Is Jesus the “Angel of the Lord” mentioned in the Old Testament?

Is Theophany of Jesus really a thing?

Many bible interpreters believe that in Old Testament scripture, whenever someone received a visit from “the angel of the Lord,” that this was a pre-incarnate visit of Christ called a theophany. Let's look at some key scripture and see if this is the case.

The first appearance of “the angel of the Lord,” appears in:

Gen 16:7 

The angel(4397) of the LORD(3068) found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

9 Then the angel(4397) of the LORD(3068) told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

11 The angel4397 of the Lord(3068) also said to her:

"You are now pregnant

and you will give birth to a son.

You shall name him Ishmael,

for the Lord has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;

his hand will be against everyone

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he will live in hostility

toward all his brothers."

13 She gave this name to the LORD(3068) who spoke to her: “You are the God(410) who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, the definition of angel (4397) here is "messenger" and the definition of LORD (3068) is "the proper name of the God of Israel" So this verse can be translated: "The messenger of the God of Israel found her". Then in verse 10 the angel says "I will surely multiply your offspring". We know that only God can multiply offspring, so this would lead us to conclude that God himself is talking. But the verse says "The angel of the Lord found her." It does not say "The Lord found her" So that would lead us to conclude that the angel is talking for God. (which is what a messenger does) As an example, a lawyer might say in the reading of a will "I leave my collection of dolls to my 3rd daughter" The lawyer speaks for the deceased and uses the word "I" because he is delivering a message spoken by the originator of the message. 

Then in Gen 16:13 the story concludes with: "She called the name of the LORD (3068) who spoke to her, "You are a God (410) who sees," for she said, "Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?" This is interesting because she says that the "LORD" spoke to her. The word used here is clearly the proper name of the God of Israel. Not Jesus or the Son of God or anything that would lead us to conclude that Jesus was involved in this conversation. But the verse ends with "Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?" which many believe proves that this was in fact Jesus because the bible states in John 1:18 "No one has seen God at any time". Gen 16:13 is not a contradiction of John 1:18, because verse 7 states that she saw the messenger of God, not God himself. We don't go beyond what the word says. See Rev 22:18-19

In Genesis 18, we see the Lord appears. Not even an angel, but God himself. I put the whole story here because it's quite an amazing story.

Genesis 18

1 The LORD(3068) appeared(7200) to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord(113), do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three measurements of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord(113) is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Many commentators believe this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. It's a very interesting description of what happened that day, and definitely raises some questions. The meaning of the word LORD used in verse 1 is "Yahweh," or the proper name of the God of Israel. Then in verse 3 Abraham bows low and uses the lower case word "my lord"(113) when addressing the men. Strong's defines this word as a reference to a human. So this is a bit of a mystery. Verse 1 says God himself visited, then verse 3 says Abraham addressed him as if speaking to a man. The best explanation is God appeared with his glory veiled in human form. Many say this was Jesus. But it does not say “Messiah” “Immanuel” “Savior” or any biblical name for Jesus. The only thing we know for sure is that God visited in the form of a human man. We don't go beyond what the word says.

As a side note, what's interesting here is that Abraham told Sarah to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. Baking bread would have taken a while. Then Abraham gave his servant a calf to prepare to eat. So he literally killed a calf to feed the visitors. How long did these guys stay? Did God really eat beef that day? Things are happening here that we may struggle to understand as we look back at this event that happened thousands of years ago.

Philippians 2:5: have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form(2444) of God(2316)  did not regard equality with God(2316) a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form(2444) of a bond-servant(1401), and being made in the likeness(3667) of men(444)

Reading this we see that Jesus existed in the form of God, in the Old Testament, then was made in the likeness of men in the New Testament. This does not say that Jesus’ original form was "like an angel", or "the angel of the Lord", or "a man". So we see here that, according to what is written in the bible, Jesus appeared as a man only in the New Testament. We don't go beyond what the word says.

John 1:1 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. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

According to this text, Jesus existed in the form of “the word” in the Old Testament, then the word became flesh in the New Testament. We may find it difficult to fully understand what the term “the Word was God” means. But this verse does not say: The Angel of the Lord became flesh. We don't go beyond what the word says. See Rev 22:18-19

After studying these verses, there does not appear to be any convincing evidence that Jesus was the "Angel of the LORD" in the Old Testament. 

Hebrews 1:1 - 2

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...

In this text, we see God making a clear distinction between Himself talking to us, and Jesus talking to us. It's very clear and provides a clear separation between God and Jesus speaking. "in the past, God spoke. and now Jesus speaks."  So looking back at the Old Testament verses, according to Hebrew 1:1-2, God the father was speaking.

Thanks for reading. If you have any Biblical evidence that Jesus is in fact the "Angel of the Lord" mentioned in the old Testament, please share those verses with descriptions in the comment section below.