Moses was tending a flock when he saw a bush on fire. The flames were still burning, but the bush itself was intact. Moses turned aside to see why. Exodus 3:2 tells us that the Angel of the LORD appeared in the flame. Yet when Moses heard who was speaking to him from that bush, he hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
I believe Moses was hearing Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. He had come to speak to Moses long before He was born in Bethlehem. An appearance of Christ before He became man is called a Christophany. What led me to that conclusion is how Scripture speaks about the One who met Moses, and how much the account has in common with an earlier encounter beside a spring in the wilderness.
The Messenger Who Speaks as the LORD
The Hebrew word translated “angel” is mal’ak, and its basic meaning is “messenger” or “envoy.” It may refer to a human messenger or to a created angel from heaven. The word describes someone’s mission; by itself, it does not tell us that person’s nature. A prophet may serve as God’s messenger without being an angelic creature. In the same way, the eternal Son can be sent by the Father without becoming a created being.
When a prophet delivers a message from God, he can repeat God’s words just as God gave them to him. So when I read that a messenger speaks, I want to know who the passage says is speaking. That’s where the account of Hagar helps.
Hagar was an Egyptian servant in the household of Abram and his wife Sarai. God had promised Abram a son, but Sarai had borne him no children. She gave Hagar to Abram in the hope of having a family through her. Hagar became pregnant, and when Sarai treated her harshly, she ran away. Genesis 16 tells us that the Angel of the LORD found her beside a spring in the wilderness.
Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
Genesis 16:10, NKJV
He promised, “I will multiply your descendants,” then told her to name the child Ishmael and described his future. Hagar could not guarantee that future for the child she carried, nor could a created angel promise it on his own authority.
Genesis 16:13 says that she “called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.” The narrator identifies the Speaker as the LORD, so the conclusion does not depend only on how Hagar understood the encounter. She recognized the God who saw her, and the account records no correction.
God would later give Sarai a son of her own, Isaac, and His covenant promise would continue through him. Yet look at the care the Lord showed Hagar while she was carrying Ishmael. He knew what had happened to her in Abram’s household, and He went to her in the wilderness. If someone has been hurt among God’s people, I can’t point to the good God has done through that group as a reason to overlook what happened to that person.
Years later, God tested Abraham, the man we first knew as Abram. He told him to offer Isaac, the very son through whom He had promised to give him descendants. Abraham had taken the knife in his hand when the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and told him to stop.
Notice who had asked Abraham for his son and who now spoke to him. It was God who had given the command. Yet the Angel said that Abraham had not withheld Isaac “from Me” (Genesis 22:12). Abraham looked up, saw a ram caught by its horns, and offered it in Isaac’s place. Then the Angel called to him a second time.
“By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son.”
Genesis 22:16, NKJV
Hebrews 6:13 explains why God swore by Himself. There was no one greater by whom He could swear. So when the Angel spoke this oath, Abraham was hearing God’s own pledge that He would multiply his descendants and bless the nations through his Seed. Galatians 3:16 identifies that Seed as Christ.
We can recognize God’s provision without making every detail a complete explanation of the cross. Abraham does not represent the Father in everything he does, nor does Isaac represent Jesus in every detail. God spared Isaac and preserved the family through whom the promised Deliverer would come. The oath reaches beyond that day’s rescue to the blessing of the nations through Christ.
The command to Abraham was also unique, and God Himself stopped the sacrifice. Scripture condemns human sacrifice. No one can use this account to justify harming a child because he claims to have received a private instruction from God. Such a claim must be judged by God’s written Word.
Holy Ground and Covenant Authority
When we come back to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, watch what happens between the moment he sees the flame and the moment he hears his name.
And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush… So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush.
Exodus 3:2, 4, NKJV
Exodus describes one continuous encounter. The Messenger called Moses from the bush and told him to remove his sandals because the ground was holy. He then identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses hid his face in fear of looking upon God.
God’s presence made the ground holy. Removing his sandals was Moses’ response to God’s command, not an act that made the place sacred. That gives me reason to be careful about calling a place or practice holy simply because it moves me deeply. A strong feeling does not, by itself, establish that God has set it apart.
The Lord had heard Israel’s groaning and remained faithful to His covenant through generations of oppression. He revealed His covenant name and sent Moses back to Egypt. Moses raised objections about his ability to carry out the task, including his difficulty speaking, but the Lord promised to help him. The God who had made the promise was committing Himself to bring His people out.
By the time we reach Exodus 23, the Lord has brought Israel out of Egypt. Now the people face the journey to the land He promised them. He tells them He will send His Angel ahead of them, and He gives them this warning about obeying Him.
“Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.”
Exodus 23:21, NKJV
“My name is in Him” connects the Angel with God’s own identity and authority. Israel was to obey His voice and take His warning about rebellion seriously. Defying this Messenger would mean defying the God whose name He bore.
The warning says He will not pardon their transgressions, rather than that He lacks the ability to forgive. It concerns Israel’s defiance of God under the covenant. They could not demand the benefits of His presence while treating His commands as optional.
Before the attack on Jericho, Joshua met a Man standing with a drawn sword. Joshua asked whether He was for Israel or its enemies. The Man answered, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (Joshua 5:14).
Joshua 5 does not use the title Angel of the LORD, but the encounter has much in common with the burning bush. Joshua fell on his face in worship and asked what his Lord had to say to His servant. The Commander told him to remove his sandal because the ground was holy (Joshua 5:15). Worship was not refused, and the command recalls God’s words to Moses. I understand this as another appearance of the eternal Son.
Compare Joshua’s response with what happened to John. In Revelation 22:8-9, John fell before an angel who had shown him the visions. The angel stopped him, called himself a fellow servant, and directed him to worship God. Revelation 19:10 records the same correction. A created servant had no right to receive the worship due to his Creator.
Joshua had asked whose side the Commander was on, and he found himself receiving orders from Him. I need to approach Christ with that willingness too. If I have already made up my mind and only want Him to endorse it, I am asking for approval while resisting His authority. Bowing before Him means being prepared to do what He says, including when His answer requires changing my plans. The study on Christophanies in the Old Testament considers other appearances before the incarnation.
In Exodus the Lord had told Israel to obey His Angel on the way to the land. In Judges 2 the people are living in that land, and the Angel comes to ask why they have disobeyed. He begins by reminding them who brought them out of Egypt.
“I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.’”
Judges 2:1, NKJV
The Angel claimed the exodus as His work and the covenant as His own. He had kept His promise to bring Israel into the land. He had also told the people to tear down the altars they found there, and they had left those altars standing. When they heard His rebuke, they wept.
Israel owed its place in the land to the Lord’s faithfulness. When the people turned to idolatry, He confronted the very ones He had delivered. His compassion gives me reason to receive His correction, even when I would rather avoid hearing it.
Gideon and Manoah Encounter the LORD
Gideon was threshing wheat out of the Midianites’ sight when the Angel of the LORD met him in Judges 6. The Angel addressed him as a mighty man of valor and commissioned him to deliver Israel. That commission meant confronting the enemy from whom he was hiding his crop, and the Lord promised to be with him.
During their conversation, Judges 6:14 says, “The LORD turned to him and said.” Later, Gideon brought an offering, and the Angel touched it with the end of His staff. Fire rose from the rock before He departed. Gideon then said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face” (Judges 6:22).
The LORD answered, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die” (Judges 6:23). He assured Gideon that the encounter would not kill him and gave no correction for believing he had encountered God.
In Judges 13, the Angel appeared to Manoah’s wife and announced Samson’s birth. When Manoah later offered Him food, the Angel declined and directed him to offer a burnt offering to the LORD. Manoah also asked His name, which He described as wonderful, beyond ordinary understanding.
Manoah offered the sacrifice to the LORD, and as the flame rose, the Angel ascended in it. Manoah and his wife fell on their faces.
And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
Judges 13:22, NKJV
Manoah’s wife challenged his expectation of death. If the LORD had intended to kill them, He would not have accepted their offering and disclosed His purpose for their child. Her reply addressed Manoah’s fear that they would die, rather than disputing his recognition that they had seen God.
I can understand why Manoah was afraid. What I want to remember is how his wife answered him. The Lord had just told them they were going to have a son. She took that promise seriously enough to let it settle the very thing her husband feared.
The Angel Asks the LORD to Show Mercy
So far we’ve seen why Gideon and Manoah feared for their lives when they realized whom they had seen. The prophet Zechariah gives us another detail about this same Messenger. In one of his visions, Zechariah heard the Angel of the LORD ask the LORD of hosts how long Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would have to wait for mercy (Zechariah 1:12). Listen to who is speaking to whom. The Angel we have seen identified as the LORD is Himself speaking to the LORD on behalf of His people.
In a later vision, Zechariah saw the high priest of his own day, a man named Joshua, standing before the Angel. Joshua was wearing filthy garments, and Satan stood at his right hand to accuse him (Zechariah 3:1–3). His garments signify defilement, and the LORD answers the accuser rather than leaving the high priest to defend himself.
“The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
Zechariah 3:2, NKJV
As the filthy garments are removed, Joshua hears, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes” (Zechariah 3:4). The LORD deals with the guilt itself and supplies Joshua with cleansing and clothing he has not provided.
Joshua’s cleansing anticipates Christ’s work as our righteous Advocate, the One who speaks on our behalf before God. He shed His blood for sinners and lives to intercede for us. The fuller explanation of atonement comes in the New Testament, but here even the high priest needs God to remove his guilt. If I have sinned, arguing that I am better than someone else will not remove my guilt. I need the cleansing God provides through Christ. The study on Melchizedek examines Christ’s superior priesthood through another Old Testament account.
The Eternal Son Makes the Father Known
How can this Messenger be divine and yet address the LORD? Scripture reveals one God in three personally distinct, coequal, and coeternal Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Being sent by the Father does not require the Son to be a created being. It describes His mission and relationship to the Father, rather than the beginning of His existence.
John 1:1 says the Word was with God and was God. Verse 3 says that everything made came into being through Him. If everything created came through the Word, He cannot be one of the things that were created. He is the eternal Creator, personally with the Father and fully divine. The study on the Word of the LORD in the Old Testament considers that language and its connection with Christ more fully.
A few verses later John tells us who this Word is. The Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). John goes on to name Him as Jesus Christ (John 1:17). He did not begin to exist at Bethlehem. Jesus affirms His eternal identity in John 8:58: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” A Christophany is an appearance of Christ before that incarnation, not an earlier birth or a second incarnation.
John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Jesus also says of the Father in John 5:37, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” The people in these Old Testament accounts truly encountered God through the Son, who makes the Father known.
Colossians 1:15-17 calls Him the image of the invisible God and says all things were created through Him. He is before all things, and creation holds together in Him. In Hebrews 1:1-3, Paul describes the Son as the One through whom God made the worlds. The Son is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. The Son has eternally been with the Father and shares His divine nature, so He can reveal Him perfectly. His knowledge of the Father is not something a creature acquired through instruction.
When I put those passages alongside Exodus 3, I can see why Moses hid his face. God really had come to speak with him. And when I read that the Angel spoke to the LORD on Jerusalem’s behalf, I can see the distinction John describes. The Son is Himself God. He has always been with the Father, and He is the One who makes the Father known to us. That’s why I understand these encounters as appearances of Christ.
This does not make every angelic appearance a Christophany. Scripture records many created angels, including messengers called an angel of the Lord in Matthew and Acts. Each passage needs to be read in its own context. Daniel 6 does not identify the messenger who shut the lions’ mouths as the Angel of the LORD, and it does not give enough information to establish that He was Christ.
The One who revealed the Father before Bethlehem is the Son who later became man to save sinners. Jesus is fully God and fully man, virgin-born and sinless. The men who beat Him and nailed Him to the cross were responsible for what they did. Jesus willingly gave Himself there as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The Father did not punish or abandon His Son. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were united in providing salvation for us. Because Jesus was without sin, He could offer Himself for sinners. When He shed His blood and died, His sacrifice for us was complete. He was buried, and on the third day He rose bodily from the dead.
Christ died for the whole world, and God sincerely offers salvation to every person. His grace can be resisted and rejected. Everyone who repents and trusts Christ is born again, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and secure in eternal life. When Scripture speaks of being born again, it means that God has given a person new life. Simply calling myself a Christian can’t bring that about. Obedience is evidence of that life, not a payment to earn salvation or remain saved. His mercy gives us assurance and a reason to turn from sin. It gives us no permission to continue in lawlessness.
My Final Thoughts
When the Angel found Hagar beside that spring, the Lord knew why she had run away. When the Israelites were living in the land He had given them, He knew which commands they had disobeyed. I see the same Lord in both encounters. It’s easy for me to take comfort in the thought that Christ sees me when someone has hurt me. Am I willing to listen to Him just as closely when I’m the one who needs correcting?