Appearing, Dwelling, Abiding And the Angel of the LORD appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.. Exodus 3:2a Recommended Reading Judges 13:6, 10, 21 In 1977, much of the Western world saw a depiction of a developing technology. In the Star Wars movie, the robot R2-D2 displayed a hologram -- a light-based physical image -- of Princess Leia. That was 1977 in a science fiction movie. But thousands of years before that movie, something similar occurred on earth: God appearing as an angel-man. The future mother of Samson described it best -- a Man of God who looked like an angel of God, very awesome appeared to her (Judges 13:6 NIV). She saw what appeared to be a human, yet also appeared to be a very awesome angel. And the being appeared, then disappeared, then appeared again (verses 10, 21). The Angel of the Lord (Genesis 16:7, 9-11; 22:11, 15) is generally considered to be deity -- a preincarnate manifestation of Jesus Christ. An angel of the Lord (Matthew 1:20; 2:13, 19) is not. After Christ was incarnated in flesh (John 1:14), the Angel of the Lord does not appear again. God appeared to His people in the Old Testament and dwelt with His people in the New -- and now abides in us by His Spirit. The glory of the Incarnation is that it presents to our adoring gaze, not a humanized God or a deified man, but a true God-man. Benjamin B. Warfield
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 09:55:53 +0000