Manifestations of God in The Old Testament - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Before we pray again, I trust that the past couple of weeks has been a blessing. It's a different angle. It's a different flavor. It's a different emphasis, but it's scripture. It's Bible.

It's God. It's his revelation. It's his truth. And my personal prayer has been in the past few weeks, even as we continue, is, lord, even though we're going into scripture concerning who you are and your nature, don't let it be any less powerful than any other message that would directly challenge us to a certain decision or a certain lifestyle or a certain change. And God is able to do that.

And and that's really what we need to ask the Lord for before we jump into this. So can we ask as we're just saying, Lord, I'm desperate. I need you. And I wanna encourage you that if you're if you're going through something in your walk with the Lord right now, don't underestimate what he can do in a meeting. Don't underestimate what can happen with with even a mustard seed faith.

You say, Lord, I don't have much, but I need you much, and I need you to touch my heart right now. Even in a Bible study about the Trinity, God can still speak. Believe that. This is not divorce from your walk with the Lord. This is very much involved with how we see Him and relate to Him and experience Him.

Let's ask the Lord. Lord, we thank you. We are in your house today with joy, with gladness of heart. Lord, we were glad to know that today we were gonna come to your house. Here we are.

Lord, we come to meet with you. We pray that time would not be a factor. We pray that even our hunger would not be a factor. That the weariness of our flesh would not intervene or interfere, that, Lord, you would just carry us through this word by the Spirit, and let us get lost in the revelation of who you are. Father, let these words be more than man's words.

Let your words come with unction and power. Let your words come in such a way where every man disappears in Christ, the God man is seen and adored and loved. And so, Lord, we ask that as we've come into this meeting with singing, let us come out with even greater songs and a greater joy and glee in our hearts towards you. Lord, we pray that you would break chains of sin tonight. We pray that you would set people free.

We pray that you would bring and renew the joy of our salvation in light of who you are. God Almighty, we call upon you in faith. We ask and pray these things in the glorious name of the only Saviour that this world desperately needs. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. If you are a student of the Old Testament, you have most likely, if not obviously, come to a place where you've realized that God has manifested Himself in creation in a very real and tangible way. That God has chosen to unveil Himself in a to a degree in which the senses that a man carries have been come into contact with. So God has chosen in many areas of the Bible, specifically in the Old Testament as well, where He has allowed man to see Him with the human eye, to hear Him with the human ear, to even touch Him with the human hand. And we would all admit here, if we're honest with the Bible, that often times when God has chosen to do this, He's in fact chosen to do this in a way in which He has appeared in human form.

In human form. Where He's fellowship with man, where He's actually even eaten, where He's walked, where He sat, and you think this is very human like language, and even to the point where people have not realized that He was God because of the humanity that he has displayed in those moments. And so we've been talking about the Trinity the past two weeks, and we can almost count this as a part three to the Trinity though it's not directly going to be speaking about the Trinity. We're gonna see the Trinity. Trinity traces in what we're gonna talk about.

But what we are going to focus is on God appearing in the Old Testament specifically, and more specifically in human form. Now here's here's where we have to ask the question. Why is that important? In light of understanding our faith, why is it important to know or to see how God has chosen to make himself known specifically in human form? Barrett?

Maybe objections to the incarnation, like God would not be himself in person?

Absolutely. That is the main point, really. So you have a verse like what we talked about not too long ago in Numbers in Numbers twenty three nineteen, where God is not a man, that he should lie. And people point that and say, ah, how can you believe that your God became a man? It just says right there that God is not a man.

And what was the answer to that objection in a very simple way?

It's not saying that God cannot become a man.

Exactly. It's not saying that God cannot become a man. It's saying that God in essence is not like man. And not only that, even more specifically, God is not like man in the fallenness of man. Because the whole context of this is that God is reaffirming about his covenant, and he's not like a man who breaks his promise, who gives a word and takes it back.

God is not like that. And so you have many people in this world, in the hundreds of millions, that object to the idea that Jesus Christ was fully God, fully man, or God in the flesh, that that is impossible, and some would even go to the point of saying, That's blasphemy for you to say that God would come and stoop down to such a level. And for us to understand how God has revealed Himself in the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, as a man in more than one occasion, provides even more burden on the person who would object to such an idea to deal with such incidences, specifically Muslims and Jews. Even Muslims would affirm the scriptures in the Old Testament, the Torah, and we can get into that another day. And so now we have just even more evidence that says, hey, this concept, this miraculous thing we call the incarnation is not so far fetched after all because God has done many things in the past before Christ has come in the flesh where he's revealed himself in the flesh.

And so what do you do about that? How do you explain those verses? How do you explain those occurrences? And what you have actually is people who dismiss those things by saying, well, they have different reasons. That was an angel.

That was a representative of God. That was somebody who walked in God's power, but was not really God. And all these objections, and we have the answers that really for the reader in the Old Testament is being set up for the incarnation in the New Testament. And what they're seeing is that it is in fact a possibility for God to enter into his creation, take on flesh, and perform a certain act. And so it's not a foreign thing that when we find out Jesus is in fact God in the flesh.

It's setting the platform up in the narrative for salvation. So that's the main part. I would say secondly too, this concept of understanding God coming in human form or God manifesting himself in different ways is actually the answer one of the answers to the apparent contradiction that people bring up from the New Testament in light of verses like, no one has ever seen the father. No one has ever seen the father. So how can you say that man has seen God in the Old Testament?

And how does the Trinity answer that question? It was in the father. There was another member of the Godhead that manifested himself. So in the last two weeks, we've been talking about references to the Trinity. And what we're gonna be talking about tonight, and I hope that this would engage your heart just as much, not references as much to the trinity, but appearances of God, specifically in human form, and the expectation of God to come in the flesh one day and to take on skin and bone and blood.

And so here's we're gonna open it up. Where does your mind go when you think God appearing in a human like form in the Old Testament? Isaac? It's Abraham. Okay.

Which chapter of you're talking about Abraham, what incidents?

Before he was going to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Okay. So Genesis 18. Yes. When Jacob was wrestling with God. Perfect.

Yes. Daniel. Daniel chapter seven with a vision. Sure. One like a son of man, even in the furnace with the three buddies.

Yes. Judges 13. Judges 13. Absolutely. What's going on in Judges 13?

Samson's parents.

Manoa. Yeah. Absolutely. What else?

I'm burning bush.

Yeah. That's not human form, but that is a manifestation of God. Absolutely.

What about when God was walking in the Eden?

In the garden. Absolutely. Someone pointed out as well. Yeah? Hagar.

Hagar. Absolutely. We're actually touching on all the scriptures we're gonna we're gonna skim through. Anything else? Yeah, Isaac.

Is it, with the mountain with Moses and the elders?

Sure. Yeah. That's a that's a little bit more complex one, but that's that's definitely something there where we'll explore one day. Sure. Yeah.

Joshua. Yeah. The captain of the Lord of hosts. Absolutely. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna kiss these different stories and not go too in-depth, but we're just gonna really see how God is it's overwhelming how God has revealed himself in such a way.

And it's it's almost an amazing thing to see Jesus in the Old Testament. Just think about the Jesus in the New Testament, how he's speaking, how he's interacting in the Old Testament. I couldn't I couldn't help but find my my heart just bubbling up with joy realizing this is Jesus in many in many context coming and revealing himself. Let's let's touch on God and Abraham. Let's go to Genesis 18.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 18. We're very familiar with these first two ones. We're gonna talk about Genesis 18 and Genesis 32, and then we're gonna go on a different avenue about a specific character with a specific title that we might not necessarily consider to be God, but we're gonna prove that. Genesis 18. Let's look at verse one.

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, and he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them now notice it said men. Three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, oh, lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

Now who are these three men? We have three guys here. Isaac? Is it God and two angels? Yes.

And how do we know that? How do we know it's God and two angels? Some would say it's the trinity, manifest each person of the trinity manifesting themselves in human form. So how do we know that it is God, in fact, one of them is the Lord, and two of them are angels? Barrett?

The two angels went to Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham stayed and and talked with God.

So if we follow this story and we come to chapter 19 verse one, we find the answer to that. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening. Now that's after we realized that two of them went ahead while one stayed back and the one was in fact the Lord Himself. How do we know that? Verse 22 of chapter 18.

So the men turned from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. So out of these three, we have two that are angels. We have one who is the Lord Himself. Now this is what's interesting. We're talking about Yahweh.

We're talking about the God of all creation. And look at verse four of chapter 18 and see the interaction that's taking place, or at least the invitation. Look what Abraham says, let a little water be brought and wash your feet. So they had feet to be washed. And rest yourselves under the tree.

They had bodies that could rest. Verse five, While I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves, so they could eat. And after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant. Feet to be washed, mouth that can eat, bodies that can rest. This sounds a lot like a man, but the Bible is not ashamed to testify that one of these three men is God himself.

And this is where it gets really interesting. We come to verse 22, and it says that the angels continue to move forward. Abraham begins to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah. And after coming to a point, it tells us that the Lord went his way. So now we know this.

He he intercedes and he brings it down, from 45 righteous, 40 to 30 to 20 to 10. He goes, Lord, will you really judge if there is this many righteous people in this place? And look what it says in verse 33. And the Lord went his way after he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. So here's the question.

The Lord, after conversing with Abraham, walked away. Where did he go though? Where did where did the Lord go after he finished speaking with Abraham?

I think he went to Sodom because, when he was there, he said the Lord bring on fire from the Lord in heaven.

Bingo. So when when it says that the Lord went his way, it didn't say that he went up into heaven, and let the angels figure out in Sodom. We we realized that he followed the angels, and we come now to 19 verse 23. After Lot and his family had been rescued by the angels from Sodom, it says in verse 23, the sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zor. Then the now this is where we see something very interesting.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Typo. Read that carefully. It says that the Lord what did he do? He rained Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

We have two lords here in one verse. And we just admitted and we just confessed that the Lord that spoke to Abraham when he finished did not leave the earth, but he went towards Sodom. And right here, we see that there's one Lord on the earth and one Lord in heaven. And in their interaction, in their communication, in their working together, they brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Now how do you explain that if you do not believe that there are more than one within the Godhead?

So we see even when God does manifest himself in human like form, in this verse alone, we have proof for the Trinity. The Lord is communicating with the Lord. Fire is coming from heaven, but we just confessed and we just saw that there is one Lord here on earth. Now just in case we may not believe that based on this verse alone, the Holy Spirit has chosen to use two different, more than two texts to bring commentary on this very incidence to just further make it concrete that this was in fact two performing this act of judgment. So here's one.

Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 40. Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 40. This is speaking about judgment that is to come to Babylon, and look what God is saying about what's going to happen to Babylon. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities declares the Lord, So no man shall dwell there, and no man no son of man shall sojourn in her. Now who's speaking here?

It says, Declares who? Declares the Lord. So God is speaking about judgement that's gonna come on Babylon, and in His declaration of what is to come in His wrath, look how He chooses to speak about what had happened in the past with Sodom and Gomorrah. He says, As when God overthrew Now, the Lord is speaking, it would make sense if there was one that He would say, I did it, as when I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. But it doesn't say that.

He's speaking as though there is another person, somebody outside of himself, though equal with himself, that has brought this act of judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Declares the Lord. What does the Lord say? As when God overthrew. Oh, so that makes a lot of sense in light of Genesis nineteen twenty four, that the Lord sent fire from heaven while the Lord was on the earth.

Here's another verse. Amos, Amos four eleven. Amos four eleven. It's the same concept as what we see in Jeremiah fifty forty. Another commentary on this incident that we read in Genesis 19.

I overthrew some of you. Now who's speaking? Let's just read this and see who's speaking. I overthrew some of you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning, yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. God is speaking here.

The Lord is clearly speaking, and look what he chooses to say when he looks back to the incident that we just read. I overthrew some of you as when God overthrew. I did it, but so did God did it. But who's I? The Lord.

So we have two in one. We have two members of the trainee speaking about one act, and it's giving perfect commentary on what we see here in Genesis nineteen twenty four. So God here is manifesting himself in human like form. And in the manifestation of him being this man, he is also showing himself to being a distinct person from the Godhead. This is just one of many proofs.

But here's just a practical question that speaks even more of the heart of God. Why did God choose to come in the flesh in this moment? Why did God choose to come with two angels to come to Sodom and Gomorrah when he could have done all of that from heaven? Because he's what? What do we know about God?

He's omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. So so why why the effort? Though he doesn't does not it doesn't require effort or energy. Why come down, travel, walk, eat, take a break, and and then walk ahead with the angels and and do all of this when he could have done everything from headquarters, so to speak? Does anybody have an idea?

He's relational and also he heard an outcry so he came up to see it.

Okay. So he heard an outcry, and that's found in verse 20 of chapter 18. What does it say here? Then the Lord said in chapter 18 verse 20 of Genesis. And the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grave.

Look what he says he will do. I will go down whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know. Did God not know being in heaven what the sin was with Sodom and Gomorrah? Is God limited in his knowledge for him to perform such an act? Is God showing some kind of what is he doing here?

Yes. So was it for Abraham?

Was it for Abraham to come in encouragement? Some would say, yeah. To directly encourage Abraham? Partly so, but right here it says that he has come to specifically investigate Sodom and Gomorrah. He did this before.

The Lord did this before. Is there is there a moment in Genesis before chapter 18 where God has done something very similar? The garden. The garden. A little bit further along.

It's actually Oh. Yeah. Tower Of Babel. Tower Of Babel. He says the same thing.

Let us go down. Right? We can see let's go quickly. Just to Genesis 11. Just to get an idea of what's going on here.

Genesis 11 verse four. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man built. And the Lord said, behold, they are one people. They have all one language.

Look at verse seven. Come, let us go down there and confuse our language. So he does the very same thing. And notice, both moments were in light of an act of judgment. And I believe the reason why God is choosing to do this is not because he is proving limited knowledge or the need to get closer to his creation in order to figure out what's going on.

I believe what it's showing here, what it's displaying is, in fact, God is slow to his judgement. God is so extremely patient and so unwilling to bring about wrath and total destruction that he chooses to go the extra mile, to go the length of actually coming down and putting on feet, so to speak, and walking towards a place just to see it and say, okay, let me let me witness it as a man and and come to the place where I finally will make this conclusion. It's almost as though he is expressing indirectly, I really don't want to do this so let me go as far as possible as I need to. Let me extend whatever I need to do in terms of investigation in order for me to come to judgment as a final act, as a final point. It's an amazing thing that he's doing right here.

It's not showing that he doesn't know, it's just showing that he is hesitant and willing to extend mercy over wrath. Genesis 18. The other one that you brought up, Evan, Genesis 32. Genesis 32. These ones we're very familiar with and they seem straightforward, but they're good for review.

Let's look at verse 22. The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had, and Jacob was left alone. As a side note, God really wants to do that with you and me. We're so busy.

We don't really know what it's like to be alone anymore, especially with the technology we have. And Jacob was left alone. And a man now look at what it says. A man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

A man came to Jacob and wrestled with him. This is how the Bible chooses to describe it. But we find out that even Jacob realized that as he's in this wrestling match, that he has he has discovered something unique and superior of this man that has chosen to wrestle him because he he inquires something that you don't just go and say to any man necessarily. Verse 26. Then he said, let me go.

This is the man. For the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Unless you bless me. He realized in the midst of the dark, he realized in the midst of this wrestling match that there was something about this man.

He carried something. He carried some kind of authority. He carried some kind of superiority for him to bless him, and he wanted that blessing on his life. And he goes on to this next thing in verse 27. And he said to him, what is your name?

And he said, Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men have prevailed. Then Jacob asked them, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it that you ask my name? Hold on to that thought when we come to the end of this because we see a similar question being asked and a very similar answer, but with a different insight that will show that Genesis 32 is the same as somebody else in the book of Judges.

And there he blessed them. Now look at the conclusion that Jacob has come to. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, for I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered. He admits that he's seen God. And again, what does the Holy Spirit choose to do?

Because you would be amazed of how people come to these texts and try to explain it away. There's no way that this could be God and a man having a wrestling match. So the Holy Spirit, what does he do? He takes us to the book of Hosea, and he brings us to chapter 12. When we come to chapter 12, we read something from verse three and four.

Let's go actually to verse two. Hosea twelve two to four. The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. Now look what it says. He will repay him according to his deeds.

In the womb, he took his brother by the heel. So So Jacob was wrestling even from his mother's womb. In his womb, he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood, he strove with God. It says right there. He wrestled.

He strove. And we see even back in Genesis that it says that you've striven with God and with man. And so Hosea 12 verse three tells us that this was in fact God. But look what it says in verse four. What does it say in verse four?

He stroveth the angel and prevailed. Was it God or was it an angel? Which one?

Yes. It seems like from the text that there's two encounters, because Jacob is not revealed over that. Or it seems like there's another incident where Jacob stroked with an angel and he prevailed.

Do you know where that incident is if there is a second one? Are we speaking about the same incident? That's a that's a good attempt to see how we make sense of this, but you will see how this makes perfect now segue into what we're gonna get into next concerning God manifesting himself in a certain way. Was it God or was it an angel?

An angel simply means messenger. Oh.

So are you saying that the Bible chooses to reveal God as an angel in the Old Testament if it means messenger?

As sent from another person.

This is Segway right now, and Gorgis just did it. God and the angel in this text are the same. They're the same. Why? Because there's an interesting character that we find in the Old Testament that has a specific title, and you guys I'm sure know what it is, that reveals that God has in fact manifested himself in more than one way than the famous verses that we just brought up.

How has God chosen to reveal Himself with a specific title? Who knows it? Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord. You've seen it, you've read it, some have debated over it, some disagree with what conclusion we're about to make right now, but what we believe in light of the scriptures is that whoever this Angel of the Lord is, he is more than just this idea of angel.

Now, let's just stop here and ask this question. When you hear the word angel, what image pops to your mind? What do you see when you hear angel? I'm sure a majority of us including myself have a popular misconception of what an angel looks like. Halo, wings, glitter?

Wrong. There is nothing in the scriptures that describes an angel in such a way except for two types of angels, and what are those? Cherubim and Seraphim. Other than that, you will not see a description of an angel of such sort. In fact, the idea that you get when you read the Old Testament, even the New is that angels really look like men.

They have that human appearance and those human distinctive features, if anything. That helps a lot in understanding this imagery of the angel of the Lord. And as Gorgis brought up, it goes even deeper than that. Both the Hebrew and the Greek word for angel is simply messenger. It's simply messenger or one sent by God.

One sent by God. And so when we think about the angel of the Lord, we can replace that safely with it, and people might wonder, well, if that means messenger, then why do we have the word angel? Whole another rabbit trail that we're not gonna go on. It has to do with translation and transliteration and Latin. We'll put that on pause.

But we can just safely understand that if you look at the context, the word angel simply means messenger. In fact, the Hebrew word for angel that we see in many texts is actually used for humans. Here's an example. Genesis 32, right here. Look at verse three, just a chapter before.

And Jacob sent messengers before him And that word messengers is the same word used for angel. Did Jacob send angels? Heavenly beings to run around? No. He had men who were sent by him to deliver a word.

And this is exactly the same word that we see here with angels. And this is important. Why is that important? Why is understanding the the the idea of not just imagery, but the definition of an angel important in light of relating the angel of the Lord to God? Why is it important, do you think?

Well, automatically, it breaks down any objection that God has become this angel like figure with halo and wings, and and he chose to just take on this another form in a sense, another heavenly like figure. It deconstructs all of that because the simple definition is messenger. Doesn't necessarily mean heavenly being or celestial being. No. And And this is where it gets even more interesting.

If if that's what it means, just to simply being sent by God, then we know that it's possible for God to function as a messenger without being, again, this created creature. The Angel of the Lord is not as much don't understand it as him taking on this majestic type figure or this thing No, no, no. See it as the function, the role, messenger. So God chooses to come as a messenger when we understand the Angel of the Lord, which makes it even more profound. Think of it in light of the Trinity.

If the Angel of the Lord is in fact God, what does that say about the trinity? The very title itself denotes the idea that there are at least one there's more than one member within the Godhead. Why? Messenger of who? The Lord.

But if the angel of the Lord is the Lord, then the Lord is sending a message on behalf of who? The Lord. So the very title itself, the very description of the function, if in fact does point to deity, shows that there is a messenger of the Lord, who is the Lord, who's sending a message on behalf of the Lord. Now we have to be careful because not every instance where you see the term angel of God or angel of the Lord points to Didi. The safest thing that you have to do is just look at the context.

The safest thing that you have to do is simply look at the context. Now why would anyone assume that God would take the role of a messenger? That's the question I had when I was studying this. Why would God assume the role of a messenger when he has so many angels to do it? And I think at least one of many explanations, I think one is this, If I if I had a message for Gorgis and I sent Paul to deliver that message, it's still important, but it's a whole another thing when I have a message to deliver myself.

So I can send somebody else to send that message on behalf of me, but if I need to send a message, I'm gonna go to that person directly, would I not? And I believe that the moments where we see the angel of the Lord, it's not just happenstance, it's not random. I believe the moments in which the angel of the Lord manifests itself are in crucial, pivotal times in someone's life, and overall in the plan that God has to perform on the earth. Does that make sense tonight? So we see that with the Angel of the Lord.

Now here's a huge objection, and this is where we need to equip ourselves. Here's the objection. The angel of the Lord is not God himself, but is just a strong representation, and representative, and ambassador of God who carries God's power and carry God's name even. Why is that wrong? Because many people believe that about the angel of the Lord.

Why? Because it totally messes up their false understanding of who God is.

Because, simply God said in Isaiah, I don't give my glory to you.

That's another one. Yes. I I don't give my glory, and part of his glory is his name, and we're gonna find out that the angel of the Lord that God has put his name in him. That's important. Think of it.

So so people say, no. The angel of the Lord is an agent. He is a representative. He's a sent one that has the the qualities of God, even the name of God, but it's not God. He's just a very close representative of God.

There is something that we have to understand with agency. Yes.

The the devil masquerades as an as a messenger of light. Okay. And so we can be confused, who's like who the messenger is.

Okay. I'm gonna ask for the to you to perhaps elaborate on that more. But it really comes down to this simple understanding. No agent, no representative ever identifies himself as the one he represents, and never, in light of this context, accepts praise or worship or homage as the one whom he represents. Does that make sense?

Because we see angels in the New Testament being sent by God, and we see a different reaction than what we see with the angel of the Lord. So here's an example. You can go to the end of your Bible, Revelations twenty two six. Look at Revelations twenty two six. This is a perfect example, I believe, of defending this this idea that the angel is simply an agent.

What does it say? Revelations twenty two six. And he said to me this is what John says. And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of the spirit of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon.

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of this prophecy of this book. Now look what John reacts to the angel that was sent by the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, what does he do? And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. And how does the angel respond?

But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of the book. Worship God. I'm a fellow servant. I'm a fellow messenger.

I'm a I am not God. Get up. Don't do this. Give what you're doing to me to the Lord. Now Now that's significant, don't turn there.

You can put up Numbers 22 and see a different reaction in verse 31. Numbers twenty two thirty one. We talked about this with Balaam. And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord, that's who we're speaking about, standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed down and fell on his face. And guess what?

The angel of the Lord does not object. The angel of the Lord doesn't tell him to get up. The angel of the Lord doesn't say worship God. The angel of the Lord accepts it and receives it. Now you're still in Revelations 22.

Right? Verse six, it says, these words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel Just a little side note. Look at verse 16 and see what Jesus says. I, Jesus, sent my angel to testify to you.

Hold on. Who sent the angel? I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things, but we just read that the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel. So is Jesus implying that he is the Lord and the God of the spirit of the prophets? Yeah, He is.

So we laid this understanding that no agent, no representative claims to take the identity of the one who represents or receive homage or praise from that individual. Think of the apostles sent by Christ, to go out and preach and represent His name. Not one of them dared said, I'm Jesus Christ. Not one of them dared would receive praise and recognition as being God. In fact, they tried that with Peter, and he says, Woah, get up!

It's getting real dangerous real quick. I'm a man just like you. And so to use that argument with the angel of the Lord, people really have to bring about a great explanation to why this angel takes the name of God for himself, claims to be God, and receives worship, receives adoration, receives reverence, even receives obedience as only God would receive it. You guys doing okay on this cold winter night? Yeah?

If so, then let's go into it. Genesis 16. We're gonna just kiss these scriptures, and hopefully it will stir our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. Genesis 16. The angel of the Lord and Hagar.

Verse seven. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur, and he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? She said, I am fleeing for my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.

Now, he says, I will do it. I will multiply your offspring. Can a mere creature say such a thing? Would an angel, a created celestial being, claim to perform the very same act that God had promised Abraham in Genesis 15 with his descendants? Now this is where someone go to verse 11 and say, ho ho ho, ladies, listen.

Don't get too excited about your angel, the Lord, being God thing. Because it says here in verse 11, and the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. He shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. Get out of here with this angel of the Lord business. It says right here that he's speaking about the Lord being an outside person who heard her affliction has nothing to do with this angel of the Lord.

But hold on. All the more proving the fact that God is triune. Because we see something here in the way she responds to this angel figure in verse 13. So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, you are a God of seeing. You are a God of seeing.

So if we stop there, we could assume that she's just responding to what the angel said. You know, the Lord heard you. The Lord seen your affliction. She goes, you are the God of seeing, but the Holy Spirit confirms that she's in fact worshiping the very person that said that to her. Why?

For she said, truly here I have seen him who looks after me. That's the ESV. The other translation, she speaks at it in in almost in like a like a a question form in which she's almost in awe of the fact that she had just seen God. Can somebody either with the King James, New King James, or NASB read that same verse in verse 13 and see what it says? Have I also here looked after him that see Yeah.

So she says it in question form. Did I really see him? Did I actually really see the one who saw me and heard me in my affliction? Go to Genesis 21 verse seven. We we see here that she bumps into the angel of the Lord.

Let's go down actually to verse 15. This is when when Hagar is actually pushed out into the wilderness down with Ishmael. It says, when the water and the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off about a distance of a bowshot, for she said, let me not look of the death of this child. And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept, and God heard the voice of the boy.

Now look what it says here. And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, what troubles you, Hagar? So God heard, and who spoke? 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 boy where he is.

Up. Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand. Look what the angel of God says. For I will make him into a great nation. So we have two distinct people here.

God and the angel of God. And the angel of God again reaffirms and reassures and promises Hagar, I will empower you. I will fulfill the word that I gave you to make your descendants innumerable. Okay? Now we go to Genesis 22, just a chapter over.

God dealt with Ishmael and delivered Ishmael. Now God is about to deal with Isaac. Now we come here to verse 11. We know this chapter where God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. And look what we find here in verse 11.

But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son. Now if you stop there, it would be debatable, but look what he says.

Your only son from me. From me. The angel of the Lord said, from me. Now why is that interesting? Just go back to verse one and two.

After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So the angel of the Lord, though distinct, it says there right there in verse one and two that God was the one who asked him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. And this angel apparently has the audacity to step in, intervene, and say, You've passed the test because you did not withhold your son from me when I asked you to give him up for me.

So again, we we realize that this angel of the Lord is not just a mere creature. Now there's another difference, very practical, very heart gripping thing. What's what other difference has nothing to do with the trinity, nothing to do with the angel of the Lord, has something to do with let's see if anybody catches to it. What's the difference between verse eleven and twelve of Genesis in the first two verses of the same chapter. Look at it very carefully, and you'll you'll realize something powerful.

And we might go on a little rant here. Specifically verse 12, and compare verse 12, read it slowly, with verse two. I'm gonna read it I'm gonna read 12 and I'm gonna read two and see if if you have it, lift up do you have it, Aliyah? Is is it he specifically said you You're very close. You're very close.

You got it. Did you hear that? Let me read this and see if you guys will pick up on it. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, for me.

Now go to verse two. Here I am. That's verse one. He said in verse two, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains to which I shall tell you. What's the difference?

In verse two, he identifies us as the one whom he loves. In verse 12, he doesn't mention that. Verse 12, he says, Your son, your only son. Verse two, he says, Your son, your only son, whom you love. What's the difference?

When Abraham was willing to go to the point of actually sacrificing his son Isaac, when God intervened, he realized, You don't love your son more than me. In verse two, he emphasized the love that he had for his son, and God pointed that out and said, I wanna take the very object of your love, the very thing that you've been waiting for for so long, that very thing that you've been clinging day after day hoping that would happen, that very thing. And I want you to take whom you love, and I want you to put him on an altar on a mountain to which I shall show you. Give him up. And then when he's willing to do it, he reintroduces himself, and he says, you were willing, weren't you, to give up your only son?

And he does not include whom you love because he realized that he loved the giver more than the gift. Better believe this brothers and sisters. God will in times test your devotion to see if you are willing to give up the very thing that he even promised and gave to you from his own hand. Because he never, no matter what he does or no matter how much he blesses you, he never wants you to love the very thing that he has given you more than himself. And God, in His love, is willing to strip us of everything to bring us to the place where He is the sole thing that we worship and adore above all things in life.

What if God strips the ministry that you and I love so much? What if God strips what? Whatever it is. The very job that he blessed you with. The very home that he's given you.

The gift that he's enabled you to operate in for his own glory. Isaac was for the glory of God, not just for his joy. Isaac was for the glory of God. He says, give him up. And when he was willing, he says, it's not that he didn't love Isaac.

It's that he just proved that his love for God was greater. It's a powerful insight. Let's go to another example and we might cut this short, but this is another powerful one. We come out of Genesis, we go to Exodus. Exodus 23.

Exodus 23 verse 20. Look what the Lord says. In Exodus twenty three twenty, behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place where I have prepared. There's no angel of the Lord. There's no angel of God.

Simply an angel. And we might think to ourselves that God, in fact, has in mind an angel like how we would think, go before the nation to bring them where God has promised them to be. But then we find out what this angel is like, and we realize this is this is more than just a mere creature. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Obey his voice.

Okay. If he's representing you, if he's gonna deliver your word, I can see that. Obey his voice. Do not rebel against him for he will not pardon your transgression. Now we just crossed the line.

Do not rebel against him for he will not pardon your transgression. So So whoever this angel is, he can apparently forgive sins. Now this is the very criticism that the scribes brought about Jesus in Mark two seven. What is this man saying? Only God can forgive sins.

And now here we read about an angel that God cautions his people not to rebel against, lest he withheld and withhold forgiveness for them. Not only that, for my name is in him. For my name is in him. Now whenever you think of a name in the Bible, we know this, it often reflects the character and the nature of that person. And for him to say, my name is in him is to say that there's something about his nature, there is something about his character, there's something about his attributes, there's something about his abilities that is on par with mine.

So this is not someone that is to be taken casually or limited as a messenger that is not divine. Now here's the question, did they fulfill this? Did they not rebel against the angel? Did they walk faithfully in the promised land? What had happened with this?

This was broken. And this is where it gets really, really amazing. Judges chapter two. Past Exodus, past Leviticus, past Numbers, past Deuteronomy, past Joshua, Judges chapter two verse one to verse four. Can somebody read it, please?

Can somebody read Judges chapter two one?

Now the angel of the Lord went up from Igaol's boat camp, and he said, I brought you up from the

Hold on for a second. So the angel goes from one location to another. This is physical language here. He goes from one location to another, and the angel of the Lord and and Leah might cut you off on some points. The the angel What did he say?

I brought you out from Egypt. Now this is where it's interesting. The angel of the Lord says that, but God said something in Exodus 20 verse two. Now just just here. You don't have to turn there.

He says, I'm the one who brought you out of Egypt. The Angel of the Lord says that. And this is what God said about His act towards the people of Israel in terms of deliverance, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. So who did it? The Lord God or the angel of the Lord?

Unless the angel of the Lord is God. So we go back. Please keep reading Aliyah. I

brought you out of I brought you from Egypt, and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will I will never break my covenant.

Hold on. He made a covenant or did God make a covenant with the people? Unless, of course, again, the angel of the Lord is God himself. Please keep going.

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitant inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars, but you have not obeyed my voice.

Obey my voice? What what authority do you carry for the people to have to obey what you have to say? Unless, of course, the Angel of the Lord is more than just an angel. So we see in Exodus 23 that God has said, I'm gonna send my angel. And who did he have in mind?

It wasn't just an angel. It was another member of the Godhead that was leading them, calling them to obedience, willing to forgive, willing to empower, but the people rebelled. And when he comes back in Judges chapter two, he manifests himself and says, you guys broke what I said earlier and what God had called you to obey. We're gonna skip one and we're gonna go to Manoah and Judges 13 and end there. Judges 13, the same book.

This is the declaration of Samson's birth. And after Manoah's wife was given that wonderful news, she approaches Manoah and says in verse six, then the woman came and told her husband, a man of God came to me. A man of God came to me. There was there was something unique about him, but she came to the conclusion this is a man of God, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God. Very awesome.

I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me and she begins to describe the news. Look at what Manoah does. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, oh Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah. And the angel of God came again to the woman, and she sat in the field, but Manoah, her husband, was not there.

So what happens? She goes, he comes back. He tells him what his life is gonna be like, he tells him what the mission is gonna be like, and then he he wants to inquire for him to stay, and he realizes that this man of God is quite mysterious. There's something different about him. And look what Manoah says in verse 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? And the angel of the Lord said to him Now wait, where do we see that question before? Judges 32 with Jacob, what is your name? And he said, Why are you asking my name? And now Manoah asks, What is your name?

So that I can honor you when this comes to pass. Verse 18, and the angel of the Lord said to him, now you won't have this word if you're in the King James. Every other translation has it. Why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful? King James is secret.

Who has the word wonderful in their translation? Who has the word secret? Who has another word? Okay. I think we're all wonderful.

Wonderful or secret here. Wonderful. Seeing that it is wonderful and and really, the King James is using the word secret, but if you go to the root word is it is wonderful or incomprehensible, extraordinary. That's what my name really is. For you to ask for such a thing is actually a great request because my name alone is so heavy with glory, so heavy with splendor and majesty and bliss That in Isaiah nine six, if you can put up saying the Isaiah nine six, we see something that should bless our hearts in light of Judges 13.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name Tell me what your name is. How can I tell you my name when it is wonderful? And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That's the same. So you have pre incarnate Christ saying that his name is wonderful.

Then you have Isaiah prophesy the incarnation of Christ and includes that his name, amongst many other names, is in fact wonderful. Coincidence? No. Holy Spirit inspired? Absolutely.

Absolutely. And then when you go back to Judges 13 verse 21, what happens? They conclude that they have seen God. 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.

And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die. We have seen God. They believe that they've seen God. Isaiah nine six tells us that they've seen the wonderful God. We're stopping here, but we know this, that the Old Testament testifies that people recognize God and manifest its human form by responding to this figure with worship, adoration, reverence, obedience, and love.

We know that the Old Testament testifies that God has appeared even as the angel of the Lord proving that he is multi personal. We have realized that in the Old Testament that God is able to enter into his creation, communicate with humanity, and all the more confirming that the concept of God becoming man is not far fetched at all. We've come to the Old Testament to realize that we are being set up in the narrative for the most wonderful thing, God becoming man himself. Taking on human flesh, not just to send a message and to reveal who God is, but to become a sacrifice for God, for humanity, for our salvation. So when you and I read something and we're concluding with this verse like Micah five two.

Micah five two, and we'll read it on the screen. I pray that we'll worship the Lord in light of this truth. In Micah five two, we can read something like that, knowing that we've been built up with the understanding that God is able to do this, and God is actually preparing us for this wonderful act of salvation in Christ. But you, oh Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old of old, from ancient days. King James, New King James from what?

Everlasting. Here's a prophetic word that a ruler in Israel is to come, born in Bethlehem. But guess what? His origin is not in Bethlehem. His origin is from the days of old, from ancient days.

Ancient days is another term to say before days even existed, before time even existed. This is who is to come into Bethlehem. One who is before time, before days, before the sun, before the stars, before the clock, before Bethlehem. One is going to come enter into the world to be a ruler, but first savior. Glory be to His name.

This is Jesus the Christ. So what was the purpose of tonight? We are now stepping into another God willing, by his grace, we are now stepping into another understanding of God, and we are now coming to the God man, Jesus Christ. And what we've done tonight is we've built the case that this is possible, not just possible, this is God's plan for salvation. And prepare yourselves brothers and sisters because God in the Old Testament, yes, he did come in human form, but when we come to the New Testament, when we come to Jesus Christ, he takes on flesh never to remove flesh again.

That deity in the second person of the Triune Godhead has added to his nature by putting on Himself humanity because He loves you that much. Are you unstirred tonight? If you are, ask God to soften your heart that as you discover him in every detail possible, you would just fall more deeply in love with him. This is not information Fridays. This is an opportunity to meet with him and to worship him in light of the truth of the word.

And that's what we need to ask God to protect us from. Let's just become a classroom where we itch and want to just conclude because this doesn't seem significant. It is very significant because it speaks about who we worship and what he has done and how he's prepared all these events for one crucial event, the cross. We can have the worship team come up, and we're gonna worship the lord. Say god almighty.