Jesus in the Old Testament

Why This Investigation?

If you were to talk to a Jewish person and attempt to prove the divine origin of Jesus, you would have to do it from the Old Testament. The study of the Angel of Yahweh is the source material for this.

Is the Trinity taught in the Old Testament? The study of the Angel of Yahweh is the evidence for the doctrine of the trinity, or at least two persons who are both God, one whom you can see and live and one whom you cannot see and live.

Many cults get the person of Jesus completely wrong and this study helps to set the facts straight:

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus’ origin was a created angel, Michael.

Mormon’s believe that all of us pre-existed our birth like Jesus and that Satan and Jesus are spirit brothers (including us). The only real difference is that Jesus is many years ahead of us.

No one has seen the Father except the Son

As explains, no one has seen God at any time, except God, the unique One who is at the Father’s side—He has made Him known. reiterates, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One that is from God; He has seen the Father.” In , we understand that God dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see.

1 Timothy 6:16 NASB95

who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

John 1:18 NASB95

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 6:46 NASB95

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

John 6:46 NASB95

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

John 1:18 NASB95

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

1 Timothy 6:16 NASB95

who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

In fact, according to , Moses cannot see God’s face as no one can see His face and live! We will need to remember this encounter as it forms the basis for many (though not all) people’s reactions when they believe they have seen God.

Exodus 33:18–20 NASB95

Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

Jesus Sets Aside His Glory From Before the Creation of the World

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer which He makes in , He speaks of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. We also know from that Jesus existed in the form of God but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men.

John 17:24 NASB95

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

God and Creation

In we find that unlike in Chapter 1, God is interacting with His creation, forming man from the dust of the ground and breathing the breath of life into His nostrils (), planting a garden (), and taking the man and placing him in this garden (). He formed every beast from the ground and brought them to the man (), and fashioned a woman from flesh from the side of the man (). After the fall of the man and the woman, we read “they heard the sound of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh Elohim among the trees” (). God then speaks to the man and woman and they speak back.

Everything in these passages indicates that God appears in a form that can walk, touch, breathe, see and speak. This form always speaks and acts in the first person as God and gives no indication it is an ordinary angel.

The Angel of Yahweh (AOY)

The appearances to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar

In , the AOY finds Hagar as she flees from the presence of Sarai who was mistreating her. In the AOY speaks in the first person and says, “I will greatly multiply your descendants...” Hagar responds by calling the name of Yahweh who speaks to her, “You are a God who sees... Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (). So clearly, the understanding that no one can see God was there even before Moses.

Three men appear to Abraham, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “My Lord.” He doesn’t speak to all three but to one whom he appears to recognize. All three of them ate, demonstrating they were not disembodied spirits (Jesus eats a piece of fish and has his disciples put their hands into his wounds to demonstrate He was not a spirit, see ).

Genesis 18:22 NASB95

Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

While the two angels went to Sodom, Abraham stood before Yahweh and questions Him to ensure that what He was about to do was right. Abraham’s concern was that God should not punish the righteous along with the wicked, so he keeps asking to see what God’s limits were before He would destroy the entire city ().

In , the men of Sodom refer to the two who came from Abraham as men. As a gesture of grace, they tell Lot that whoever belongs to him in the city should be brought out so that they might be spared. The sons-in-law didn’t listen, the wife longed for the city which she left and looked back (and was turned to a pillar of salt) and Lot’s daughters got him drunk and had sex with him. So even the best that remained from Sodom was still a mess. The angels even had to bring Lot out because the matter was urgent.

Genesis 19:24 NASB95

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven,

Notice that Yahweh sent fire and brimstone from Yahweh out of heaven! Two persons both identified as Yahweh!

The Angel of Yahweh at Mount Moriah

In when Abraham was about to slay his one and only son on Mount Moriah was stopped by the AOY who spoke from heaven:

Genesis 22:12 NASB95

He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Notice that the AOY says that Abraham didn’t withold his son from Him. Another peculiar thing is that the angel says, ‘now I know that you fear God’. The AOY goes on to bless Abraham in .

The Angel of Yahweh appears to Moses in a Burning Bush

, ,

The AOY appears in the burning bush and God speaks from the midst of the bush. God identifies himself by the term “I Am that I Am”. Moses is afraid to look at God.

The Angel of Yahweh appears to the people at Bochim (which means weepers)

In , the AOY ‘came up’ from Gilgal to Bochim and tells the people that He brought them out of Egypt and led them into the land which He swore to their fathers. He also says that they have not obeyed Him (in the first person). The Israelites sacrifice to Him there.

An Angel to Guard the Israelites and Bring them into the Land

In , God speaks and says that He will send ‘an angel’ — but this is not any ordinary angel, for they are to “be on guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him” (). Notice in God says, “You shall serve Yahweh your Elohim, and He will bless your bread and your water and I will remove sickness from your midst”!

The Appearance to Moses

When ascending Mount Sinai the second time after the first tablets were broken, Yahweh descends in the cloud and ‘stood there with him’ as Moses calls upon the name of Yahweh (). Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and proclaimed His name to Moses (). In , Moses asks the Lord to let the Lord go along in their midst. When Moses descends the mountain with the two tablets, his face shone because of his speaking with God (, ).

Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent (, ).

It will be said that Yahweh is in the midst of the people and is seen ‘eye to eye’ while His cloud stands over them, and He goes before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night ().

The Appearance to Gideon

Judges 6:11–27 NASB95

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. “Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.” Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

This account is from . In verse 12, the AOY appears to Gideon and speaks about Yahweh in the third person. Why this difference? But in verse 14, we read “Yahweh looked at him and said, ‘Go…have I not sent you?’” It appears that we as the readers know something about this angel that Gideon isn’t yet aware of. When the AOY repeats again that He will be with him, Gideon starts to recognize who He is but is not yet completely sure, so he asks for a sign that it is the AOY. He goes to prepare an offering and lays it before the AOY and He touched the offering with the end of His staff and fire sprang up from the rock, then the AOY vanished. At this, Gideon realizes that he has seen the AOY face-to-face (). And thinking that because of this he would die, the AOY responds, ‘you shall not die.’

The Appearance to Samson’s Parents

This account is from . The AOY appears to Manoah’s wife. In verse 6, when she tells her husband, she says that ‘the man of God’ who appeared to her was like the appearance of the ‘angel of God, very awesome.’ She acknowledges that she didn’t confirm His identity, nor did He tell her His name, so evidently she wasn’t sure. The second time the AOY appeared, He appeared to the woman, so she gets her husband and the AOY doesn’t say anything new, but says “let her observe all that I commanded” (not a third person reference to God).

When Manoah asks to prepare an offering for Him, the AOY will not accept it. Why doesn’t He accept this offering? But the AOY says to offer it to Yahweh. Then we get the answer… “For Manoah did not know that it was the AOY” (). Then Manoah asks for His name, but the AOY says, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” (). This is very strange. At the offering, the AOY ascended in the flame and didn’t appear again. Then they knew it was the AOY and Manoah was afraid that he would die because, “we have seen God” ().

The Appearance to Jacob

This account is from . Jacob wrestles with a man and prevails. The man tells Jacob that he has striven with God and men and have prevailed. Similar to Manoah, Jacob asks His name and the response is the same, “Why do you ask my name?” Jacob reflects, “I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life has been preserved” (). So in case we were wondering what is meant by face-to-face, now it is crystal clear as Jacob wrestled with Him.

Hosea 12:4–5 NASB95

Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us, Even the Lord, the God of hosts, The Lord is His name.

The Appearance to Samuel

This account is in . In verse 1 we read that the word from Yahweh was rare in those days, and then “visions were infrequent.” Looking back on this it appears to be referring to the appearances of The Word. Yahweh calls to Samuel in verse 4, but it sounds to him like Eli calling. This happens three times before Samuel responds to Yahweh. says that Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, “nor had the word of Yahweh been revealed to him.” In verse 10, Yahweh came and stood and called Samuel as at other times.

The Appearance to Joshua

This account is in . A man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in His hand. When Joshua asked Him which side He was on, He said neither and that He has come as “captain of the host of Yahweh”. Joshua then realizing this was the AOY, fell on his face to the ground and bowed down. This worship was not corrected by the AOY like in ,:

Revelation 22:6 NASB95

And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

Revelation 22:9 NASB95

But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”

Revelation 22:8–9 NASB95

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”