Who Is the Angel of the Lord?

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[Steve Myers] A question came in from a Beyond Today viewer and they asked the question, "Who is the Angel of the Lord?" Throughout the Old Testament, that phrase seems to pop up several times over and over again and so it's a good question. Who is the Angel of the Lord? So, where would we start to begin to answer a question like that Gary?

[Gary Petty] Well, when you look at the Bible—of course there's angels, who are messengers, supernatural messengers from God that He's created. They go back and forth between human beings and God. But there is a special Angel that is mentioned a number of places in the Old Testament—the Angel of the Lord. And He is quite different than other angels. First of all, He allows Himself to be worshiped. In other places, He actually speaks as if He is God. One place, I think of, it's in Exodus, you know, where the Angel of the Lord is in the burning bush and talks to Moses (Exodus 3:1-21 [1] Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
[2] And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
[3] And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
[4] And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
[5] And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
[6] Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
[7] And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
[8] And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
[9] Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
[10] Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
[11] And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
[12] And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
[13] And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
[14] And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
[15] And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
[16] Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
[17] And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
[18] And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
[19] And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
[20] And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
[21] And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.

See All... and Exodus 4:1-16 [1] And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
[2] And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
[3] And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
[4] And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
[5] That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
[6] And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
[7] And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
[8] And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
[9] And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
[10] And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
[11] And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
[12] Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
[13] And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
[14] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
[15] And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
[16] And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

See All...). And there He presents Himself as God and as the Angel of the Lord. So what we have here in someone who is God but He's also the Angel of the Lord. So what we have here is actually the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

[Steve Myers] Yeah, and it's interesting because it does tie into the literal meaning of the word "angel" as being a messenger of the Lord. And so God can speak for Himself at times as well through the burning bush we've got Him identifying Himself as the I AM—as the One who would become Jesus Christ. So even the translators in some of the different translations get it right because they'll capitalize the "A" for Angel realizing it's something more than just an ordinary angel.

[Gary Petty] That's right. Even Abraham, you know when he went to sacrifice his son, Isaac, the person who talks to him there is the Angel of the Lord (Genesis 22:9-12 [9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
[10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
[11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
[12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

See All...). And He speaks as if He is God. There's other places where the Angel of the Lord speaks and people say "I have seen God." So what we have is God, but not the Father. And so once again we have Jesus Christ.

[Steve Myers] Right and you can tell that by the context more often than not when you can read it and if an angel is not allowing worship, we know that's just an ordinary angel. But there's a great example of this. It's in Judges chapter 13. And here's where Sampson's parents are inquiring of God, they're talking to the Angel of the Lord. And so there's a good example of this—the father of Sampson, Manoah, said to the Angel of the Lord, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass, we may honor You?" So he asked Him outright, you know, who are you? And of course, the Angel of the Lord says in verse 18, "Why do you ask My name seeing it is wonderful?" So, there's a little bit of insight that this is not any ordinary angel. And so ultimately by the time we get to the end of the story down in verse 21, it says, "When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord." So we don't get the whole story there, but in the next verse He says, "Manoah said to his wife, 'We shall surely die because we have seen God,'" And so here we see it all put together very clearly that the Angel of the Lord, especially in this case, is God. And so we know His identity in that case (Judges 13:6-24 [6] Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
[7] But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
[8] Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
[9] And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.
[10] And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
[11] And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
[12] And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?
[13] And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
[14] She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
[15] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
[16] 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 the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.
[17] And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
[18] And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
[19] So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
[20] For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.
[21] But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
[22] And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
[23] But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.
[24] And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

See All...).

[Gary Petty] So if you want to do an interesting study, go through the Old Testament and look up all of the places where you can see "Angel of the Lord " and study it in context and you will find out how the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ came and He interacted with human beings as the Messenger of God.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily . We'll see you next time.