Pre-incarnate Jesus in the Old Testament

“Then the Angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of Hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which You have cursed these seventy years? And Jehovah answered the angel who talked with me with good words, comfortable words.” (Zechariah 1:12-13)

At first glance one is intrigued and puzzled by these verses. They need interpretation because it’s a vision that Zechariah saw. First we need to know who this Angel of Jehovah is. Some say an angel, messenger of God. Others say it’s Jesus. The title of this spirit being, “Angel of the Lord (Jehovah)” means messenger of God in Hebrew. We see Him throughout the Old Testament. We believe He is Jesus because He addresses Himself as God. There is only One God and three persons in God, the Father, the Son Who is Jesus and God the Holy Spirit.

The Angel of the Lord spoke with the authority of God and commanded like God. Angels do not command but only bring messages and convey God’s Will and reality. He spoke to Hagar when she ran from Sarai. “And the Angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And He said, Hagar, Sarai's slave, where did you come from? and where will you go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hands. And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, so that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” (Genesis 16:7-10) Please note that the Angel of the Lord says, “I will multiply your seed exceedingly, so that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” An angel would never pronounce any ability to create. Angels do not create. They obey God’s command. The Angel of the Lord speaks as God.

We see the Angel of the Lord when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. “And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the Angel of Jehovah called to him from the heavens and said, Abraham! Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” (Genesis 22:10-12) Abraham was not sacrificing Isaac for an angel, but for God. But the Angel of the Lord says, “... since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” An angel would certainly be cast with the fallen angels to make himself as equal to God. But the Angel of the Lord continued referring Himself as equal to God. This is certainly Jesus.

We again see the Angel of the Lord when He called Moses from the burning bush. “And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a thorn bush. And he looked. And behold! The thorn bush burned with fire! And the thorn bush was not burned up. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the thorn bush is not burned up. And Jehovah saw that he had turned aside to see. God called to him out of the midst of the thorn bush, and said, Moses! Moses! And he said, Here I am. And He said, Do not come near here. Pull off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. And He said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” (Exodus 3:2-6) In these verses we see that it very clearly refers to the Angel of the Lord as God. So, the Angel of the Lord is God. He is the messenger. And in the New Testament, He is Jesus, sent from the Father, messenger of the Good News Who fulfills the New Covenant. This is called a Theophany. A manifestation of God to man. It’s also a Christophany which means the appearance of Jesus pre-incarnate, in other words before He became man.

In our verse of study, the Angel of the Lord addresses Jehovah of Hosts or Lord of Hosts. He is YHWH Sabaoth. God who rules the hosts of angels. The word Sabaoth means armies or multitudes. And means that God is supreme over all forces. To us, He is the Father.

All this is interesting, but why is this verse important to us? The vision Zechariah saw points to God’s love and faithfulness. The Israelites were in Babylonian captivity seventy years. And we see the Old Testament or Old Covenant Jesus longing for their release. We also see the Father’s love for them, even if they are suffering as a captive people in Babylon because of their sin. Mankind suffers from their sin not so much because God wants them to be punished, but because He is so holy that sin brings judgement, even if God loves sinful man. God’s holiness cannot abide in sin. Sin brings judgement and death. 

God replies to the Angel of the Lord in love. This is an Old Testament indicator of the Holy Trinity which is more apparent in the New Testament. We are encouraged by the kind and loving words spoken by the Lord of Hosts to the Angel of the Lord. He promises to restore Jerusalem. He is faithful to His promise which will be completely fulfilled in the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus. And He is faithful to the promise to mankind by sending Jesus to fulfill the New Covenant and restore man to Himself.

In review, the Angel of the Lord is the messenger in the Old Testament Who speaks with the authority of God because He is God.  He is part of the Holy Trinity. He is Jesus pre-incarnate Who loves mankind. We see this in our Scripture when He asks when will the curse end for the captives and when will God’s mercy be poured out for them. We see the heart of God’s love for the people. God loves us immensely even in our rebellion and even if we are suffering the consequences for our sin. We need to remember that God is all knowing. His commandments are for our best. And with Jesus they are not severe, but His burden is light in comparison to the consequences when we disobey. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” (1John 5:3)

Let us pray:

Father God, Your Love for me is displayed in Your commandments. You have given them because You want the best for me. Help me to remember that when the flesh is pulling me to a place You don’t want for me. My Lord and my God Your faithfulness is present in Your Word. Not one Word spoken by You has failed to be fulfilled. And many more will be fulfilled in Your perfect time. Help me to remember that when I am anxious for Your promise to come. Help me to wait patiently on You, on Your promises and in Your perfect time. Your Love for me is beyond my ability to understand. You have been so good to me. You are longsuffering with me, knowing my weaknesses, my defects and faults. I thank You that You teach me through my stumbling until I learn to walk like You. I love You my Lord. I thank You for hearing my prayer and for knowing my heart and my desire to obey. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.