4.
Angel of the Lord
An
angel is, by definition, a messenger. This is someone who speaks for
another, someone who is sent to make the delivery, to transfer from
one mind to another some information. We know that generic angels are
spirit beings created to serve God, usually by helping His people.
Though some angels fell away and now pervert that duty by trying to
drag people away from God, they are still messengers, just of lies
now. In the book of the Revelation we read that pastors are called
angels of their respective churches, for they bring God's message to
His people. Our Savior is also called an angel, and He also brought
messages to people. He is called the Angel of the Lord, indicating
His message is from His heavenly Father. His message is about God's
plans for His creatures. The first use of this term is in the first
book of the Bible in the account of Hagar, when she was cast out of
Abraham's household with her son Ishmael and left, as she thought, to
die. But God speaks directly to her about the blessings awaiting her
and her son, and the speaker is called both the Angel of the Lord and
God, which would lead us to equate Him with the Son of God.
Elsewhere the same term is used of created angels as we can deduce
from the context. In some of the over six thousand uses of the term
we cannot be sure if the name refers to our Lord Himself or one of
His heavenly servants. But some uses are quite clearly referring to
the Second Person of the Trinity. For instance, in Acts 7: 30ff, in
Stephan's testimony to the high priests, he speaks of Moses seeing
the Angel of the Lord speaking in the burning bush, then shortly
thereafter he calls this speaker God. So we can know that Jesus is
Himself both the Word of God and the Messenger of God's words.
Genesis
16; 21: 17 – 20
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