His ways are higher than our ways.
Who is the Angel of the Lord?
In various passages, the angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities of God. In several of these appearances, those who saw the angel of the Lord feared for their lives because they had “seen God” (
Judges 13:22; cf.
Judges 6:22). Therefore, we can say that, in at least some instances, the angel of the Lord is a
theophany, an appearance of God in physical form.
GOT?
It is possible that appearances of the angel of the Lord represent the Son of God taking on temporary human form—a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Jesus declared Himself to be existent “before Abraham” (
John 8:58), so it makes sense that He would be active and could manifest in the world. Whatever the case, whether the angel of the Lord was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ (a Christophany) or an appearance of God the Father (a theophany), it is likely that “the angel of the Lord” was, in most cases, a physical appearance of God.