THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH (YHWH)

By Alfred Irizarry

"GOD, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:1-2)

The apostle Paul in Hebrews 1:1-2 presented Christ as the channel through which God the Father revealed Himself in the last times. Meanwhile, the apostle John wrote: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18).

According to John, Christ was the most suitable Being to reveal the Father because: "No one has seen God at any time." This makes it necessary that Christ, the One who was intimately related to the Father, would make Him known. This reality is not limited only to Christ's earthly ministry, but the Bible declares that even when Jesus Christ returns, "He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:14-16).

This reference places Christ as the great Revealer of God the Father, even to the end of all things. However, it is worth asking, what about before His incarnation? Should we understand from Hebrews 1:1 that God only spoke through Christ from His incarnation onward? We believe not. In John 1:1 the apostle John pointed out that in the beginning Christ existed as "the Word" or "the Logos" of God; this expression in the Greek literally means "the word" or "the message." Through this expression we might contemplate that Christ communicates or makes the Father known long before, and beyond His incarnation; properly already from the very beginning.

In fact, one of the ways God communicated to the prophets was through the use of heavenly angels (e.g. Gen 19:1, 15; 28:12; 32:1).

A very interesting messenger through whom God the Father communicated appears in chapter 5 of the book of Joshua: "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, 'Are You for us or for our adversaries?' So He said, 'No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, 'What does my Lord say to His servant?'" (Joshua 5:13-14)

This account from the book of Joshua is remarkable for several reasons:

FIRST because Joshua recognizes Him as "my Lord," decides to worship Him, and this Prince or Commander of the army of Jehovah was willing to receive worship. There are only Two Beings in the Scriptures who are presented as worthy to receive worship: God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (John 5:22-23; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Philippians 2:9-10; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:13, 7:10; etc.). Despite the different agencies employed in our salvation, the Father and the Son are the only ones mentioned in the Bible as those to whom our redemption ultimately belongs (Rev. 14:4).

Considering that no human being has ever seen the Father (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:14-16), and that Hebrews 1:1 illustrates Him as the One who sends the message; this compels us to conclude that this Person of Joshua 5:13-14 is none other than the Son of God. However, these aspects are far from being the only evidence that exists in favor of Christ being the figure denoted here.

The SECOND reason why this account is extraordinary is because of this Prince's response to Joshua's question: "What does my Lord say to His servant?"

Joshua 5:15 "Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so."

This expression "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy" is only recorded in one other event in the Bible, in Exodus 3:1-5. In that other occasion, it is also related to a messenger of God:

The presence of this angel is described in such a way that he is identified with the name of the one he represents and is called "God." In Exodus 23:20-23 we see that the name of the one who sent him was in him, and his words were to be followed as the words of God Himself:

In this passage Jehovah says that He would send His Angel, yet from the beginning that Angel was with Moses, which implies that the words where Jehovah says He would send His Angel in Exodus 23:20-23 are themselves given to Moses by the Angel, and He spoke as if He were the one who sent Him.

The authority with which the Angel speaks, who possessed the right to forgive sins, because 'the name of Jehovah is in Him' (v. 21); should bring to mind the Son of God (Luke 5:24). The Son spoke for the Father (John 14:24), and possessed by inheritance a name greater than all (Hebrews 1:4).

To see the Son was like seeing the Father (John 14:6), and this fact also harmonizes with one of the characteristics possessed by this Angel, whom Isaiah 63:9-10 called the angel of the face of Jehovah. Which means that this messenger had the peculiarity of being able to communicate the person or presence of Jehovah and sanctified a place with his presence (2 Cor. 4:4; Matthew 12:5-6).

The Archangel Michael

The archangel Michael is presented as having a most important role in the heavenly hierarchy:

He is not simply called a prince, but...the great Prince.

Let us compare what we have read about the Angel of Jehovah with this interesting description of the archangel Michael in Daniel 10:21:
"But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince." (Daniel 10:21).

The archangel Michael is identified as the prince of the prophet Daniel, just as is the individual who goes out to meet Joshua who is called "the Commander of the army of Jehovah" (Joshua 5:14, 15), who according to the account was Joshua's "Lord" (v. 14).

Earlier, in chapter 8, Daniel writes:
"Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means." (Daniel 8:25).

This is a clear allusion to Christ, the Messiah, the divine Son of God; whom we also know through Isaiah 9:6 as the "Prince (sar) of Peace," another messianic text. So Christ is a prince, and Michael is the great prince (Dan. 12:1), the prince of the prophet Daniel (Dan. 10:21). This suggests that we are speaking of the same person.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that Michael is mentioned as having a special role in the conflict against Satan, as recorded by John in the Revelation:

Let us return to Joshua to see how He is described as Prince:

The similarities we find between this Chief, leader, Captain, Prince of the angels and the glorious person of Christ are too strong to simply ignore.

In the New Testament Christ is also revealed as having leadership over the angels. The angels are subject to Him:

When Jesus Christ was on earth He mentioned that the Father is the one who commissioned the angels to be under His command …Matthew 26:53: "Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?"

The New Testament also points out that the Son directed the people of Israel in the wilderness, just as the Angel of Exodus 23 would do.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

The Archangel Michael and Christ

In conclusion, all the revelation we have of the Father in the Old Testament is Christ representing the Father. The Son of God, who was preexistent and the very image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15-17), is the only one who could adequately reveal the Father.

The biblical evidence considered strongly suggests that the "Angel of Jehovah" in various passages of the Old Testament should not be understood as just any angel, but as a manifestation of the Son of God before His incarnation. The parallels between Joshua 5, Exodus 3, Exodus 23, Daniel 10–12, and the various New Testament texts we have seen, show a divine messenger who speaks with heavenly authority, directs the angels, and is the perfect revelation of the Father. In light of John 1:18 and Hebrews 1:1-2, it is fully coherent to understand that Christ has been, from the very beginning, the means by which God has made Himself known to humanity.