Christ’s Pre-Incarnational Appearances as the Angel of the Lord: An Examination of the Biblical Evidence

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin Martyr (100 A.D. – 165 A.D.) attempts to argue for preincarnate appearances, known as Christophanies, of Jesus Christ so as to win over Jewish people to the faith.[i] In his discussion, he references the angel of the Lord (also called the angel of God) who appears to Jacob and Moses (cf. Gen 31:10-13; 32:24-30; Ex 3:2-4). To determine whether or not the contention of this ancient ambassador for the faith is correct, this article will examine the evidence that supports Martyr’s argument.

In Genesis 16:7-13, the angel of the Lord appeared face-to-face with Hagar and interacted with her directly. Her lack of being startled at first strongly suggests that this angel appeared as a man. As the angel spoke, he forwent the common prophetic practice of beginning the message from the Lord by saying, ‘thus says the Lord,’ and instead announces the message as if the message was directly from himself: “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count” (v.10).[ii] As he continues his message to Hagar, he switches from the first-person pronoun (“I”) to a third-person mention of the “Lord” (vv.11-12). This movement from first to third persons strongly suggests that the angel of the Lord is somehow uniquely set apart from the God even while he can claim to speak as God on behalf of God by using the first-person.

In Exodus 3:2-9, the angel of the Lord appears to Moses “in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush.” As Moses turns to move toward the burning bush, Scripture records that the Lord Himself speaks to Moses without any distinction being made between the angel of the Lord and the Lord Himself. As the discourse unfolds, the One speaking from the burning bush identifies Himself as God: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v.6). Moses’ unwillingness to look God in the face as He spoke from the bush provides evidence that this was indeed God the Father (cf. v.6); on the other hand, this may also be God the Son announcing His own divinity and equality with God.

In Judges 2:1-5, the angel of the Lord appears at Bochim and delivers a message to Israel claiming credit for the exodus out of Egypt. In addition to this, he speaks of the Mosaic Covenant as if it were his own; then, he charges the Israelites with failing to render personal obedience to him (vv.1-2). After the angel of the Lord finishing speaking in the first-person as the Lord Himself, the Israelites responded with worship which could only rightfully be performed unto God Himself (v.5).

In Judges 6:11-24, the text suggests that the angel of Lord appeared as a man when it says that he performed the anthropomorphic activity of sitting (v.11). He further differentiates himself from being the Lord when he refers to God in the third-person in v.12 as he begins his conversation with Gideon. As he spoke to Gideon, Gideon seems to think that he is speaking to a man given his rather abrupt and challenging response as he questions the angelic assertion of the Lord’s imminent presence in Gideon’s life. As the conversation progresses, and following the same pattern of the previously mentioned passages, the angelic subject of the conversation is interchanged with the Lord Himself in v.14 before once again being called the “angel of God” (v.20) and the “angel of the Lord (vv.21-22). Within the discourse between the angel of the Lord and Gideon, the angelic subject (who must be the Lord) claims to be the personal sender of Gideon as Israel’s deliverer (v.14), promises to be with him (v.16), and even accepts an offering from Gideon (v.21).

In Judges 13:2-23, the angel of the Lord appears to Manoah’s wife as a man and prophesied that she would bear a son (Samson) even though she had been barren (vv.2-3). After Manoah entreated the Lord to resend the angel (whom he believed to be a man), the angel of the Lord reappeared but refused to give his name when asked to do so by Manoah for his name was, according to him, beyond understanding (vv.8-18). After the angel directed Manoah’s attention away from himself, Manoah sacrificed unto the Lord as the Lord Himself (from heaven) “performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on” (v.19). In the midst of this, “the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar,” while Manoah and his wife prostrated themselves as if they had just seen God (v.20). In the aftermath, Scripture testifies that they knew by his departure that he was indeed the angel of the Lord and also believed that they had seen God in the person of the angel (vv.21-22).

In Zechariah 3:1-7, the prophet is shown a vision in which three characters are portrayed: Joshua, Satan, and the angel of the Lord. Within this vision, the angel of the Lord serves as the judge over a trial in which Joshua is the defendant and Satan is the prosecuting attorney. After identifying the angel in verse 1, Zechariah refers to the angel as “The Lord” who in turn uses the same name in third person to rebuke Satan directly (v.2). As the proceedings within this envisioned court unfolded, Joshua, although covered with filthy garments (symbolizing sin), made no defense of himself and instead the angel of the Lord spoke in his defense (vv.2-5). In that defense, the angel of the Lord asserts God’s sovereign will as the foundation for his defense, and then proceeds to give himself credit for the removal of sin from Joshua: “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” As with the judgeship, this redemptive role as portrayed in the vision could only be performed according to Scripture by no less than Christ Himself.

From this survey of a multitude of biblical texts, it seems entirely plausible to consider the possibility that the angel of the Lord, as he is frequently referenced in the Old Testament, to be a Christophany. Given that Christ as the second person in the Trinity has always existed and that God’s soteriological design was interwoven into His intent underlying His creative efforts, it should be no surprise that Christ took upon Himself an active part in the redemptive history that preceded His incarnational appearance (cf. Matt 25:34; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8).

[i]Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, in vol. 1 of Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Father down to A.D. 325, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 225-227.

[ii]All references are taken from NASB1995.