The Bible gives Christians good reason to face death with hope, but it never asks us to pretend that losing someone is painless. A believer who dies is with Christ. That person also awaits bodily resurrection, and God’s promise reaches beyond the present heaven to a new creation where He will dwell with His people. If I am going to offer comfort, I want to explain what He has actually promised.
What Heaven Means
We use the word heaven in several ways, and Scripture does too. It can describe the sky, the wider created heavens, or the realm of God’s throne, where He reveals His presence. We have to read the surrounding words to know which meaning fits. Genesis gives us a straightforward example:
Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
Genesis 1:20
The birds are flying above the earth, so heaven here means the sky. The Hebrew word shamayim is plural in form and can refer to the sky, the wider heavens, or God’s dwelling. If I pictured these birds flying through Paradise, I would be ignoring the setting of the verse. When a passage speaks of God’s throne, however, I need to understand heaven as His dwelling rather than only the visible sky.
Genesis also uses raqia, translated firmament or expanse, for the heavens spread out above the earth. Birds fly across the face of this expanse, and God placed the lights that mark days and seasons in it. I read this as a description of God’s ordered creation from the perspective of people beneath the sky, without taking it to require a solid dome over the earth.
The sun, moon, and stars also belong to the created heavens. Psalm 19 tells us what their splendor should lead us to recognize:
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
They testify to their Maker without possessing any deity of their own. Worshiping creation is wrong, but so is despising it as though God made a mistake by giving us a physical world. He made it good. Sin has corrupted His work, yet the promise of a new earth shows that His answer is not to discard everything physical forever.
God’s Throne and Presence
When Christians say someone is in heaven, they usually mean the realm of God’s throne and presence. God truly reveals His presence there, although He is not confined to that place:
Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?”
Isaiah 66:1
God was not asking Israel to build a larger house. Solomon had already acknowledged at the temple’s dedication that even heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain the Lord. His presence in the sanctuary did not restrict Him to its walls. In the same way, His heavenly throne expresses His rule over creation, not a boundary beyond which He cannot go.
Paul described being caught up to the third heaven:
such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:2
Readers have often understood the third heaven as the realm of God’s presence, beyond the sky and the starry heavens. Paul also calls it Paradise. He heard words he was not permitted to repeat. He did not know whether he had been in his body or out of it, though God knew. His testimony assures us that Paradise is real, but it does not describe the surroundings or give us a complete arrangement of heavenly realms.
Jesus spoke more personally about the future of His disciples. On the night before His crucifixion, they faced His departure, and Peter had just been told he would deny Him. Jesus directed their troubled hearts toward the Father and promised that He would prepare a place for them:
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:3
Jesus would not abandon them when He went away. He promised to prepare a place and return to receive them, so their future with Him rested on what He would do. When I speak about heaven, I do not want questions about the surroundings to overshadow the Savior who has promised to bring His people there.
With Christ After Death
Paul explains what happens to a believer who dies before the Lord returns:
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8
Being absent from the body means being present with the Lord. Paul expected conscious fellowship with Christ, rather than soul sleep, the belief that the dead remain unconscious until resurrection. Death would not end his personal existence. In Philippians, Paul weighed continuing his ministry against his desire to depart:
For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Philippians 1:23
Paul expected to be with Christ and called that far better. Death itself remains an enemy that entered through sin, so there is nothing faithless about missing someone we love. I would not reprimand a grieving believer as though tears contradicted his hope. When the person who died belonged to Christ, we can affirm that he is with the Savior without minimizing the pain of that separation.
Being with Christ after death does not mean that bodily resurrection has already taken place. That hope rests on Jesus’ own bodily resurrection from the tomb. He did not survive merely as an inspiring memory or as a spirit whose body remained dead:
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20
Firstfruits refers to the beginning of a harvest, with more to follow. Christ’s resurrection guarantees that His people will be raised too. In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul says the dead will be raised incorruptible, free from decay and death. Our bodies are not prisons we must escape forever; Christ will raise and transform them.
Paul connects that bodily hope with our citizenship in heaven:
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20
Philippians 3:21 says the Savior will transform our lowly body to conform to His glorious body. We will remain human, with bodies made fit for everlasting life. Our citizenship in heaven gives us reason to look for the Lord who will come from there and complete what He has promised.
When we comfort someone who grieves, we do not have to choose between saying that a departed believer is with Christ now and saying that believer will be raised later. Both are true. Death has not separated him from the Savior, and it will not keep his body forever.
New Heavens and New Earth
I understand Scripture to teach that Christ will gather His church before the seven-year Tribulation. The dead in Christ will rise, and living believers will be caught up with them to meet the Lord. After the Tribulation, Jesus will return bodily to earth and reign for a literal thousand years. Revelation 20 places the final rebellion and Great White Throne judgment after that reign. The new heaven and new earth follow as the everlasting state:
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
Revelation 21:1
God brings the old order to an end. John is not describing this present age gradually becoming a little better through religion or human progress. Death and the curse will no longer corrupt the world His people inhabit.
The Greek word kainos can describe what is new in quality or kind. John describes a creation freed from sin, death, and the curse. The word alone does not tell us exactly how every feature of that creation relates to what exists now. John does not describe all its geography or every detail of daily life, but he leaves no doubt that God will remove what has ruined His creation.
John then sees the holy city coming down from God:
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:2
God will dwell with His people in the world He has made new. In Eden, Adam and Eve lived in fellowship with Him in a good world, but their disobedience brought shame and death, and they were driven from the garden. Later, God provided for His presence among His people through the tabernacle and temple. The sacrifices and priestly cleansing taught them that they could not approach Him while ignoring their sin.
The Word, the eternal Son, became flesh and lived among us as Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit now lives within the church, Christ’s people. In the world to come, death and the curse will no longer interfere with God’s dwelling among them:
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.”
Revelation 21:3
John records gates, foundations, and measurements, along with nations walking in the city’s light. A river flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, and the tree of life is there. I understand New Jerusalem to be a real city; the symbolic significance of some details does not make the place itself imaginary.
Paul writes in Hebrews 11:10 that Abraham waited for the city whose builder and maker is God. Abraham lived in tents in Canaan while trusting God’s promise of a permanent dwelling beyond what he could see. Revelation describes the fulfillment of that hope in the city God brings down from heaven.
The city has no temple because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The earthly sanctuary taught sinners to approach God by His appointed way. In New Jerusalem, the redeemed will live in His direct and holy presence. The Lamb who shed His blood for them is their light, and nothing defiling will return to threaten their fellowship.
Peter describes the character of this promised world:
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3:13
Peter connects that promise with the kind of people we ought to be now. If I claim to long for a world where righteousness dwells, I should not be indifferent to the sin I am excusing here. The future God promises gives me reason to obey Him today, rather than daydream about another world while neglecting my responsibilities in this one.
Who Enters the City
The holiness of New Jerusalem also prevents us from promising this future to everyone regardless of Christ:
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 21:27
I understand Scripture to teach that every person begins written in the Book of Life. Those who finally reject the Messiah are blotted out. Believers remain because their sins have been blotted out through His blood. Belonging to the right institution cannot provide that cleansing, nor can enough good deeds compensate for our guilt. We come to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the eternal Son, fully God and fully man, born of a virgin. He lived without sin and willingly offered Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for sinners. Wicked men tortured and crucified Him, inflicting real suffering upon His innocent body. The Father did not punish or abandon His Son; Father and Son acted together to save us. Christ completed His sacrifice through His shed blood and death before His burial and bodily resurrection.
Christ died for the whole world, so the offer of salvation is genuine for every person, though people can resist and reject it. Whoever repents and believes in Him is forgiven and justified, meaning declared righteous before God. The Holy Spirit gives that person new life, making him a new creation. The Spirit lives within the believer and seals him as God’s own.
That believer is eternally secure because his salvation rests on Christ’s finished work and preserving power. It does not depend on his ability to keep himself saved. This gives no permission for lawlessness. New life should produce growing obedience, even though believers still stumble and need correction. Repeating religious words cannot establish that I have trusted Christ while I continue to reject Him.
Revelation 20 also describes the dead standing before God as the books are opened. Anyone no longer found in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death. Human souls are not inherently immortal; eternal life is God’s gift in Christ. Unbelieving humanity faces the irreversible destruction of body and soul. I do not understand Scripture to teach either universal salvation or endless conscious torment for human beings. Revelation 20:10 gives the distinct statement of endless torment for the devil with the beast and false prophet.
I should not speak about those facing judgment as though their future were merely an interesting theological question. These are people who need the gospel. Christ died for them and calls them to repent and believe while there is time to respond. We have no grounds to promise salvation apart from Him, and no reason to treat someone hearing His invitation as beyond the reach of His mercy.
Life in the World to Come
For those who belong to the Lamb, life will continue without the sorrow and death that afflict us now. Pain and crying will pass away, and there will be no curse:
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
Revelation 22:3
Eternity will not be endless idleness, and serving God will no longer be frustrated by pride, selfish ambition, corruption, or death. Human work belonged to His good creation before sin entered. Service also belongs to redeemed life, although John does not tell us the exact responsibilities each person will have.
John also describes how closely God’s servants will know Him:
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:4
We now walk by faith and love the Savior we have not seen. In the city, we will see His face and enjoy fellowship that sin and exile can never interrupt again. We will not become divine or lose the distinction between Creator and creature. We will belong to Him without fear that death or defilement could separate us again.
This hope should also affect how we think about work that seems to accomplish little now. At the end of the resurrection chapter, Paul writes:
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Christ will raise His people, so death cannot make their faithful labor worthless. I may not see the result I hoped for, and obedience can be costly, but I cannot judge the worth of that work only by what I see now. I can keep loving people and doing what God requires without demanding that this life provide every reward. His earthly gifts can be received with gratitude, while our lasting inheritance remains secure in Christ.
My Final Thoughts
I want the hope of heaven to shape more than the words I use at a funeral. The believer who dies is with Christ, and the Savior will raise His people bodily. He will bring us into the new creation where God dwells with His people and death is gone. These promises are secure because Jesus shed His blood for sinners, rose bodily, and will receive His own to Himself. We have reason to grieve with hope and to keep serving Him while we wait.
God brought Israel out of Egypt, but freedom did not mean the people knew where to go or could protect themselves along the way. He went before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, making His presence visible as He led them. They had been rescued from Pharaoh to live under the Lord’s care and authority, not to become independent of Him.
At Passover, they had sheltered under the lamb’s blood while judgment fell on Egypt’s firstborn. They left slavery with a journey still ahead of them. Exodus records how God guided these people through unfamiliar country, protected them at the sea, and later governed their movements from the tabernacle.
I may be quite willing to ask God for direction until I realize that obedience will interfere with my plans. Israel could see the Lord’s presence ahead of them, but they still had to follow Him. His nearness did not give them permission to choose their own route or decide for themselves how He should be worshiped.
The Lord’s Route and Public Guidance
Before describing the pillar, Exodus gives a reason for the route God chose:
God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.
Exodus 13:17
The rest of the verse explains that seeing war might make the people change their minds and return to Egypt. God took their weakness into account when He chose their route. The shorter road would bring them toward a conflict they might try to escape by going back to slavery.
I need to be careful when I assume the quickest route must be the best. Scripture gives us God’s reason for leading Israel this way, but it does not tell me the reason for every delay in my own life. I can trust Him through a setback without claiming to know something He has not told me.
He also gave the camp guidance they could see:
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.
Exodus 13:21
The cloud led by day, and the fire gave light for travel at night. God was providing for the practical needs of people walking with their households and possessions. Exodus describes His deliberate leadership; Israel had not simply noticed an unusual natural feature and given it a religious meaning.
The Hebrew word ammud means a pillar or standing column. The whole camp could see the Lord’s guidance and was responsible to follow it. They did not have to depend on a private impression reported by a few influential people.
Exodus 13:22 adds that the Lord did not take the pillar away from before them. His care continued throughout the journey. He did not expect them to find their own way through the wilderness while living on memories of what He had done at Passover.
The Presence That Protects
At the sea, Pharaoh’s army approached from behind while the water blocked Israel’s way forward. They could not overcome that danger through their own strength. The pillar then moved to stand between them and their pursuers:
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
Exodus closely connects the movement of the Angel of God with the movement of the cloud. The Lord who had gone before Israel was now protecting them from behind. I understand this Angel to be the eternal Son appearing before He became man, an appearance called a Christophany. Throughout the Old Testament, this divine Messenger speaks and acts with God’s own authority. That identifies Him as more than a created messenger, without making every angel mentioned in Scripture an appearance of Christ.
With the cloud between the camps, the Egyptians faced darkness while Israel had light:
It was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other.
Exodus 14:20
The two camps were kept apart through the night. At God’s command, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the waters back with a strong east wind. Israel crossed on dry ground, and the Egyptians followed them into the passage. During the morning watch, the Lord looked upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud and threw them into confusion. He took off their chariot wheels, and the pursuers recognized that He was fighting for Israel. The waters returned over the army, while the people they had pursued were safe on the other side.
The same presence that protected Israel brought judgment upon their oppressors. Pharaoh’s pursuit could not undo the deliverance God had begun.
God’s Holy Presence in the Camp
After the crossing, Israel came to Sinai and received God’s commandments. Yet the people soon rebelled by worshiping the golden calf. In the aftermath, Exodus 33 describes Moses pitching a meeting tent outside the camp, where those seeking the Lord would go. This was before the completed tabernacle was erected in Exodus 40:
The pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
Exodus 33:9
The people watched and worshiped from their own tent doors as the cloud descended. They had recently defied God by worshiping through a golden calf. Now they watched Him meet with Moses, the man through whom He had given His commandments. God was still willing to meet with His people, but they could not take His patience as permission to worship however they pleased.
When the tabernacle was completed according to His instructions, the cloud covered it:
The cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34
Even Moses could not enter because the cloud rested above the tabernacle and God’s glory filled it. The man who spoke with the Lord could not simply walk in whenever he chose. God had graciously come to dwell among the people He redeemed, and He determined how they were to approach Him.
The Hebrew word kavod, translated glory, can refer to honor and splendor. Its connection with weight is figurative, much as we speak of a person whose words carry weight. Here the cloud and glory revealed the Lord’s holy presence among His people. They could not produce it by working themselves into a religious mood. He had provided the tabernacle, priesthood, sacrifices, and mercy seat as the means by which they could approach Him. Those provisions also help us understand why we need the access Christ gives us through His blood.
The cloud above the tabernacle also governed the nation’s journeys. When it lifted, the people set out. When it remained, they stayed:
If the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up.
Exodus 40:37
Numbers 9 describes stays ranging from a single night to a much longer period. Whether the wait lasted days, a month, or a year, the people were to remain until the cloud lifted. They had to be ready to travel again when it did. Restlessness was not a sufficient reason to break camp, and reluctance to pack up could not cancel the command to move.
Both impatience and reluctance can interfere with obedience. I may rush into a decision before I have understood what God requires, or I may put off a clear responsibility because I dislike what it will cost. My preference for moving or staying cannot settle what is right. Israel had to follow the Lord’s timing, even when it did not suit them.
Later generations remembered the pillar as evidence of the Lord’s patience. In Nehemiah 9, the Levites led Israel in confessing the nation’s rebellion and acknowledging that God had not forsaken them in the wilderness. Psalm 78 also recalls the cloud by day and fire by night while recounting Israel’s repeated disobedience. The Lord had continued to care for people who often resisted Him.
Guidance Must Remain Under God’s Word
The God who led through the pillar also gave the commandments and the instructions for the tabernacle. Seeing His presence did not excuse Israel from obeying what He had said. The golden calf showed how far they could go wrong even while the Lord was caring for them.
We need to be honest when we claim God’s guidance today. If I have to conceal the truth from someone to make my plan work, saying the Lord led me there does not excuse the deceit. I need to abandon the dishonest part of the plan, even if it costs me an opportunity I wanted. The same applies to a relationship Scripture condemns. Feeling certain that God brought two people together does not authorize them to disregard what He says about sexual immorality. Nor can I rename greed or pride as faith merely because I am eager for money or admiration. The Spirit of truth will not contradict the Word He inspired.
Our search for direction should begin with Scripture and prayer. Mature counsel can help us recognize what we have overlooked, and circumstances can clarify opportunities as we obey. Those things do not replace the truth God has already given. I do not need to wait for a visible pillar before doing what Scripture plainly requires.
The Holy Spirit lives within believers, and we should expect Him to guide us. We also belong to Christ’s body, where another believer may see an error I have overlooked. If I call a conviction spiritual, I must still be willing to examine it in the light of God’s Word. Trusting the Spirit includes listening when someone uses Scripture to show me that I am mistaken.
The Pillar Points to Christ
Jesus identifies Himself as the Light we are to follow:
I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
John 8:12
Jesus promises the light of life, far more than the illumination Israel needed for walking at night. John also says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that the apostles beheld His glory. The eternal Son, whose presence had protected Israel in the wilderness, came among us as a man. He is fully God and fully man, the Lord to whom the pillar directs us.
At the transfiguration, the disciples saw Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and a bright cloud overshadowed them. The Father’s voice directed them to His Son: “This is My beloved Son… Hear Him” (Matthew 17:5). I should not become so fascinated with the visible cloud that I overlook the command to listen to Christ.
Christ brings us near to God by dealing with the sin that separates us from Him. He lived without sin and willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for sinners. Wicked men tortured Him, shed His blood, and killed Him; His bodily suffering and death were real. His atonement rests on His perfection and the offering of His innocent life. The Father did not punish or abandon Him. Father and Son remained united in this saving work, and Christ’s sacrifice through His shed blood and death was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection.
Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and God’s saving offer is genuine for every person, though people can resist and reject it. The sinner who repents and trusts in Him is forgiven and born again. Regeneration, or new birth, is the new life the Holy Spirit gives a person who trusts in Christ. Taking the name Christian without that faith does not make someone born again. The Spirit lives within that believer and seals him as God’s own, secure in Christ forever. Obedience gives evidence of the new life; it neither earns nor keeps salvation. I cannot use that security to excuse deliberate lawlessness, as though being saved meant I no longer needed to listen to the Lord.
Before going to the cross, Jesus had promised His apostles that the Spirit would guide them after His departure:
When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.
John 16:13
Jesus was addressing the apostles who would bear witness to Him and teach with His authority. The Spirit would guide them in that testimony, which we receive in the New Testament. When I seek His guidance, I need to listen to what He gave them to teach. I cannot use this promise to give my own impressions the authority of Scripture.
The Spirit is a divine Person, not a feeling or an impersonal force. He glorifies Christ, teaches us through the written Word, and convicts us of sin. He sanctifies us, making us holy in the way we live, and equips believers with gifts to serve one another. His guidance reaches beyond helping me choose my next step. When He exposes sin I would rather leave alone, I need to repent instead of looking for an experience that makes me feel better about continuing in it.
My Final Thoughts
The Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt continued to care for them and direct their journey. He has given us His written Word and the indwelling Spirit. When Scripture already tells me what He requires, waiting for another sign can become a convenient way of postponing obedience. I want His reassurance, but I also need to accept His correction and follow Him when obedience is inconvenient. Christ is the Light who brings us near to God, and I can trust Him with the consequences of doing what He says.
There are many theories about where the ark of the covenant might be today. I am more interested in what Scripture tells us about why God gave it to Israel and why He required such care in handling it. Understanding its purpose also helps us see the better access He has opened through Christ.
What the Ark Taught Israel About God
After delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, God brought the nation to Mount Sinai and entered into covenant with the people. He instructed Moses to build the tabernacle, a portable sanctuary where He would dwell among them. Within its courtyard stood the covered sanctuary, divided into two rooms. A veil separated the Holy Place from the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, where the ark stood.
God was drawing near to people He had redeemed, but they could not walk behind that veil whenever they pleased. He determined who could enter, what must be brought, and how the ark was to be handled when Israel moved. Those restrictions were part of His instruction about sin and atonement, His provision for dealing with sin so people could approach Him.
God spoke to Moses from above the ark’s mercy seat, and the high priest brought sacrificial blood there. The ark’s place in Israel’s worship depended on what God had appointed, not on mysterious properties in the chest itself.
God’s Pattern and the Mercy Seat
God gave Moses the pattern for the tabernacle and its furnishings. Israel did not have to devise a sanctuary and then hope He would accept it:
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
Exodus 25:8-9
The ark’s construction was included in those instructions, down to its dimensions and the materials the craftsmen were to use:
And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it.
Exodus 25:10-11
Acacia wood covered inside and out with gold made a beautiful, costly chest that could be carried as Israel traveled. The workmanship was fitting for the sanctuary, but gold and wood did not make the ark capable of saving anyone. God had set it apart for His service. We can appreciate the materials without assigning a hidden doctrine to each one.
God instructed Moses to put the covenant tablets inside the chest, which Scripture calls both the ark of the testimony and the ark of the covenant. Those tablets recorded His commands to Israel. The people could not honor the ark while treating the covenant it testified to as something they were free to disregard.
The gold lid was called the mercy seat. At its ends were two cherubim, figures representing heavenly beings, with their wings spread above it. God promised to speak to Moses from that particular place:
And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony.
Exodus 25:22
The mercy seat was where blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement. Calling it a place of mercy did not mean God was overlooking Israel’s guilt. He provided a sacrifice and a priest to act on the people’s behalf, and even the priest needed atonement for his own sins.
Leviticus 16 describes the high priest entering behind the veil with incense, then sprinkling the bull’s blood for himself and his household. He also brought the blood of the goat offered for the people:
Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.
Leviticus 16:15
The next verse explains that atonement was made for the Holy Place because of Israel’s uncleanness and transgressions. God was dwelling among sinful people, and He required cleansing within the sanctuary where they worshiped Him. Forgiveness came from God through the provision He appointed; neither the priest nor the ark could produce it independently of Him.
This annual observance still left the people outside the veil. Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, and God had warned him against coming at just any time. Israel could know that God was near without having the access to Him that Hebrews later describes through Jesus.
The Ark’s Testimony and Holy Handling
Hebrews 9:4 describes the ark with the covenant tablets, a golden pot containing manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. 1 Kings records its contents at the later dedication of Solomon’s temple:
Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 8:9
Hebrews describes the earlier tabernacle, while 1 Kings records the ark’s contents when it entered Solomon’s temple. At that later point it held only the tablets. Scripture does not tell us what happened to the manna and rod.
The tablets recorded God’s covenant commands. The manna recalled how He fed Israel in the wilderness, where they could not have sustained themselves without His provision. Aaron’s rod testified that God had appointed the priesthood and answered rebellion against it. Someone’s ambition did not entitle him to take that office, any more than Israel’s preferences entitled the nation to rewrite the commandments.
God also provided a way to move the ark without touching it. Exodus 25 describes rings and poles made for that purpose. Numbers assigns the Kohathites, a family of Levites, responsibility for carrying the most holy things after Aaron and his sons had covered them:
Then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.
Numbers 4:15
God also forbade the Kohathites to enter and watch while the holy things were being covered. Numbers 7:9 explains that they received no carts because they were to carry the holy things on their shoulders. Their honored responsibility did not entitle them to replace His instructions with a method they found more convenient.
After Moses’ death, the ark went ahead of the people as Joshua led them toward the Jordan. The officers instructed Israel to follow at a distance:
Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.
Joshua 3:4
The instruction itself explains that the distance would help the people know which way to go. They had not crossed that way before. God was leading them into the land He had promised, and they were to follow the order He gave instead of crowding around the ark.
The Danger of Misusing Holy Things
Generations later, in 1 Samuel 4, Israel treated the ark as though having it nearby guaranteed that God would give them victory. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s sons, were corrupt priests who treated the sacrifices with contempt, and God had already announced judgment on Eli’s house. After the Philistines defeated Israel in battle, the elders called for the ark from Shiloh:
So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim.
1 Samuel 4:4
They wanted the ark brought into their camp to save them from their enemies. There is no corresponding account of repentance or a return to God’s commands. They were relying on a sacred object while leaving their corruption unaddressed, as though possessing what belonged to God obliged Him to support what they were doing.
God exposed Israel’s presumption when He allowed the Philistines to defeat them again and capture the ark. When the Philistines placed it in Dagon’s temple, they found their idol fallen before it. They stood him up again, only to find him fallen and broken the next morning. God did not need an Israelite army to defend Him. Taking the ark had not made Dagon greater than the Lord or given the Philistines control over Him.
After the Philistines returned the ark, God also struck men at Beth Shemesh for looking into it. Being back in Israel did not make the ark available for anyone to inspect. The warnings about handling what God had set apart still applied.
In David’s reign, the king arranged to bring the ark to Jerusalem on a new cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out and took hold of it:
And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
2 Samuel 6:6-7
I can understand why someone reads this and thinks Uzzah was only trying to help. But God had explicitly forbidden touching the holy things and had warned that the consequence would be death. He had provided poles and appointed carriers so the ark could be moved without anyone having to grasp it. The procession was already disregarding His instructions by putting it on a cart, using the method the Philistines had used to send it back.
David later acknowledged the failure when he summoned the priests and Levites to bring the ark to the place he had prepared. He told them:
For because you did not do it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.
1 Chronicles 15:13
On the next attempt, the Levites carried it on their shoulders by its poles, as Moses had commanded. 1 Chronicles 15 records both David’s admission and the correction. The proper way of moving it had been available all along.
Christians are not under the Mosaic instructions for transporting the ark, but I cannot dismiss the responsibility to obey God in worship and service. If I knowingly distort a passage because I think it will make a message more appealing, a sincere desire to reach people does not make that distortion faithful. We need to let His Word govern what we do, including how we try to serve Him.
When Solomon’s temple was dedicated, the priests brought the ark into its Most Holy Place. Centuries later, Josiah told the Levites to put it in that temple as he prepared for the Passover:
Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders.
2 Chronicles 35:3
This is the last clear historical statement in the Old Testament about its location. Scripture does not trace it through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. Some theories place it in hidden chambers, others in Ethiopia, and others give it a prominent part in elaborate end-times predictions. None of those proposed locations is identified in Scripture, and we should not present a theory about its future use as something God has promised.
Jeremiah gives Israel a promise of restoration in which Jerusalem will be called the Throne of the LORD and nations will gather to His name. In that setting, the people will no longer depend on the ark:
They will say no more, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
Jeremiah 3:16
God was still promising restoration, but He was not making it depend on the recovery of this chest. We do not know whether the earthly ark survives somewhere or was destroyed. Finding it could add nothing to the saving work Christ has already completed.
Christ Opens Better Access to God
Paul explains in Hebrews that the earthly sanctuary was a God-appointed copy and shadow of a greater reality. Its sacrifices had to be repeated, and they could not provide the final cleansing of the conscience that sinners needed. The high priest who entered with blood needed an offering for himself as well as for the people. Christ entered as the sinless High Priest whose own offering was sufficient once for all:
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Hebrews 9:24
The mercy seat and its sprinkled blood, together with the veil and priesthood, pointed beyond themselves to Him. Jesus is the eternal Son, fully God and fully man. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, offering His own sinless life rather than an animal’s. Wicked men tortured His innocent body and crucified Him. His offering was complete when He shed His blood and died. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus; Father and Son remained united in redeeming us. He was buried and rose bodily from the dead.
Because of that offering, Paul tells believers they can now approach God with confidence:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.
Hebrews 10:19-20
An Israelite could not simply walk into the Most Holy Place, but a believer in Christ can draw near to the Father through Him. We do not have to produce another sacrifice or gain possession of something from the earthly sanctuary. The risen Christ appears before God for us as the true Priest whose sacrifice the earthly sanctuary foreshadowed.
I do not have to choose between reverence and confidence when I pray. God has not excused my sin as though it were harmless; He has provided the Savior whose blood cleanses me. My confidence rests on what Jesus has done, so approaching God humbly does not require acting as though His sacrifice might be insufficient.
Revelation 11:19 describes the ark of God’s covenant in the heavenly temple, in a vision that also announces judgment. It testifies to God’s covenant presence and faithfulness, but it does not give us a hiding place for the earthly ark. Our hope rests in the Lamb and the reality in heaven to which the earthly sanctuary pointed.
Coming to God through Christ is therefore more urgent than discovering the ark’s whereabouts. Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and His offer of salvation is genuine for every person. People can resist His grace and reject Him, but everyone who repents and believes is forgiven and born again. The Holy Spirit dwells within that believer and seals him for redemption, so his salvation is eternally secure in Christ.
That assurance gives us no permission to continue in lawlessness. Regeneration means someone has truly been born again, not merely started calling himself a Christian. His conduct should show evidence of the new life the Spirit has given him. Obedience neither earns nor keeps salvation, but being saved gives us reason to honor the Lord who has brought us near.
My Final Thoughts
I want to understand the ark without becoming so occupied with its whereabouts that I overlook what God has already told us. Israel could not use it to force a victory, and good intentions cannot excuse disregarding His instructions. Those warnings deserve to be taken seriously, but so does the access Christ has opened. His blood gives us reason to come to the Father with confidence and to worship Him according to His Word.
When God’s glory filled the tabernacle, even Moses could not enter. The God who chose to dwell among Israel remained holy, and His people had to approach Him on His terms. Christians often use the expression Shekinah glory for His presence made visibly known. The word itself came into use later, however, so we need to understand it through the passages it describes rather than attach it to any religious experience that impresses us.
A Later Word for God’s Dwelling Presence
Shekinah comes from later Jewish usage; it is not a word used in the biblical text. It is related to the Hebrew verb shakan, meaning to dwell, settle, or abide. When I use the term, I mean God making His dwelling presence known among His people. An emotional service or an unusual glow doesn’t establish that God has manifested His glory there.
The principal Old Testament word for glory, kavod, speaks of honor and splendor and is associated with the idea of weight. God’s glory reveals His worth and majesty. Cloud and light can make that glory visible, but the brightness cannot be separated from the holy God revealing Himself. He remains glorious when we see no sign at all.
God explained why Israel was to build a sanctuary:
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
Exodus 25:8
The Creator needed no tent to live in, and creation itself could not contain Him. He had already brought Israel out of Egypt by blood and power. Now the people He redeemed were to know His nearness and worship Him at the place He appointed, according to His Word.
God provided atonement, His way of dealing with His people’s sin, so they could approach Him. He prescribed the sanctuary’s design, including its altar, and established the sacrifices and priesthood. Israel was to worship according to His instructions, rather than approach the holy God on whatever terms they chose. The cleansing He required prepares us to understand why Christ’s blood is necessary to bring sinners near to Him.
Cloud and Fire Among a Redeemed People
Before the tabernacle was built, God was already leading Israel out of Egypt. Deliverance from Pharaoh did not make them their own masters. Their Redeemer directed the journey:
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 13:21-22
Scripture says the LORD Himself went before them. Moses hadn’t devised a symbol to keep the nation enthusiastic about the journey. God led them and protected them from Egypt’s army. As they traveled, they moved when the cloud moved and remained where they were when it rested. They had to follow His direction instead of deciding for themselves when to set out.
Moses’ face also shone after he spoke with the LORD on Mount Sinai. He came down carrying the tablets:
Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
Exodus 34:29
Moses didn’t know his face was shining. He hadn’t arranged a display to impress Israel, and the radiance did not make him divine. He was still a servant carrying God’s words. The people were afraid to approach him because his appearance reflected his communion with the God he served.
Later, when Israel completed the tabernacle according to God’s instructions, His glory filled it:
Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34-35
The man who had spoken with God on Sinai could not enter the tent. Familiarity with the LORD hadn’t given Moses control over this manifestation of His presence. Israel’s craftsmen had done the work God commanded, but their achievement wasn’t the reason the sanctuary was holy. God had chosen to dwell among them. The altar, priestly garments, and appointed worship all belonged to His service and had to be treated with reverence.
Temple Glory, Departing Glory, and Promised Return
When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the priests encountered something similar. They came out of the holy place, and the cloud filled the house:
And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
1 Kings 8:10-11
God’s glory stopped their ministry. The temple had been built for His worship, and His presence determined what could happen there. The priests could not continue their duties as though the building and its service belonged to them. God was confirming His faithfulness by dwelling in the place He had appointed.
Possessing that temple did not protect Israel from the repercussions of rebellion. In Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet was shown idolatry within the temple itself. Ezekiel 8:16 describes men with their backs toward the temple worshiping the sun. They had the building God had chosen while giving their worship to something He created.
Ezekiel then saw the glory depart in stages. In Ezekiel 9:3, it moved from the cherub to the temple threshold. In 10:18-19, it left the threshold and stood above the cherubim, which moved to the east gate. The departure continued beyond the city:
And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.
Ezekiel 11:23
Israel’s long history of worship could not conceal the idolatry God was judging. The people still had a temple and the forms of worship, but they had defiled what He called holy. I need to take that warning seriously when I am tempted to defend my conduct by pointing to years of religious activity. Knowing the language of worship doesn’t make disobedience acceptable.
The judgment was not the end of God’s purpose for Israel. Ezekiel 43:1-7 describes the glory of the God of Israel returning from the east and filling the future temple. I understand this as part of Israel’s promised restoration under the Messiah. We can learn from the earlier judgment without replacing Israel with the church in this promise. God had not abandoned His covenant purpose.
God’s Glory Revealed in Jesus Christ
God has already revealed His glory in Jesus Christ, even as we await the fulfillment of His future promises to Israel. John describes the eternal Word Himself becoming man:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The verb translated dwelt is skenoo, meaning to dwell or tabernacle. John’s wording recalls God’s dwelling among Israel, but he is describing the Son made flesh. Jesus is fully God and fully man. His compassion, truth, miracles, and perfect obedience reveal divine glory through a real human life. He is far more than another visible sign of God’s presence.
Jesus had already told His disciples about His coming suffering before the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John then saw His face shine like the sun and His clothes become white as light. Moses and Elijah appeared with Him.
Luke 9:30-31 records them discussing the “decease” He would accomplish at Jerusalem. The Greek word exodos means departure. Luke’s wording recalls the deliverance associated with Moses, and their conversation in glory concerned the death Jesus would face.
Peter suggested making three tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was speaking, the Father addressed them:
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Matthew 17:5
The disciples fell on their faces, greatly afraid, and Jesus came and touched them, telling them to get up without fear. When they looked, they saw Jesus alone. Moses and Elijah bore witness to Him as representatives of the Law and the Prophets. They were not His equals, and the Father directed the disciples to His beloved Son with a command to hear Him.
The One who would suffer was the Father’s beloved Son, entirely sinless. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured Him, shed His innocent blood, and put Him to death on a cross. The Father and Son were united in providing our redemption; the Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Christ completed His saving sacrifice through His shed blood and death before He was buried and rose bodily from the grave. His resurrection displays His victory over death; He came to save sinners, not merely astonish them.
He died for the whole world, and God’s genuine offer of salvation can be resisted. Everyone who repents and believes is forgiven and born again, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and eternally secure in Christ. God brings redeemed people near and makes them His own. That does not promise every believer a visible manifestation like the cloud that filled the sanctuary.
The Spirit’s Indwelling and God’s Final Dwelling
God now dwells in His people by the Holy Spirit. His presence doesn’t depend on whether the room seems to glow or a gathering feels extraordinary. The Spirit seals believers as God’s own, sanctifies them, and equips them to serve. To sanctify means to set apart for God; His work also changes how we live so that our conduct increasingly resembles Christ’s. Gifts are given to serve the church, not make the person receiving them seem spiritually superior.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16
Paul addresses the congregation in the plural. The church is God’s temple, so the divisions among them threatened something that belonged to Him. They were forming factions around teachers instead of recognizing that they belonged to Christ together. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul applies temple language to the individual believer’s body while confronting sexual immorality. His warnings against division and sexual immorality rest on the same truth: the Holy Spirit dwells among His church and within the believer.
Paul also returns to Moses’ shining face in 2 Corinthians 3. The old covenant’s visible glory was real, but it belonged to a ministry that was passing away. Christ brings the surpassing glory of the new covenant, with the Spirit transforming His people from within. Paul isn’t dismissing visible glory as false. He is explaining the greater work accomplished through Christ.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
The veil is removed in Christ, and believers behold the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces. This transformation takes place over time; it doesn’t mean believers become sinlessly perfect in this life. As we receive His Word, the Spirit exposes what we need to confess and teaches us to obey. If I have lied to someone, I need to confess it and begin dealing honestly with him. A moving worship service won’t spare me that uncomfortable conversation. The Spirit’s work changes how I actually live.
His present work also gives us reason to look ahead. God intends to dwell with His redeemed people forever, and Revelation describes the fulfillment of that purpose:
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
Revelation 21:3
We need to distinguish this final dwelling from the future temple Ezekiel describes. Revelation 20 records Christ’s thousand-year reign, while Revelation 21 describes the new heaven and new earth that follow the final judgment. In the New Jerusalem, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. The city needs neither sun nor moon because God’s glory illuminates it and the Lamb is its light. Sin and death will be gone, and His glory will never depart.
Until then, we can listen to Christ and receive His correction with confidence that He has made us His own. The Spirit teaches us to speak truthfully, serve humbly, and love others. He also strengthens us to endure suffering. A lack of visible signs doesn’t mean He has abandoned the people He sealed. His work becomes evident as we learn to obey Christ even when doing so is difficult.
For related studies, see Doors in Heaven, The Person of the Holy Spirit, and The Star of Bethlehem.
My Final Thoughts
I find Shekinah useful when it describes God’s dwelling presence according to Scripture. I don’t want the term to become a way of giving divine authority to a feeling or an atmosphere. The God who dwelt among Israel revealed His glory most clearly in His Son, and His Spirit now dwells in believers. We can receive His correction and trust His care while looking forward to the day when He will dwell with His people forever.
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.
