This subject is of interest in itself, but it is also important as an introduction to the subject of the Father and the Son, which is a consideration of the relationship between God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Millennia ago, the angels showed or revealed to the people living at the time, the things about God that He wants everyone to know, so that we all can worship and serve Him in a faithful way. This work of the angels was then recorded by writers inspired by God, such as Moses, and this record has come down to us in the Bible. (Rather than reveal, “Manifest” is quite common in older translations of the Bible, being used 38 times in the KJV New Testament, and has the same meaning as to reveal. So we can say the angels “manifested” God.)
Why did God create angels?
The Creator Himself is so powerful and glorious that He cannot be approached in person by human beings, ordinary men and women. He alone “hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto: whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1Tim 6:16). Angels do not have man’s limitations, and can therefore approach God and talk to Him directly. And they can then act for Him to fulfill His will. In particular, they represent Him when talking with men and women. They bridge the huge gap between the Holiness and Perfection of God in heaven and the shortcomings of dying people on this planet. Angels were made immortal (that is, never to die).
No man can see God and live:
“And He said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exod 33:20).
“No man hath seen God at any time” John 1:18,
“And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape” (John 5:37).
Yet in the Old Testament, the Bible frequently speaks of God appearing and speaking to men and women. There is a simple explanation, but it takes a little getting used to, because God, for good reasons, has not made the explanation stand out in an obvious way in the Scriptures. But, He has made sure that we can find a Bible explanation if we look for it. So, let’s see what the Bible tells us.
The first passages we will look at are from Genesis and Hosea.
“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of
joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen 32:24-30).
“The Lord also brings a charge against Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; According to his deeds He will recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, And in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him” (Hos 12:2-4 NKJV)
Verse 2 shows Hosea is talking about Jacob. While a number of incidents in his life are spoken of by Hosea, the words we have just quoted refer to Gen 32. It is clear from Hosea that it really an angel, who was representing God, which struggled with Jacob. Taking point by point:
- Jacob says: “So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered’ ” (Gen 32:30 ESV).
- No man can see God and live.
- Hosea 12:2-4 tells us that it was an angel representing or acting for God that Jacob wrestled with.
- Jacob’s experience was frightening and awe inspiring, so he spoke as he did.
Next, let’s consider the time when the angel in the burning bush spoke to Moses (Exod 3:2) as God: “I am the God of your father …” (v. 6). The angel reveals to Moses that “I AM” is the Name by which God is to be known (vs 13-15). It is represented by Lord in the majority of Bible translations. The Name is printed in all capital letters – Lord – to indicate the special nature of the Name. The Hebrew behind this name is often represented by Yahweh. The Jews of the time of Jesus regarded it is too sacred to pronounce: it is not found in the New Testament. In addition, special angels bore this name for God.
“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him” (Exod 23:20-2121 NKJV)
It is not appropriate for people to see God, and so He sends His messages and commands to people through special angels. We have already seen in John 5:37 that no-one has seen God.
“Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew
near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7: 29-35).
When reading Exodus 3, we can see from vs 2 that the angel appeared to Moses but we may not be sure whether it is the angel or God Himself that is speaking in 3:4 through 4:17. However, if we read the speech of Stephen in Acts, then clearly it was the angel of God doing the speaking.
“And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush… This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. (Acts 7:30, 35).
These passages from Acts show clearly that it was the angel that spoke.
Revealed in the angels
Angels displayed the joy of God:
“When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7)
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke. 2:10).
Angels carried the Name of God:
“And the angel of the LoRD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LoRD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LoRD hath heard thy affliction” (Gen 16:10-11).
“In that day shall the LoRD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LoRD before them” (Zech. 12:8).
At the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and at Mount Sinai, angels showed the power and glory of God
“And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them” (Exod 14:19).
(See also Exod 19:16-20:21; Acts 7:30-35, 38, 53).
In the appearance of the angels at Mt. Sinai (Exod 19:9-20), the angels are not mentioned in the chapter. God wanted the Children of Israel (and us) to think of it at the time as being God that was appearing on the mountain though concealed by clouds of fire and smoke. It is only from Acts that we know that an angel appeared then.
“This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us… You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7, 35,53).
The angel of God’s “Presence”
Observe the authority given to the angel as described in Exodus 23!
“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 an adversary unto thine adversaries” (Exod 23:20-22).
God had put His name into the messenger: the angel would guard them on the journey, but he must be obeyed or he would punish them. Yet God Himself would “not go up in your midst” but would allow His “presence” to be with them (Exod 33:3, 14). The divine power, glory and authority would be wholly with this angel. It does not mean that the angel would be seen by the people, but the evidence that he was there would be the pillar of cloud in the daytime and the pillar of fire that would be over the Tabernacle at night.
Again, when Moses on Mount Sinai desired to see the face of God Himself he was not permitted to do so, only to witness the glory of God passing by: “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exod 33:20). John confirmed this when he wrote “No man has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). The angels therefore brought divine guidance to men and women, which they could not otherwise receive because of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness.
Jesus greater than the angels
In His wisdom, God requires and insists that His holiness and sanctity be always completely preserved. Therefore, in Old Testament times He used the angels to carry out His will and all His work with regard to all men and women. But it is necessary that we recognize that it was God’s will and God’s work, and that the angels were doing everything according to His will. Therefore the Bible is written in a way that causes us to think of the things that were done and the messages that were spoken, as being done and as being spoken by God. We are to praise, worship, obey, and love God. The angels are to be respected and obeyed but they should not be worshiped, as Paul writes “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col 2:18). We need to recognize and respect their role, but we usually do not need to emphasize it. The
reason that we have studied it now is to help us to understand the role of Jesus in revealing God to us.
Followers of Jesus are left in no doubt that he is greater than the angels when they read the letter to the Hebrews. The early chapters demonstrate how God has spoken to man, how the angels are His servants and how Jesus, the Son of God, is now superior to the angels and directs them in their service to his Father. The writer says that God spoke in the past in many different ways (for example, by angels delivering God’s word to ordinary people and to prophets) but He now speaks directly through His Son, who is “the express image of his person … having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Heb 1:3-4). The Son is greater than the servants.
Yet, he says, the angels still have their work to do:
“Of the angels He says, ‘He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire’. … Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:7, 14, ESV)
So God has shown Himself by intermediaries, angels, who reveal God to us. In Old Testament times, the angels spoke and acted for God. To the people who saw and heard these angels, it often seemed as though it was God Himself. As we read the Old Testament, we can think of the things described being God appearing and acting, because the angels were perfectly carrying out God’s will. It is important, though, that we realize that no one has ever seen God’s form or heard His voice.
This is more than an interesting and remarkable subject. We need to understand it in order to be able to understand how Jesus revealed God to us: “Jesus saith unto him,.. he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9)
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