SIGHTINGS by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: Just like the Grizzly bear sightings, we find that Jesus sightings are all over the Old Testament, once we open our eyes to him. We don’t have to go searching for him. We begin with the understanding that he is already there. The Trinity, and more specifically, the presence of Jesus Christ, is not a topic we have to go searching for. It is the very basis of the Old Testament. As one scholar put it (Mark S. Gignilliat, Reading Scripture Canonically), “God was not waiting till Matt 1:1 to make himself triune.” In technical terms, “ontology precedes revelation.” In our series on the book of Judges, we come to the life of Samson and our message is titled SIGHTINGS. Main Point: Finding Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament burns our hearts with joy and excitement. Knowing that he was always there working with his people fills us with confidence and assurance that he will always be there for us and with us. And just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it inspires us to boldly proclaim the gospel of the resurrected Savior.
Judges 13 21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
Context: The passage we just read is a tough passage to understand. Why did Manoah tell his wife “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” after he saw the Angel of the Lord? Who is this Angel of the Lord? He is the preincarnate Jesus Christ (A great resource on the Angel of Lord is Matt Foreman and Doug Van Dorn’s book titled The Angel of the Lord: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Study.). He is the most important person in the Old Testament. He is central to the Bible story. From the Old to the New Testament, the Bible is about him. There are 3 major passages that help us understand the true identity of the Angel of the Lord:
1. Exodus 23:20-33: After God gave the 10 commandments to the people of Israel, he gave them a special promise. Listen to Exodus 23 20 “Behold, I send an Angel (The word “angel” is the Hebrew word “malach” which originally meant “messenger”.) before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; (Only God has the power to forgive sins.) for My name is in Him. (God’s name is the expression of his power and character.) 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. (Notice how the text moves between what the angel will do and what God will do.) 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. 25 “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. (The Angel is referred to as “Yahweh your God”.) 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 “I will send My fear before you, (The angel of the Lord is a terror to God’s enemies.) I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
2. Three passages in the Book of Judges:
A. Judges 2 1 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and 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 tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, “I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ” 4 So it was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept…15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
B. Judges 6 12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” 13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about…14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”…22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.” 23 Then the LORD said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” Why is it such a big deal that he saw the face of the Angel of the Lord? If the Angel is the “face of Yahweh,” Gideon is thinking of Exodus 33:20 But He (God) said (to Moses), “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
C. Judges 13 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. (reminds us of Sarah) 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son…6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. 7 And He said to me, “Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!” 11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?” And He said, “I am.” (Even though the Hebrew words are different, the LXX translators made them “ego eimi.”) 15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”16 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.) Providing food was a sign of peace. 17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?” 18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” The Hebrew word is “pil-ee.” To Abraham in Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard (pele = wonderful) for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” Moses’s song in Exodus 15:11 “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders (pele)? Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful (Pele), Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” It gets very interesting in the LXX translation – “His name is called the Angel of the great counsel.”
Back to Judges 13 21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
Everything in the Samson birth narrative was a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus, even John the Baptist. Even the name “Samson” is interesting! It means “a little sun.” Remember, in Malachi 4:2 “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…”
Some forgotten truths:
i. The Angel of the Lord is also given other titles: the Word of the Lord, the Name of the Lord, the Glory of the Lord, the Face of the Lord, the Arm/Hand of the Lord, the Prince and Commander, and Son (See Foreman and Dorn, The Angel of the Lord).
ii. Even ancient Jewish people, prior to the coming of Christ, were talking about Binatarianism (Two-powers theology) where they were noticing that there two Yahwehs in the Old Testament. There was one who was visible to the people and the other who remained invisible. Later, this became heretical among the Jewish people, as may be imagined.
3. Malachi 3: 1-4: This is the third major passage about the Angel of the Lord. Malachi 3 1 “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. (The first messenger is identified with John the Baptist.) And the Lord, whom you seek, (Adonai with the definite article is God himself.) will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD, as in the days of old, as in former years. (The people of Malachi’s day had rebuilt the temple, but God had not descended in fire and cloud as he had done with Moses’s tabernacle and Solomon’s temple, but the promise was that he was coming.)
We find a new image of the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that will be fulfilled in the end of time – the Refiner and the Purifier.
1 Peter 1 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.
Invitation: Do you know Jesus? Do you know that he is with you? Are you ready to meet him as the Refiner and the Purifier?