God Manifestation is the theme of the Bible. The subject is a vast one and not without difficulties. Nevertheless it is possible by advancing step by step to reach a sufficient understanding of the subject in its relation to God’s purpose with the human race.
All power is of God. God is the Creator and the Sustainer of all things. In the words of the Apostle Paul,
“To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him.” (I Corinthians 8:6).
God is the source of all power and existence.
“In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
“Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things” (Romans 11:36).
The Bible tells us of an order of beings that are subordinate to the Creator and yet of a higher nature than ourselves. They are the angels of God. The Lord Jesus was made “a little lower than the angels” and for the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour. These angelic beings do the will of God and execute His commandments perfectly. They were His agents in the work of creation. God asks Job (38:4), “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” at the works of Creation?
The angels, in the execution of a Divine plan, said, “Let us make men in our image, after our likeness”; and the work was done. “God said,” and”it came to pass.” The instruments by which He executed His work were the angels. Not only so; they are God’s instruments in directing affairs at the present time, unseen but yet active in pursuing the Divine purpose.
The book of Daniel draws aside the veil with regard to their activities, and we see their control of events related to the Kingdom of Persia (10:19-21).This aspect of their work is summed up in the words of the Apostle: “the world to come hath He not put in subjection to the angels”; the present order is subject to them, but the future will be subject to the Lord Jesus and his associate brethren and sisters who will then be made like him (Revelation 3:21; I John 3:2).
The angels of God have a work on behalf of the individual subject of God’s favour; in the words of the Psalmist: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them” (34:7). The New Testament counterpart of that expression is in Hebrews 1:14, where Paul says: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
Recognising the work which the angels perform, we look now at the style of Scripture in which God describes their activities. In Genesis 16 we are told of the flight of Hagar from her mistress Sarah and of the angel of God finding her in the wilderness.
“And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude, : And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?”(verses 10-13).
In his words the angel attributes to himself the power of God and ascribes to himself the purpose which is the purpose of God.
“I will multiply thy seed exceedingly.”
Yet the angel speaks (verse 11) of “the Lord” having heard her affliction: and Hagar names the one that met her, who is called the Lord” in the narrative, “Thou God seest me.” Here we have the names “the Lord” and “God” used with reference to the angel. The angel expressed in the first person that which God purposes to do. How shall we understand this form of language? It indicates that the angels were such manifestations of God that they spoke His word as the ones appointed to execute His purpose. They spoke of doing His purpose as though they were the Eternal.
Another illustration is found in Genesis 18, which is mentioned in the New Testament in the exhortation to
“be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
“And the Lord appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, Jo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.”
These angels were manifestations of God, and being such are described as “The Lord” appearing unto Abraham. In harmony with this we read in the 13th verse: “And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything to hard for the Lord?” While the narrative speaks of the angel as the Lord, the angel speaks of God as being a separate personality from himself.
A similar objective existence with regard to the Divine Power, the Eternal, is seen in the 19th verse, where the angel says,
“I know him (Abraham), that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement.” The angel does not say “he will keep my way”; but speaking of “the Way of the Lord” recognises the higher Power of Jehovah, whose representative he was.
By reading carefully the book of Genesis onwards, many other illustrations of this mode of description will be found. There is an important passage in Exodus 23:20-21:
“Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine angel shall go before thee.”
In this we have an interweaving in the speech of the personalities of the Eternal and the angel: “If thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak”; God is the ultimate source of all operations, but the angel was the channel through which they were accomplished. Because this angel had such a supreme position in the administration of the affairs of this people of God, therefore God says concerning him, “Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions.” Since the angel possesses delegated authority, therefore God ascribes to him the exercise of the power to forgive or to withhold forgiveness.
It is interesting to compare what is written concerning Jacob in Genesis, with the prophecy of Hosea. On Jacob’s return from sojourning with Laban (Genesis 32) he met the angels of God, and he called the name of the place Mahanaim or “Two Camps.” The Psalmist’s words “The angel of the Lord encampeth” is a verbal allusion to this circumstance in the life of Jacob. There were two camps, the camp of angels and the camp of Jacob. Later one angel met Jacob when he was alone, immediately before he passed forward to meet his brother Esau; and he wrestled with the angel for his blessing and prevailed; and to commemorate this his name was changed from Jacob to Israel.
Hosea says that “he had power with God” and that at Bethel God “spake with us: even the Lord God of Hosts” (12:3-5). Here the Covenant Name of God is given to the angel who met Jacob at Bethel. It is to be understood in the light of the usage of words already noticed; God’s will is performed through the instruments he employs.
Jesus spake of the children of God who would be restored to life at his return by the resurrection of the dead. These “children of the resurrection,” he said, would be “equal to the angels, ” who cannot die any more. (Luke 20:36). They will be a new order of angelic beings who will take charge of the world’s affairs and rule the world instead of the angels who have been discharging this duty until the present time. The Lord Jesus and his brethren will be the rulers. The difference in the form of their control will lie in this, that the angelic direction hitherto has been an invisible rule, providentially applied; in the Age to come the rule of the Lord Jesus and his associates will be visibly and actively enforced in the eyes of all the world, and there will be no mistaking that manifestation of Divine Power in the earth.
This is the theme of Bible revelation. To go back to the roots of the matter we shall have to turn to Genesis 3, where after the transgression of man, when he was driven out of Eden, we are told “Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way,” were “placed” at the entrance to the Garden, “to keep the way of the Tree of Life.” God caused the Cherubim to dwell, or tabernacle. They were angelic beings and their duty was not merely to prevent Adam having access to the tree of life; but also to preserve the way to it, in giving to Adam the knowledge of the way whereby he, who was death-stricken as a result of disobedience to God’s law, might at last attain to life and be made like unto those angelic beings with whom he was familiar.
This revelation that some of Adam’s descendants would attain to equality with the angels, is unfolded in succeeding pages of the Bible. As the angels are spoken of as Cherubim, so we find in the types of the Law of Moses, that Cherubim are introduced as symbols of this idea of God-manifestation through an order of beings of Adamic origin. Everything pertaining to the Law of Moses — the Tabernacle and all its appurtenances, the sacrifices in association with it, were all patterns of things to come.
“The law was the shadow of good things to come,” says the Apostle Paul.
And the cherubic figures embroidered upon the curtains and the veil, the figures upon the mercy seat, were all indications of the fact that God would be manifested through persons foreshadowed by these various features of the Mosaic type.
In the vision of Isaiah (chapter 6) in which, as John tells us (12:41) Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, we have a vision of the throne of God established in the earth, and the cherubic figures are associated with it as the basis of the symbolism. The same idea is embodied in the first chapter of Ezekiel where again we have a vision of the throne of God and the new order of rulers to be established in the day of the Lord’s return. In the book of Daniel (10:5-6) other features appear, and the matter is brought to a focus in the book of Revelation (4:5) where the symbols of these chapters in the Old Testament are all combined.
To follow these things out in detail is impossible in a pamphlet. They can be understood by patiently pursuing the hints that have been given, reading the chapters carefully and noticing how they are introduced in the book of Revelation, where the explanation is given that these symbols represent the Redeemed, who praise the Lord, saying,
“Thou art worthy … for thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood … And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
These symbols of God-manifestation are identified with those who will be made equal to the angels, whom John in vision sees exalted in the earth.
It is evident that God has a wonderful purpose with those members of the human race who will respond to His invitation. Paul speaks of it in this way (Hebrews 2:10):
“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
God is bringing many sons unto glory, and to do that He has made the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Jesus is the one who sanctifies. The many sons are those who are sanctified, and they are all “of one,” one Father, and because they are all of one Father, all are sons of God. Therefore Jesus is “not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Paul cites three passages from the Old Testament which show that the Redeemer and those who are redeemed by him are brethren. The Apostle then adds,
“Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:12-14).
The Redeemer, who is the Son of God, partook of our nature in order that he might destroy that which has the power of death, and deliver from death all the redeemed.
The necessity for the birth of the Son of God is to be found in the weak mortal nature which man possesses because of sin. The basic elements of it are really very simple. Man was placed under law at the beginning, for the development of character. He disobeyed the law and God said he must die, and, passing sentence of death upon him, God said, “Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” Man is in a position in which he is unable to redeem himself, because all who are descendants of Adam are partakers of his death-stricken nature, with such an inheritance of evil that it is beyond their power to live a life of righteousness, and all alike are sinners and all heirs of death. It is beyond man’s ability to destroy the power of death, and unless God helps man, all must be swept away into the tomb.
From the time of the transgression God revealed that He would help man, yet in a way that was not contrary to His own principles or His own character. He made promises at the beginning that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent in the head, while the seed should be bruised in the heel (Genesis 3:15). This is the first gospel, the first promise concerning One through whom death was to be abolished, but who would suffer death in the process — the seed of the woman who would be Son of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One