In our daily meditations, we continue to ponder God visiting Earth as a man several times in the Old Testament. In some instances, He was referred to as the Angel of the Lord, but let there be no mistake: the One Who visited was YHVH (translated into English as LORD) in the flesh. For example, God protected the birth of Ishmael, as He would bring forth the Arabic people. Hagar, the mother of Ishmael by Abraham, was safeguarded and cared for by the Angel of YHVH when she fled from her mistress, Sarah:
The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur (Genesis 16:7).
This angel is referred to as the Angel of YHVH in verses 9, 10, and 11 of chapter 16, but in verse 13, the same angel is referred to as YHVH, the name of the God of Israel:
Then she called the name of YHVH, who spoke to her, "You are the God who sees me." (Genesis: 16:13).
Several years later, the Angel of YHVH held Abraham's arm as he was about to sacrifice Isaac. He spoke to Abraham in the first person, as if He was God:
10Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 12He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (Genesis 22:10-12; emphasis added).
Did you miss it? This Angel, the One in the form of a man, spoke as if He was God. Again, further in the conversation between Abraham and the Angel of the Lord, the Scriptures tell us:
15Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son (Genesis 22:15-16; emphasis added).
In the Old Testament, God visited Earth as a man; this was the same One born into the human race to be the sacrificial Lamb, a holy offering for sin. God Himself came to the human race as a Man to take away and cleanse from sin every man who takes His substitutionary, sacrificial offering as their own. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Keith Thomas
For further reading, maybe you’d like to explore: How Do I Become a Christian?, or maybe what Jesus said about: “You Must Be Born Again,” or even: How Can I Be Sure of My Faith?
YouTube video teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/@keiththomas7/videos
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