The Angel of the Lord

4/24/24 

The Angel of the Lord, the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of the Lord!  We have made it to the top of God’s Angelic Host, and who do we find, but the Angel of the Lord.  Also known as the Angel of His Presence, the Angel of God.  Who is the Angel of the Lord?

If we look at the scriptures, we see that the Angel of the Lord is different than an angel from the Lord.  But what is the difference?  I believe it is Gods’ presence that He makes known to a human for the delivery of a very important message.  Before we go further, let’s take our shoes off.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”  Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.”  And Joshua did so.  Joshua 5:14-15.

I think it would be a good idea to take a look at some scripture to see if we can find a pattern of when the Angel of the Lord appears.  The first appearance is with Hagar.

And the Angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur…And the Angel of the LORD said unto her, return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands…And the Angel of the LORD said unto her, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”…And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.  Genesis 16:7-12.

The Angel proclaimed He would make of Ishmael, Hagar’s son, a great nation (Arabs) because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, the Angel of the Lord told Hagar that her son would be living in conflict with his relatives. 

Then, just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, he was interrupted by the Angel of the Lord.  For his obedience he received another promise of numerous descendants and abundant prosperity.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”…and He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”…Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”  Genesis 22:10–18.

In Genesis 28 the Angel of God appears to Jacob, speaking to him in a dream of a ladder with ascending and descending angels.  Again, in chapter 31, the Lord in both dreams confirmed the blessing that was upon Jacob, which would result in the birth of Israel and the tribes of Israel, setting in motion the future of the Jewish people.

Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.”  Genesis 28:12.

Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’  And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Genesis 31:11-13.

And who can forget the story of Moses and the burning bush? 

Now Moses was tending the flock… And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush…God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”…Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”  Moreover, He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:1-6.

The Lord Himself proclaimed who the Angel of the Lord was to Moses.  Because Moses ‘is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.’  Acts 7:35.

He is seen again in Exodus, protecting and guiding the bourgeoning Jewish people…the work of His Hands.

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.  Exodus 14:19.

Now, we come to a really cool event where an animal sees the Angel of the Lord before her owner.  Proving how discerning of the spiritual realm that animals truly are!  Then God’s anger was aroused because he (Balaam) went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him…And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so, Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.  Numbers 22:22, 27.

“God performed a two-step miracle of opening what was closed.  First, he opened the donkey’s mouth and let her speak. Balaam was enough beside himself with fury that he fell right into an argument with her. “If I had a sword in my hand,” he told her, “I would kill you right now” (Numbers 22:29). Step Two: God opened Balaam’s eyes to see where a sword really was—and whose hand it was in. “He saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn” (22:31).”  Jeremiah, David. Angels: Who They Are and How They Help--What the Bible Reveals.

I could go on as there are additional verses in the OT that portray the Angel of God appearing to guide and instruct His people including Gideon Judges 6:20-22, Manoah and his wife (parents of Sampson) in Judges 13:6, and David in Zechariah 12:8.