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The Angel of God Jesus?
Posted : 25 Sep, 2011 08:16 AM
As you can see, the Holy Torah makes it abundantly clear that God the Father has never been seen by mankind. So who was the one called "God" (in Hebrew 'Elohim�) or "the LORD" (in Hebrew YHVH) who appeared and spoke to Noah, Abraham, Moses and others prophets in the Old Testament/Torah? This God is Jesus. Let me explain you that. Do you remember that Jesus is the Word of God? He existed always with His Father and He is equal to His Father in power and divine nature. Jesus created the universe. To understand this issue, let�s analyze Targums- ancient Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures. The earliest Targums known are those discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The study of the Targums is important because they reflect early Jewish ideas, customs, and Jewish interpretation of Scripture.
You will be surprised: the Son of God appeared in the Old Testament/Torah 2,000 years before His actual birth on earth. He was called as Angel. The word �Angel� (the Hebrew word �mal'ak� refers to a messenger or an envoy. The Bible clearly shows that the Son of God was God's Messenger to mankind.
The Messiah has had numerous roles in God's plan for mankind. The Son of God acted as the guardian of Israel when they came out of Egypt. He was traveling with them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night in the desert.
The Jerusalem Targum identifies God as the Word of the LORD:
GENESIS 22:8 And Abraham said, The Word of the Lord will prepare for me a lamb; and if not, then thou art the offering, my son! And they went both of them together with a contrite heart.
The Word, and not the Father, was the one who actually tested Abraham faith!!!!
GENESIS 22:10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 12 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."
Another ancient appearance of the Angel of the LORD took place at Mount Sinai when Moses saw the burning bush:
EXODUS 3:2-6 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 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.
This God who appeared to Moses is called the Angel of the LORD in verse 2. Both the Old and New Testaments show that the Angel here was God (YHVH), also known as the Word of God, who acted as the primary spokesman for God the Father.
The angel of the LORD definitely identifies Himself with God in a variety of circumstances. In Genesis 16:10, "Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.'" This is no ordinary messenger of God!!!! He doesn't say, "God will." He says, "I will greatly multiply your descendents." Examine Genesis 18:19�21 and note who is speaking and who is making the promises to Abraham. "The angel of the LORD" in chapter seventeen is "God" in chapter eighteen. The angel of the LORD is God Himself.
�The angel of the LORD� is God in His self-manifestation. This is similar to His dealings with Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. He speaks with authority as though He were God Himself. Only the Word of God/the Son of God would be able to do that. He is an �angel� only by function or responsibilities meaning He is one with the Godhead who serves as Messenger or Revealer of God. In His person He is the manifestation of God. This Angel is Deity. He is of the Godhead. He is the Son of God. Do your remember how the Angel of God/the Son of God was speaking as God to Gideon, the commander of the Jewish army, before the Jewish conquest of the Jericho city. This Angel of the LORD was referred to as the LORD/God. So, this Angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Word of God/the Son of God. This Angel ceases to appear to men after the incarnation of the Word of God in the body of Jesus Christ.
Let me remind you: "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" (John 1:14, 18). When you look into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see the face of God. In Him we have the perfect vision of what God is like. Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
This is why we proclaim there is salvation in no other person. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved� (Acts 4:12). Jesus declared, �I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. . . . Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father . . .� (John 14:6, 9).
Let�s consider another Bible passage:
�Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,�
Says the LORD of hosts.
� But who can endure the day of His
(God�s Jesus�) coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner�s fire
And like launderers� soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
Malachi 3: 1-3
God said that He will send His Messenger.
Who is he?
Here in this verse we see 2 Messengers:
The One- is the John Baptist who should prepare the way to Jesus and call people to repentance and ANOTHER is Jesus Himself. He is called as the Messenger of the Covenant with Israel. He is going to JUDGE us.
Isaiah 48: 12-16
� Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.
Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.
� All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
� Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit
Have sent Me.�
So, what the Creator of the earth is saying here in this verse? It is still God, the �I AM�, and He says in verse 16 that He has been sent by another Person- God- together with a third Person � the Spirit of God.
So, here we can see the TRINITY or TRI-UNITY concept of God shown by God Himself 2,000 years before the existence of Islam in the Holy Scripture Torah.
Summary: in many verses of the Holy Scripture there is a CLEAR demonstration that three Personalities are referred to as DIVINE and as being GOD. So, what should you do to ENDURE/escape the Day of Judgment? Believe in the God Jesus, repent of your sins, confess your sins to God in a prayer and He will write your name in the Book of Life.
We see that the Son of God revealed the will of God to Israel, Moses and Abraham. He was the God who spoke to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. He is the Son of God. He is the eternal and everlasting God who is equal to His Father. This God was described in the Holy Torah 2,000 years before the existence of Islam and all Islamic revelations of demons rejected all words of this God!!!
The Wilderness Way
Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, �Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.� So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, �God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.�
So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
EXODUS 13:17-22 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
EXODUS 14:19 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.
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