Shalom.
The Angel of the Lord is not the pre-incarnate Christ.
The Angel of the Lord is an angel who expressed God to Israel in the name of Jehovah in the Old Testament.
I decided to withdraw my downvote because your a new member here and I acted in haste without my morning coffee. The first thing you should know is that the angel of the Lord is "NOT" an actual angel like Michael or Gabriel. The Hebrew word for angel is "malak" and the word simply means messenger. The context determines how the word is to be understood.
For example at Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I am going to send My "malak/angel/messenger," and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the "malak/angel/messenger" of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord or hosts."
The first angel in this verse is John the Baptist. Of course John is not an angel but a messenger. This is confirmed at Mark 1:-4. So who is the second "angle" who is identified as the "messenger" of the covenant? And lastly, who is it that we will delight in, the one coming? I will get to the messenger of the covenant shortly. Btw, as a side note the prophet "Malachi's" name is taken from the Hebrew word "malak." And one more thing should be said. The angel of the Lord is NOT Michael the arc angel as the JW's teach. The angel of the Lord is not Melchizedek nor is Jesus Melchizedek as some teach.
The following is an article I wrote on this subject.
The angel of the Lord first appears as the angel of the Lord at Genesis 16:7 and appears (physically) to Hagar, Sarai's maid. (vs8). At vs9 he says to Hagar to return to Sarai and submit to her authority. At vs10 the angel of the Lord says, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count." He also tells her that she is with child and he will be named Ishmael.
At vs13 she says, "Thou art a God who sees, for she said, "Have I even remained alive after seeing Him." At Genesis 17:1-2, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, (This is a physical appearance by the Lord), I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless, vs2, And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will greatly multiply you exceedingly."
So here's the question? Is the angel of the Lord at Genesis 16 who multiplied Hagar's descendants the same "being" who multiplied Abram descendants at Genesis 17:1-2? When we get to Genesis 18 it says at vs1, "Now the Lord appeared to him/Abram by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day." When Abram looked up he saw three men, vs2. One of the men was the angel of the Lord and the other two were actual angels in the form of men.
To make a long story short Abram learns that the Lord God is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin is great, vs20. The Lord and Abram go back and forth about will God destroy the righteous with the wicked, vs25. At vs33, "And as soon as He/the Lord had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed; and Abraham returned to his place. At Genesis 19:1, "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot say them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground."
Righteous Lot was warned about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he left. Like at Genesis 18:25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" He sure did. At this point is should be said that the angel of the Lord is "NOT" Michael the arc angel as some teach, like the Jehovah Witnesses. This can be proven by going to Genesis 22, the best part about the angel of the Lord.
At Genesis 22:1, God test Abraham by him offering his son Isaac. Genesis 22:10-11, "And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. vs11, But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Vs12, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me." (Btw, Abraham did have other sons).
Jumping to vs15, "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, vs16, and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, vs17, indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies."
Some observations? Why does the angel of the Lord call out from heaven two times when the Lord God Himself calls out from heaven at other places in the Bible? And here's the bigger observation. If the angel of the Lord is an actual angel or Michael the arc angel, it should be noted that angels cannot swear oaths on behalf of God Himself. In fact, you or I cannot swear an oath on behalf of somebody else. For example, if you saw a crime and were ask to testify in a court of law you cannot send your uncle harry in your place to testify what you personally saw.
But here's the kicker? Look at Hebrews 6:13-14, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, HE SWORE BY HIMSELF." vs14, "saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you." No one, including angels can swear an oath on behalf of God because no one is greater than God Himself.
It is vitally important that God the Father has no separate manifestation from the Son. The Son is the only manifestation and revelation of the Father. What is known of the Father is revealed through the Son. To see the Son is to see the essence of the Father (John 1:1,18; John 10:30; John 12:45; Colossians 1:5; Hebrews 1:3). Oops, I almost forgot about Luke 1:72-73, "To show mercy toward our fathers, And to REMEMBER His holy covenant, vs73, "The oath which He swore to Abraham our father." PS: This post is also for Mark L who started this thread. I will be happy to address any questions or concerns you might have.
IN GOD THE SON,
bluto
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