The "Angel Of The Lord"

Again, thank you for the for the gift Martha night. We appreciate it. We love y'all. I love being here. And like I said, if it's not pink, I'll be back next Sunday if it is paying, I may come back. Anyway, I may come back anyway, and I appreciate the generous gift that that we're going to give to the tornado victims. I know that they're hurting. And because of covid in different things, you know, we just kind of been paying her bills here. We had to spend a lot of money in the last year-and-a-half because of everything, you know, going on. And I also we felt like that, you know, that's something that we could afford and that it would be a generous gift and I'm sure it's going to be used. We going to give it through the Baptist on Mission and 100% of it. Will go to the disaster relief. So that's good to know that. Also because sometimes you give money you don't know how much of it goes we're but this we know where it is going. So we appreciate that. We have Christmas next Saturday. So we look forward to that. And today. We want to continue and I are series on angels and I think I have there. It is, Angels Messengers from God. And today, the title of this message is the Angel of the Lord, and I noticed a little subtitle underneath God's revelation of himself. So, you know, on on Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ. This was, this is not a celebration of a unique, human born into existence. Christmas is a celebration. Of God becoming, man. That's what we celebrate God, becoming man in the person, of course, of his son, Jesus Christ. So if someone were to ask you, well. When did Jesus begin? What would you say? Well, I'm people would say what he began in Bethlehem when he was born. That's that's where he was born. But the Bible tells us that Jesus has existed eternally. I think about that for a moment. If Christ is God, then he must be Eternal. Since one of the foundational attributes of God is his eternality. So if God is eternal, which we would all say he is, if Jesus Is God, then Jesus has to be Eternal. So today, we celebrate his birth. But what I want us to look at today, it's something entirely different. Let's celebrate his eternality that he is eternal. You see, he was God In the Flesh. Jesus was the son of God, but he was also God, the son. I think about that. He was the son of God in Bethlehem. But he's also God, the son with me, that he is God, if that is not true. There's no such thing as the Trinity or the Eternal Trinity. That's not true. Jesus Christ. Cannot be God because God is eternal. And if Jesus is not Eternal, then Jesus is not God in scripture. Because what did he say? In scripture? If you seen me, you've seen the father? I and the father are one in the Book of Job. So he claimed to be God. So this pre-existence of Christ. That's what this doctor is called. Well, it just can't. It can't be optional to those of us who believe the Bible because it's a doctor in this talk frequently and you see it everywhere in scripture. So, I want to ask this question since Jesus has existed eternally.

Where was he and what was he doing before he came to be born in Bethlehem?

What what I mean, what was he doing? I mean we know he was born in Bethlehem for what was he doing all the ages before? What was he doing? Well, that's the focus of this message today. That's the focus. What Jesus was doing, not every single moment, but I'm going to give you a partial answer today. You see in the Old Testament. There was an angel. Who would come from time to time and he seemed to be different from all the other Angels, you know, we, we studying so far a lot about angels who they were or what they were and where they come from. Gabriel Michael. We talked about that, we talked about Satan, we talked about demons. We've talked everything Angels. But today we going to study at Angel this different, he's different than all the others. The Bible calls him, the angel of the Lord and I noticed that it doesn't say an angel of the Lord is the Angel of the Lord characteristics that he are because this Old Testament angel. Of the Lord is a manifestation of God himself. He speaks his God. He identify himself with God and he claims the prerogative of God. So here's what I want to do. I want to give you five or six instances in the Bible where the angel of the Lord shows up. And what we going to see is this Angel of the Lord is a manifestation, a revelation of God, and I believe that this angel. Is Jesus Christ in the Old Testament? I'm not going to. Have you turned all these? We going to put these scriptures up on the be. So the first, the first point, is this the angel of the Lord. and, The angel of the Lord and Hagar we see this in Genesis chapter 16. So you remember the story when Abraham and Sarah God come to them said well, I'm going to get in both of us about a hundred years old and they laughed it off that. Well, that's that's funny that will never happen where I wear over the age of a child birth. How in the world we going to have a son where he said he's going to give him a fun and they wait and wait and wait and they don't have a son. All right. And then what do they do? Well, they come up with a plan and Sarah says Abraham. Look, I'm too old. Here's what you need to do. I have a little handmade here. Her name is Hagar. And what you need to do is you need to be intimate with her and you need to have a child through her. That's the way God is going to give us our child. Well, of course that happened. We know that. And then it happened in Abraham fathered this child, and the child's name was Ishmael. And then all the sudden you can about know what happened between Sarah and Hagar all of a sudden conflict arose in the family. And if they both hated each other, and on two occasions Hagar ended up in the wilderness out of Sarah site because she threw her out of the home. So, all Hagar had was herself a little handmade. And this little boy, and swallow Hagar was removed from Sarah site. One thing we need to understand this morning and it's something John is probably already mentioned. Sometimes we may be removed from the side of others. Others May want us gone. You may be kicked out. You may be let down. You may be out of their sight, but you're never out of the side of God. And that's why I don't care who you are. I don't care what people do your mother and father May throw you out. You are never out of the sight of God and we see that in Genesis 16 verse 10 and Watch What Happens here? Then here he is. The Angel of the Lord said to her, that this is Hagar out in the wilderness. I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude. So this is very close to the message that God gave Abraham concerning his future and that she meditated upon this here. She is out the wellness by herself or just for a little baby from X. His descendants. That's what he did. Because they smell, that's where the Palestinians come from. And there's always war between the Jewish people and the Palestinians. And it all started with this little boy by the name of Ishmael. It all came from Ishmael the Palestine and and then, of course, Isaac, the Jews, so that's where all the conflict started right here. And the Lord said there, he said, don't you worry. He said I'm going to bless this boy and I'm on a multiply his descendants and he did. Didn't he? He multiplied The Descendants. Well, she realized that so much greater than an angel. That this Angel was God himself and look what she said in verse 13. Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. Now. You notice it was the angel of the Lord. She said, then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are The God Who C4. She said, have. I also here? Seen him. Who sees me. Well, if you go on and look to the next verse, I didn't put it up there. She called the place beer like a Rollie and that and that means the God who sees she found out then. No matter how down, and how much she think the world was caving in that. There's a God who sees her. The other people may not later on Sarah banished Hagar back to the desert. Again. That's in Genesis chapter 21 Hagar had run out of water. She was out in the wilderness and you put the little boy under a shrub bush and she said, I'm going to put him here to allow him to die here. Cuz she thought both of them was going to die and all the sudden, the little boy, start crying. She starts crying and look what happens in Genesis 21 and verse 17.

It's a delay this morning. That's okay. I may not finish in 30 minutes this morning. It's a delight. There we go. Now Watch What Happens?

That's okay. And God heard the voice. It says of the lad. Then the angel of God, there it is again, call to Hagar out of heaven and said to her what ails you Hagar fear? Not for God, has heard the voice of the lad where he is, aren't you? Glad that God not only sees you but he hears you when you cry out. You may not know that but you're crying and you're and you're going through something in life. These exactly what you're going through and he hears you, he sees your tears. He hears your prayers. That's who God is and Hagar understood that, and he heard the child voice and it says, the angel of God spoke to her from Heaven. One who that is, that is right wonder, who that is speaking to her from helping. So that's the angel of the Lord, and Hagar. We see how he performed in her life number to look at the angel of the Lord and Abraham. Now, the Lord said, I'm going to give you a son, Abraham and he did. If I'm a size and Isaac grew up, and he was probably remember what the Lord asked Abraham to do with Isaac. He asked him to sacrifice him. Now if I would have been may I say, okay, wait a minute. You told me I was going to have a son on a hundred years old. I did it my own way to work out. But you did give me a sign and now your text you're saying you're going to take him from me. You want me to sacrifice the Sun that you going to bless the world through? This certainly does not make sense. But Abraham abay. He went up there on the mountain. He put him on the Altar and he had the knife up like this. And look what happened in Genesis 22, 11 and 12. But who is it again? It's the angel of the Lord. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said everham Abraham, so he said here I am.

It's coming. I feel it. He called him from Heaven. He said Abraham. He says, Here. I Am Lord. What is it that you want me to do? And I think it's coming.

That's okay. That's all I got it. There it is. And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him for. Now. I know that you fear God since you have not withheld, your son, your only son. From me and I want you to look at something here. The angel of the Lord From Heaven. Say, Do not lay your hand on the lap. How would we know that this Angel of the Lord is God. Look at the last word in that Center. Why is that capitalized? You don't capitalize pronouns like that. Not less they're divine. Not left. That is God himself speaking in the person of Jesus. You have not withheld, your son, your only son from capital M. The right. That's that's a Divine pronoun, right there. This is God. Speaking. And so Abraham receives his word as if he's receiving the God. And he is because the angel of the Lord is God. Number 3. Let's move on Down the Line a little bit. We booked at Hagar and Abraham. Now, let's look at the angel of the Lord, and Jacob. Will you remember Jacob after he had been defrauded by his uncle Laban for about 14 years. Jacob had a dream instructing him to return to his homeland and to his father Isaac and in Genesis 31. Jacob is telling his wives about a dream that he had with this type of angelic and divine being in. This is what Jacob says. In Genesis 31 11 through 13 in the angel of God. There it is. Again spoke to me in a dream saying Jacob and I said here I am. And he said, lift your eyes now and see all the rounds with sleeve on the fox. Our streaks back old and gray. Spotty for I have seen, all that Laban is doing to you. And then he verse 13.

Yes, I know what it. It's coming.

There it is. I am the god of Bethel where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow, there it is again to pronoun me capitalized. Now a ride get out of this man and return to the land of your family. And one of the last things that Jacob did before he died. We remember, he blessed is 12 sons. And he also gave his Blessing to Jose up. And if you go back and read that in Genesis, he always talked. He talked about God. And the angel as though, they were the same person, which they were Angel of the Lord is God, number for The angel of the Lord and Moses. Now. Remember when God said out the call Moses into the ministry. He made sure that Moses was going to have an experience that he would never forget and we read about it and Exodus chapter 3 and let's look at that. Now, 3, 1 through 60 W. It's not Moses was tending. Michael Jethro is fall off the priest of Midian and he led the plot to the back of the desert changing Horeb, the Mountain of God. Now, what's going to happen? And here he is the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush of a burning bush. Who appeared to him in the midst of the fire. The angel of the Lord? So he looked and behold the Bush was burning with fire, but the Bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush does not burn how in the world can this bush be on fire but is not burning up. Who was it? Again? That called to him, Angel of the Lord, Angel of the Lord? Now look. So when do not find you. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look. God Called to him, Lord God, and Angel of the Lord, the same from the midst of the Bush that says Moses Moses. And he said, here, I am. Then he said, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals, off your feet for the place where you stand is Holy Ground. Moreover. He said, I am the god of your father, the god of Abraham, the god, of Isaac, the god of Jacob, and Moses hit his face. When he was afraid to look upon who the angel of the Lord know who God. Angel of the lord, lord, and God all in the same place here. So, mostly tried to get a closer look and God spoke to him, and immediately Moses knew who he was dealing with, he knew that he had come face-to-face with God, the angel of the Lord was God, himself. Well, number 5. The angel of the Lord and the children of Israel. Now, do you remember?

The children of Israel making their escape from Egypt and they were kind of entering what you would call Uncharted Territory. But God arranged the kind of an unusual method of direction for his people. He's God told me that I'm going to lead you. And this is how I'm going to lead you, and the Lord went before them by day and a pillar of cloud. So he let him buy cloud. The lead the way and by night and a pillar of fire to give them life. So as to go by day and night so he led them, the Lord did buy a cloud during the daytime in a pillar of fire at night. Where we go over to chapter 14 and it said that the angel of the Lord went before, Israel moved them and went behind them, the pillar of cloud. But then an exodus 23, we're told something else and I want you to look at this very careful. Exodus 23:20 and 21. He says, behold, I send an angel before you enjoy the Lord. They keep you in the way and to bring you into the place, which I have prepared to watch this. But we're of him, speaking of Angel of the Lord and obey his voice. Do not provoke him. For he will not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him. When did when did An Angel ever pardoned, a transgression, when did the angel ever an angel? Can't forgive sins? You never find in the Bible. Where Angels, how I forgive you or do that? Would look what he says here. Don't provoke him. Cuz if you do, he will not pardon your transgressions will who's only one that can forgive sins. Angel of the Lord is the Lord. He's got. That's who he is. No ordinary Angel. Neither the old or new testament ever associated with the forgiveness of sin. This Angel is unique. He's the angel of the Lord will a couple more and we'll be finished.

Number 6, the angel of the Lord. And the pre incarnate Christ. So this is what I want to talk about. Now. All these things experiences that we've looked at present the picture of an angel. That is an angel that Cut Above any of the angel that we studied in this book. And that's why I believe this Angel is the preincarnate. Before he was born in this world Christ. He, it was the appearance of the second person of the Trinity long before he became flesh in Bethlehem. Now, the Bible says that no man has seen God and lived referring to God the Father. Well, the third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. You can't see him either, cuz the Bible says, he's like, the wind can't see the wind, see the trees blowing, but you can't see the wind. You can't see the father God, the father. If you did. You'd I can't say the holy spirit because he's like, the wind, but Jesus Christ was seen my people. Why? Because he was born in the flesh. He became, man. He was the revelation of God to who Humanity in flesh and blood. And I believe he was seen by the Old Testament Saints before he was ever born into this world in Bethlehem. And let me give you another reason why I think it's Jesus Christ. Did you know, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem that you never again read about a person seeing the angel of the Lord. Always before his birth Never After. so, Impala seems to point to Jesus being the angel of the Lord. Look what he says in 1st Corinthians 10:4, the Old Testament Saints and I'll drink. The same spiritual drink for. They drink of that spiritual rock that followed them Cloud pillow, fire pillar Cloud. They all drink from the spiritual rock, that followed them, and that rock was Christ. That's the one who was following These Old Testament saying and leading them. So, what is this called, this? What we've been talking about today, Christ appearing in the Old Testament. It's called a theophany. That's the theological term for it's from a compound Greek. Word Fiat means god in fantasy, so mean to appear or to become visible. In other words. It is God becoming visible info. A theophany is a revelation of God, unveiling of God, the angel of the Lord, in the Old Testament, was a revelation or appearance of God himself, probably in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're talkin about today. So let's close and say it is well, how about the angel of the Lord and us? In our own day. Well, we are blessed in our day. Because we have been the recipients of two of God's greatest Revelations of himself. Jesus Christ who came to this earth as man and also the word of God, I think about these Old Testament Saints. They didn't have the completion of the scripture. They were incomplete and Jesus had not yet, come, but in God's loving nature. He penetrated the darkness of the Old Testament days with occasional Revelations of himself, through the angel of the Lord. That's how he showed people in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ, and I want you to notice that these business where they weren't random. Matter fact. Every time the angel of the Lord showed up. It was always a turning point in history. Just think about Hagar yes, Ishmael the Palestinians that we know today, Bank of Abraham think of Jacob think of Moses. When it was a turning point in history, slow as wonderful as these older Testament. Appearances of Christ may have been the most wonderful at all. It's when God appeared in Flash in Bethlehem. You see what I want you to see is These Old Testament, pictures of the Angel of the Lord appear in all, it is is pointing to a day when God would fully reveal himself in his son, Jesus Christ, and that's what we celebrate this morning. You see, when God revealed himself in the Old Testament. Through the angel of the Lord, that was never salvation in that Revelation. It was always comforting. Someone leading someone showing someone what I want you to do, but it was never salvation. You see, salvation cannot come. From an angel. We need a man. We need a person and that person was Jesus Christ. He had to become one of us and he's with us and he came and the word. The name Emmanuel means what god with us. And that's what happened when he was born. So when we studied Angel of the Lord were given a preview of the spirit and Ministry of Jesus Christ. And let's close what Isaiah said again. Old Testament Prophet. Look at what Isaiah said. And he said this and all their affliction, He was afflicted and the angel of his presence. Speaking of the Angel of the Lord, save them in his love and in his pity. He redeem them Angels, don't save angels, Don't redeem one dead. And that was Jesus Christ, and he bore them and carry them all the days of old friend. The angel of the Lord is none other than Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, let's pray. Father. We thank you today for your word. We thank you for this as we celebrate the birth of your son. We're so thankful. That Jesus Christ is the only savior this world will ever know what. Lord, we are thankful this morning also. The Christ is eternal that before he was ever born in Bethlehem. He made appearances in the Old Testament, Lord. He has been with you from the beginning just as the Holy Spirit Lord, sometimes it's hard for us to wrap our minds and hearts around such deep teaching, but Lord. Thank you for showing us this morning. That our savior is from Everlasting to Everlasting. There's never been a moment when he was not father. I pray that everyone here today would have a wonderful Christmas week. Wonderful, Christmas as we celebrate your birth and Lord. I just pray that you would bring us all back here. Safely next Sunday, force in Christ's name. I pray. Amen.