INDEX FOR THIS SECTION
1. JESUS APPEARED OVER 200 TIMES TO ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT; WHAT FORM DID HE TAKE?
2. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS GOD. WAS THIS JESUS?
3. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT LOOKED LIKE A MAN.
4. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE WORSHIPED.
5. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD MADE COVENANTS WITH ABRAHAM, ETC.
6. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS ISRAEL’S PROTECTOR.
7. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS NOT THE FATHER GOD.
8. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD PRESENTED MODELS OF ISRAEL’S FUTURE INVOLVING JESUS.​
9. THE CLENCHER - THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID HE WOULD RETURN TO EARTH AND LIVE AMONG MEN.

WAS JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? WHO WAS HE? WHAT ROLE DID HE PLAY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?
Many current and historical Bible scholars, dating back to the 1st century, have concluded that the angel of the LORD in the Old Testament was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus the Christ. Some of the sources that I regularly use that have come to this conclusion include Ed Hindson of Liberty University, Ron Rhodes of Reasoning from the Scriptures, C. I. Schofield in his study Bible, Chuck Missler of Koinonia House, the Nelson Bible Dictionary and others. I understand that some 1st century church historians also taught it. Since I am naturally skeptical, I set out to prove it for myself from the scriptures. This section represents the results of my study and analysis. As we try to discover whether or not Jesus was the angel of the LORD, we’ll also discover the role that he played in the Old Testament and learn much more about his nature. The outline that I plan to follow in proving that Jesus is the angel of the LORD is as follows:

Show the following concerning the angel of the Lord
1. He was God, was YHWH
2. He appeared on earth in Old Testament times and looked like a man
3. He was worshipped
4. He was the covenant maker
5. He was Israel’s protector
6. He was not the Father God
7. He presented models and patterns for the future of Israel involving Jesus

Show the following concerning Jesus
8. Jesus was God
9. Jesus was God of the Jews in the Old Testament
10. Jesus was the angel of the Lord
This was all a part of God’s plan to gradually reveal more and more of himself to the people of earth, without taking away their free will to either accept or reject him.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS GOD; IN FACT HE WAS YHWH
In Gen 16:7-16, the angel of the LORD appeared to Hagar to announce that she was to have a son and he was to be named Ishmael. Hagar recognized him as “the God who sees me.” In Gen 22:15, the angel of the LORD appeared to Abraham after the offering of Isaac and identified himself as the LORD. In Ex 3:1-6, 13-15, the angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in the burning bush and identified himself as follows, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” as well as the “I AM.” Judges 13:2-24 presents a very comprehensive picture in that it identifies the angel of the LORD as looking like a man, as the angel of God, as being God himself, and as having a name that is “beyond understanding.” That is another way of saying that he was YHWH, the unpronounceable Hebrew name of God. In Gen 31:10-13, the angel of God appeared to Jacob and announced that he was the God of Bethel. In Joshua 5:13-15, the LORD appeared as a man and clearly identified himself as the “I AM” of the burning bush. In summary, we see that the angel of the LORD identified himself as God, as YHWH, as the I AM, as the LORD, and as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc. It is abundantly clear that the angel of the LORD was and is God. It could not be any clearer.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT LOOKED LIKE A MAN
There are incidents in the Old Testament where the angel of the LORD, the LORD and God are each described as appearing on earth looking like a man. In Judges 13, which presents the birth of Samson, it is clear that the angel of the LORD appeared as a man and identified himself variously as God, the LORD, and YHWH. We have already studied Gen 18:1-19:1, where three men appeared to Abraham. It seems clear from the passage that two of the men were angels and one was the LORD. In Gen 32:22-32, Jacob wrestled all night with a man who later identified himself as God. In Joshua 5:13-15, a man stands before Joshua and Joshua recognized that he is the LORD. Again, we’ll prove that all were Jesus.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE WORSHIPED
Angels do not allow themselves to be worshipped by men (Col 2:18-19, Rev 22:8-9). However, the angel of the LORD did allow himself to be worshipped. In Joshua 5:14-15, Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence of the angel of the LORD. In Judges 2:1-5, the Israelites offered sacrifices to the angel of the LORD. In Judges 6:11-24, Gideon brought sacrifices to the angel of the LORD. It is clear that the angel of the LORD was worshiped.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS THE COVENANT MAKER
In Judges 2:1-2, the angel of the LORD identified himself as the one who had made covenants with Israel. In Gen 16:9-12 the angel of the LORD made a covenant with Hagar regarding her descendents and in Gen 22:15-18 with Abraham regarding his descendents. The angel of the LORD was the covenant maker of Israel.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS ISRAEL’S PROTECTOR
In Ex 14:19-25, the angel of the LORD fought for and protected the Israelites as they were being pursued by the Egyptians in the exodus. In Judges 6:11-24, the angel of the LORD indicated to Gideon that he would fight the Midianites with him. Zech 12:1-9 is a prophecy that the angel of the LORD will destroy all of the nations that attack Israel “on that day.” The angel of the LORD has fought for and protected Israel in the past and he will do it again in the future.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WAS NOT GOD THE FATHER
The angel of the LORD could not have been the Father since nobody can look on the face of the Father, the God of the Shekinah glory, and live, Ex 33:18-23. Also, John 1:18 and 1 Tim 6:13-16 says that nobody has ever seen the Father. Since many people saw the angel of the LORD and lived, the angel of the LORD could not have been the Father. Ex 23:20-24 is apparently God the Father speaking and he said that he was sending the angel of the Lord to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. He said that this angel shared his Name and was the one who could forgive sins. So, we see that the angel of the Lord was not the Father. The person speaking here must be the Father, since in the Bible the only one who ever sends the Son is the Father.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD PRESENTED MODELS AND PATTERNS FOR THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL INVOLVING JESUS
There are literally hundreds of examples of the gospel of Jesus being presented in the Old Testament through models, types, patterns, examples, shadows, illustrations, copies, parables, etc. We can see these through insightful study of the Old Testament. In fact, both the Old and New Testaments tell us about the existence of these models (see Zech 3:8, Hosea 12:10, Rom 5:14, Col 2:17, Heb 8:3-5, 9:6-10, 9:23-24, 10:1). Heb 10:1 says that these Old Testament practices, events, etc. were only shadows of the good things that were coming---not the realities themselves. The Bible also makes it very clear that the gospel was presented in the Old Testament and that the Old Testament saints were saved in the same way as believers in the New Testament (see Heb 4:1-2, Gal 3:6-9, 1 Pet 1:10-12, 4:6). Let’s look at a couple of the models.
Gen 32:22-30 presents a very interesting model. In this event, Jacob found himself wrestling with a man who turned out to be the angel of the LORD. They wrestled all night, but in spite of all of his efforts, God could not subdue Jacob. Jacob was very persistent and would not let go of God. God injured Jacob but still could not get away from him. At daybreak, God changed the name of Jacob to Israel, “because he had wrestled with God and man and had overcome.” What in the world is this all about? It’s simply a prophetic model that predicted the future of the nation of Israel. God would wrestle with Israel for all of their future years to get them to accept who he is. This would take place in a time of darkness for Israel and they would be injured because they would not yield to God. Yet, in spite of Israel’s failures to accept God on his terms, they would not completely let go of God. They would be very persistent throughout their years of darkness. God chose to reveal himself to the world through Israel and thus early on they saw God more clearly than anyone else. Because of their persistence in trying to hold on to God in spite of their long period of darkness, they were blessed by God when daybreak finally came. As we will see later, Jesus was and is the God of Israel and their failure to realize and accept this is the reason for their many years of darkness. In the model, the person that Jacob was wrestling with was both God and man. There is only one being who fits that description, Jesus. What a way to get a name change!
Joshua 5:13-15 presents another interesting model involving the angel of the LORD and Jesus. In this event, Joshua and the Israelites had just crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. God had promised this land to Moses and the Israelites and said that he would help them conquer it and take it from the pagans who lived there. The first place that they needed to conquer was the city of Jericho. As they neared Jericho, Joshua looked up and saw a man with a sword drawn. The man turned out to be the angel of the LORD who was there to help them. This is a model of the prophecy that Jesus will be there with sword drawn to help Israel at the last battle, Armageddon. Just as in the case where Jericho fell after 7 days when there was a trumpet blast and a loud shout (Joshua 5:5), so too will the world fall after 7 years when there is a trumpet blast (Matt 24:29-31, Zech 9:14-17). Israel will triumph in each case because of the intervention of Jesus.
There are literally hundreds of other models of the gospel in the Old Testament but that is all that we have time and space for in this brief study. Several other models are included in the section on models in Proof thru Prophecy.