WHO IS:
The Angel of the Lord
(part one)
A brief Introduction to this Topic:
Hold on to Your Spiritual Hat!!!
You are about to dive into an ancient River of Revelation.
This River Begins more than 4,000 years ago,
Along it’s beautiful grassy deep green banks,
Are Trees filled with Fruit for the Healing of the Nations,
With their roots drinking deeply from the Waters of Life …
You and I have been Offered this Fruit,
It is designed by God (YHWH) Himself,
To Heal our Minds, Bodies, Souls, and Spirits,
Doing the Perfect Healing Work from the Inside Out.
It is possible that you will experience such a healing,
Even with your first reading, But that would be rare,
Typically, it will take an average person several readings,
It will take some souls some long seasons of Gentle Mediation,
So that the Mediations of our hearts will turn them toward the Truth, (Psalms 19:14)
And finally, our minds will become in tune and belong–as acceptable in the Courtrooms of Heaven.
It is possible that you might even Hear the Voice of Heaven calling out your Name,
Or Knocking on your Door, or Enlightening Your Eyes to see, or Opening your Ears to Hear,
Even calling your lips to stammer, and your inner man to shudder, that you might receive …
What He has been longing and deeply desiring to tell you–through His very Word,
For Years and Years, though you were simply too busy to see it.
It is possible, and actually expected, that for some, the Words will simply Jump off the page.
That the People and the Places will become like familiar Friends, and Family, and feel like Our True Home.
It is possible, that You and I will become different people after having read
The Word of God from God’s Perspective, Receiving His Light, His Wisdom,
His Vision, His Reasonings, His Plannings, His Eternal Favor, and Immortal Grace.
It is also very possible and quite likely, that the words on the page, will taste like
Rotting Fruit, or dry and withered, and stringy–tasteless, desire less chaff
Just stuck in our teeth, and a nuisance needing to be cleaned out.
What might make the difference?
Perspective.
When the Chiefs won the Super Bowl,
It seemed like half of Kansas City was resplendent with Joy.
But What about the Losing Team, How did they Feel? Surely, not the same.
What made the difference?
Perspective.
I dare say, if you gain and hold God’s Perspective by Faith in His Word,
Just reading it at face Value, Trusting it as the Word of God,
Even as Yahweh or YHWH claims it to be.
You too can experience the Resplendent Joy,
That Comes from Winning in His Kingdom,
As opposed to rooting for the losing Team.
I dare say, this Hot Topic is worthy of your undivided attention
[Hence the big build up in this introduction]
What You are about to dive into has the potential to:
Increase Your Heart Rate,
Transform Your Mind,
Bring Courage to Your Faith,
Bring strength to your Step,
Put Purpose to your Words,
Supercharge Your Conscience,
Bring Boldness to Your Witness,
Bring Harmony into Your Home,
And is Able Bless Your Spirit Life.
If you can sense the Pull of Heaven,
Tugging at the Strings of Your Heart,
Calling You into Deeper Understanding,
Into a Clearer Vision of the Creator of the Universe and
His Top Family Priorities for Eternity,
By all means, Let the King of Life Direct your Thoughts,
And Your Ways, and Test him in this:
Taste and See that the LORD is Good!
The Mysterious Character
This Mysterious Title & Character, named: The Angel of the LORD,
appears several places in the Old Testament.
Literally He appears: 58 times in 57 verses:
In the Old Testament Scriptures, in the KJV Bible Translation
(And one time in the New Testament Scripture
though it doesn’t have the same context as in the OT.)
We will look at just a few cases.
(But I will leave the entire list for your
convenient study at the end of this post series.)
As you can clearly see, This Person is not just a casual
One Time, or Two Time appearing figure in the Testimony of God.
He is in Fact a Regular. A repeat performer.
As Such He should be a well known figure, Right?
But how many times have you done a thorough personal
or group study on this Person
The Angel of the LORD?
4 Preliminary Notes:
- There’s a big difference grammatically and linguistically, between “an Angel of the LORD” and “The Angel of the LORD.” An refers to one among many angels of the LORD. The Angel refers to One Specific Angel [prophet, priest, messenger, ambassador, or King].
- Angel in Hebrew can be translated several ways into English: Original: מלאך Transliteration: mal’âk Phonetic: mal-awk’
Definition: From an unused root meaning to despatch as a deputy; a messenger ; specifically of God, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): – ambassador, angel, king, messenger.
In other words, the context of the word angel will really help determine which meaning of the Hebrew word fits best in to the context of the story. - “The LORD” again, not just any lord, but “The LORD.” The Word LORD in all caps is actually YHWH (Original: יהוה). It is often pronounced …
Transliteration: yehôvâh Phonetic: yeh-ho-vaw’; Jehovah,
Definition: From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: – Jehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050, H3069.
For More background on the Name of God, click the link. (That is an involved subject, to big to tackle here.) - “the” captain of the LORD’s host. Again, this is not one among many captains, the figure is “The” Captain of the LORD’s host.
A Call to Pay Careful Attention:
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Whenever you meet a character in Scripture, that Speaks in the First Person as God,
Whenever you meet a character in Scripture, that Receives genuine worship as God,
Even though, that Character is called an Angel, a Messenger, or a Messiah, do not be unlearned,
Do not be misinformed, do not be without an eye that can see, or without an an ear that can hear,
Such a Person is God Himself. The One who walks upon the Earth, who eats and drinks,
Who speaks and listens, who acts with Holy Strength, and Wrestles with His Chosen Ones,
And Yet, He is as Eternal and Holy as the Father: He is the Son of God, known and loved,
By All those who can See Him.
.
www.Do-You-See-Him?
(See: John 1:1-5)
Moses Meeting the Burning Bush
Versus
Joshua Meeting Captain of God’s Army
Moses & the Burning Bush
Mark this Down: You are about to read, the longest dialogue between one man and God in one sitting, recorded anywhere [that I can think of in the Bible]. It takes a whole 22 verses in Genesis chapter three, and another 23 verses of Genesis chapter four. There is far too much information to comment on adequately in this passage, so we are mostly going to concern this study on the focal point of securely identifying: Who is “The Angel of the LORD”?
Then, in a minute, we are going to compare the Meeting with Moses and “the Angel of the LORD”(Genesis 3 & 4) to the meeting between Joshua and “the” Captain of the LORD’s Army.
Please note, as always the red coloring, and bracketed [ ], and bold, words and phrases, and such are my editing tools to make the words and key thoughts more visual–for I am a visual learner, and the visual prompts help me tremendously. Hopefully, they won’t be too distracting for you, if you are not a visual learner.
May this exercise in Faith and Investigation repay your time and effort invested with heavenly dividends.
Yahweh, has placed these stories strategically throughout his Testimony.
These are Rare Gems and Jewels, and low hanging fruit just ripe and ready for the picking,
If you are ready for the eating …
“Bon Appetit!”
Read on …
Exodus 3:1-22 (KJV)
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
12 And he [YHWH] said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
Exodus 4:1-23 (KJV)
And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Please read the whole chapter for yourself–When you have a moment free to ponder it.
Some Short Observations:
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Please Note: Moses Meets God in a mysterious Way. Here He is called the Angel of the LORD. Of Course, God can choose to veil himself, and/or disguise His Appearance anytime and in anyway that He so chooses, or fully unveil himself and show a portion of His Incredible literal Earth Shaking Glory.
Remember How God disguised himself on the Road to Emmaus? Remember Him on the shore, during the second miraculous catch of fish after his resurrection? Remember How He transformed Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration? He is the same Lord, but He can put on His Fully Glory (as in Daniel Chapter 10, and Revelation Chapter One–which we will see in Part Two), or He can Tone it down, so that he is hardly recognizable, as in Daniel Chapter 5, He can write with just His hand all by itself.
In this case with Moses, God uses a Burning Bush to Draw the Attention and Curiosity of Moses, and then God speaks through the Flame of the Bush, to speak with Moses, using just His Voice.
Please also Note that this Place that Moses Met with God is called Mount Horeb here. If you do a little digging you will quickly realize that Mount Horeb, is just another name or synonym for Mount Sinai, the same place that Moses later will bring the Children of Israel to the very same mountain, and will spend some diligent time there receiving the 10 Commandments, and other dramatically significant events, (too many to detail here… ).
The key point here is that God often goes forward in time and prepares a place for a Revelation, that in effect doubles the impact of the Vision, or the Event, because it is not something new, but something that had been obviously previously designed, and orchestrated from the beginning with precision planning. It is not some accidental coincidence when God chooses to meet with His Servants, but it is a well planned and well executed design, just like we see in all of his creation. God’s workings, are actually the Fulfillment of a Highly Intelligent, Highly Knowledgeable, Highly Reliable Person’s Planning and Will. In fact, in Moses’ first meeting He is told Moses to return to the very mountain that were speaking on with the Whole Nation of Israel, Freed from the Bondage and Slavery and Servitude to the Kingdom of Egypt. And because we know the story, beforehand and afterwards, we know that God fulfilled every promise He made to Moses, and Israel, even though they were kicking and screaming foul, almost every step of the way.
Joshua Meets the Captain [of the Army] of The Lord of Hosts
5 Preliminary Notes:
- This Captain, basically appears and then disappears very much like an angel, like he is entering through another dimension, beyond the veil of our world, coming from His World.
- Although this passage does not exactly follow the “The Angel of the LORD” criteria, don’t let that be a stumbling block in the process of determining who this person truly is: This One who is “The Captain of LORD’s Host.
- Host: The Hebrew Word for Host is: Original: צבאה צבא Transliteration: tsâbâ’ tsebâ’âh
Phonetic: tsaw-baw’ Definition: From Strong’s H6633; a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): – appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare). - Therefore, It would not be to much of a stretch to say, this person is “The Captain of the Army of the LORD”
- Now, The LORD’s Army, God’s Battalion, is no normal Army. It can have Angel’s as Tall as Sky Scrapers if need be.
It can utilize, Hail Stones as big as Volkswagens. Whatever it takes to get the job done. (See Israel, and the 6 Day War, and the Miracles Performed on behalf of a vastly outnumbered army, also read God’s Testimony of other faithful men for destroyed their enemies through singing, praying, waiting and doing nothing. The Word of God is full of miracles Testimonies that will cause you to think twice against going against the Captain of the LORD of HOSTS. - Finally, what we need to do is to correlate the parallel characteristics of Moses and the Burning Bush, with Joshua and the Captain of the Army of God. Then, we must ask the question: Are These Two People, One and the Same?
Or even a better question: Can there be any doubt and shadow of concern that The Mysterious Person present in both cases is not the same Person? After reading the Text below, and pairing up the similarities, Let’s see what logical and reliable conclusion can be drawn.
Joshua 5:13-15 (KJV)
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15 And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Joshua 6:1-5 (KJV)
1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
Please read the whole chapter for yourself.
Some Short Observations:
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Please Note: The Captain of the LORD’s Host, Introduces Himself to Joshua in an Unusual Way, One other Time Remember an Angel Meets God in a mysterious Way. Here He is called the Angel of the LORD. Of Course, God can choose to veil himself, and/or disguise His Appearance anytime and in anyway that He so chooses, or fully unveil himself and show a portion of His Incredible literal Earth Shaking Glory.
Remember
Now, Here is a comparison chart already filled in for you. (It would be far better of you to make your own chart, if you have the inclination. There is something about doing your own studies that deepens the work of the scripture in your own heart.
[ Feel free to copy this Chart, it has been personally created. It has not copyrights. ]
Have You Just Seen God’s Message from God’s Perspective?
If you choose to look, and to see these cases from God’s Perspective, and who it is that God is Presenting to you, and if you Choose to receive Him, just as God has intended for you to receive Him, Today will be a Day of Great Rejoicing, not only in your own heart, but also in the Heart of God, and also In the Courtrooms of Heaven, where the Great Cloud of Witnesses will be celebrating, (Hebrews 12:1-4), Both Angels and Saints, echoing Praises and Rejoicing will be Heard before the Throne of Heaven.
For apparently, we are not alone, they can see everything we do, through the veil between us and heaven.
Have aliens been here on earth? You can be sure of that, but only The Word of God, correctly, identifies them as either Angels or Demons.
The truth be told: we are not alone:
Hebrews 12:1-2 (KJV)
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Luke 15:6-7 (KJV)
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Personally, I know that angels have saved my life on several occasions. They have intervened for me in life saving events, that I don’t deserve and have in no way earned (except due to my own stupidity, and reckless behavior). They were simply the spectacular interventions of the Grace of God, because apparently, God has had plans for me that I have not fulfilled as of yet.
Please Note: their is a big difference between normal everyday angels, and “The Angel of the LORD.”