We’ve been discussing the seven great angelic powers in scripture and how these powers reflect God’s character, nature, and image of humanity. This is necessary because Scripture tells us God is Spirit, and a Spirit can’t be seen. Therefore, God reveals himself through these mighty angels interacting with humanity.
Who or what is the Angel of God’s presence? Let’s look at Isaiah 63:7-9 to get that answer. Isaiah is speaking here about how God rescued and redeemed Israel from their slavery and oppression in Egypt. Isaiah says the Angel of his presence saved them because of God’s love and compassion for his people, and this angel would lead them through all their struggles. In Exodus 33:12-15 we see Moses speaking to God about this angel. Moses knew he couldn’t lead Israel by himself. He needed help. He said he didn’t know God enough to understand his expectations. So God said his presence would go with them. The presence of the angel of God would help Moses know God through his interactions with Moses and the people.
While leading Israel, God gave Moses the designs for a Tabernacle that could be put up when they camp and taken down when they moved on. In chapter 40 of Exodus, Israel finishes the construction of the Tabernacle for the first time. In Exodus 40:34-35 we read what happened next. As Israel traveled to the promised land, a pillar of cloud by day and fire at night led them. This was the angel of God’s presence that God told Moses would lead them in Exodus 33. Here, we see this same cloud, the angel of God’s presence filling the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. This angel of God’s presence is called the glory of the LORD.
Now, fast forward six hundred years, and King Solomon completed the construction of a permanent temple in Jerusalem. Something unexpected happens as they dedicate the temple and bring the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 8:10-11). Just like what we read happened when the Tabernacle was completed, we see the same thing when the Temple was completed: God’s presence in the image of a cloud revealed God’s glory to his people and filled the temple.
We can then read the history of the kings of Israel, from Solomon to the last king of Judah, Zedekiah. That history was from 957 BC to 593 BC. After 364 years of rebellion, idolatry, injustice, bloodshed, and covenant-breaking, the Angel of God’s Presence, his glory, left the temple and Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 10:18-19, the angel of God’s presence leaves the temple. The angel of God’s presence and his glory left the temple, and seven years later, Nebuchadnezzar’s army leveled Solomon’s temple and took the Jews captive to Babylon.
But Ezekiel also prophesied that the presence of God through his glory would return to Jerusalem the same way it left, from the east. In Ezekiel 43:1-4, Ezekiel saw the presence of the angel of God returning to the temple through the east gate. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he came from the Mount of Olives, near the city’s east entrance, as he fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. Jesus fulfilled the Jewish prophecies about God’s glory returning to Jerusalem and the Temple. This was the sign of their promised Messiah. Jesus was the glory of God returning to save his people.]
Why did God’s glory leave the temple? Paul answers that question in Romans 1:23. The Jews worshipped the wrong things. They worshipped the created things rather than the creator of all things. The Angel of God’s presence and glory was known to Israel. He taught them the very nature and character of the creator. Still, they rejected their God when he came to save them because, as the writer in Hebrews 1:3 says, Jesus was the exact expression of God in every way. If they knew the character of God, they would have recognized God’s presence and glory in Jesus. Some who had faith recognized him, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18. The veil is lifted from the faces of those who have faith in Christ. With the veil lifted, the Spirit of the Lord transforms believers into the same image, meaning the likeness of his glory, the glory of salvation and life. How is this possible? Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 4:6 that God’s glory was in the face of Jesus for all to see.
Returning to the first passage we read from Isaiah, the mission of the Angel of God’s Presence was to be a savior. To suffer for his people and to redeem them because he loved and had compassion for them. It makes you wonder how they missed God’s glory in the face of Jesus. They missed it just like everyone else; they lacked faith. They missed the return in God’s glory to save his people because they trusted themselves, their doctrines, their politics, and their human leaders more than God’s Spirit. From their writings and prophecies, the Angel of God’s Presence and Glory was a theophany of the pre-incarnate Messiah, Jesus Christ. Let us not lack that same faith and trust in God’s presence and glory, living in our lives through the Spirit of Jesus. He is alive in believers, changing us from his glory to God’s glory as we’re transformed through faith in the image of God’s glorious savior.
