Was the "Angel of the Lord" Jesus Christ?

These are some good arguments and must be considered whenever examining whether or not the Old Testament appearance of "The Angel of the Lord" was indeed the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

James MacDonald

The New Testament speaks of an angel of the Lord who is clearly a created being. This is a strong argument for understanding the name "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament in a non-Christological way. This can be seen several times in the Gospels. Matthew 1:20 and 24 read, "²⁰But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²⁴Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife." Both verses mention an angel of the Lord who could not have been Christ. Matthew 2:13 and 19 read, "¹³Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, 'Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' ¹⁹Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt."' Matthew 28:2 reads, "²And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it." Luke 2:9 reads, "⁹And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid." All these verses mention an angel of the Lord who could not have been Christ. Luke 2:9 is especially interesting because it claims that the glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds after Christ was born in Bethlehem. In the Old Testament this glory of the Lord would be consistently associated with theophanies. The angel of the Lord also appeared in Acts 5:19, Acts 8:26, and Acts 12:7, 23.

William MacDonald

MacDonald argued that Christ did not appear as the second person in the Old Testament. Instead, He was present however, whenever, and wherever God was present. MacDonald's arguments concerning the Angel of the Lord being Christ are as follows:

1. There's no reason to believe that every divine messenger called the Angel of the Lord was the same person. In the New Testament the same phrase is used to describe angels who were clearly not God.

2. It should not be strange that an angel should speak for and as God, after all this was the function of a messenger. MacDonald pointed to Deuteronomy 29:2-9 where Moses spoke both as himself, and as God.

3. If Christ appeared in a human-like Old Testament form, the reality of the incarnation would be called into question, as would the reality of Christ's human nature.

4. New Testament writers found types or pictures of Christ scattered throughout the Old Testament in things like water flowing from a rock in the wilderness; however, the New Testament writers never identified the Angel of the Lord as Jesus.
5. MacDonald looks at a passage like Daniel 3:25, 28 where Nebuchadnezzar saw a forth person in his fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar said that this forth person looked like the Son of God. MacDonald asks why anyone would want to base his theology on the opinions of a pagan unbeliever like Nebuchadnezzar.