Exodus: Unity of Law and Grace

The Angel of the Lord

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: The Angel of the Lord

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Track: 84

Dictation Name: RR171AT84

Location/Venue:

Year: Early 70’s

Let us worship God. This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. Having these promises, let us draw near to the throne of grace with true hearts in full assurance of faith. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank thee that, as we come to thee, we have the joy and the certainty of thy presence, of thy reign, and of thy sovereign will that shall prevail. Give us grace day by day to take hands off our lives and to commit them into thy keeping, to know that thy perfect purpose for us shall be accomplished, even as thy kingdom shall come and thy will shall be done, make us joyful in thy service, faithful to thy word, and ever faithful one to another in the bonds of Christian faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Our scripture is in Exodus 23:20-25. Our subject: The Angel of the Lord. Exodus 23:20-25. “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.”

The angel of the Lord is the subject of these verses. We are told that the covenant people shall have with them the protecting person of the angel of the Lord. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:4 refers to this fact, and speaks of one who followed or literally “went with Israel in their journey.” That person is referred to by Paul as that spiritual rock, and that rock is Christ. The word rock is important in biblical usage, in a non-literal sense. We have that meaning in the hymn “Rock of Ages.” Moses in his hymn says of God, “He is our rock.” That is, the foundation of all things. He declares of Israel, this is in Deuteronomy 32:4 and 15, that he lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation, and of the pagans and their gods, Moses said, “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.”

In brief, the supernatural presence of God was with Israel in its wilderness journey. This supernatural presence was manifested on specific occasions, both before and after the wilderness experience. When three men appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18:20, 26, and other verses, one is set apart as God himself. The angel of the Lord is God, but not God the Father. In Genesis 24:7 and 40, a distinction is made between God and the angel of the Lord. However, in Exodus 13:21, we are told that the Lord went before Israel, but in Exodus 14:19 we read that it was the angel of the Lord. In other words, God the Father and the angel of the Lord are both identified and distinguished.

In Joshua 5:14-15, and Joshua 6:2, it is very clear that the angel of the Lord is God himself. In Zechariah 1:14-15, the angel of the Lord and the Lord communicate one with another, but in Zechariah 3, we see them identified as one. In Judges 13:19-22, the angel of the Lord is declared to be God. In other words, it is clear from these verses that the angel of the Lord is not a creature, but is truly God, a person of the Godhead. We have in these theophanies, which means appearances of God, the pre-incarnation manifestations of God the Son, in human form in the appearance but not yet incarnate. The word “angel” here is messenger, but he is a messenger in the sense of a presence from the high command, from God. He is there to protect, to lead, and to chasten. He is the great guardian angel, God with his people, then as now.

Men assume that it is God’s business to care for His people when needed and to be silent on all other occasions. They want God when He can be of help, not when He will rebuke and chasten. As a result, in verse 21, a very blunt warning is given, “Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” My name is in Him means God’s authority, nature, and power are in Him, are one with Him. As James McGregor observed, this is the description of a person who is God.

Because God’s name or person is in the angel of the Lord, rebellion against Him, we are told is not forgiven. He will not pardon your transgressions. Such a transgression is a rebellion against salvation, a denial of it. It means that their deliverance from Egypt and the Red Sea threat meant nothing more to them than the freedom to sin at will. Men find God and faith necessary, because without them, life has no meaning, but to assume that God is there just to provide meaning and help when we want it, and that we have no requirement of total obedience to God, or to assume that faith does not require obedience is to manifest presumption, not salvation. There is then no pardon. Therefore, the command is provoke Him not, otherwise ye will not be forgiven.

By contrast, in verse 22, we have a magnificent promise to those who believe and obey. This is a promise to the faithful. God says, “Then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.” God says He will then identify us with His cause and kingdom, and will deliver and prosper us. These blessings come to us with submission to the Lord and His law word. We are led by God when we submit to Him. More than a century ago, Joseph Parker said of all of us, and I quote, “It would seem to be our nature to spoil everything. We take the instrument to pieces to find the music, instead of yielding ourselves to the call of its blast, to the elevation of its inspiring gladness, and to the infinite tenderness of its benediction. We are cursed with a spirit of vain curiosity. We expend ourselves in the asking of little questions, instead of plunging into God’s great sea of grace and comfort, and waiting patiently for revelations which may address themselves to the curiosity which is now premature, and to the prying which now can get no great answers.” The angel of the Lord will convoy His people to a prepared place, but if they distrust His leading and break His law, He will judge them. The promises are very clear here. In these verses and those that follow, we have a series of remarkable promises by God, and these promises carry as absolute certainty and power, so they express not hopeful forecasts, but certainties.

John Peter Lang summarized these promises in these words, and I quote, “1) protection of angelic guidance of the religion of revelation and invincibility founded on religious obedience, 2) victory over the Canaanites, possession of the Holy Land on condition of their purifying the land from its idolatry, 3) abundance of food, 4) the blessing of health, 5) fertility of man and beast, 6) long life, 7) a respect and fear of neighboring peoples, 8) mysterious control of natural forces in favor of Israel, 9) the subjugated Canaanites themselves made to serve for the protection of the growth of Israel, and 10) wide extended territory and the sure possession of it on the condition of not mingling with the Canaanites and their idolatry.” The promises unto us are no less, and we are more often foiled by our sins than by our enemies.

The promise in verse 23 is that the angel of God’s presence will go before His people to cut off, or better to cut down their enemies. The Canaanite’s civil powers would be ended. The Canaanite people would be stateless, except as dwellers in Israel. God’s people, however, must have nothing to do with the idolatry or these foreign peoples. While no compulsion was exerted to compel compliance to Israel’s faith, and the various peoples of Canaan could believe as they will, public and state status was denied to their pagan religions. The community had to be governed in terms of God and God’s law.

They were required, in particular, to destroy all the pagan images, or pillars, or obelisks, which were found everywhere in those days. These were fertility cult symbols which invoked the fertility of natural forces. They were erected everywhere to ensure the fertility, potency, and plentitude of man and of man’s crops. As against this, God’s people, verse 25, tells us, must recognize that God’s blessing alone can proper man in his person and in his work. Obedience, God says, means health and plenty. Whereas disobedience means judgment and death.

In Deuteronomy 28, we have a fuller statement of this fact. The promise is very plain. The better the obedience, the better the health in every phase of life, in every sphere. Now, this passage does not stand alone. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and many passages throughout the Pentateuch and the prophets tell us very clearly that faith manifests itself in works. “By their fruits shall ye know them,” our Lord tells says. The New Testament says, “Faith without works is dead.”

Well, one of the curses of the modern age is, and it is responsible for the fact that there has been a receding of Christian faith from public life, has been easy-believism. Easy-believism. Merely affirm a few things and then you are in the clear because, having said “yes” to Jesus, you’re going to go to heaven, and all the rest well, we’re not under the law, we’re under grace, and grace says once you’ve said “yes” to Jesus, you’re going to go to heaven, no matter what you do, and some have insisted you can go out and commit every sin in the book, and some that are not in the book, and you’ll still go to heaven, because you’ve bound God. This is blasphemy, not a description of faith, and we are told that the angel of the Lord goes with His people, that there is a presence, and this presence, we are warned against provoking. So, for God’s people, who receive His grace, mercy, and care, to despise His word means particularly severe judgments. Covenant faith therefore, is entrance into a realm of unrivaled benefits and blessings as well as especially severe judgments. We are commanded, “Ye shall serve the Lord your God,” and when we do, “he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.”

Now this promise of the presence is simply not a matter of Old Testament history. Our Lord tells us in Matthew 18:10, or 20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This is the same presence with the same power, the same blessings and the same judgments. We have the guardian angel of the Lord, the very second person of the trinity with us, and we have His promise that, although we cannot see one minute ahead, or one step ahead, He knows the way, and His purposes for us are not flowery beds of ease but altogether marvelous in terms of His purposes, and so we can cast our every care upon Him, as Paul says, knowing that He cares for us. Let us pray.

Our Father, we give thanks unto thee that thy word is truth, that when thou hast declared that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou art there in their midst. This was no idle word, that it is the truth. Then welcome, Lord Jesus Christ, we thank thee for thy presence. We thank thee that thou art in our midst, and with us, whither so ever we may go. That thy purposes for us are altogether righteous and holy, great and marvelous beyond our conceiving, and that they embrace both time and eternity. Give us grace therefore, to work in terms of thy calling, to trust in thee, to wait on thee, and to know that we are more than conquerors in thee. Our God, we thank thee. In Christ’s name, amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] In other words, you’re in the army?

[Rushdoony] Yes, very well put. That summarizes it. We are in the army, and we do have marching orders, and our commander in chief is not a General McClelland who is interested in only drilling us and never taking us into battle. Our commander in chief does take us into battle, and we do get our noses bloodied at times. Any other questions or comments? Well if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank thee for this, thy word. We thank thee for thy presence. We thank thee that we have an assured victory in Christ, even as thou didst, O Lord, enable Moses to view the Promised Land from afar, thy word has given us a vision of the fullness of thy kingdom. Make us ever joyful in that vision, and faithful to its mandate, knowing that it is thy will alone that shall be done, and thy kingdom alone which shall come and flourish, and prevail. Our God, how marvelous thou art, and we praise thee. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.