1. Introduction

This work was based on the works Creation: From Anthropomorphic Theology to Theomorphic Anthropology (B5) and the papers The Elect as Elohim (No. 1) and also The God We Worship (No. 2). The paper helps explain the Statement of Beliefs of the Christian Faith (A1) on which it is also based. The purpose of the paper is to explain the place of the Great Angel of the Old Testament (OT) who appeared to the Patriarchs and who gave the Law to Moses.

An error entered the Church in the last decades of the twentieth century that had serious implications for the theology of the Churches of God and which was used to undermine their doctrinal position of history in major elements of the churches. This error, which was in fact very serious, was to emerge in the branch of the Church that became known as the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

There was a series of teachings about the nature of God and Christ that made various claims about each. Among these teachings were the following points:

· Yes, Jesus is also "Jehovah," ... today it is commonly assumed to be Yahveh, or Yahweh. The meaning, in English, is "THE ETERNAL," or "THE EVER-LIVING," or the "SELF-EXISTENT." It is commonly supposed that Yahveh, or as commonly called, "Jehovah," or, as in the Authorized Version, "The LORD," of the Old Testament was God the Father of Jesus Christ. This is a flagrant error! Yahveh was the God of Israel, the only One of the Godhead known to ancient Israel. (Herbert Armstrong, Is Jesus God? Reprint Article, Ambassador College, 1955.)

· Jesus came to reveal the existence and character of the Father. The Father's existence was not generally known to mankind until the Word appeared in flesh. (Paul Kroll, Who Was Jesus? Worldwide Church of God, 1988, p. 18.)

· The Personage called the Word was the one who ultimately - more than 1900 years ago - was born Jesus Christ. The name "Word," is translated from the original Greek text, and means, literally, just what is translated into English - "Spokesman." But He was not the Son of God "in the beginning." Yet the Scriptures reveal that He has always existed, and always will - “from eternity to eternity." He was "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life ..." (Heb. 7:3) (Herbert Armstrong, The Incredible Human Potential, Worldwide Church of God, 1988, p. 36.)

· From eternity the Father and the WORD who became Jesus Christ had co-existed. They had created angels ... Were there, prior to this, more than just the TWO - God and the Word in the GOD FAMILY? God reveals no more. Was the "Word" the Son of God, and was God his Father at that time? They are nowhere referred to as that. To have been the Son of God at that prehistoric time, God would of necessity have existed prior to the Son's birth. The Son, had that been the case, would have come into existence at the time of such birth. But the "Logos" - the Word - had, like God, eternally self-existed. (Herbert Armstrong, The Incredible Human Potential, Worldwide Church of God, 1988, p. 65.)

So, there were several concepts taught. These were that there were two God Beings which had always existed; that these were named "God" and "the Word" later becoming known as the "Father" and the "Son" after Christ had appeared on earth (see the discussion in Appendix 1 for evidence that the Fatherhood of God and Sonship of Christ were known prior to Christ’s coming in flesh); that Christ was the God of ancient Israel, being known as YHVH; that no one really even knew the other God Being, God the Father (as he was “later” called), existed until Christ appeared on earth and revealed his existence; that Christ was Melchisedek, and thus lived on earth at the time of Abraham, but was without father, mother, descent, and so forth (see the discussion in Appendix 2 and also the paper Melchisedek (No. 128) for proof that Christ was not Melchisedek).

Of course, the Bible teaches that there is only one God. Now, to say that Jesus Christ or the Logos was one God Being and that God the Father was a second God Being meant that there were 1+1=2 God Beings or 2 Gods – not One God. To explain this seeming contradiction it was said that Elohim was a uni-plural noun and that God and the Word were one Elohim or that they were "one God" in the sense that the word God in this context meant God Family. Further, the term God was explained to have several meanings: it could refer to either member of the "one God Family" as a distinct personage, or it could refer to all the members of the "God Family" as a composite structure, or it could refer to God the Father when speaking of "God and the Word".

These things were more or less accepted by most who came into the WCG. They were, after all, presented with a variety of supporting Scriptures and, allegedly, readily taught by the ministry. However, the doctrines of the nature of God were as a rule avoided. There were, as well, a number of conflicting teachings which were inexplicable in light of the previous claims. The long Bible Correspondence Course of the WCG – right up until the last issue under Joseph W. Tkach Snr., after the death of Herbert Armstrong – also stated that the term for God was Eloah in the singular and the plural term elohim was derived from that singular form. This is a true statement. Also, the Church never prayed to anyone but the Father, as God, in the name of the Son Jesus Christ, and thus no conflict in worship was introduced. The doctrine of the nature of God was not commonly taught.

1.1 Difficulties with these teachings

However, these explanations also raised many questions. For a start, the explanation of how 2 God Beings = 1 God was logically reliant on the extension of the status of the term ‘God’. It was quite obvious from a number of passages in the New Testament (NT) that when the "one God" of the Bible was spoken about, it was in reference to God the Father:

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (Jn. 17:1-3, RSV)

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1Cor. 8:6, RSV)

[There is] one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4:6, RSV)

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (1Tim. 2:5, RSV).

The explanation of how Christ came to reveal the Father and that the Father's existence was more or less unknown until Christ was manifested in the flesh was also totally false. The explanation contradicts numerous passages in the New Testament where it was taken for granted that God the Father was the God of the Old Testament, the God of Israel, and that He sent his servant, Jesus, to us. For example:

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:22-24, RSV)

The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. (Acts 3:13, RSV)

Now, consider: If God the Father was unknown to Israel prior to Christ coming as a man then these statements wouldn't make sense because they appeal to the God of Israel as the one who validated Christ's ministry. One would instead expect Peter to have said something like, "Jesus was the God of our Fathers come in flesh and he revealed to us that there exists another higher God in heaven who is the Most High God over all."

In fact, if you think about it, the entire New Testament is built on the understanding that God the Father was the God of Israel and Jesus came as his Messiah and Servant as was prophesied. If it was really correct that God the Father was unknown prior to Christ's coming that would have been a stunning revelation to the Jews and early Christians. One would expect to find this point explained over and over again in the New Testament. However, that is not what we find. Rather, God the Father's existence is taken for granted.

It was the identity and role of Jesus Christ which caused such turmoil among the Jews and which needed to be explained. Jesus was the Son of God – the Son of the God of the Old Testament (Lk. 1:30-35). He was the Chosen of God (Lk. 9:35; 23:35) – the Servant of God (Mat. 12:18). God who in former times spoke through His prophets, in these last days spoke through His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). Without a doubt God the Father was known about in the Old Testament.

Certainly Jesus said that:

And the Father himself, who sent me, has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form (Jn. 5:37 NKJV)

But this is not the equivalent of saying that no one knew about the existence of the Father in the Old Testament. It simply means that no one, at any time, had ever heard His voice or seen His form. How this could be the case will be explained below.

Another problem that is quite plain in the OT is that the term YHVH was not used exclusively for Christ in the OT. Yes, there are passages in which YHVH is used referring to the one who became Christ as we will see. But there are many, many other passages where YHVH is used in such a way that it could obviously only be referring to God the Father. For example:

The LORD [YHVH] your God [Elohim] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren - him you shall heed (Deut. 18:15, RSV).

[Note: There are a number of terms in Hebrew translated as God in our English Bibles. The most significant of these are:

1) Eloah - this is in the singular and is used of one true God; in Arabic it is Allah and is used in Islam for the one true God;

2) Elohim - this is a plural form of Eloah and is used of all beings in the spirit realm, including the one true God, Eloah, and good and bad angels;

3) Elohi - a singular form of Elohim and used of a specific Elohim, most notably the Mal'ak which represented Eloah to Israel;

4) El - A singular word for God, and used of both Eloah and his Mal'ak in different contexts.

See discussion in Section 12 for more details.]

Here Moses declares that YHVH will raise up a prophet for Israel to obey. That prophet was Christ, as Acts 7:37 makes clear. Now Christ didn't raise himself up – the passages we read from Acts 2 and 3 make it clear that God raised up Christ. So clearly YHVH is used in reference to God the Father, and this was something proclaimed by Moses to all of Israel.

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD [YHVH] and his anointed, saying, ... (Ps. 2:2, RSV)

I will tell of the decree of the LORD [YHVH]: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you." (Ps. 2:7, RSV)

Here we read of YHVH and His Anointed. In verse 7, we read of YHVH and His begotten Son. Obviously YHVH in this Psalm must be referring to God the Father. A similar explanation must fit Psalm 110:1 where we read:

A Psalm of David. The LORD [YHVH] says to my lord [Adoni]: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool." (RSV)

In the many "Servant" prophecies of Christ in Isaiah (beginning with chapter 42 and onwards), YHVH sends His Servant. For example:

The Lord GOD [Adonai YHVH] has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isa. 50:5-6, RSV)

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD [YHVH] been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God [Elohim], and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD [YHVH] has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:1-6, RSV)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD [Adonai YHVH] is upon me, because the LORD [YHVH] has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; (Isa. 61:1, RSV).

Clearly, in the preceding passages, YHVH must refer to God the Father. One last passage to note is Zechariah 13:7 where we read:

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me," says the LORD of hosts [YHVH Sabaoth] "Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones." (RSV)

This is the "strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" prophecy to which Christ referred and which he applied to himself as the Good Shepherd (Mat. 26:31). Yet this prophecy is spoken by YHVH of Hosts about His shepherd, the man who is YHVH's "fellow" (KJV). Once again YHVH must be God the Father and not Christ.

The WCG taught these and other errors. Those who questioned the errors of the Church were made to feel that any incoherence in the explanation was the fault of the individual and questions were suppressed if they arose. This behaviour led to a very serious theological crisis not only in WCG but also in other churches, as the errors were used to insert the Trinitarian structure in Binitarian disguise and then attack the theology of the Church. This insertion of error and subsequent Trinitarian theology was to happen in the WCG and then the Church of God (Seventh Day) in its branches as it had been used in the Seventh Day Baptist Church from the USA and also in the Seventh Day Adventist Churches with them. In short, this theological incoherence and failure to understand the nature of God was to be the theological downfall of the Churches of God at the end of the twentieth century.

The Churches of God in the first and second century were Unitarian, as our records show beyond doubt. They taught that Christ was the Great Being who gave the Law to Moses at Sinai and was with Israel in the Wilderness. This was proclaimed by Justin Martyr in his First Apology ca. 154 CE ((LXIII, ANF, I, 184) who said he was the Angel of God and the Son of God and as a God. It was again proclaimed in the great Unitarian defense by Irenaeus ca. 195 (Against Heresies), where he stated that originally God had nothing coeval with Himself. Christ and all other beings came into existence subsequently (see the paper Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127)). However, all theologians of the Church of every persuasion never doubted for one minute that Christ was pre-existent as the being of the OT who was both Angel and Elohim and they proclaimed that it was the destiny of the elect to become elohim, as Christ was elohim as a son of God in power from his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4) (cf. the paper The Elect as Elohim (No. 1)).

1.2 Foundational Principles for Understanding

In order to understand what the Bible teaches us about God and how and through whom he chooses to interact with us, we have to fix several foundational points in mind.

Firstly, there is only one true God. There is only one personage who, by virtue of what He intrinsically is, can rightfully be called the one true God. Jesus identified this personage as his Father and said that eternal life is dependent on understanding this and being able to distinguish between this Being and Jesus Christ whom He sent (Jn. 17:3). He alone has intrinsic immortality (1Tim. 6:16). He alone is intrinsically holy (Rev. 15:4).

[Note: In the term God, the Father (or God the Father), the words the Father are grammatically in apposition with God. An apposition is the placing of a word or expression beside another so that the second explains and has the same grammatical construction as the first. It is akin to saying Mary, my cousin, came to visit. The term the Father is another way of saying God. That is, God is the Father, and the Father is God. It is not as though God the Father is a single descriptive title for a "hypostasis of God". Rather, the Father is the one God, and the one God is the Father.]

A second foundational point is to understand that no man at any time has ever seen or heard the voice of the one true God:

Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (lTim. 6:16, RSV)

No one has ever seen God; the only Son [original Greek reads onlyborn God], who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (Jn. 1:18, RSV)

No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1Jn. 4:12, RSV)

And the Father himself, who sent me, has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. (Jn. 5:37 NKJV)

Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. (Jn. 6:46, RSV)

See the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243) for an examination of this matter also.

Instead of dealing with humanity in the first person, God interacted with humans through one or more mediators or messengers. And this brings us to the third foundational point we need to bear in mind. God revealed himself to peoples of Semitic background and culture, not Greek background and culture. In the West we tend to think in terms of Greek ideas and concepts. The Semitic peoples had a totally different way of looking at things. Unless we learn to appreciate their way of thinking we will become terribly confused when we read the Bible. The concepts of Trinitarianism and Binitarianism have arisen, in part, because of a failure on the part of the Greek and Western mindset to understand the Hebrew mindset and, hence, the language of the Bible.

1.3 Definition of the term Angel

This last point is especially true when we come to look at the concepts of names and titles applied to messengers in Hebrew culture. The Hebrew term for messenger in the OT is the noun mal'ak. This term appears 213 times altogether in the OT. It is derived from an unused root meaning to dispatch as a deputy. It is this word mal'ak which is translated as angel in our English Bibles. Because of our backgrounds, whenever we read the word angel in the Bible, a set of preconceived ideas comes to mind. The word angel is a "loaded word" if you like, whereas all it really means is messenger.

In the Greek New Testament, a similar arrangement holds. The word for messenger in the Greek is aggelos {ang’-el-os} from which, in fact, we get the English word angel. But once again all it means is messenger. (Aggelos is derived from angello meaning to deliver a message. It is used of both humans and angels. In Rev. 21:17, after the Millennium, the terms man and angel become synonymous.)

In the OT, mal'ak denoted those sent over a great distance by an individual – for example Genesis 32:3 where Jacob sent messengers to Esau. (Note that in Gen, 32:1-2 the mal’ak of God (Elohim) meets Jacob. Thus, in verses 1-2 mal'ak is used to refer to supernatural messengers sent by God and in verse 3 used to refer to human messengers sent by Jacob.)

One or more mal'ak could also be sent by a community (Num. 21:21) in order to communicate a message. As a representative of a king, the mal’ak might have performed the function of a diplomat (cf. 1Kgs. 20:1-2). The mal'ak or messenger occupied an important place in Semitic culture. Honour to the messenger signified honour to the sender, and the opposite was also true (cf. Jn. 5:23).

God sent various types of messengers. Firstly, there were prophetic human messengers (2Chr. 36:15-16). Secondly, there were also supernatural messengers of God sent with a particular message or function (Gen.19:1; Ps. 91:11). In the case of these latter messengers the term mal’ak is usually translated angel for the benefit of the English reader so that he or she might understand that a supernatural messenger from heaven was intended in the original Hebrew. However, the point we are making is that angel simply means messenger and we should try and avoid "loading" the word angel with unnecessary preconceived ideas.

Now, of all the mal'ak sent by God, by far the most significant and relevant to this paper is the one who was designated by the phrases Mal'ak YHVH, or "the Angel of the LORD" in our English Bibles, and Mal'ak Elohim, that is, "the Angel of God." (This is often more correctly translated as “the Angel of the Gods" but this issue is not dealt with in this paper.) These phrases are always used in the singular. They refer to the special Angel (or Messenger) who bore the Presence of God. Because he carried the authority of God and represented God, he was frequently called YHVH. This is another concept acceptable to the Semitic mind but generally foreign to our way of thinking. A Hebrew thinker was able to call a messenger representing God by the name God while also recognising that the messenger was only a messenger, and not God in first person.

For example, Israel called their human judges elohim because they represented The Elohim or The God (i.e. God the Father), but that didn't mean that the judges were actually God in person:

If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges [elohim], to see whether he has put his hand unto his neighbours goods. (Ex. 22:8, KJV)

Thou shalt not revile the gods [elohim], nor curse the ruler of thy people. (Ex. 22:28, KJV)

The gods mentioned here are the judges of Israel. When a person appeared before a judge in a Hebrew court they literally addressed the judge as God because the judge represented God and carried His authority. (It is not uncommon in our courts to refer to the judge as Your Worship. Quite possibly the practice is related to the early Semitic equivalent.) And so it was that the Mal'ak of YHVH carried the name of YHVH and was actually referred to as YHVH because he carried the authority of YHVH. (There is also the related issue that YHVH means He who causes to be in the third person and is used by those subordinate to YHVH of Hosts since He literally causes them to be (i.e. to exist). See the footnotes to the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV, p. 70.) Further, the Mal'ak of YHVH was also called Elohim because he represented the one true God who was the Elohim of heaven.

Note: Some might object to this delegation of the names of God on the grounds of Isaiah 44:5 and elsewhere. However, these passages are dealing with the one true God being unique and without equal. The concept of lesser beings carrying the authority and, hence, the name of God is clearly supported in the NT in Revelation 3:12.

As will become clear, the Bible indicates the Angel or Mal'ak of YHVH to be Christ manifesting himself in visible form.

As we will see this aspect is also reflected in the text in Psalm 45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-9 which is examined below.

Angels as Elohim

The term angel is also used to translate the word for Elohim as God where it is used in the OT Hebrew. In Psalm 8, for example, when the Septuagint was translated from the Hebrew into Greek the word elohim – referring clearly to the sons of God and Messiah – was rendered as ‘aggelos or messengers in the Greek text by the LXX and that usage was transferred into the NT text in the Book of Hebrews.

The text should read: For thou hast (for a time) made him a little lower than the Elohim (Gods) and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

That is the meaning in Hebrew and that is the intention of the Book of Hebrews in chapters 1 and 2 in dealing with the concept. It is rendered in the English as Angels purely because of Trinitarian theology. The Hebrews understood that the elohim were the sons of God. The messengers of God were the Sons of God and rendered as messengers in the Greek translations for theological purposes of monotheism.

This problem is examined in the paper Psalm 8 (No. 14)).

The pre-existence of Christ was taken for granted and is proclaimed in the theology of the early Church repeatedly. It is explained in the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243)).

Let us now examine this being in the OT who was the Angel of God

2. Hagar and the Angel

2.1 You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees

The Angel of YHVH is first mentioned in the story of the maidservant Hagar fleeing from her mistress Sarai, in Genesis 16. As Hagar wanders in the wilderness, the Angel meets her. Significantly, the Angel promises that he will bless and multiply her descendants. Hence the Angel is given power and authority by God to extend blessings to humanity. At the conclusion of this encounter, the Angel is called "the YHVH who spoke to her" – (the Interlinear Bible translates this as "And she called the name of Jehovah, the One speaking to her, You, a God of vision!" The phrase the One speaking to her indicates that there are multiple beings which carry the title YHVH. It was that particular YHVH who spoke to her, who saw her wandering in the wilderness and went to her aid) – and she calls him, "You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees" (v. 13). Yet the Angel also refers to YHVH in the third person. Thus, in this example we begin to see how the Angel of YHVH carries the title YHVH but also speaks on the behalf of his YHVH whom he represents.

The Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The Angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." The Angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the Angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." So she called the name of the LORD [YHVH] who spoke to her, "Thou art a God [El] of seeing"; for she said, "Have I really seen God [Lit. have I really looked on the One seeing me] and remained alive after seeing him?" (Gen. 16:7-13, RSV)

Significantly, Christ identifies himself as the One who searches the hearts and sees the intents of the mind in the New Testament. In Revelation 2:18,25 we read:

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: "The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze". (RSV)

And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. (RSV)

2.2 The Angel of God

When Hagar flees the second time, the Angel speaks to her again, and repeats his promise to make her son a great nation. Here we read for the first time the Angel's second title, the Angel of God. It is significant that the terms God [Elohim] and Angel of God [Elohim] are used interchangeably just as YHVH and Angel of YHVH are used interchangeably. God [Elohim] hears and the Angel speaks. The Angel says he will bless Ishmael, but he also says he is speaking on behalf of God [Elohim]. This points out that there is a hierarchy in the Elohim. The Angel carries the title Elohim and speaks on behalf of the Elohim he represents.

And God [Elohim] heard the voice of the lad; and the Angel of God [Elohim] called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God [Elohim] has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation. “Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink, And God was with the lad, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. (Gen. 21:17-20, RSV)

3. Abraham and the Angel

3.1 YHVH as a distributed title

In the example of Hagar and the Angel we saw that the Angel of YHVH was called YHVH because he carried the authority of YHVH and spoke on His behalf. This concept of YHVH being a distributed title (i.e. a title applying to many beings, not just YHVH of Hosts who is the one true God) appears in numerous places. (For a discussion of titles in the NT, see Appendix 3). For example, YHVH directly appeared to Abraham.

Then the LORD [YHVH] appeared to Abram, and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (Gen. 12:7, RSV)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD [YHVH] appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty [El Shadday]; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face; and God [Elohim] said to him, ... (Gen. 17:1-3, RSV).

This YHVH could not be the one true God for no man has ever seen God or heard His voice (cf. NT passages referred to previously). Yet he speaks as God Almighty. The Hebrew term for Almighty is Shadday and means Most Powerful. There can be only one Being who is the Most Powerful and that is God, the Father, who is greater than all, including Christ:

You heard me say to you, "I go away, and I will come to you." If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. (Jn. 14:28, RSV)

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. (1Cor. 11:3, RSV)

In the NT the term Almighty is reserved exclusively for God the Father. The Lord God Almighty is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our brother:

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2Cor. 6:18, RSV)

For he who sanctifies [Christ] and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, "I will proclaim thy name [The Father's name] to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee." (Heb. 2:11-12, RSV)

In Revelation the Lord God Almighty, God the Father, is distinguished from his Christ; He is the object of a song of praise of the Lamb; Christ treads out the winepress of His wrath (i.e. executes judgment for his Father); and both the Almighty and the Lamb form the Temple in the New Heavens and New Earth:

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and wonderful are thy deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages!" (Rev. 15:3, RSV)

From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (Rev. 19:15, RSV). [cf. Jn. 5:27 - and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man.]

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (Rev. 21:22, RSV)

Since no man has ever seen the one true God (cf. verses cited in Section 1.2) [this is well recognised by commentators. See the quotation from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in Appendix 4], and God the Father is God Almighty, and the Scripture cannot be broken (Jn. 10:35), we are forced to conclude that the YHVH who spoke to Abraham and the Patriarchs was another YHVH apart from God Almighty (the Father), but one who spoke on behalf of God Almighty, or El Shadday. That is, Abraham dealt with an Elohim who spoke directly on behalf of God, and because he carried the authority of God he also carried his name YHVH as a title. Christ explained that he only spoke on behalf of God:

So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me." (Jn. 8:28, RSV)

For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me. (Jn. 12:49-50, RSV)

This concept of YHVH as a distributed title becomes even more apparent in Genesis 18 when three beings appear to Abraham, all being termed YHVH:

He [Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if I have found favour in your sight, do not pass by your servant." (Gen. 18:2-3, RSV)

In the original Hebrew text the word rendered here as "lord" was in fact YHVH. Abraham addressed all three "men" as YHVH. However, when the Hebrew text was being fixed by the Sopherim, that were the official revisers under Ezra and Nehemiah, they altered this word and 133 other occurrences of YHVH to read Adonai or Lord. (Their alterations were recorded in the margins of the text.) Allegedly, the reason for making these alterations was out of reverence for the Divine Name YHVH, but it seems more probable the real reason was that the Sopherim was concerned about YHVH being applied to other entities apart from YHVH Most High. Similar alterations apply in verses 27,30,32. (A complete list of these alterations is found in Appendix 32 of The Companion Bible.)

In verses 16-22, one of the men, now termed YHVH, chooses to stay on with Abraham while the other two leave for Sodom. Yet this YHVH refers to YHVH in the third person as blessing Abraham, hence further indicating a multiple number of YHVH:

Then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him? No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him." Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know." So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham still stood before the LORD. (Gen. 18:16-22, RSV)

This YHVH, representing YHVH in heaven came down to see if the outcry against Sodom was true. In chapter 19 the two "men", now termed angels (mal'ak), go to Sodom. In verse 18, Lot addresses them as YHVH:

And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords [another of the 134 alterations by the Sopherim, originally YHVH]; (Gen. 19:18, RSV)

The angels tell Lot YHVH has sent them to destroy Sodom:

For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD [YHVH], and the LORD [YHVH] has sent us to destroy it. (Gen. 19:13, RSV)

In verse 24 the angels, termed YHVH, rain fire down from YHVH in heaven:

Then the LORD [YHVH] rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD [YHVH] out of heaven; (Gen. 19:24, RSV)

Thus, we see the term YHVH applied without distinction to no less than four Beings in these accounts: the three “men" (evidently Christ and two accompanying angels) and God in heaven. Clearly, YHVH is a distributed title applied to those who represent God the Father to humans. Yahovah in Heaven can be taken as Yahovah of Hosts.

3.2 The Angel prevents the slaying of Isaac

The next mention of the Angel is in the incident of Abraham being asked to slay Isaac. In this case the Angel intervenes to prevent Isaac's death:

But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God [Elohim], seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." And the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice." (Gen. 22:11-18, RSV)

The Angel here speaks both as an entity in his own right (“for now I know ...”) and for YHVH, God of heaven (“By myself I have sworn, says YHVH ...”).

It is interesting to note that in commending Abraham the Angel said, "for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." From this we learn that the Angel was the Elohim who instructed Abraham to slay his son in verses 1-2, and that the Angel did not know what Abraham would do but discovered it through observing Abraham's actions. Thus, the Angel does not have absolute foreknowledge or prescience. This is exactly the case with Christ. There are some things that Christ does not know and which must be revealed to him by his God and Father who does have absolute prescience:

Note: This is yet another proof that Christ is not the one true God. The one true God, God the Father, declares the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:9-10). It is His purpose and mystery which is being unfolded on earth (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9). Christ receives knowledge of these things by revelation from the Father (Rev. 1:1).

But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Mk. 13:32, RSV)

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, (Rev. 1:1, RSV).

This matter of the sacrifice of Isaac is examined in detail with its implication also for Judaism, and also Islam and the Koran in the papers The Angel and Abraham’s Sacrifice (No. 71); and Genesis 22, Judaism, Islam and the Sacrifice of Isaac (No. 244).

3.3 The Angel and Isaac’s wife

Later, when Abraham sent his servant to fetch a wife for Isaac, he promised the servant that YHVH's Angel would be with the servant to bless his journey. From his comments, Abraham understood the distinction between YHVH the God of Heaven, and the Angel or Mal'ak who was this YHVH's Messenger and through whom YHVH dealt with him. The servant acknowledged the Angel’s lead as being equivalent to YHVH's lead. Thus, the Angel truly represented God:

The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' he will send his Angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

But he said to me, "The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his Angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father's house;"

Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. (Gen. 24:7,40,48, RSV)

In the NT Christ fulfils a similar role of leading, protecting, blessing and representing God to us:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Mat. 28:18-20, RSV)

4. Jacob and the Angel

In this section, three profound qualities of the Angel of YHVH are revealed:

· As the Messenger of God (Most High), the presence of the Angel is equivalent to the presence of God. To see the Angel is the equivalent of seeing God (Most High).

· The Angel is God's agent of redemption.

· The Angel is equated to the God [Elohim] who led, talked with, blessed, and fed Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.

4.1 The God of the House of God

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Angels as Elohim