Gwen Frangs / Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary / 31 July 2024
Jesus identified Himself as the angel of the Lord, Who appeared in the Old Testament. He did this in the following ways:
The name of the Father
In John 17:11 Jesus prayed:
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[a] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
Notice that Jesus says that God the Father gave Him the Father’s own name. In the Old Testament the name of the Father is Yahweh. Therefore, Jesus is saying that the Father gave Him the name Yahweh. In the Old Testament one of the names of the angel of the Lord is Yahweh. In Exodus 23 Yahweh the Father tells Moses:
20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
In Hosea 12:4-5 the prophet Hosea says:
And, yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought favour from Him. He found him in Bethel and there He spoke to us, that is Yahweh God of Hosts. His memorable name is Yahweh.
Hosea 12:4-5 Interlinear
The verse is saying that the angel, called Yahweh God of Hosts, found Jacob in Bethel and spoke to the Israelites. This angel’s memorable name is Yahweh.
In Ezekiel 9:3-4 the Glory of God is also named as Yahweh. In Ezekiel 1 he is described by Ezekiel as looking like fire from the waist down:
26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire;[a] and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.[b] 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around…
Hebrews 1:7 says:
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
Therefore, the Glory of God must be the angel Yahweh, the angel of the Lord.
In John 8: 56-58 Jesus identifies Himself as the angel with the Father’s name when He says:
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”[a] 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
In Exodus 3 the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush and told Moses that His name was Yahweh:
3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed…
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord (Yahweh),[b] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
In verse 15, in the Hebrew, the angel of the Lord tells Moses that His name is Yahweh and that the name Yahweh is His memorial name (Exodus 3:15 Interlinear). Therefore, we see that this is another appearance of the angel Who has the Father’s name. It is clear from verse 2 that the angel of the Lord is an angel and not a man because He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire.
The angel of the Lord appeared to the parents of Samson and told them that His name was wonderful:
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works[a] wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
The reason why the angel tells Manoah that His name is wonderful is because the name of the angel of the Lord is Yahweh and Yahweh is a wonderful name, because it is the name of God the Father.
Isaiah 30:27-28 says:
27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.Isaiah 30:27-28 NIV
Clearly, the name of God is so important that the angel Yahweh becomes known as the Name of God.
The Father in Him
Jesus told His disciples that the Father was ‘in’ Him:
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me…
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
By telling the disciples that the Father is in Him, Jesus was identifying Himself as El Shaddai. This is because Exodus 6:2-3 says:
2 And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’ 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob in El-Shaddai but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.
Exodus 6:2-3
Although commonly translated as God telling Moses that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, this is not what the verse actually says. The correct translation of the verse says that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in El Shaddai.
The preposition on the word ‘el’ is בְּ which is the preposition ‘in’ in ancient Hebrew.
In Exodus 6:2-3 the preposition בְּ is attached to the beginning of the word אֵ֣ל. The word אֵ֣ל is the ‘El’ of El Shaddai. In Exodus 6:2-3 the preposition on the word בְּאֵ֣ל means either ‘in’, ‘at’ or ‘with’ in the ancient Hebrew (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%91%D6%BE). It does not mean ‘as’ because כְּ is the preposition which means ‘as’ (8af3842462324e4d5443b28852f9368b3e9aa672.html). If you look at the blue parts of speech under the original Hebrew text the preposition is listed as Prep-b. Prep-b, according to the Hebrew parsing, means ‘in’ (https://biblehub.com/hebrewparse.htm). Therefore, the verse does not read:
….. I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai…
Rather, the verse reads as:
….I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob in El Shaddai…
Although the preposition can also mean ‘at’ or ‘with’ we can know that in this case it means ‘in’ because Jesus confirmed this when He came to earth. He told His disciples that the Father was ‘in’ Him:
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me…
By identifying Himself as El Shaddai, Jesus was identifying Himself as the incarnate angel of the Lord. This is because El Shaddai is another name for the angel Yahweh, the angel of the Lord. We can know this because in Genesis 48:3 Jacob tells Joseph that El Shaddai appeared to Him in Luz. He then goes on to describe El Shaddai as God and the Angel:
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”
In Hosea 12:4-5 the prophet Hosea says:
And, yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought favour from Him. He found him in Bethel and there He spoke to us, that is Yahweh God of Hosts. His memorable name is Yahweh.
Hosea 12:4-5 Interlinear
In the Old Testament Bethel is another name for Luz (https://bibleatlas.org/luz.htm).
Therefore, the angel Yahweh is the angel El Shaddai. The angel of the Lord is known by two names El Shaddai and Yahweh. By identifying Himself as El Shaddai, when telling the disciples that the Father is in Him, Jesus is again identifying Himself as the angel of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit
In Isaiah 63 the Holy Spirit is identified as the angel of His (the Father’s) presence:
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted,[a]
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.10 But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
We can know that the angel of His presence is Yahweh, the angel of the Lord, because He is the angel that delivered the Israelites from Egypt and Who was with the Israelites in the wilderness. When they rebelled against Him, He punished their rebellion. He is the angel Who the Father said had the Father’s name in Him (Exodus 23:20-23) Who the Father specifically warned Moses that they should not rebel against:
21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion…
Jesus identified Himself as the Holy Spirit a number of times. For example:
He said in Matthew 18:20:
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
In John 14:18-20 He said:
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
In John 17:22-26 Jesus again identifies Himself as the Holy Spirit when He said:
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
The only way that Jesus can be inside a Christian is in the form that He pre-existed in before coming in the flesh and that is in the form of the Spirit of God. The apostle Paul called this a mystery:
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
In John 10:36 Jesus again identified Himself as the Holy Spirit when He said:
36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?…
Being set apart by the Father is the very essence of the meaning of the word ‘Holy’.
However, a number of scriptures in John 14 and 15 in which Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit would seem to render it entirely impossible that Jesus is the Holy Spirit:
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
John 14:16
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:26
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
John 15:26
It would seem that Jesus is indicating that the Holy Spirit is an individual Who is entirely separate and different from Himself. However, a similar thing occurs when Jesus refers to the Son of Man.
“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.”
Matt. 13:41
“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.”
Matt. 17:22-23
“Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Matt. 19:28
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
Matt. 20:18-19
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”
Matt. 25:31
When Jesus refers to the Son of Man in these scriptures it also seems like He is referring to an entirely different person from Himself. However, in Matthew 16:15, Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 16:13-17
It is clear from verse 15 that Jesus is Himself the Son of Man and that there is no separate or different Son of Man.
It would seem that in the verses in John 14 and 15 in which Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in the third person, that He is doing the same thing as when He referred to Himself as the Son of Man in the third person, because it is clear from Matthew 18:20 ; John 14:18-20 ; John 17:22-26 and John 17:22-26 that Jesus knew Himself to be the incarnate Holy Spirit, the Son of God.
This does not conflict with what is said in the Letter to the Hebrews chapter one. The Son of God is superior to the angels because He is a new Being Who is both the Davidic King and the Holy Spirit. That is why He has been ‘begotten’ by the Father. He is something new and superior. Perhaps a helpful example might be that of eggs and an omelette. The eggs are made into the omelette and the omelette is considered to be superior to the eggs. When we see the omelette we call it an omelette; we don’t say: ‘Oh, look at those eggs.’ However, the eggs are still very much a part of the omelette. In fact, the eggs make up the majority of the omelette. The apostle John wrote his Gospel to show us that the eggs make up the majority of the omelette. Verse after verse in the Gospel of John make it clear that Jesus was fully aware while He was living on the earth that He is the incarnate Angel of the Lord, the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps one can think of the incarnation of the Holy Spirit as Jesus in terms of a bottle of sea water. The sea is vast, however, if some of it is scooped into a bottle to fill the bottle, the sea water in the bottle is still sea water, it is still a part of the sea; however, now it is in the bottle and it is constrained by the form of the bottle. The sea continues to be the sea, although a part of it is now in the bottle. The apostle Paul understood this, which is why he wrote that the Lord is the Spirit.
We have seen that angels can change their form to become winds and fire (Hebrews 1:7 ESV). In Ezekiel 1 the angel of the Lord is seen by Ezekiel:
26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire;[a] and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.[b] 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around…
After describing what he saw, Ezekiel makes the following statement:
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face…
The word that has been translated as ‘likeness’ is the ancient Hebrew word דְּמ֣וּת. This word can also be translated as the word ‘form’:
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from damah
Definition
likeness, similitude
NASB Translation
figure (1), figures like (1), figures resembling (1), form (4), like (4), likeness (8), pattern (1), resembling (1), something resembling (1), which resembled (1), who resembled (1).
Translating the word as ‘form’ allows one to understand what Ezekiel is saying. Ezekiel is saying that he was seeing the ‘form’ of the angel of the Lord. By saying this, Ezekiel is confirming that there are times when the angel of the Lord has a form and that there are times when the angel of the Lord does not have a form. Hebrews 1:7 makes it clear that angels can change their form to become wind and fire:
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
There are instances in the Bible where angels enter a person and work within them to achieve a purpose. Satan, who is an angel, was able to enter Judas Iscariot, so that Judas betrayed Jesus:
27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
The ‘ruler of the kingdom of the air’ would seem to be a powerful angel who is able to work in unbelievers in Jesus.
In 1 Kings we read about how Yahweh meets with spirits and that one of them offers to be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets:
19 Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’
“One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.
“‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.
“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’
23 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”
In Hebrews 1:14 we are told that angels are ministering spirits:
14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Yahweh, Who is meeting with the ‘multitude of Heaven’ in 1 Kings 22, must be the Angel of the Lord, Who is meeting with the other angels. It cannot be the Father because Jesus made it clear that no one had ever seen the Father (John 6:46).
We see from this account in 1 Kings 22, that it is possible for an angel to enter a human being and to work within a human being to achieve a purpose, because this angel was going to be within the mouths of the prophets causing them to lie to Ahab.
We know that the Holy Spirit lives within a believer and that the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Holy Spirit is able to enter into and live within the believer in the same way as the angels described above could and can enter into people, would indicate that the Holy Spirit is an angel.
The Good Shepherd
In Isaiah 63 the angel of the Lord is called the shepherd of His (the Father’s) flock:
7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the Lord has done for us—
yes, the many good things
he has done for Israel,
according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
8 He said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will be true to me”;
and so he became their Savior.
9 In all their distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.[a]
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.
10 Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.11 Then his people recalled[b] the days of old,
the days of Moses and his people—
where is he who brought them through the sea,
with the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who set
his Holy Spirit among them,
12 who sent his glorious arm of power
to be at Moses’ right hand,
who divided the waters before them,
to gain for himself everlasting renown,
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in open country,
they did not stumble;
14 like cattle that go down to the plain,
they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is how you guided your people
to make for yourself a glorious name.15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your lofty throne, holy and glorious.
Where are your zeal and your might?
Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.
16 But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
or Israel acknowledge us;
you, Lord, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways
and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your inheritance.
18 For a little while your people possessed your holy place,
but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We are yours from of old;
but you have not ruled over them,
they have not been called[c] by your name.
We see in verse 11 that the Holy Spirit, the angel of the Lord, is the shepherd of the Father’s flock. Therefore, when Jesus called Himself the good shepherd, He was identifying Himself as the angel of the Lord.
In Genesis 48:15 Jacob called El Shaddai his shepherd:
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”
Other people identified Jesus as the angel of the Lord
Jesus was not the only one to identify Himself as the angel of the Lord. The apostle Paul provides proof that Jesus was the angel of the Lord before He was Jesus. In Numbers 12:7-8 we read that Moses saw the ‘form’ of Yahweh:
Not so with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to Face and even plainly and not in dark sayings and he sees the form of Yahweh….
Numbers 12:7;8 Interlinear
In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul writes:
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a]6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b]7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The ‘form’ of Yahweh was the angel of the Lord that the Father spoke to Moses about in Exodus 23 – the angel with Yahweh’s name in Him. In Philippians 2:5 Paul is identifying Jesus as having been this angel before He became a man.
In 1 Corinthians 10:9 Paul again identifies Jesus as this angel when he says:
9 We should not test Christ,[a] as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
Paul again identifies Jesus as the angel of Lord in 2 Corinthians when He calls Jesus the Holy Spirit:
7 Now the Lord[a] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[b] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.[c] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Paul also identifies Jesus as the angel of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians:
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
We see from this verse that the angel of the Lord is an archangel. Philo, who visited the apostles in Jerusalem, made the following statement in a piece of his writing entitled The Confusion of Languages:
“And even if there be not as yet anyone who is worthy to be called a son of God, nevertheless let him labour earnestly to be adorned according to His First-born Word, the eldest of his angels, as the great archangel of many names; for He is called, the authority, and the name of God, and the Word, and man according to God’s image, and He who sees Israel.”
– Philo, “On the Confusion of Tongues,” (146)
In John 1 the apostle John identified Jesus as the angel of the Lord when he wrote:
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
In Exodus 6: 2-3 we are told what the name of the Word of God is. The name of the Word of God is El Shaddai. We can know this because God the Father tells Moses that He appeared to the Patriarchs in El Shaddai:
2 And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’ 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob in El-Shaddai but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.
Exodus 6:2-3
Therefore, when the apostle John writes that the Word became flesh he is saying that El Shaddai, the Angel of the Lord, the Holy Spirit became flesh.
In Jude 5 the apostle Jude also identifies Jesus as the angel of the Lord when he writes:
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved[a] a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
The apostle Peter identifies Jesus as the angel of the Lord when he calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of glory:
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory[a] and of God rests upon you.
This is because in Isaiah 63:12 the angel of the Lord is called ‘His glorious arm of power’ and the prophet Ezekiel called the angel of the Lord the Glory of God. Peter recognized the Holy Spirit as the Glorious arm of God’s power and the Glory of God
In conclusion, it is clear from the Bible that both Jesus and other people who knew Him, who are considered to be pillars of the early church, identified Jesus as the incarnate angel of the Lord. Jesus identified Himself as the angel of the Lord when He said that the Father had given Him the Father’s name, when He said that the Father was in Him, when He identified Himself as the incarnate Holy Spirit and when He called Himself the Good Shepherd.