Understanding the Angel of the Lord

Biblical Interpretation of "Angel"

From the Mecca
This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. LONG

PRAYER
Show 41L The Angel of the Lord Bunkie-Brew
Taped July 4th 2021
Aired July 13th 2021

Another tip of the hat to brother Kel who has taught me so much about the fails of the man-made doctrine of the Trinity. We recently had someone come to me and challenge my teaching on the right hand of God and in the challenge brought up “the Angel of the Lord,” as proof for the Trinity in the Old Testament. What is that all about?

In the Trinitarian mind, the Angel of the Lord is the pre-existent Jesus who appears in the Old Testament and speaks to the COI. This is a very convenient interpretation of this Angel because it helps people justify the Trinitarian teaching that Jesus preincarnate was a “person” separate from His Father.

Let’s go to the text: So, Moses the prophet meets up with the Angel of the Lord at the burning bush. The King James reads this way:

Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Interestingly, Young’s Literal Translation says it this way:

Exodus 3:2 (YLT) and there appeareth unto him a messenger of Jehovah in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush, and he seeth, and lo, the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed.

Big difference between the phrase “angel of the Lord,” and “messenger of YHWH,” right?

Angel vs. Messenger

Let’s talk about the word, ANGEL. It is an English word that is not translated but it is instead a word that is anglicized, which means we have taken it in its ancient language and made an English word out of it. The Greek word Angellos means “messenger” not this thing we created called an “angel.” And the Latin, “angelus” means the same – messenger. We took “angellos” and created the English word “angel” INSTEAD of translating it into what it actually and literally means, which is simply a . . . MESSENGER.

This is why Young Literal Translation is a more reliable read as it uses the meaning of the word (messenger) instead of the anglicanized word, Angel. So remember, to anglicize a word is to take a foreign word and make it sound English. To translate the word is to use the actual meaning. We did the same thing with the Greek term Christos. The Word Christ is not translated, its anglicized as people took the Greek word, Christos, and made it more English by saying simply, “Christ.” The Greek word translated, however, means “anointed or anointed one.” So in reality, Jesus given name is really Yeshua and the suffix title is “the anointed one.” Yeshua the anointed not Jesus Christ. Not a hill but it is the reality.

But back to the angel of the Lord and Young rightly translating it Messenger of YHWH or YHWH’s Messenger. Now remember, to a Trinitarian, this messenger of YHWH (who is God) is YHWH (or God, in the form of His preincarnate Son). This interpretation allows them to have an Old Testament support for their idea that there have always been three separate people or persons eternal, co-equal and uncreated from the beginning. So they take most Old Testament accounts where the messenger of GOD appears and they say, this was preincarnate Jesus, God the Son, the Second person of the Trinity.

Scriptural Analysis

An interesting passage that casts shade on this idea is Hebrews 1:1-2 where a Hebrew writer, who knew how God spoke to the ancient covenant people, said:

Hebrews 1:1 In many and various ways God in times past spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets;
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Did you catch it? This Hebrew who is writing to his own says plainly that in the past YHWH (GOD) “spoke of old” to our fathers in many and various ways by the prophets. And then he adds: “BUT in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Isn’t it interesting that this Hebrew writer does not ever say that God in times past spoke to us by His Son? Not anywhere do we read this? Instead the writer is saying that the Son is only speaking to…

Examination of the Angel of the Lord

Listen! This statement would not make ANY sense if the Son had been speaking to the Jews ALL along! What would be the point in him making this statement? If the Angel of the Lord theory was true we need to rewrite Hebrews 1:1-2 to say:

Hebrews 1:1 In many and various ways God in times past spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets including His Son, and has in these last days he continues to speak to us by His Son.

But friends, the writer of Hebrews tells us that it was only in “these last days” that God was speaking to them by His Son. Another doozie about this Angel of the Lord being “Jesus preincarnate” is that in Trinitarianism this angel of the Lord is YHWH the second person of the Trinity. So now we have this unreasonable situation where YHWH is YHWH’s messenger? Does that make sense? YHWH certainly has messengers, that we call angels, so why would YHWH, the God of all things, have himself be his own messenger? Why not just either BE himself as YHWH appearing to Moses (and others) OR just send messengers?

The Role of the Son in Trinitarianism

Why this game? It’s also super important to know that God the Son, in Trinitarianism, is not an angel. No, no, no. He is the person God-Son co-equal co-eternal with his father and the Holy Spirit – from the get go. So, as a Trinitarian you have to believe that the messenger or angel of YHWH is not, or cannot be, an angel or messenger, because the Son is not an angel according to them! And this is just more confusion.

Now, in conclusion, jump to Acts 7 with me. Remember what is happening there? Stephen is testifying of Christ to others who are going to wind up killing him. And he takes these Jews through a short verbal history of things and says at Acts 7:30:

“And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.”

Stephen's Testimony in Acts

Now Stephen was testifying of Christ here. He could have, should have, would have described the being that visited Moses in a flame of fire “as Jesus” if it was him, right? I mean he was testifying of Christ here to his own! Wouldn’t this be a great time to tell the Jews around him that it was Christ who was appearing to their fathers in the wilderness? It would if it was true. But Stephan refers to what appeared to Moses as a messenger of YHWH, not YHWH Himself. So, if this was Jesus he was either once an angel (which he was not) or His was not the angel of the Lord (ding ding ding).

Now Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was Michael the Archangel and in response to this error the Trinitarians say, “no, no, no, Jesus is not an angel.” But with that same mouth will turn around as a means to support the eternality of Jesus as the second person of God, they will say that he was the Angel of the Lord appearing to Moses and others! Not reasonable. Not logical. Not consistent. And according to Hebrews, and now Stephan’s witness, not biblical either.

But what we have with the Trinitarian claim that THE angel of the Lord was Jesus is a demand for mental gymnastics. First, we have to disagree with what the writer of Hebrews says and believe that God spoke to the nation of Israel through His Son. Then you have to believe that an angel is not an angel and you also have to believe that a messenger was not a messenger but was God himself.

Bottom-line? The Angel of YHWH was a messenger of the One God to the Children of Israel through the prophet Moses. This view makes Hebrews work. It makes Exodus work. The only thing that won’t work with it is . . . the Trinity. The scripture tells us what Jesus preincarnate was before becoming flesh. He was the Word of God. Period. To know the true and living God and His son whom he has sent is life eternal.