The Angel of the LORD

Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
— Exodus 23:20-22 (God speaking)

When dictating laws to Moses, God inserts this as the first of several promises and details about the impending conquest of the land that God had promised to them. He says that he will send “an angel” before them. That they are to obey him. That he exercises the authority of God. Remind you of anyone?

It sounds a lot like Jesus. Could it be Jesus? The so-called Angel of the LORD appears several times in scripture.  (Click the link for an article that lists many of them out.)  The direct fulfillment of this may be Joshua 5:13ff. when a man who came in the authority of the LORD gives Joshua the battle plans for defeating Jericho.  But it’s likely that this is the same as the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Abram before destroying Sodom, that appeared to Hagar, etc.  Moses also said (in Deut. 18:15-22), “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him….”  This is also considered to refer to Christ, and has a similar style of language as the passage above.

God doesn’t always speak to us from a smoky mountain.  Why?  Because it scares the living daylights out of us, that’s why.  The people even said, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” (Ex 20:19, right after the Ten Commandments)  So He establishes that He will send ministers with His authority and that we are to obey them.  If we do, things will go well.  If not, we’ll get punished.

That’s not to say that we simply follow anyone who claims to be a minister of God.  But when we see someone who has the mark of God on their life and their teaching and their leadership — we need to consider their words (and their example) carefully.  It may be just some old guy.  But it may also be someone sent from the LORD to guard us.

That is to say, there are people in my life who really do hear from and understand God.  From time to time they will say to me something that I disagree with or don’t understand.  But, seeing the mark of God on their life, I’ll often (well… sometimes) listen to them and subject myself to their teaching.  More often than not, they were right.

God makes it clear here and elsewhere (especially through Christ) that if you reject His messenger… then you have rejected Him.  If you disobey the messenger, then you disobey Him.  Who are God’s messengers in your life?

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