Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Several times I have been asked this question: Is there any record of Jesus appearing here on earth, at any time, in the Old Testament? I wonder what you think about that.
Yesterday I left you with a man named Manoah and his wife as they were having a remarkable encounter and discussion with an angel whom the author of Judges 13 calls “the angel of the LORD” (Judges 13:3,13) and also “the angel of God” (Judges 13:6,9). Today would you join me in looking closely to see if perhaps this angel of the LORD is in fact God the Son, Jesus, here on earth in Old Testament times?
Yesterday we looked at the conversation this angel had first with Manoah’s barren wife declaring she would soon become pregnant and have a son and challenging her to be very careful during her pregnancy, because the boy would be a Nazarite, thus her pregnancy would need to carefully protect that child in the womb. (Judges 13:3-5) A few days later she encountered this same angel and this time the angel waited until she could find and bring her husband to meet the angel. (Judges 13:9-11)
Manoah asked, “when your words are fulfilled what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?” (Judges 13:12) This time the angel repeated his emphasis on the woman’s care of her unborn baby during her pregnancy in preparation that the son would be a Nazarite. (Judges 13:12-14) Tomorrow we’ll look at perhaps WHY this angel did not speak to what would govern or lead the boy during his life.
Thus far I don’t see anything that would significantly distinguish this angelic appearance from others in the Bible, however with verse 15 the story takes on a different tone. Manoah asked the angel to wait with them while Manoah went to prepare a meal for the angel. As we know this type of hospitality was a significant way of honoring a special guest in that culture and time in history. Genesis 18:5-8 is another example.
This angel declined the invitation to eat a meal with them but urged them to offer it as a burnt offering to God, and he agreed to wait. Then please notice in parenthesis this comment: (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.”) (Judges 13:16) That suggests this is no ordinary angel but a very special being.
Manoah then asked the angel a question which tells me he suspected this was a very special angel: “Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, ‘What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” (Judges 13:17) Do you remember another time, prior to this moment, when a person was having an encounter with an angel and asked His name? It was Moses at the burning bush, remember? (Exodus 3:13) I assume Manaoh would have known that story very well. The angel’s response to Manoah is fascinating: “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond your understanding.” (Judges 13:18)
Now we know two other Biblical holy angels by name, Gabriel (Luke 1:19) and Michael (Daniel 10:13 Jude 9). But what name could this angel have which is beyond our understanding? Do you recall the name spoken by “the angel of the LORD who appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush”? (Exodus 3:2) In response to Moses’ asking for His name, the Scripture says: “God said to Moses ‘I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) That verse clearly identifies the angel in that bush as God, and the name He proclaimed is called by theologians the “Tetragrammaton” and usually is spelled YHWH and is translated into English as LORD. It is a name beyond our full understanding, just as the angel said to Manoah in Judges 13.
But what happened next to Manaoh and his wife in Judges 13 seems to further clarify the identity of this angel who was meeting with them. Manoah had placed his offering on a rock before the angel and the record says: “…the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: as the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel did not show Himself again…Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. ‘We are doomed to die’ he said to his wife. ‘We have seen God!‘. (Judges 13:19-22) Do you see the similarity of this angel going up into the flames and the angel of the LORD in the flames of the burning bush with Moses?
Do you remember another time in the Old Testament when Daniel’s three friends were thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to bow in worship before King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue? And do you remember a fourth man appeared in those flames and King Nebuchadnezzar, stunned by what he saw proclaimed: “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:25)
I conclude, my friends, that “the angel of the LORD” who spoke on behalf of God in Exodus 3 from the burning bush; and “the fourth who looks like a son of the gods” walking in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace; and the “angel of the LORD” who appeared to Manaoh and his wife are all three examples of Jesus, God the Son, come to earth in Old Testament times, for very specific reasons, at very strategic times in God’s “Grand Narrative”, and in the story of Israel.
I’d like us to ponder this today in light of another important verse, this time found in the New Testament, in Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Our Almighty, Sovereign God can do anything at any time and therefore Jesus, God the Son, may have visited our planet earth many times in the Old Testament!
And aren’t we glad we know for sure God the Son, Jesus Christ, not only visited but was born incarnate and lived here for about 30 years, taught God’s truth, and gave His life as an atonement sacrifice, so anyone who believes in Him shall be saved and live Holy Spirit indwelt here, and then for eternity in God’s presence?! (John 3:16-18)
I think we need to celebrate Jesus right now, and the additional notes at the “Grand Narrative” link will help you do that, as well as the worship song at the bottom of our page today! And I’ll see you here again tomorrow my friends.
Today’s Scripture: Judges 13:15-25.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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