In the Old Testament, when it talks about the Angel of the LORD… could it be talking about Jesus?
Look at the burning bush, or the encounter with Hagar. This being speaks as if He is God, accepts worship, makes promises only God could make. Not some created angel. My grandmother used to say, “Jesus didn’t start working when He was born in that manger, He’s been showing up for His people since the very beginning”.
After Jesus came in the flesh, this specific figure just… stops appearing.
Your Prayer Delivered to the Holy Land
You don’t have to pray alone. Have your prayer submitted to the Holy Land as well as churches, monasteries, and prayer groups worldwide who will lift your intentions to God and pray on your behalf.
From the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to sacred sites across the globe, your prayer will be shared and remembered.
Sounds to me like your grandmother nailed it (they usually do).
In Genesis 48:15-16. Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, saying: “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys.”
He parallels “the God” and “the angel” right there. No ordinary angel redeems or blesses like that. Not that I can remember in scripture at least (I could be wrong, of course). Then Genesis 31:11-13: The Angel tells Jacob, “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a vow to me.”
Hagar called Him ‘the God who sees me,’ Manoah said ‘we shall surely die because we have seen God.’ Sounds different than “just” a created angel.
In the old testament it does sound like it but if you take the whole Bible into account then… maybe not.
But then you get a passage like Luke 1:11 where it’s clearly just Gabriel, ‘an angel of the Lord,’ and the whole framing feels more ordinary, even though an angelic visitation isn’t ordinary. The definite article versus indefinite article distinction someone brought up really does matter here.
In Old Testament encounters, the eternal Son of God was already there, long before Bethlehem. When you see the Angel of the Lord speaking as God, accepting worship, making divine promises, that’s Christ in His pre-incarnate form.