Exodus 23:20-25
Jesus as the Angel of the LORD
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Scripture: “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
“When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.” (Exodus 23:20–25).
Main Point: The Angel of the Lord provided five benefits to the people of Israel that we can apply to our lives: God’s promises, God’s presence, God’s protection, God’s possession, and God’s provision.
I. God makes them special promises. “Behold, I send an angel…” (v. 20).
II. God ensures them of His holy presence. “Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him” (v. 22).
“There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45–47).
Four indicators that this angel is God-incarnate.
· First, only God can forgive sins.
“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:7–10).
· Second, God’s name is the equivalent to God’s presence.
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21).
· Third, only God is allowed to speak as God in the first-person, “I.”
“And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7; Matthew 17:5; Luke 9:35).
· Fourth, only God can pass judgment on the sinful men.
“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 1:5).
“We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer” (1 Corinthians 10:9–10).
III. God guarantees them His protection (20). “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries” (v. 23).
IV. God gives them a unique possession. “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites…” (v. 24).
V. God grants them special provisions. “You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.” (v. 25).
Conclusion: Just like the angel of the Lord was with the People of Israel, Jesus through the power of His Holy Spirit is with us right now if we are saved.
Challenge: Are you under His umbrella of protection and are you serving Him faithfully?
Invitation: Respond to God’s invitation today and stand firm with Christ in your life.
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