Who was The Angel of the Lord? (Animation)

you're feeling this video is going to be just as controversial as the Melchizedek one I released not long ago you don't have to read far into the Bible to come across these beings called Angels the word in Hebrew translates to my luck meaning messenger but among many Angel appearances there seems to be one that is different from the rest there's this figure called the angel of the Lord whose name appears over 60 times in the Old Testament and we often gloss over his name without a second thought in fact he makes an appearance in some

of the most well-known Bible passages of all time the reason he stands out is because sometimes when he appears he claims to be God himself we're gonna dive into some of the most mind-boggling stories in the Old Testament but at the end I'm going to share with you a few New Testament verses that offer a very interesting perspective on the answer to the question who is the Angel of the Lord first let me pose the three most plausible theories of his identity the first is that he's a high-ranking Angelic being from Heaven the second is

that he's an appearance of God the father on earth and the third is that is an appearance of Christ the sun on Earth I think you'll find that every single one of these stories is a crucial puzzle piece in the mystery of the Angel of the Lord starting in Genesis 16 with the story of Hagar she's a runaway slave who's pregnant and on the brink of death when the angel of the Lord found her this is the first time the title is mentioned in scripture and what he says to her is very interesting I will

surely multiply your offer spring so that they cannot be numbered so the messenger of Yahweh claims to multiply her Offspring in the same way that God the Father claimed to would multiply Abraham's offspring in the very next chapter however the twist comes in verse 11 of Genesis 16 when the angel of the Lord says because the Lord has listened to your afflictions separating himself from the Lord but from Hagar's perspective she was convinced that she had encountered God on that day so in the very first passage about the angel of the Lord he claims Authority

is similar to God in multiplying Nations but in the same conversation addresses the Lord as a separate identity you'll notice this is a recurring pattern in his appearances and I believe it's the key to unlocking this mystery just after his encounter with Melchizedek Abraham has his own share of visits from the angel of the Lord in these encounters we learned so much about the man in question in Genesis 18 3 visitors appear to Abraham and he shares a meal with them they declare that Sarah his wife will have a son by this time next year

but catch this verse 10 says the Lord said compare that to the start of verse 9. they said has the person whose talking changed well if you think that's confusing wait till you hear these verses verse 17 starts with the Lord said but then the Lord goes on to say to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and Justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him do you see what just happened some theories say the three men could have been Angelic beings one of them being the angel

of the Lord in fact he was the Lord but when he he speaks again he talks of the Lord as a separate entity to himself saying that the Lord may bring to Abraham what the Lord promised him but we're not done with Abraham yet we've got to look at his famous Act of Faith in Genesis 22 because believe it or not the person who stopped Abraham from slaying his son was none other than the angel of the Lord this is really interesting so before Abraham even went up the mountain God called him and he responded

here I am and when the angel of the Lord called him he responded here I am once again this seems to be a recurring theme that we'll pick up on as we continue through then the angel of the Lord says do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son your only son from me upon breaking this verse down we find the same pattern as the previous passages the angel separates himself from God then claims to be God

the one who received the Sacrifice from Isaac and believe it or not the pattern is repeated again in verse 16. by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this and have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you now we come to Jacob who also was visited by the angel of the Lord in Genesis 31 the angel appears to Jacob in a dream to which he responds the same way Abraham answered the Lord previously here I am then the angel of the Lord claims to be the god

of Bethel the god of Bethel is a reference to Jacob's encounter with God when he was at Bethel in which he said to Jacob I am the Lord the god of your father Abraham and the god of Isaac this appearance has no strings attached the angel of the Lord is confirming that he is the god of Abraham Jacob has other encounters with God but we must look now at Exodus because Moses encounter with God through the burning bush in chapter 3 was actually the angel of the Lord the angel calls to him saying Moses Moses

and how does Moses respond here I am and immediately the angel reveals in verse 6 I am the god your father the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob and Moses hides his face from the Flaming bush that's two appearances in a row where the angel of the Lord plainly states that he is God and it's not the last in judges 2 there's another appearance of the Angel of the Lord and this time he's traveling on Earth and he claims he is responsible for bringing the Israelites up out of Egypt

and that he swore to give the promised land to Abraham himself although not clearly calling himself God here he doesn't separate himself from God either this next appearance is eerily familiar to when the three men visited Abraham because in judges 6 11 the angel of the Lord sits under a terabith tree and speaks with Gideon a man who was making food in secret out of fear of his oppressive midianite enemies this is a perplexing conversation but essentially what happens is the Angel of the Lord initiates but it then switches to the Lord speaking as we

saw in the three visitors story then after Gideon brings out some food it switches back to the angel of the Lord so it seems that either the speaker changes halfway through or they're the same person top it all off the angel of the Lord ignites the meat with his staff and disappears then Gideon says alas O Lord God for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face Gideon must have read his Torah and figured out this Angel of the Lord character is no normal angel skip ahead a few more generations and

we meet Samson's parents his mother saw the angel of the Lord and told her husband it was a man of God now this is interesting because Manoa her husband prayed to the Lord and asked him to send the man of God to them again and God agreed by the sounds of their conversation they thought he was just a man of God until they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and when the flame went up towards heaven from the altar the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar then Manoa realizes and

says we shall surely die for we have seen God we get that response again of fear when the conversation ends the person realizes they've been talking to God now let's see if we can piece together this Mystery by starting with the special Angel Theory this is the weakest of the three because of the many times the angel of the Lord claimed to be God or claimed credit for God's work but there is an argument based on a Jewish concept called Shalia the law of agency now I'm no expert but from what I understand that Shalia

is a legal relation between a messenger and a sender some will argue that the messenger when sent is under a binding contract that gives them authority to speak on behalf of the sender to apply that to the angel of the Lord they would say the angel is simply a messenger of God speaking on behalf of God's Authority however I couldn't find much evidence for the messenger's Authority in Jewish law and it seems like it's moving away from what scripture actually says now here is where it gets interesting let's talk about God the Father we call

it a theophany when God makes an Earthly appearance and some argue that the angel of the Lord is God the father but naturally the biggest objections are the times he refers to the Lord as a separate entity the following passages in particular how can God the Father say the words in Genesis 18 19 especially when you consider Isaiah 42 8 I am the Lord that is my name my glory I give to no other nor my praise to carved Idols not only that but it seems Yahweh has appeared in other forms to humans before but

none of them were accompanied with this title the angel of the Lord there are some passages that this Theory would absolutely apply to such as those who are the angel explicitly says he's God but we can't apply it to all his appearances the final theory is that Jesus Christ the son was the angel of the Lord the New Testament gives us incredible Insight regarding the complexity of God's nature otherwise known as the Trinity now is when I want to share with you these mind-blowing verses from the New Testament John 8 18 reads I am one

who testifies for myself my other witness is the father who sent me Jesus is sent from the father with a message making him a messenger John 17 6 in the ESV Jesus says I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world Jesus is the manifestation of God to humans John 1 18 says no one has ever seen God the only God who is at the father's side has made him known no one has seen God not in the Old Testament or the New Testament but Jesus has made him

known to mankind Micah 5 verse 2 albeit an Old Testament passage is predicting the Messiah and says from you shall come to me one who is to be the ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from old from ancient days meaning that the Messiah is coming but has already been and to top it all off John 8 58 Jesus made this powerful declaration before the Jews before Abraham was I am these are powerful verses that seem to say that Jesus is the representative The Chosen messenger responsible for revealing God to all Humanity and consider how

Jesus spoke to God the father he constantly referred to his father as God and then makes claims that he himself is God as well in a very similar fashion to the angel of the Lord not to mention the angel of the Lord doesn't appear a single time after Jesus is born if we replace the angel of the Lord with Jesus in these passages he would seamlessly fit in virtually every one of them but whether Jesus God or an angel the angel of the Lord is proof of God's immense love for his Fallen creation despite turning

away and rejecting him he continued to visit our world in grace and mercy until the day he sent his son to cleanse us of our wretched sin once and for all since then we as Believers have been able to approach the throne of grace with boldness because of the powerful sacrifice made by the father of his son if you don't believe in Jesus I want to urge you to seriously consider why not because God has done all the work to redeem you you just need to come to him as you are foreign