Who is the Messenger of Yehovah?

No one has ever seen God, but...

Adam and Eve walked with Him in the garden...

Jacob wrestled with Him...

Moses saw His back...

Abraham served Him food...

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood with Him in the fiery furnace…

He spoke with and blessed Hagar in the wilderness…

He blocked Balaam’s donkey until Balaam saw Him…

He spoke with Gideon in the fields…

He appeared to Samson’s mother and father…

He appeared multiple times to sustain or instruct Elijah…

David saw Him after he sinned and numbered the people…

He spoke to all Israel in The Place of Weeping…

He appeared to Zechariah among the myrtle trees…

In the Old Testament, the angel of Yehovah is a key character that many overlook, but who exactly was this angel? When all the people previously mentioned saw this angel of Yehovah, they understood that they had seen God, or a form of Him.

Genesis 16:7,10,13 The angel of Yehovah found her [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur … The angel of Yehovah also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” … So she called the name of Yehovah who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.”

Often when He appeared, He appeared in a familiar human form that people sometimes didn't recognize immediately to be the angel of Yehovah. He is referred to as a man.

In Hebrew the word for “angel” means messenger. Since no one can see God Himself and live, He put Himself in bodily form, to act as a mediator between man and God.

Many people say that Yeshua cannot be Yehovah in the flesh, for Yehovah speaks to Yeshua and vice versa. Surely Yehovah would not speak to Himself? Well, multiple times Yehovah speaks to the angel of Yehovah. The angel speaks about God, but the angel also speaks as God. Sounds like exactly what happens in the New Testament doesn't it…

Zechariah 1:12,13 And the angel of Yehovah answered and said, O Yehovah of Hosts, until when will You not have pity on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which You have abhorred these seventy years? And Yehovah answered the angel who was talking with me with good words, words of comfort.

Genesis 22:11,12 But the angel of Yehovah called to 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, your only son, from me.”

Exodus 3:2-4 And the angel of Yehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When Yehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Judges 2:1 Now the angel of Yehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you…”

Judges 13:21,22 The angel of Yehovah appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yehovah. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

Genesis 32:24-30 And Jacob was left alone. And 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. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 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, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 

No one has ever seen God Himself, besides this messenger, so no one knows what God looks like. Man was made in the image of God. The image of God I believe is this angel or messenger, for He is the only form of God that is described to have a human appearance. Another way of saying the image of God in human terms is “Son of God.” We are called sons of God because we are like the Son of God – God in human form. Yeshua is the Son of God, the Angel of Yehovah, the promised Messenger sent by God, the Messiah.

The Jews understood who the angel of Yehovah was, but they did not recognize Yeshua as the promised one because He came in such a humble form. They were expecting a mighty king who would slay all their enemies and reclaim Israel for them. This will of course one day occur, but only just before the end. First, He had to fulfill the scriptures concerning His first coming, which was a very humble appearance. Next, He will fulfill the scriptures that prophecy Him coming in glorified form - but it still will be a human form, because until sin is eradicated and our corrupted flesh removed, we cannot see God.

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

You may ask then why does Yeshua call Yehovah, “My God”? This is because all flesh must submit to God. Yeshua’s flesh, indwelt by God, submitted in every way to God. It had to be this way, for flesh cannot make itself equal to God, so He gave up every power and authority when He stepped down into flesh, despite the spirit within being equal to God. People say it is impossible for God to die, for God to dwell in flesh, but I say - is anything impossible with God? Those of little faith, why would you think to limit an infinite God with your finite minds?

Philippians 2:5-11 For think this within you, which mind was also in Yeshua Hamashiach, who subsisting in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient until death, even the death of a cross. Because of this also God highly exalted Him [the humble fleshly form] and gave Him a name above every name, that at the name of Yeshua "every knee should bow," of heavenly ones, and earthly ones, and ones under the earth, and "every tongue should confess" that Yeshua Hamashiach is "Lord," to the glory of God the Father.

Jerimiah 23:5,6 Behold, the days come, says Yehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and He shall do justice and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, Yehovah our Righteousness.

Micah 5:2,3 And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, being least among the thousands of Judah, out of you He shall come forth to Me to become One ruling in Israel; and His goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity. So He will give them over until the time the one giving birth has given birth. Then the rest of His brothers shall return to the sons of Israel.

Isaiah 43:11 I, I am Yehovah, and besides me there is no savior.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

John 8:56-59 Your father Abraham leaped for joy that he should see My day, and he saw, and rejoiced. Then the Jews said to Him, You do not yet have fifty years, and have You seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came to be, I AM! Because of this, they took up stones that they might throw them on Him. But Jesus was hidden, and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.