Who Is the Angel of the LORD? Was He Jesus Christ?

At the burning bush, the One who appeared to Moses was called the Angel of the LORD. A few verses later, He identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. Was he hearing a created angel repeat God’s words, or had God Himself come to him as the Messenger?

I believe the eternal Son appeared in these Old Testament encounters before He became man. An appearance of Christ before His incarnation is called a Christophany. The accounts identify this Messenger as God while also showing Him addressing the LORD. I reach my conclusion by reading those descriptions alongside the New Testament’s revelation of the Son. The title angel alone cannot settle His identity.

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.

A messenger can repeat God’s words in the first person without becoming God. A prophet speaking a message from the Lord is still a prophet, so a sentence beginning with “I” cannot settle the Speaker’s identity. I look at how the account names Him, the authority He exercises, and whether He is treated as a servant or as the Lord Himself.

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.

The Angel’s encounter with Hagar in Genesis 16 shows more than a messenger delivering someone else’s words. Abram and Sarai had tried to obtain the promised child through her. When Sarai treated her harshly, Hagar fled into the wilderness while pregnant. The Angel of the LORD found her beside a spring and spoke about her son and his descendants.

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.

Hagar was not the mother of the promised Seed, yet the Lord attended to her distress. She had been mistreated in the household through which He was working out His covenant promises. If someone has been hurt among God’s people, loyalty to the group cannot justify overlooking that person’s suffering. The Lord saw Hagar when the people who should have treated her properly had failed to do so.

The Angel spoke with the same authority when God tested Abraham in Genesis 22. God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac, the son through whom the covenant line would continue. As Abraham reached for the knife, the Angel of the LORD called from heaven and stopped him. God provided a ram, and the Angel spoke again.

“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

“By Myself I have sworn” is God’s own oath. Hebrews 6:13 explains that God swore by Himself because there was no one greater by whom He could swear. The oath spoken by the Angel was therefore the Lord’s own commitment to Abraham.

Earlier, in Genesis 22:12, He had said that Abraham had not withheld his son “from Me.” God had commanded Abraham’s obedience, and the Angel described that obedience as owed to Himself. He then promised to multiply Abraham’s descendants and bring blessing to the nations through his Seed. Galatians 3:16 identifies Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of that promise.

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

In Exodus 3, Moses was tending Jethro’s flock when he noticed a bush burning without being consumed. The passage first names the Angel of the LORD, then calls the Speaker the LORD and God.

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.

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.

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.

Later, the LORD promised to send His Angel before Israel on the journey to the land. He warned them about how they must respond to 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.

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 Judges 2, the Angel of the LORD confronted Israel over its compromise in the land. He opened His rebuke by recalling their deliverance from Egypt and His promise to their fathers.

“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 brought Israel into the land He promised their fathers, and they were answerable to Him for ignoring His instructions about its inhabitants and their altars. The people wept at His rebuke.

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.

Manoah was overwhelmed by the fear of having seen God, but his wife held on to the purpose He had revealed for their son. She could acknowledge the holiness of the encounter and still reason from His promise. When fear rises, I need to ask what God has actually said before concluding that His mercy has become unreliable.

Distinction, Mercy, and the Removal of Guilt

In Zechariah 1:12, the Angel of the LORD asked the LORD of hosts how long mercy would be withheld from Jerusalem and Judah. One Person was addressing another, so I do not understand this as the Father appearing under a different name. The Messenger is divine and personally distinct from the LORD He addresses.

Zechariah 3 shows Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel in filthy garments, with Satan there to accuse him. He is not the Joshua who led Israel into Canaan. 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 1:18 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.

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.

John 1:14 describes the Word taking on a true human nature. 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.

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. He is the brightness of His 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.

A created messenger can repeat God’s words, which is why some readers understand these passages as delegated speech. That explains the use of first-person language. I do not believe it adequately explains why the accounts also identify the Messenger as the LORD, place God’s name in Him, and describe the covenant as His own. The encounters involving worship and holy ground add further evidence of His divine identity. My conclusion rests on these details together, rather than on one first-person statement.

Some readers accept these as appearances of God while leaving the Person unidentified. The Old Testament does not explicitly name Jesus Christ as this Messenger. I identify Him as the eternal Son because the accounts call Him the LORD yet show Him addressing the LORD, while John tells us that the Son makes the Father known.

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. Wicked men tortured Him and put Him to death. He willingly endured that bodily suffering and gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. His sinless perfection qualified Him to be that sacrifice, and His shed blood and death accomplished our atonement. His saving sacrifice was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were united in providing salvation.

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. The new birth is God’s work of making a person new; merely calling oneself a Christian does not bring it 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

The Angel of the LORD in these encounters is the eternal Son before His incarnation. He cared for Hagar when she was alone and held Israel accountable after bringing the people into the land. I want to trust His care when I am distressed and receive His correction when I have disobeyed, rather than accept only the words I find comforting. He has made the Father known and provided salvation for sinners, and He is the Lord we are called to trust and obey.