Who was the “Angel of the Lord” (Exodus 3: 1-2)?
WHO WAS THE "ANGEL OF THE LORD" (EXODUS 3:1-2)?
Yeow Chin Kiong
God is spirit (John 4:24) and without physical form, being invisible,- to humankind, at least,- (Deuteronomy 4:12; John 5:37; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; 1 John 4:12). If any human "saw" God, he or she would expect to die (Exodus 24:10-11; 33:18-23). And yet, some humans had seen and interacted with God and lived to report the fact! For example, the patriarch Jacob spoke to,- and even wrestled with,- someone he identified as "God" in Peniel (Genesis 32:28-30); Moses spoke to God "face to face" (Exodus 33:9-11); Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 other men met, ate and drank with God (Exodus 24:9-11); the wandering Israelites on occasion saw God "eye to eye" and yet lived thereafter (Numbers 14:13-14) and the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts and feared he would be undone because of it (Isaiah 6:1-13).
Also, the Israelite judge Gideon was encouraged that, although he had seen the "Angel of the Lord" (MALAK YAHWEH in Hebrew), he would not die (Judges 6:22-23). Samson' parents were amazed they had survived seeing the "Angel of the Lord" (Judges 13:21-23).
Under the New Testament there would be no contradiction between the fact of God's invisibility and records of man having seen God. As John 1:1-18 instruct us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.....No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." It follows that Jesus, who is God and had come into the world by His incarnation in fleshly form, had declared the invisible God the Father, whom man cannot see, to mankind. In an exchange with the apostle Philip, the Lord Jesus made the same point in John 14:7-10 " 'If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.' Philip said to Him, 'Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you for so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?' " The point has been emphasized by Jesus, "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father." (John 6:46).
Within what has been revealed to man, in scripture (Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 4:1-4), the historical figure, Jesus Christ, was Deity (i e. God) Incarnate (in permanent physical body form). Everything that man needs to see about God the Father, he can see in the person and life of Jesus Christ the Son, with the secret things belonging to God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Which brings us to the Old Testament figure, "The Angel of the Lord." He self-identifies as God (to Moses before the burning bush, Exodus 3:1-6), bears the Name of the Lord (Yahweh) and has authority to pardon man's transgressions (Exodus 23:20-23). He also accepts being called "God" and being "worshipped",- never correcting those who call Him "God" (as by Hagar in Genesis 16:6-16, especially verse 13) and worship Him (Joshua 5:13-15) as mere angels would have done (eg. Revelation 19:10). In Judges 6:11-24, the judge Gideon recognised the Angel of the Lord as God (verse 22) after making an offering to Him. In Judges 13:19-22, the future parents of the judge, Samson, also both offered sacrifice to and called "God" the Angel of the Lord. There must be something special about Him that distinguishes Him from mere angels. There is scriptural evidence that "The Angel of the Lord" is a CHRISTOPHANY,- a temporary, occasional appearence to humans of Christ, the second Person of the truine God, before His incarnate state, born physically from Mary's womb. Of the truine God, the Father has always been, and continues to be, INVISIBLE to mankind. When the Old Testament records any manifestation of God as being visible in some form to man, He who is VISIBLE is to be inferred as the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ Whose existence alongside the Father is evident in many Old Testament scriptures.
At the beginning of God's creation work, the Father worked alongside He Who would later become the Father's only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. THE Son had as important a role in CREATION of everything which were brought into existence as He has in the SALVATION of mankind (Colossians 1:13-20). Indeed, the PLURALITY of Persons involved in the work of creation is evident from the use of plural pronouns and possessives, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion ... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27). The Biblical doctrine of a singular God comprising three Persons allows for One to interact visibly with mankind as the Angel of the Lord (and the "Rock" of 1 Corinthians 10:4 "which was Christ") in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ in the New Testament) and Another to remain invisible.