The Angel of the Lord

During the course of our studies in the Book of Genesis and the life and events surrounding that great patriarch, Abraham, we have begun to encounter an interesting character who pops in and out of the story, and that is “the Angel of the Lord.” A natural question arises from this encounter, and that question is this: Who or What is the Angel of the Lord?

The bottom line is that the precise identity of the Angel of the Lord is not given in the Bible. However, there are many important “clues” that are given in Scripture, all of which shed light upon His identity. There are Old and New Testament references to “angels of the Lord,” “an angel of the Lord,” and “the Angel of the Lord.” It seems when the definite article “the” is used it is specifying a unique Being, separate from the other angels. Let us take a few moments now to examine the passages of Scripture in which we encounter “the Angel of the Lord.” The first of these is the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Hagar after Sarai dealt harshly with her after Hagar conceived a child with Abraham. Remember, it was at Sarai’s prompting that Abraham took Hagar as his wife in the first place for the very purpose of Hagar becoming with child! But once this happened, Hagar looked at Sarai her mistress with contempt, Sarai grew jealous of Hagar’s ability to conceive after years of Sarai remaining barren, Sarai lashed out at Abraham for impregnating Hagar, and Abraham, seeking to keep the peace, then told Sarai to do what she wanted with Hagar since she was Sarai’s handmaid in the first place. So Sarai ordered Hagar out of the household immediately! Genesis 16:7-13 [RSV] says,

7. The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8. And He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 9. The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her."

10. The Angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11. And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 12. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 13. So she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, "Thou Art a God of Seeing"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him?"

In verse 10 above, the Angel of the Lord promised to multiply Hagar’s descendants, something only God could promise and fulfill. A similar promise is given to Abraham by God in Genesis 13:16 and Genesis 15:5:

“I will make your descendants as the dust of the Earth; so that if one can count the dust of the Earth, your descendants also can be counted” (Genesis 13:16 [RSV]).

“And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:5 [RSV]). So as can be seen clearly, the language attributed to God while speaking to Abram is almost identical to the words spoken to Hagar by the Angel of the Lord. Only God is capable of making good on the promise of giving innumerable descendants to an individual.

When the Angel appeared to Hagar, she acknowledged that she was in the presence of God, referring to the Angel of the Lord as El Roi. El in Hebrew means “God,” and Roi means “Thou Art a God of Seeing” or “The God Who Sees All,” indicating the One Who is omniscient, meaning all-knowing. Only God knows all. Only He is omniscient.

Hagar was blessed to see the emergence of the Angel of the Lord before her eyes a second time when He appeared to her following her second and final expulsion from the household of Abraham. This occurred when Ishmael made the mistake of making fun of his younger brother, Isaac, when Isaac was being weaned.

14. So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16. Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child." And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voice and wept. 17. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the Angel of God called to Hagar from Heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 21:14-18 [RSV])

Here again we are told that the Angel of the Lord called from Heaven to Hagar during her time of great distress. The Angel of the Lord told her God had heard the weeping of Ishmael, and then says, “I will make him a great nation.” Only God has the power to raise up and humble individuals, and only God has the power to make of anyone a great nation of people. It is also interesting to note how the Angel of the Lord twice makes a fascinating play on the name of Ishmael. “Ishmael” means “God hears,” and twice in verse 17 we are told, “God heard” and “God has heard.”

As Hagar escaped this very difficult and life-threatening situation, the Angel of the Lord in the pre-incarnate presence of Jesus met her by a spring of water in the wilderness. We can assume safely that this was God in the Person of Jesus Christ, appearing to Abraham and Hagar before His incarnation and birth at Bethlehem. We can safely assume this because of God the Father it says in John 1:18 [RSV], “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” Additionally, no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father:

14. I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 15. and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16. Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:14-16 [RSV])

Therefore, if God appeared to someone in human appearance in the Old Testament (and no one has seen God the Father) it makes sense the appearance is of the eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, before His incarnation in Bethlehem.

This special individual referred to as the Angel of the Lord spoke as though He were distinct from Yahweh, yet also spoke in the first person as though He were indeed to be identified as Yahweh Himself, with Hagar recognizing that in seeing this Angel, she had seen God. Others throughout Scripture had the same experience and came to the same conclusion as does Hagar. The Angel of the Lord, Who does not appear after the birth of Christ, is often identified as the pre-incarnate Christ.

As we will see shortly, the Angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities and abilities that only belong to God. We will also see that many of the individuals who saw the Angel of the Lord feared for their very lives, as was the case with Hagar. Therefore, it is clear that in at least some instances, the Angel of the Lord is an appearance of God in physical form.

Speaking to Abraham on Mt. Moriah, the Angel of the Lord unequivocally identifies Himself as the Lord, or Yahweh. Genesis 22:10:18 [RSV] says,

10. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12. He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." 15. And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from Heaven, 16. and said, "By Myself I have sworn,” says the Lord, “because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17. I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18. and by your descendants shall all the nations of the Earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed My voice."

In the above passage, the Angel of the Lord tells Abraham that he had obeyed “My voice.” He also told Abraham that “‘By Myself I have sworn,’ says the Lord,” and the words translated “the Lord” are Yahweh, meaning God Almighty.

Let us take a few moments now to consider and compare the two appearances of the God of Bethel to Jacob with those of the Angel of God. Genesis 28:12-22 [RSV] says,

12. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the Earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; 14. and your descendants shall be like the dust of the Earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the Earth bless themselves. 15. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." 16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." 17. And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."

18. So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19. He called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21. so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22. and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that Thou givest me I will give the tenth to Thee."

Now see what is revealed to Jacob and us in Genesis 31:11-13 [RSV]:

11. Then the Angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' 12. And He said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that leap upon the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go forth from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

In our earlier reading with Jacob, Jacob saw a vision of Yahweh God appearing to him. And now in chapter 31, the Angel of God tells Jacob that He is the God of Bethel, the very same Lord Yahweh Who had appeared to Jacob at Bethel.

In Genesis chapter 48 just before Jacob passes away to his reward, he uses the names “God” and “Angel” interchangeably. Additionally, Jacob identifies the Angel as the One Who has redeemed him from all evil, an attribute that no created angelic being could possibly do. This is the first time in Scripture that God is referred to as Redeemer, Deliverer, or Savior. Only God is able to redeem us from evil and our sins, and Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior.

15. And he blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has led me all my life long to this day, 16. the Angel Who had redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth." (Genesis 48:15-16 [RSV])

From the reading above, we are given and supplied full proof that this was no mere created angel, but the Messenger of the Divine Council Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, then, was the Angel that redeemed Jacob? Who was the Angel Jacob invoked to bless Ephraim and Manasseh? Who else could it be? Is it not Jesus Christ? He alone can be called Redeemer. He alone is our Redeeming Kinsman. He alone took part of our flesh and blood by humbling Himself and being born of a virgin that the right of redemption might be His. He it was Who forfeited possession of the favor and image of God, and emptied Himself to take upon the form of an obedient servant, willingly going to the cross to die in our behalf (Philippians 2:6-8). Because of His sacrifice, all of us might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to a right relationship with God if we believe in His name and come to Him through obedient, saving faith. For Jacob to have invoked any other angel or messenger in such a manner would have been improper and full of impiety. Angels do not bless; to God alone this prerogative belongs. With what confidence may a truly religious father use these words in behalf of his children.

At the burning bush, it was the Angel of the Lord Who appeared and called Moses from the midst of the burning bush. It is the Angel of the Lord Who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and because of his fear at what he was witnessing, “Moses hid his face.”

2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3. And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." 4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." 5. Then He said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6. And He said, "I am the God of your 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 at God. (Exodus 3:2-6 [RSV])

It cannot be stated any clearer than this. The Angel of the Lord calls Himself God, and tells Moses that He is the same God Who appeared centuries before to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We are also told that the Angel of the Lord (God) was none other than the Lord Who appeared to the children of Israel in the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of light by day.

21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; 22. the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22 [RSV])

18. “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." 19. Then the Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20. coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night. (Exodus 14:18-20 [RSV])

So using Scripture itself to interpret Scripture, the right conclusion is that the Angel of the Lord is God, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ, and not a created being.

In Judges chapter 2, we learn that the Angel of the Lord states that He will never break His covenant.

1. Now the Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, 2. and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My command. What is this you have done? 3. So now I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’" 4. When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

In the passage we just read, it is the Angel of the Lord Who took ownership of giving commands as well as claiming He was the One Who brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. Clearly, a literal interpretation of this passage identifies the Angel of Jehovah with the One Who made a covenant with Israel. A created angel is never recorded as cutting a covenant, leaving no doubt that this Angel is no ordinary created angel but is the Lord Himself. The Angel of the Lord is demonstrated again to be Yahweh God. The fact that God Himself came to give the message shows how serious and depraved, and so far removed from God, that things had become in Israel at that time.

In Judges chapter 6, Gideon becomes fearful that he was going to die because the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and Gideon knew he had seen God.

20. And the Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so. 21. Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22. Then Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." 23. But the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:20-24 [RSV])

In the realization that he had been in the presence of God, the sensitive sinner, Gideon, was conscious of great guilt. Fire from God further filled Gideon with awe as well as the fear of death. When he saw the Lord, he knew the Lord had also seen him in his fallen state as a sinner. Thus, Gideon feared the death that sinners should die before Holy God. But God in the form of the Angel of God graciously promised life to Gideon, and he raised up Gideon to be a great leader and hero of his people.

In this passage, we see the Angel of the Lord (God) being memorialized with an altar named The Lord Is Peace. The Prince of Peace is a name that was prophesied and given to Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6 [RSV] 700 years before His birth: “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’”

The Apostle Paul also tells us that only in Christ can true peace of God come: 6. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 [RSV]) Paul also adds in Romans 5:1 [RSV], “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So using Scripture to interpret Scripture, the Angel of the Lord is called the Lord Is Peace, Jesus is prophesied to be the Prince of Peace, and the Apostle Paul tells us in Christ we have peace. Therefore, the Angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ, God Himself.

In the Book of Judges, again we have an encounter with the Angel of the Lord, this time with Manoah and his wife, prophesying the birth of their son, Samson. From Judges 13:3-23 [RSV], we have this fascinating encounter recorded:

3. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4. Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5. for lo, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

6. Then the woman came and told her husband, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very terrible; I did not ask Him whence He was, and He did not tell me His name; 7. but He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; so then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'" 8. Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, "O, Lord, I pray Thee, let the Man of God Whom Thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we are to do with the boy that will be born." 9. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10. And the woman ran in haste and told her husband, "Behold, the Man Who came to me the other day has appeared to me." 11. And Manoah arose and went after his wife, and came to the Man and said to Him, "Are you the Man Who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am." 12. And Manoah said, "Now when Your words come true, what is to be the boy's manner of life, and what is he to do?" 13. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."

15. Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "Pray, let us detain You, and prepare a kid for You." 16. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain Me, I will not eat of your food; but if you make ready a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know that He was the Angel of the Lord.)

17. And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "What is Your name, so that, when Your words come true, we may honor You?" 18. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is Wonderful?"

19. So Manoah took the kid with the cereal offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord, to Him Who works wonders. 20. And when the flame went up toward Heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21. The Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord. 22. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God!" 23. But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a cereal offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."

Again in those spiritually dark days of the time of the judges in Israel’s history, a time in which it was said, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 [RSV]), we encounter another appearance of the Angel of the Lord, this time to announce the upcoming birth of Samson. That He is God cannot be denied.

In verse 18 we are reminded once more of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 in which Wonderful was said would be a name of the Lord, the Messiah to come. Here the Angel of the Lord tells Manoah that His name is Wonderful. He is Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate form.

In Psalm 34:7 [RSV] one finds one of the three times the Angel of the Lord is mentioned in the Psalms. “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” This verse depicts a battlefield scene in which the Lord is said to make His camp around His faithful and delivers them from their enemies. The word “deliver” means to tear or snatch away in order to rescue. Throughout the writings of the Prophets and in the Psalms themselves, many times David is not only rescued from his enemies, he is also rescued from his fears by God, too. In Psalm 34 alone, David is depicted as being delivered from his shame and his troubles, confirming that the Angel of the Lord and God are One and the same.

Finally, the Angel of His Presence is also a synonym of the Angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus. Isaiah 63:8-10 [RSV] states, 8. For He said, “Surely they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely;” and He became their Savior. 9. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in his pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 10. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy, and Himself fought against them.

How tender are these words, and how apropos they are in describing how Jesus became our Suffering Servant. In His love and in His pity, the Angel of His Presence redeemed and carried them. Jesus Christ, in His love and in His pity for us, redeemed us by carrying our sins with Him all the way to the cross of Calvary.

There are other cases in the Old Testament where the Angel of the Lord appears to men, and it is evident that the Angel is God, Christ in a pre-incarnate form, such as when Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32. Of this, Hosea writes in Hosea 12:3-5 [RSV], 3. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4. He strove with the Angel and prevailed, he wept and sought His favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him – 5. the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is His name: Hosea uses “the Angel,” “the Lord,” “God” and “the God of hosts” all interchangeably.

We also see Him in 2 Samuel 24:16, when the Angel of the Lord stood poised to destroy Jerusalem. He also is seen throughout the Book of Zechariah. (Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 3:1 and Zechariah 12:8). The appearances of the Angel of the Lord cease after the incarnation of Christ. Angels are mentioned numerous times in the New Testament, but “the Angel of the Lord” is never mentioned in the New Testament after the birth of Jesus. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the appearances of the Angel of the Lord were manifestations of Jesus before His incarnation. Jesus declared Himself to be existent “before Abraham” in John 8:58, so it is logical that He would be active and manifest in the world. It is also not unreasonable to believe that Jesus could have appeared as the Angel of the Lord because we know for a fact that He did appear in various forms prior to His incarnation as Jesus Son of Man, for the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 [RSV], 1. I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2. and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3. and all ate the same supernatural food 4. and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

A Smoking Fire Pot and a Flaming Torch

In one of the most beautiful, as well as one of the most significant chapters in all of God’s word, a wonderful scene is pictured. God, who is portrayed so vividly in this chapter as the wonderful, loving Father He is, appears to Abram in a vision of a cutting rite ceremony, and assures the aging Abram that He, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, will be the guaranty that His promises will be fulfilled. After having Abram cut the sacrificed animals in two and placed the pieces facing each other, and “behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces” (Genesis 15:17 [RSV]). Just as God would appear to the descendants of Abram centuries later as a pillar of fire to light their way in the darkness, God chose these forms of fire and light to offer Himself as the guarantor to Abram during his time of “dread and great darkness” (Genesis 15:12 [RSV]). The full significance of what God did for Abram is not really seen until we reach the New Testament. There, in Christ, the covenant of grace reaches its highest expression. In Christ, God keeps the covenant promises and suffers the covenant penalties. For it is Christ Who perfectly obeyed the law in our place (Philippians 2:8) and it is Christ Who also bore the curse of the law in our place (Galatians 3:13).

Certainly there is an application in all of this for the Christian. God will fulfill all His promises to us: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why we utter the Amen through Him, to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20 [RSV])! God's covenant promises to us were confirmed by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, including those in this covenant ceremony in Genesis 15, pointed forward to the one great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Those who place their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are "qualified . . . to share in the inheritance" with Him (Colossians 1:12 [RSV]). God has given us “an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4 [RSV]). More of God's wonderful promises to us are listed in Ephesians 1:3-14, and these promises are guaranteed to us by the Holy Spirit Himself!

Just as Abraham and Sarah were, we, too, are called to leave our attachments to home and family, to our ideas of what religion is or should be, to make God our only loyalty. We are to seek His approval, rather than the approval of those around us. We are called to be a family of God through Whose name nations will bless themselves. We are called to live the intensity of life, as well as the peace of life. We can have the harmony of life when we live with God awareness. We are called to be salt and light to the world, a leaven of peace, through the saving love of God.

Yes, indeed, we are called to a journey of faith. And our faith is and will be reckoned to us as righteousness, just as it was with Abraham, when we rest in the fact that His promises are sure, and His promises are true.

Count the Stars

Men and women have been trying to count the stars ever since Abraham, but no one knows the exact number except for God. He knows how many stars there are in the sky because He determined their number, just as He knows the number of all who are and will be saved.

But He did not just give each of the stars a number. That is what you do to prisoners and people waiting in line at the deli counter. He gave each of them a name. No two stars are named the same and each one is different. And every night, ever since that fourth night of the world in which God created the stars, and every night until that last night of the world, He brings each and every one of the stars out, calling each one by name, like a shepherd calling His sheep by name and each one knows the voice of its shepherd, and not one is missing.

It takes incredible faith to believe in a God you have never seen. That is why Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29 [RSV]). It takes even more faith to believe in His promises that will directly impact your life. Great faith comes from our resolve to believe in the Lord and Who He is, not what we can prove or intellectualize about Him. As a matter of fact, faith can be downright silly in man's eyes, even foolish. Instead of being self-conscious or embarrassed we should all pray to be more foolish in our faith. Why not expect God to move mountains in our lives?

Where is your faith today? Faith is meant to be active, not passive. If we do not keep exercising our faith, we get weak and can be tossed to and fro when the enemy comes to strike. And believe me, he is doing just that, which is why Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5:8 [RSV], “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Get into the word of God on a regular basis and ask the Lord to increase your faith. When you get that sense within your spirit that you need to move, then just do it! Step out and go for it. Sometimes when the fear is the greatest, you have to ask yourself: Who is trying to stop you and why? Fear is not of the Lord. So why is the enemy causing you to fear? He does not want you to succeed. Faith brings success.

Go and count the stars yourself. See the immensity of God’s universe. Be humbled by the profound mysteries of that great expanse spoken into existence through the power of the Almighty, and find your faith refreshed and renewed in the knowledge that that very same Creator Who made all the glorious splendor above is also the very same Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; 16. for in Him all things were created, in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. 17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17 [RSV])

Reckoned to Him as Righteousness

When addressing the church in Rome, Paul used the example of Abraham from Genesis 15 to show to the Jews within that congregation that the Gentiles’ (of which Abraham was one, too) faith in the Lord, just as Abraham’s, was what makes them righteousness. Paul writes in Romans 4:1-5 [RSV] and Romans 4:21-25 [RSV], saying,

1. What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." 4. Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. 5. And to one who does not work but trusts Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

20. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21. fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. 22. That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness." 23. But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, 24. but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in Him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25. Who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

We are all called to a journey, and in many ways it is a journey not unlike that which was made by Abraham and Sarah. We also are in many ways similarly called like that of Abraham and Sarah. We will journey by stages, and without a map, but we do have a promise and the presence of God, His Holy Spirit, to show us the way. We will experience all of life on that journey, both the good and the bad, but if we trust in the Lord and have faith in His word “that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 [RSV]).

Just as Abraham and Sarah were, we, too, are called to leave our attachments to home and family, to our ideas of what religion is or should be, to make God our only loyalty. We are to seek His approval, rather than the approval of those around us. We are called to be a family of God through Whose name nations will bless themselves. We are called to live the intensity of life, as well as the peace of life. We can have the harmony of life when we live with God awareness. We are called to be salt and light to the world, a leaven of peace, through the saving love of God.

Yes, indeed, we are called to a journey of faith. And our faith is and will be reckoned to us as righteousness, just as it was with Abraham, when we rest in the fact that His promises are sure, and His promises are true.

The Feast of Tabernacles

The Feast of Tabernacles is a week long autumn harvest festival. Tabernacles is also known as the Feast of the Ingathering, Feast of the Booths, Sukkoth, Succoth, or Sukkot (variations in spellings occur because these words are transliterations of the Hebrew word pronounced “Sue-coat”). The two days following the festival are separate holidays, Shemini Atzeret and Simkhat Torah, but are commonly thought of as part of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles was the final and most important holiday of the year. The importance of this festival is indicated by the statement, “This is to be a lasting ordinance.” The divine pronouncement, “I am the Lord your God,” concludes this section on the holidays of the seventh month. The Feast of Tabernacles begins five days after Yom Kippur on the fifteenth of Tishri (September or October). It is a drastic change from one of the most solemn holidays in the Jewish year to one of the most joyous. The word Sukkoth means “booths,” and refers to the temporary dwellings that Jews were commanded to live in during this holiday, just as the Jews did in the wilderness. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days and ends on the twenty-first day (3x7) of the Hebrew month of Tishri, which is Israel’s seventh month.

This holiday has a dual significance: historical and agricultural (just as Passover and Pentecost). Historically, it was to be kept in remembrance of the dwelling in tents in the wilderness for the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert. It is expounded in Leviticus 23:43: "That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." So what were they to remember?

They were to remember their own humble origins, and how it was through the hand of God that they came to be a nation of people. Those that are comfortably fixed ought often to call to mind their former unsettled state, when they were but little in their own eyes. They were to remember the mercy of God to them, that, when they dwelt in tabernacles, God not only set up a tabernacle for Himself among them, but, with the utmost care and tenderness imaginable, hung a canopy over them, even the cloud that sheltered them from the heat of the sun. God’s former mercies to His people ought to be kept in everlasting remembrance. The eighth day was the great day of this holiday, because then they returned to their own houses again, and remembered how, after they had long dwelt in tents in the wilderness, at length they came to a happy settlement in the land of promise, where they dwelt in goodly houses. And they would more sensibly value and be thankful for the comforts and conveniences of their houses when they had been seven days dwelling in booths. It is good for those that have ease and plenty sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness. It is good for us to remember our Lord and Savior and His sacrifice each time we partake of the Lord’s Supper, for He tabernacles with us.

7th Grade Boys Win Big

The Mattoon 7th Grade Boys Basketball Team is loaded and they showed it as they defeated Newton Jasper County 42-3 on Monday, November 9, 2009 in Mattoon.

After playing each other for several years now in youth and city leagues, it was simply pure pleasure getting to see the boys finally getting the chance to play together as a team, and they were clicking on all cylinders. After the first quarter of play ended they led 16-0, and as the halftime buzzer sounded they had increased their lead to 28-1. Mattoon only had 1 defensive rebound in the first half, and that was because Newton was only able to get off 2 shots from the field in the entire first half . . . and the first of these was rejected by Payton Hartbank. As it turned out, Mattoon did not allow a single field goal for the entire game.

Mattoon was able to play 15 players (only Austin Warrem did not play due to a broken finger he injured during practice last week), and 9 players got into the scoring column. It could have been much worse for Newton: Three of Mattoon’s biggest offensive threats did not even figure in the scoring (Austin Warrem, Zach Armstrong and Daniel Ferguson). Armstrong was 0 for 2 from the field while Ferguson did not even attempt a shot. Daniel had 1 steal and 2 offensive boards in 8 minutes and 14 seconds of game play. He also caused 5 more steals for his teammates as he deflected passes into their hands.

The 1-2-2 swarming zone defense and three quarter zone press was just too much for Newton to handle as Mattoon had 23 steals for the game. They also caused at least a dozen more turnovers on top of that with errant passes, traveling and double dribbling. In spite of their very solid defensive performance, they only had 1 player, Jack Raboin, commit more than 2 fouls, and Raboin had 3. As a team, they only committed 7 fouls in the game.

This club is really loaded. They have the potential to go very far this season. There is no perceptible drop-off in talent until you get to about number 14 on a 16-man roster. The entire 4th quarter for Mattoon was played by the third string for Mattoon.

When I was in 7th grade, we had a very good basketball team that got knocked out in the district championship, just missing going to state and finishing with a very strong 14-3 record. This team is so good that kids who tried out and did not make the squad were as good as our second unit.

Bad Company Ruins Good Morals

After splitting from his nephew, Lot, because the land was unable to support all of their property in Genesis 13, Abram settled in the land of Canaan. Abram did this after Lot chose to dwell in the fertile Jordan Valley near the city of Sodom (Genesis 13). Lot's family and all their possessions were taken into captivity from Sodom by the four Mesopotamian kings. The choices Lot and Abram made and their end result are significant. Lot chose the worldly advantages of living near wicked Sodom and lost everything he had, not just once, but twice! Abram was the one who saved Lot twice, first of all in Genesis 14, and later in Genesis 19. When Lot was separated from Abram, he suffered loss. He became influenced by the world and its ways. When he was with Abram, however, he was blessed.

There is a great lesson to be learned from this fact alone. It is more than acting prudently; it is absolutely necessary that we protect our own salvation by surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals who hold the same values as we do. This is why the Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth, 33. Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 14. Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15. What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16. What agreement has the Temple of God with idols? For we are the Temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them,” says the Lord, “and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, 18. and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. (1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

The word of God teaches us in Proverbs 18:24 [RSV], “There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Good friends not only are a joy to be with, but they also help us to be better people. When you surround yourself with friends who hold the same, Christian values as you do, people who do what is right and are honest, and who treat others with respect, then you are better able to follow these same principles yourself. As the Apostle Paul once wrote, “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Romans 14:7 [RSV]). Paul is making the point that people we surround ourselves with influence and have an affect upon our lives, and we also influence and affect those around us.

Jesus wants us to influence others, but He wants us to influence them rightly: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16 [RSV]). So please, remember to guard your salvation by seeking good companions so that you may remain a beacon of hope to others.

The Parables of Jesus

During the ministry of Jesus, He began teaching the people in parables. A parable is simply a fictitious short story told to illustrate a moral attitude or a religious principle. In other words, it is an example. When asked why He taught the people using examples, Jesus answered His disciples by saying in Matthew 13:11-17 [Simple English], 11. “You have been chosen to learn the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but these secrets have not been given to others. 12. The person who has something will get more. However, what will happen to the one who has nothing? Even what he has will be taken away from him! 13. This is why I use stories when I talk with them, so that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but they do not understand. 14. They have made Isaiah's prophecy come true: ‘You will certainly hear, but you won't understand! You will certainly see, but you won't understand! 15. The heart of this people has become hard. They have ears, but they do not listen. They have shut their eyes. Otherwise, they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and then turn. I would heal them.' 16. You are very blessed to see what you now see, and to hear what you now hear. 17. I am telling you the truth: Many prophets and good men wanted to see what you now see, but they did not see it. And they wanted to hear what you now hear, but they did not hear it.”

As Christians, it would behoove us to study these parables, these examples, in order to teach us more about God and how to better our own lives. Although the number varies as to how many parables Jesus spoke due to some people counting some parables as two or three separate, small illustrations while another person views these as one continuous story, there are roughly 40 parables Jesus left behind for us. These 40 illustrations can be broken down into the following categories: Parables Regarding Entry into the Kingdom, Parables Regarding Israel and Judaism, Parables Regarding the Christian’s Walk in this Life, and Parables Regarding Jesus’ Return and Final Judgment. From these categories it also is quite easy to create sub-categories. For instance, under the category of Parables Regarding the Christian’s Walk in this Life one could make sub-categories called Love, Humility and Persistence in Prayer. Therefore, if someone was to ask you what you thought Jesus might say about a particular situation, such as feeling resentment over someone else’s success, you could easily turn them to the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 and see how the older son in this story is depicted. Or you could teach them their need to exercise humility by leading them to the Parable of the Lowest Seat at the Feast, and see how it is more important that we let God raise us than worrying about what others think of us. By doing so, you will be able to fulfill Peter’s command that is applicable to all who are the children of God: “Always be ready to give an answer of defense to anyone who asks you why you have hope inside you” (1 Peter 3:15 [Simple English]).

Blessed Be God Most High

In the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Genesis when Abram was returning from the slaughter of the kings, we are introduced to the character of Melchizedek as he arrives on the scene. King Melchizedek of Salem was a priest of God Most High. He brought out some bread and wine and said to Abram, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Maker of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the spoils.

Melchizedek is a crucial figure in this account because he put Abram’s victory in proper theological perspective. There was no back slapping, there were no high-fives exchanged, and neither was there any politicking once Melchizedek arrived. Melchizedek was a king and a priest, not a king and a politician. His words were intended to remind Abram that the victory was God’s, and that his success was a direct result of God’s intervention and blessing. In effect, Melchizedek’s words were a reminder of the covenant God had made with Abram when He called him from Ur to Canaan in the first place: 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the Earth shall bless themselves." (Genesis 12:1-3 [RSV])

I believe it was providential that Melchizedek’s appearance interrupted the meeting of Abram with the King of Sodom. The appearance of Melchizedek at this moment in time just after we first learn that Abram was referred to for the first time in Scripture as “the Hebrew,” and right on the heels and in mid-celebration of this great military victory, also gives more credence to the belief that Melchizedek is Shem, Noah’s son who was the recipient of the prophecy of blessing: “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave.” Look at the similarity between how these two blessings are worded. It is remarkable. It is as if Shem arrived for the very specific purpose of “passing the torch” to God’s chosen vehicle, Abram, the recipient of the covenantal blessing that through him would come the Promised Seed in which all the world would be blessed. It is as if Shem was confirming that Abram was indeed “the Hebrew,” the rightful heir to wear that moniker, the truly spiritual “children of Eber” who are the faithful individuals who follow in the footsteps of Shem and his faithful great grandson, Eber. Melchizedek and his appearance reminded Abram then and us now of the sovereignty of Almighty God in the affairs of men. God is in control of history. Even the events that appear to be only secular on the surface often end up having a much deeper spiritual purpose and significance.

Genesis 14:13 and Abram the Hebrew

In Genesis 14:13 [RSV], Moses writes, “Then one who had escaped came, and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram.”

What is so significant about this verse? It is significant for the following reason: This is the first time the word “Hebrew” is used in Scripture, and it is specifically applied to Abram, the recipient of the covenant of God that through him would come the Promised Seed Who would bless the entire world.

The word “Hebrew” (“Ivri” in the Hebrew language) comes from the word “Eber” (sometimes written as “Ever” and in some versions of the Gospel of Luke is called “Heber”), and it means “the other side.” I believe there are at least three reasons why Abram became the first man called “the Hebrew,” and in the case of Abram, I believe there are literal as well as spiritual reasons he is referred to as “the Hebrew” coming from “the other side.”

The first of these is that Abram was a stranger “from the other side.” Born east of the land of Canaan in Ur of the Chaldees of Mesopotamia, a city and country devoted fully to idolatry, Abram had come “from the other side” of the Jordan River before settling in Canaan.

Secondly, and more importantly, Abraham stood “on the other side” in his opposition to the entire pagan world. His recognition of the One True God, Yahweh, and his adamant refusal to comply with the “modern” ideology of his counterparts of his day, including his own family (Joshua 24:2), set Abram, the great man of faith and man of God, at odds with practically all the rest of humanity and their false worship of idols created by such evil men as Nimrod.

Finally, Abraham was a descendent of Eber. Eber was the great-grandson of Noah's son, Shem, and Eber is given special recognition as a man of worth and honor by Moses, who states in Genesis 10:21 [RSV], “To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.” Shem, as you may recall, had been the recipient of the blessing of the prophecy of Noah following the sin against Noah committed by Ham. Noah, waking up from his drunken stupor, realized that Shem had not dishonored him as did Ham, and Noah said, “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave” (Genesis 9:26 [RSV]). Just as Abraham and the Messiah were to come through the line of Shem, so, too, was the world to be blessed through "the children of Eber.”

There was obviously something special about this man, Eber, otherwise Moses would not have added the extra commentary he does regarding this man. And how Moses words his commentary shows us that he fully expected his original audience to know what was so special about this man, Eber, and why he and his offspring were specifically mentioned as they were. According to Jewish tradition handed down since before the time of Moses, Eber refused to help in the building of the Tower of Babel as ordered by Nimrod. Consequently, his and his family’s language was not confused when the building of the tower was abandoned through the intervention of Yahweh, and Eber and “the children of Eber” were given the blessing of retaining the original language given to Adam by God in the beginning of time. Therefore, God further honored Eber by designating his called out man, Abram, “the Hebrew,” the one from whom all the world would be blessed, and also naming the original language of the Earth after Eber also, Hebrew.

Even by this early account, Abram and his family were already considered so important that the land where they were living was already known as their land, the land of the Hebrews. Why? Because when Noah divided up the world among his three sons following the Flood, the land portion encompassing Israel originally was allotted to Shem and his descendants. These people were driven out by the descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, and so the land became known as Canaan’s land. So when Abram arrived on the scene and he began to drive these people out, the land was called in Hebrew and known as “Eretz Ha-Ivriim,” meaning “the land of the Hebrews,” the true spiritual “children of Eber.” Eventually, the “children of Eber,” the Hebrews, lived in Egypt as slaves before God interceded and destroyed their captors, creating the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai. When they went to re-conquer the land of the Hebrews, once again they found it occupied by the descendants of Canaan as races of giants, just as in the days of Abram, were found to be living in Canaan’s land. So when push comes to shove, according to what we find in Scripture, the land was originally apportioned to Shem and the “children of Eber,” Shem’s most prominent offspring prior to Abram.