoid any idea that Jesus was just an angel. Angels are amazing beings, but they are still creatures. Angels are still created beings whose existence is sustained by their creator.

2. Jesus is the one and only Yahweh become a human being.

It is clear that the apostles believed Jesus was more than one of God’s messengers. They claim they make about Jesus is that He isn’t merely a high-ranking being, but the one and only God who became a human being and walked among us.

Hebrews 1:1–4 NLT

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

In chapter 23 of Exodus, God told the Israelites that he sent “his messenger” because “His name is in Him.” God’s angel, the angel of the Lord is no ordinary angel, but the very personal presence of God in human appearance. The author of Hebrews is claiming that Jesus is that divine person who is both God and distinct from God, and who has become human in the person of Jesus.

In conclusion, here is a summary of the Angel of the Lord in one sentence…

The angel of the Lord is God appearing as human, while Jesus is God become human.

The topic is still very mysterious, but this summary is a helpful way to approach it when you read and study the angel of the Lord.

Pray

Ask if anyone is interested in watching the 8 minute video.

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