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Angel of the LORD – Jesus?
This morning one of the main points was that God the Son, Jesus, appears in different forms through the Bible, in part to prevent us from locking in on any ONE image of Jesus. (Like the old paintings many of us have seen of Jesus standing by the door & knocking, or Jesus with little children, or Jesus with a halo around his head!)
I made the comment that many Bible scholars believe the phrase “the angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament is actually an appearance of Jesus in the OT! So here are a few of those…
1. Genesis 16: 7,9,11 “The angel of the LORD” appears to Hagar explaining she should return to serve Sarah and she will have a son, name him Ishmael. Hagar gives God a new name here: El Roi because she says “I have seen the One who sees me”. El Roi means ‘the God who sees me”.
2. Genesis 22:11 “The angel of the LORD” called to Abraham not to touch Isaac, whom he was about to sacrifice.
3. Genesis 32:22-30 Jacob wrestles with a man all night. Because he gives Jacob the name Israel with this statement, He is presumed to be Jesus: “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
This time the phrase ‘angel of the LORD’ is not used, but still it is presumed to be Jesus.
4.Judges 6:11 “the angel of the LORD” appeared to Gideon with clear instructions about fighting the Midianites…and He is presumed to be Jesus, as He is referred to several times in this chapter as ‘The LORD”.
5. Judges 13 “the angel of the LORD” appeared to Manoah and his barren wife assuring her she’d have a son (Samson). note the miracle in vs. 20!
So that gives you a few…