ANGELS

ANGEL. — This name may be considered as a generical term applied to the various orders of intelligences belonging to the spiritual world, as well as those diversified agencies and ministrations which Jehovah has been pleased to employ as instruments in accomplishing the omnipotent purposes of His will, declared in the operations of nature ; the procedures of his Providence, and the economy of Grace, as connected with the redemption of mankind. The term is derived from a Greek word avyehog (angelos), signifying messenger ; and in its most comprehensive acceptation is a name of office, not of nature : — nomen non natura sed officii. The most august and prominent personage to whom this name has been attached is the Angel-Jehovah, the Messenger of the everlasting Covenant — the Messiah.

In several places of the Old Testament we find mention of this sacred person, under the title of Angel of the Lord, styling himself JEHOVAH and GOD ; exercising Divine prerogatives, manifesting Divine perfections, and claiming the homage which is due to Deity alone. " This person, therefore' remarks Dr. Hunter, in his Sacred Biography, " can be none other than the uncreated Angel of the Covenant, who, ' at sundry times and in diverse manners,' in maturing the work of redemption, assumed a sensible appearance ; and at length, in the fulness of time, united his Divine nature to ours, and dwelt among men, and made them "tobehold his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

To Adam appeared the " Angel Jehovah, in Paradise, both before and after his transgression — although no specific or express mention is given of God being revealed to him in this character or relation before the apostacy ; but as the Son of God " created all things visible and invisible, we believe that " the Lord God, who formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, was the Angel Jehovah.

In the beginning of the third chapter of Exodus, the glorious individual who appeared to Moses, and spoke to him out of the burning bush, was this " Angel of the Covenant. — " Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. "

The reply of Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, contained in the narrative regarding her in the 16th chapter of Genesis, points out the angel which addressed her as the " Angel of the Covenant." — " Thou God seest me."

One of the three heavenly messengers whom Abraham u entertained unawares,5' was the Angel of the Covenant, is evident from the name Jehovah, which the patriarch rendered, and the supplication made to him to avert the destruction of Sodom ; and it was the same Angel of the Lord who called to him out of heaven the second time, upon the obedience of his faith manifested in the sacrificial offering of his only son Isaac, when he received the assurance, " BY MYSELF have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, that in blessing I will bless thee, — because thou hast obeyed my voice.

It was the same glorious personage who appeared to Jacob in the mysterious conflict of Peniel — " For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Likewise unto Joshua, on succeeding Moses, as the leader of Israel, styling himself the " Captain of the host of the Lord ;55 to Manoah, the father of Sampson. u And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, if the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have told us such things as these.55 — Judges, xiii. 16-23.

In various passages of the prophetic book of Zechariah, this Divine Person is described as being intimately acquainted with the counsels of the Most High, as presiding over the affairs of the world, directing the ministrations of superior intelligences ; as protecting, vindicating, and interceding for the oppressed Jewish church, as judging and triumphing over their enemies, as sent by the LORD of Hosts, and therefore repeatedly called " JEHOVAH. Passages evidently pointing out the Great " Angel" or " Messenger of Jehovah," respecting whom. Dr. J. Pye Smith, in his Scripture Testimony, observes — " that he claims uncontrolled sovereignty over the affairs of men ; He has the attributes of omniscience and omnipresence ; He performs works which only omnipotence could accomplish ; He uses the awful formula by which the Deity, on various occasions, condescended to confirm the faith of those to whom the primitive revelations were given ; He swears by HIMSELF ;' He is the gracious Protector, and Saviour, the Redeemer from all evil, the Intercessor, and the author of the most desirable blessings ; His favor is to be sought with the deepest solicitude, as that which is of the highest importance to the interests of men ; He is the object of religious invocation ; He is, in the most express manner, and repeatedly declared to be JEHOVAH, God, the ineffable I AM THAT I AM ; yet this mysterious person is represented as distinct from God, and acting (as the term Angel imports) under a divine mission."

Author: George Clayton Jr. 1854