THE ANGEL OF THE LORD (6)

0. Introduction

a) Who is the "angel of the Lord" that appears several times in the Bible? Is he a powerful spiritual being? On the other hand, is he a 'generic' spirit being that represented the Creator to the people? Did Jacob wrestle with him in the Old Testament? Was it the Father or someone else that led the Israelites into the promised land? Why did an angelic being visit both Abraham and Hagar?

b) The book Christ in the Old Testament has done a careful study of the appearances of this angel. Based on his research, the author calls these special appearances Christophanies, meaning special appearances of the Messiah - Jesus - in the form of a human BEFORE his birth to Mary.

c) There are several passages in the Bible that mention this special angelic being. We will review several of these to discover what God's word teaches about them.

1. Gideon meets a special person

i) 11 One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Oprah . . . appeared to him (Gideon) and said, 'God is with you, O mighty warrior!' 

ii) 20 The angel of God said to him, 'Take the meat and unraised bread, place them on that rock, and pour the broth on them.” Gideon did it. 21 The angel of God stretched out the tip of the stick he was holding and touched the meat and the bread. Fire broke out of the rock and burned up the meat and bread (Judges 6)

a) The supernatural Being accepts Gideon's offering, a very strong indication of his divinity since righteous angelic being reject any worship directed toward themselves.