Bible Question: WAS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ACTUALLY A PREINCARNATE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST. |
Bible Answer: This is the most commonly held view of the Angel of the Lord -- that he was the Preincarnate form of our Lord Jesus. There are several reasons for this. One is that there is no mention of the appearance of the Son prior to his incarnation, and so the assumption that he was the Angel of the Lord answers the question, "Then what was his involvement prior to the incarnation?" Secondly, there are numerous references identifying "The Angel of the Lord" as being "The Lord" himself. It is hard to come away from an honest reading of the following verses wtih any other conclusion -- Gen. 16:1-13; 22:11f; Ex. 3:1-4:17; Judges 13:17-22; Zechariah 3:3. He is repeatedly referred to as, "The Lord, and seeing him is repeatedly equated with seeing God -- yet those who see him do not immediately die. The Angel of the Lord appears only in the Old Testament, and the Son appears only in the new (although he is mentioned in the Old). If they are separate, it is odd that they are never mentioned together; this would also add a fourth person to what we call the Trinity, and it would seem odd that the fourth person be left out in Matthew 28:19 while the other Three are all mentioned. For these and other reasons, the most logical and widely accepted conclusion is that the Angel of the Lord is indeed the preincarnate Christ. |