Angel of the Lord

7/28/2019 Angel of the Lord

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There is something within most of

us that yearns for the supernatural.

It is this desire that explains the

popularity of movies such as The

Sixth Sense and Signs, TV shows

about aliens, and books like the

J.R.R.Tolkien series. It explains why

we can be drawn to New Age

practices such as Tarot cards, ouija

boards and spiritualists. Yet, if we

are looking to quench our thirst for

the magical, mystical or mysterious,

we need look no further than the

Jewish Bible, for it contains some of

the most intriguing stories and

characters ever recorded.

One such character is a . . .

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Close Encounters of the Holy Kind

by Tom Brewer


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H ISSN 0741-0352EDITOR: SUSAN PERLMANASSISTANT EDITOR: NAOMI ROSE ROTHSTEINDESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION: PAIGE SAUNDERSPRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 2002E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.jewsforjesus.org

mysterious figure who appears suddenly, dramatically,

and frequently in the Hebrew Scriptures. His messages

and actions arrest the full attention of all he engages. He

makes promises, delivers commands, reveals the future,

accepts worship and safeguards the people of God in a

variety of situations. The more one looks at the person

and work of this individual, the more mysterious hebecomes.

This unique character is identified as the angel of

the Lord. The Hebrew word for angel is malakh,

which is derived from a verb root meaning to send.

As a noun, malakh means one who is sent or a

messenger. In the Hebrew Scriptures, these

messengers can be human figures (prophets or

priests) or non-human, finite, created beings (angels)

who bear messages for God. The meaning is usually

determined by the context in which the word malakhis used.

Of the 214 references to malakh in the Hebrew

Scriptures, 33% are best translated as the angel of

the Lord, rather than an angel. The Scriptures

distinguish this particular angel from all other angels.

In the Talmud he is given the name Metatron, which

indicates a special relationship with God. One

meaning ofmeta and thronos, two Greek words, gives

the sense of one who serves behind the throne of

God. So the angel of the Lord is the primarymessenger of God, the one sent by God, the one who

represents God.

Yet the Scriptures seem to present this angel as even

more than Gods representative. In fact, this messenger

seems to have powers and abilities reserved only for

God himself.

He speaks as God

The first time this mysterious messenger of God

appears in the Bible, he speaks to Hagar, Sarais

maidservant who was carrying Abrahams child:

I will so increase your descendants that they will

be too numerous to count. You are now with child

and you will have a son. You shall name him

Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.

(Genesis 16:10)

Right away, the angel of the Lord does somethingunusual, even impossible for any created being to do

he makes both a promise and a prophecy in the first

person. Even the prophets of God always prefaced or

ended their prophecies with phrases like, Thus saith the

Lord. Yet here the angel of the Lord says Iwill so

increase your descendants . . .

Seventeen years later, while Hagar and Ishmael were

in the desert on the brink of death, the angel of the Lord

called to Hagar from heaven and said,

. . . Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy

crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take

him by the hand, for I will make him into a great

nation. (Genesis 21:17-18)

If the responsibility of an angel is simply to act as

Gods messenger, then what is this angel doing making

such bold statements?

Adding to the mystery is the fact that the angel does

not speak in the first person for the entirety of thesecond passage. He switches from the third person,

God has heard the boy crying . . . to the first person,

I will . . .. This is not the only place where this

occurs, and it is a way of speaking that sets this angel

apart from any other messenger of God that we find in

the Scriptures.

For instance, we see it in the dramatic Akedah

account, the binding of Isaac, when the angel of the

Lord cries out:

Abraham! Abraham! . . . Do not lay a hand on

the boy . . . Do not do anything to him. Now I

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know that you fear God, because you have not

withheld from me your son, your only son.

(Genesis 22:11,12)

Here again the angel of the Lord speaks with both

third person and first person references to God:

. . . you fear God, . . . you have not withheld fromme . . .. The angel speaks with the authority of God,

yet he distinguishes himself from God. 1 A mysterious

being indeed!

The presence of

God is in him

This is illustrated further in the book of Exodus.

Moses was in the desert, tending his father-in-laws flock,

when a curious phenomenon captured his attentionabush that was burning but not being consumed. The text

says, There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in

flames of fire from within a bush. When Moses

approached the bush to investigate he heard the voice of

God: Moses! Moses! . . . Do not come any closer. . . .

Take off your sandals, for the place where you are

standing is holy ground. . . . I am the God of your father,

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of

Jacob (Exodus 3:2,4-6).

In this narrative Moses encounters the angel of theLord and simultaneously hears the voice of God, who

repeatedly affirms his identity for Moses and finally

declares his name: I Am Who I Am. This is what you

are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you

(Exodus 3:14). The angel of the Lord does more than

speak with the authority of Godhere he identifies

himself as God.

The Bible indicates that the presence of God himself

resides in this angel. This is seen when God speaks with

Moses on Mt. Sinai; he refers to the angel of the Lord as

his angel, and promises to send him to accompany Israel

into the Promised Land.

ISSUES is a forum of several messianic Jewish viewpoints. The author alone,

where the authors name is g iven, i s responsible for the statements

expressed. Those wishing to take exception or those wishing to enter into

dialogue with one of these authors may write the publishers and letters will

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See, I am sending my angel ahead of you to

guard you along the way and to bring you into

the place I have prepared. . . . Do not rebel

against him; he will not forgive your rebellion,

since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully

to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an

enemy to your enemies and will oppose thosewho oppose you. (Exodus 23:20-22)

God seems to view the angel of the Lord (his

angel) as separate from himself, and yet his Name

dwells in him. Later in the chapter, the Lord tells

Moses that his (Gods) Presence will go with the

Israelites. The terms my angel and my presence

are used interchangeably. Centuries later, the

prophet Isaiah, remembering Gods faithfulness to

Israel, said, In all their distress he too wasdistressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted

them up and carried them all the days of old (Isaiah

63:9). So it was understood that the very presence

of God is somehow in this special angel that he calls

his own.

He appears as a man,

yet accepts worship

and sacrifice

Israel has crossed the Jordan and is camped at

Gilgal anticipating the assault on Jericho, when the

angel of the Lord appears to Joshua:

. . . he looked up and saw a man standing in

front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.

Joshua went up to him and asked, Are you for

us or for our enemies? Neither, he replied,

but as commander of the army of the LORD Ihave now come. Then Joshua fell facedown

to the ground in reverence, and asked him,

What message does my LORD have for his

servant? The commander of the LORDs army

replied, Take off your sandals, for the place

where you are standing is holy. And Joshua

did so. (Joshua 5:13-15)

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Though described as a man in this account, the

swordsman is plainly extraordinary. Joshua falls face

down before him in reverence.2 Then, in an action

reminiscent of Moses encounter with the angel of the

Lord at the burning bush, Joshua removes his sandals at

the messengers command. Joshua would worship no

ordinary angel or human messengerthis swordsmanmust be God in person.

A similar instance occurs in the book of Judges when

the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon at the oak in

Ophrah and commands him to save Israel from the

oppressing Midianites. He assures Gideon in words

similar to those he had spoken to Moses from the

burning bush, I will be with you, and you will strike

down the Midianites as if they were but one man

(Judges 6:16).

Gradually, Gideon recognizes that he is in thecompany of an extraordinary being. In a gesture of

hospitality, he brings out meat, bread and broth,

proposing to feed his visitor, but:

The angel of God said to him, Take the meat and

the unleavened bread, place them on this rock,

and pour out the broth. And Gideon did so. With

the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel

of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened

bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the

meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD

disappeared. (Judges 6:20-21)

What Gideon offered as a meal for a man became a

burnt offering to the Lord. Gideons reaction leaves no

doubt about his understanding of what had occurred.

The text says:

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the

LORD, he exclaimed, Ah, Sovereign LORd! I have

seen the angel of the LORD face to face! But the

LORD said to him, Peace! Do not be afraid. You

are not going to die. (Judges 6:22-23)

Notice that the text indicates that this angel of the

Lord is God. Gideon was afraid because this was a face

to face encounterafter all, it was believed that no man

could see God and live. This episode is reminiscent of

another appearance of the angel of the Lord. When

Jacob had his all-night struggle with a man in Genesis

32:24-30 and broke off the contest at dawns first light,

Jacob exclaimed, It is because I saw God face to face,

and yet my life was spared (Genesis 32:30).

So what?

It seems reasonable to conclude, for the following

reasons, that the angel of the Lord is himself deity:

1. He speaks both promises and prophecy and brings

them to pass.

2. He is spoken of as being the Lord and speaks in the

first person as God.

3. He is offered and accepts both worship and sacrifice.

4. Those to whom he appears recognize him as divineand call him God.

If the angel of the Lord is actually God, this says

something remarkable about Gods nature. Jewish

tradition balks at the idea that we can perceive the

Creator God in a physical form. This is why we are

warned not to make any images of God, lest we commit

idolatry. The concept of a God we can see is alien to

our understanding. And yet, we know that even though

God told Moses, No man can see me and live, people

(including Moses) have seen God (Exodus 24:9-11). We

remember that our eternal God chose to dwell with our

people in the desert and in the Temple.

How can the truly infinite be made visible? How can

one see God and live? The answer must be that God has

to provide a way for this to happen.

The existence of the angel of the Lord shows us that

Gods nature is beyond simple categorization.

Throughout the Scriptures, the angel of the Lord appears

as God, yet he distinguishes himself from the Almighty.

So we see that God can somehow be eternal and

invisible, yet manifest himself temporarily.

So we can now ask a very important question. If God

can make himself visible in various forms, including that

of a man, then why exclude the possibility that two

thousand years ago, he could have done the same thing,

and come to earth as the promised Messiah who lived

and died in human-yet-God form, and rose again?

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Similarities between

the angel of the Lord and Yshua

There are people who think that the angel of the Lord is Yshua (Jesus) before he became a man. While theScriptures do not say this explicitly, there are some remarkable likenesses between the angel and Yshua.

Attribute

Is seen asGod

Genesis 16:10,13 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said toher, I will greatly multiply your descendants so that theywill be too many to count.. . . Then she called the nameof the LORD who spoke to her, You are a God who sees;for she said, Have I even remained alive here after seeingHim?

John 20:28 Thomas answered and saidto [Jesus], My Lord and my God!

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, . . . He whohas seen Me has seen the Father . . .

Speaks as if

he is God

Judges 2:1-2 Now the angel of the LORD . . . said, I

brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the landwhich I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, I will neverbreak My covenant with you, and as for you, you shallmake no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; youshall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me;what is this you have done?

John 10:30 I and the Father are one.

Yet is separatefrom God andobedient tohim

1 Chronicles 21:27 The LORD commanded the angel,and he put his sword back in its sheath.

John 8:38 I am telling you what I haveseen in the Fathers presence . . .

Note: Even though Jesus spoke with the authorityof God, he was still obedient to God. This is seenin the prayer he utters in the garden of Gethsemane,

and in his obedience as he died on a cross.

Is sent fromthe Father

Judges 13:9 God listened to the voice of Manoah; andthe angel of God came again to the woman as she wassitting in the field . . .

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, . . . for Icame from God and now am here. I havenot come on my own; but he sent me.

John 6:38 For I have come down fromheaven not to do My own will, but thewill of Him who sent Me.

Speaks withall theauthority ofGod, givescommands

Judges 13:12-14 Manoah said, Now when your wordscome to pass, what shall be the boys mode of life and hisvocation? So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Letthe woman pay attention to all that I said. She should

not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wineor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observeall that I commanded.

Matthew 7:28, 29 When Jesus hadfinished saying these things, the crowdswere amazed at his teaching, because hetaught as one who had authority, and not as

their teachers of the law.

Matthew 8:27 The men were amazed andasked, What kind of man is this? Eventhe winds and the waves obey him!

Forgives sin Zechariah 3:3,4 Now Joshua was clothed with filthygarments and standing before the angel. He spoke and saidto those who were standing before him, saying, Removethe filthy garments from him. Again he said to him, See,I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clotheyou with festal robes.

Matthew 9:2 When Jesus saw their faith,he said, . . . son, your sins are forgiven.

Angel of the Lord YSHUA


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Acts asjudge andavenger ofIsrael

Joshua 5:13,14 Now it came about when Joshua was byJericho, that he . . . looked, and behold, a man was standingopposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshuawent to him and said to him, Are you for us or for ouradversaries? He said, No; rather I indeed come now ascaptain of the host of the LORD. And Joshua fell on his faceto the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, What hasmy lord to say to his servant? Note: Though the text doesnot specifically call this mysterious man the angel of the Lord, thepassage closely parallels Exodus 3 and the following verse.

1 Chronicles 21:16 Then David lifted up his eyes and saw theangel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with hisdrawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. ThenDavid and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.

Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw heavenopened, and behold, a white horse, and Hewho sat on it is called Faithful and True, andin righteousness He judges and wages war . . .and His name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which are in heaven, clothedin fine linen, white and clean, were

following Him on white horses. From Hismouth comes a sharp sword, so that with itHe may strike down the nations, and Hewill rule them with a rod of iron; and Hetreads the wine press of the fierce wrath ofGod, the Almighty. And on His robe and onHis thigh He has a name written, KINGOF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

AcceptsWorship

Judges 6:19-21 Then Gideon went in and prepared ayoung goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour;he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, andbrought them out to him under the oak and presented

them. The angel of God said to him, Take the meat andthe unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pourout the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LORDput out the end of the staff that was in his hand andtouched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprangup from the rock and consumed the meat and theunleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanishedfrom his sight.

Matthew 28:5-95 The angel [not the angelof the Lord but a different angel] said to thewomen, Do not be afraid; for I know thatyou are looking for Jesus who has been

crucified. He is not here, for He has risen,just as He said. Come, see the place where Hewas lying. Go quickly and tell His disciplesthat He has risen from the dead; and behold,He is going ahead of you into Galilee, thereyou will see Him; behold, I have told you.

And they left the tomb quickly with fear andgreat joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and greetedthem. And they came up and took hold ofHis feet and worshiped Him.

Comforts 1 Kings 19:3-8 And he (Elijah) was afraid and arose and ran for

his life . . . he himself went a days journey into the wilderness,and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and . . . said, It isenough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than myfathers. He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; andbehold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him,Arise, eat. Then he looked and behold, there was at his head abread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ateand drank and lay down again. The angel of the LORD cameagain a second time and touched him and said, Arise, eat,because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ateand drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days andforty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all who

are weary and heavy-laden, and I will giveyou rest. Take My yoke upon you andlearn from Me, for I am gentle and humblein heart, and you will find rest for yoursouls. For My yoke is easy and My burdenis light.

Uses I AMto refer tohimself

Exodus 3:14 God [called the angel of the Lord in thispassage] said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said,Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent meto you.

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, Truly,truly, I say to you, before Abraham wasborn, I am.

Makesspecialpromises

Genesis 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said toher, I will greatly multiply your descendants so that theywill be too many to count.

John 14:1-3 Do not let your heart betroubled; believe in God, believe also inMe. In My Fathers house are manydwelling places; if it were not so, I wouldhave told you; for I go to prepare a placefor you. If I go and prepare a place for you,I will come again and receive you to Myself,that where I am, there you may be also.

Attribute Angel of the Lord YSHUA

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Like the angel of the Lord, Yshua (Jesus) claimed the

authority of God on many occasions. He was a man, yet

clearly more than a man. Consider some of his words.

He spoke as God, yet about God: I and the

Father are one.

He spoke with the authority of God: Take

courage, son; your sins are forgiven.

He said he could usher us into the presence of

God: I am the way and the truth and the life. No

one comes to the Father except through me.

He made promises and prophesied: In the future

you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right

hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds

of heaven.

Yet Yshua did more than just speak in mysterious

terms. It was with this unique authority that he

performed miracles, healed the sick and raised the

dead. He spoke of God as his father, yet also claimed

to be divinely eternal himself. He also accepted

worship from his followers, one of whom was John, an

early Jewish believer in Jesus, who wrote about Jesus:

He was in the beginning with God. . . .

And . . . [he] became flesh, and dwelt among us,

and we saw His glory, glory as of the only

begotten [Son] from the Father, full of grace

and truth. (John 1:2,14)

Just as their ancestors encountered God in the

person of the angel of the Lord, clearly John and the

many other Jewish followers of Jesus believed they

had encountered the Almighty God face to face in the

person of Yshua. Paul, a first-century rabbi,

recognized that God had made a way for us to see

him, when he wrote that Jesus is the image of the

invisible God.

Why not examine the Hebrew Scriptures for

yourself, and compare this extraordinary messenger

of God to Jesus? Who knows what other mysteries

you may encounter? s

Continued from page 5

1. After all, God has previously appeared to Abraham several times in person and in a vision (Gen.12:1; 15:1; 17:1; 18:1).2. It should be remembered that Joshua is experienced in postures of worship, having often accompanied Moses to the Tent of Meeting.

What?

Debbie! Debbie! What is it, Shlomi?

Yeah, while you were on the phone, the

doorbell rang, and I went to open it . . .And there was a man Id never seenbefore, standing there, smiling . . .

Then what?

Well, this is the most incredible part.We stood staring at each other forabout a minute, then he handed methis bag and then he disappeared.

Wait a minute, Shlomi, let me seethat bag. Shlomi, that wasnt anangel, that was the new Chinesefood delivery man!

Debbie, I think Ijust saw an angel!

Oh, I wondered whyhe asked me if Iwanted chopsticks.

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Angel of the Lord