We’ve been talking about the seven great angelic powers in scripture and how these powers reflect the character, nature, and presence of God, who can’t be seen because God is Spirit. It appears from Scripture that, at times, God speaks to humanity through the Angel of the LORD. Who is this Angel, and what does He reveal to us about God? In this episode, we’ll explore the role of this Angel and how he matches one of the seven Spirits of God.
Who is the Angel of the LORD? To understand who he is, let’s look at the first mention of the Angel of the LORD in the Bible. It comes in a story involving the father and mother of the Jews, Abraham, Sarai, and their servant Hagar. Abraham was seventy-five years old and had no heirs. God promises him he will have descendants. His wife Sarai was sixty-five years old. They still don’t have children ten years after God’s promise, so Sarai suggests that Abraham take her younger Egyptian servant Hagar as a wife and have a child with her. Hagar gets pregnant, Sarai feels despised by Hagar and mistreats her, and Hagar runs away. God interacts with Hagar through his angel in Genesis 16:7-13 and tells her to return to Abraham and Sarah.
The Angel of the LORD is the physical manifestation of the unseen God, revealing that God sees our circumstances and offers mercy and compassion to those who trust him. To the original audience, this was a powerful way to understand that God Himself could be personally involved with His people’s lives, that he wasn’t a far-off God but near to those who have faith in him.
God’s merciful and compassionate intervention as the Angel of the LORD was often seen in the Old Testament at critical moments in Israel’s history. We see this in Genesis 22 when the Angel of the LORD stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. In Exodus 3, it was the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Moses in the burning bush to rescue Israel from their slavery and oppression in Egypt. In Exodus 23, the Angel of the LORD leads Israel into the wilderness and drives out every enemy before them so they can receive God’s promises. In Judges 6, the angel of the LORD came to Gideon and empowered him to raise an army and save Israel from their enemies. In Judges 13, the angel of the LORD appeared to a woman without any children and told her she would have a child who would save Israel from their Philistine enemies. That child’s name was Samson. To the Israelites, the Angel of the LORD was evidence that God wouldn’t leave His people to navigate life alone. His mercy and compassion would always guide and protect them.
As I’ve discussed, we see through all these witnesses that the seven Spirits of God reflect the character and nature of God in the world and help us see a God who can’t be seen. The Angel of the LORD exemplifies God’s character of mercy, compassion, love, and provision. As God makes provision to lead Israel to the promised land, he warns them about the consequences of not listening to his angel in Exodus 23:21.
God tells Israel to pay attention to the Angel of the LORD because “My name is in him.” What does God mean by My name is in him? We’re all familiar with “Make a name for yourself.” It means that people know you for a particular characteristic or attribute. With God telling the Israelites, “My name is in him,” they would have understood that God’s whole character and attributes were embodied in this angel. He was the divine representative of God—his chosen emissary to Israel. To the Israelites, this angel was intimately connected to God the Spirit as an extension of his being. This representation is what has come to be known as a theophany (Theos – meaning God and phaino – meaning to appear), the appearance of God in a physical form. This doesn’t have to be a human form. It could be any physical form like fire, a cloud, or an angel. Many theologians believe this manifestation/theophany of God in the Old Testament was the pre-incarnate Messiah. A *Pre-incarnation refers to the existence of Christ before his incarnation (i.e., before he became flesh). At a minimum, many believe the angel of the LORD was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. This belief is reflected in Hebrews 1:3. In Exodus 23, the pre-incarnate Messiah wouldn’t forgive their rebellion and sin, but by coming in the flesh and dying, he would forgive sin.
What does this mean for us today? How does the Angel of the LORD affect our lives in the twenty-first century? Through Christ and the Holy Spirit, we experience God’s mercy, compassion, guidance, and love in ways similar to how Israel experienced the Angel of the LORD. He leads, protects, and calls us to follow His will.
The Angel of the LORD shows us that God is intimately involved in the lives of those who have faith in him. In Christ, we have a personal relationship with God, just as the Israelites did with the Angel of the LORD. The Angel of the LORD reveals the very heart of the Spirit of God—His mercy, grace, compassion, and love for His people. Today, through Jesus Christ, we have an even greater understanding of God’s mercy and love in our lives. God has not left us alone. He is with us, guiding, protecting, and leading us toward His purposes. Let us live in obedience and faith, trusting that the God who was with Israel through the Angel of the LORD is the same God who is with us today through faith in Jesus Christ.
