Who is Michael the Archangel? Part 3

There are many references to “the angel of the Lord” in Scripture. I won’t cover all of them here, but let’s look at a few to get a feel for what the Bible says.

After Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham, she and the barren Sarah could no longer coexist. Hagar eventually fled into the desert. “Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness” (Genesis 16:7). The angel told Hagar to go back and submit to Sarah and promised that her son, Ishmael, would be the father of a great nation. When the “angel” disappeared, Hagar “called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’ ” (verse 13). It appears Hagar recognized that the “angel of the Lord” who had spoken to her was really God.

God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Just as he was about to plunge the dagger, the angel of the Lord stopped him. “But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’ ” (Genesis 22:11, 12).

It’s clear that Abraham was offering his son to God and not to a mere angel. “Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you’ ” (Genesis 22:15–17). In recounting this experience in Acts 3:25, the apostle Peter also identifies this “angel of the Lord” as God.

Key Bible Texts

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: (Exodus 14:19 KJV)