Chapter 15: The Angel of the LORD

Among all the ways God revealed Himself from a distance in the Old Testament, one figure stands out as especially mysterious and glorious: “the Angel of the LORD.” This is no ordinary angel. Again and again this figure speaks as God, acts as God, receives worship as God, and is addressed as God by those who meet Him—and yet He is also somehow distinct from the Father who sends Him. The historic Christian reading, going back to the earliest fathers, is that the Angel of the LORD is the pre-incarnate Word—the Son—appearing in visible form before He came in the flesh as Jesus Christ.¹⁹¹

“The God Who Sees”: Hagar in the Wilderness

The first time “the Angel of the LORD” appears in Scripture is in His tender meeting with Hagar, Sarah’s runaway servant, alone and afraid in the wilderness. And notice what He says: “The Angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude” (Genesis 16:10). Now, only God can multiply a people—yet here the Angel says, “I will multiply.” Hagar understood exactly whom she had met, for she “called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13). She said she had seen God.

The proof is sealed in the very next chapter, when God appears to Abraham directly: “The LORD appeared to Abram… and said, I am the Almighty God” (Genesis 17:1), and concerning Ishmael, “I have blessed him… and will multiply him exceedingly” (Genesis 17:20). What the Angel of the LORD promised Hagar in Genesis 16, Jehovah Himself repeats to Abraham in Genesis 17—word for word. The Angel of the LORD was God Himself in visible form, appearing to a frightened, forgotten woman to tell her that He sees.¹⁹²

The Bush, the Cloud, and the Fire

The Bible teacher David Sproule sets out the pattern plainly. “The Angel of the LORD appeared” to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2)—yet for the next two chapters this same speaker is called “God” some twenty-three times, “LORD” some twenty-three times, and declares His own name to be “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). And the New Testament teaches that Jesus is God, is Lord, and is the “I AM” (Hebrews 1:8–10; John 1:1–14; 8:58). Again: “the angel of God” went before Israel and shielded them in “the pillar of cloud by day” and “the pillar of fire by night” (Exodus 14:19–20; 13:21–22)—yet Exodus 13:21 says it was Jehovah, the LORD, who went before them; and the New Testament says it was Christ who went with them in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1–4).¹⁹⁴

The Angel of the LORD who receives worship, who bears the divine name, who leads and guards His people—this points us to God Himself in glorious, visible form. And since God is Spirit, these appearances are theophanies: manifestations of the One who would one day take our flesh, the image of the invisible God, Jesus Christ.

The Captain of the LORD’s Host: Joshua at Jericho

As Joshua prepared to attack Jericho, the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and introduced Himself as the captain of the LORD’s army. Joshua fell down and worshipped Him—and He accepted the worship, and told Joshua to remove his sandals because the ground was holy, exactly as God had told Moses at the burning bush:

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13–15).

The point turns on that worship. A true angel refuses to be worshipped and directs all honor to God (Revelation 22:8–9). But this Captain received Joshua’s worship—and declared the ground holy by His presence. Only God receives worship; only God makes ground holy. This was the Lord Himself, come to lead the armies of heaven on behalf of His people.¹⁹⁶

Under the Oak: Gideon

When the Angel of the LORD met Gideon under the oak at Ophrah, the account moves back and forth between “the angel of the LORD” and “the LORD” as if they were one and the same speaker—which, of course, they were:

And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah… and the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour…. And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?… And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee (Judges 6:11–12, 14, 16).

The narrator sees no contradiction in calling the same person both “the angel of the LORD” and “the LORD,” because the Angel of the LORD is the LORD in manifestation. And when the vision ended, Gideon was terrified, crying out that he had seen the Angel of the LORD face to face—the fear of a man who knows he has seen God and lived.¹⁹⁸

“My Name Is Wonderful”: Manoah

When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, Manoah dared to ask the visitor His name. I admire Manoah’s boldness in asking—but I love the Angel’s answer even more:

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? And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? (Judges 13:17–18).

The word rendered “secret” is the Hebrew pil’i—which means “wonderful,” “extraordinary,” beyond understanding. The Angel gave Manoah His name, but in mystery: His name is Wonderful. And who is it, in all of Scripture, whose name is “Wonderful”? Isaiah lifts the veil on the mystery centuries later, naming the child who would be born:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David… The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6–7).

The very word the Angel used of His own name—wonderful—is the word Isaiah would use to name the coming Messiah. The One whose name was too wonderful to tell Manoah is the same One who would be born a child and given to us, called Wonderful, the mighty God. When the Angel then ascended to heaven in the flame of Manoah’s altar, Manoah understood at last and said, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God” (Judges 13:22).²⁰⁰²⁰¹

From all these appearances a single truth emerges. The Angel of the LORD who appeared in so many places—to Hagar in the desert, to Moses at the bush, to Israel in the cloud and fire, to Joshua before Jericho, to Gideon under the oak, to Manoah at the altar—did what only God can do. He accepted worship. He received offerings. He promised to multiply a people. He bore the divine name and made the ground holy. He was the Lord Himself in visible form: the theophany, the image of the invisible God, the pre-incarnate Word—Jesus Christ, appearing to His people long before the night He was born in Bethlehem. The same Lord who came from a distance in the Old Testament would soon come near, and dwell among us, and be called by that wonderful name.