Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/33

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shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites."[1] Other instances could be cited, but these are sufficient: they clearly show that the phrase "Angel of Jehovah" is intended to express the idea of Jehovah filling an angel with His presence, as a medium for effecting the Divine manifestations intended; this, also, is indicated by the phrase, "Angel of His presence."[2]

From these considerations we learn that the Divine appearances which are recorded in the Old Testament were manifestations of Jehovah; that is, Divine appearances effected through the instrumentality of an angel's nature. It was the same Divine unity, the same Divine personality, who not only said that He is One, but likewise that He is the Creator, the Redeemer and Saviour. It is expressly written, "Thus saith Jehovah who CREATED the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it."[3] "I am Jehovah, and there is none else."[4] It is also declared that, "As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name;"[5] and again, "I am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour."[6] "A just God and a Saviour, there is none beside me;"[7] and "My glory will I not give to another."[8] He, then, it was, who, to preserve some definite conception of Himself among mankind, made the appearances to which we have adverted, and thereby provided for the spiritual necessities of mankind.

But whatever might have been the immediate uses of those several appearances,—for every manifestation was a Divine coming,—it is clear that there was one, of a more remarkable character than all the rest, contemplated at a very

  1. Jud. vi. 12, 14.
  2. Isa. lxiii. 9.
  3. Isa. xlii. 5.
  4. Isa. xlv. 18.
  5. Isa. xlvii. 4.
  6. Isa. xliii. 11.
  7. Isa. xlv. 21.
  8. Isa. xlii. 8.