Sermon Resources - Dr. Toby Holt
Who is the Angel of the Lord in the Bible — and is He God? In Exodus 23, God promises to send an Angel before Israel to guard them and bring them to the Promised Land. But this is no ordinary messenger: God says His "name is in Him" and commands Israel to obey His voice absolutely — because He will not pardon their transgressions. The Angel of the Lord is one of the most theologically significant and debated figures in the Old Testament. In this sermon on Exodus 23, Dr. Toby Holt examines what this Angel represents, why many in the Reformed tradition have understood Him as a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God, and what this passage teaches about the One who leads God's people home.
0:00 — The mysterious Angel of the Lord in Exodus 23 who is this extraordinary figure?
4:00 — God declares His own name and full authority are present in the Angel
8:30 — Old Testament appearances of the Angel Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Judges, and beyond
13:15 — The theological case for the Angel being a pre-incarnate appearance of the eternal Son
18:00 — What the Angel's promised presence and leading practically meant for Israel in the wilderness
22:30 — How Christ as the living mediator and good shepherd leads and guides His people today
26:15 — Conclusion Christ was always and only the one true mediator between God and man
Questions This Sermon Answers:
1. Who is the Angel of the Lord in Exodus 23?
The Angel of the Lord in Exodus 23:20–23 is described as carrying God's own name, having authority to forgive or refuse forgiveness, and deserving the obedience owed to God Himself. This is not a created angel — the attributes described belong to God alone. The Reformed tradition has consistently identified this figure as a theophany of the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Son of God appearing in visible form before the Incarnation. Calvin writes that this Angel is "the Redeemer who appeared to the ancient fathers."
2. What is a Christophany?
A Christophany is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament. When the Angel of the Lord appears to Hagar (Genesis 16), to Abraham (Genesis 22), to Moses (Exodus 3), to Gideon (Judges 6), and to Manoah (Judges 13), the same characteristics recur: He speaks as God, accepts worship, and is identified with Yahweh. The New Testament's identification of Christ as the eternal Son through whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16) implies that He was active in redemptive history before His birth in Bethlehem.
3. What does it mean that the Angel carries God's name?
In the ancient world, carrying someone's name meant bearing their authority, representing their person, and acting with their full backing. For God to say His name is in the Angel means the Angel is not a messenger with a message — He is a representative who IS the presence. This is why disobeying the Angel is equivalent to disobeying God (Exodus 23:21). The same logic applies to Christ in the New Testament: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
4. How does the Angel of the Lord relate to the Trinity?
The appearances of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament reveal the Trinity in embryonic form. There is one God who sends, and there is One who is sent — who is nonetheless also God. This is not two Gods but one God in two distinct persons. The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and the Westminster Confession both affirm that the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, fully God, the second person of the Trinity. The Christophanies of the Old Testament are the pre-Bethlehem footprints of the eternal Son.
5. Why did God send the Angel rather than leading Israel directly?
Exodus 33:3 reveals the answer: "I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." God's direct presence among sinful people would mean their destruction. The Angel of the Lord is the mediating presence — God near to Israel without Israel being consumed. This is the logic of all mediation: the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity require a go-between. The Angel is the Old Testament's provisional version of what Christ becomes permanently at the Incarnation.
6. What did the Angel's guidance promise Israel practically?
Exodus 23:22–23 promises that if Israel heeds the Angel, He will be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries, and He will bring them to the Promised Land. The Angel's guidance was the guarantee of Israel's inheritance. For the Christian, Christ's mediation is the guarantee of the eternal inheritance — "who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 1:22). The Angel leading Israel to Canaan is a picture of Christ leading His people to glory.
7. How should Christians read the Old Testament in light of these Christophanies?
Luke 24:27 records that Jesus, on the road to Emmaus, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets... expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." The Old Testament is not a book about ancient Israel alone — it is a book about Christ. The Angel of the Lord, the Passover lamb, the manna, the rock, the Tabernacle, the high priest — these are all ways Christ was present in type and shadow before He came in flesh. Reading the Old Testament Christologically is not eisegesis; it is following Jesus's own hermeneutic.
8. What is the pastoral significance of the Angel's promise for Christians today?
The promise to Israel — "I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared" (Exodus 23:20) — finds its New Testament fulfillment in Christ's ongoing intercession and the Spirit's indwelling. Hebrews 7:25 states that Christ "always lives to make intercession" for His people. The Christian is not led through history alone — Christ goes before, His Spirit within, His word as a lamp. The wilderness journey of Israel is the pilgrim journey of the church, and the same divine escort accompanies both.
Key Theological Points:
1. The Pre-Incarnate Christ in the Old Testament
Reformed theology has always maintained that the Christ who appeared in the manger at Bethlehem had been active in redemptive history from the beginning. John 1:1 states: "In the beginning was the Word." Colossians 1:16 states that "all things were created through Him." 1 Corinthians 10:4 identifies the rock in the wilderness as Christ. The Angel of the Lord in Exodus 23 belongs to this pattern. Calvin writes: "The patriarchs knew God only by beholding Him in His Son." The Incarnation is not Christ's beginning — it is His entry into human flesh.
2. Mediation as Permanent Structure
The presence of a mediating Angel in Exodus reveals that sinners cannot approach God directly — not because God is unwilling but because His holiness and human sinfulness are incompatible without mediation. This is not a problem the New Testament solves differently from the Old — both Testaments solve it the same way: through Christ. Westminster Confession 8.1 affirms that "it pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus... to be the Mediator between God and man." The Angel of Exodus 23 and the Christ of Hebrews 7–10 are the same Mediator in two eras of redemptive history.
3. Christ Hidden and Revealed
The Christophanies of the Old Testament operate on the principle that Calvin called "accommodation" — God revealing Himself in forms suited to the capacity of those He addresses. The Angel was Christ accommodated to Israel's stage of revelation. The Incarnation was Christ fully disclosed. Hebrews 1:1–2 captures this: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers... has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." The various forms — angels, pillars, theophanies — give way to the final, definitive self-disclosure in human flesh.
4. The Text: Exodus 23:20–21 (NKJV)
"Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him."
Continue studying: explore the full Book of Exodus sermon series, or browse the complete Reformed Sermon Archive.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
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