Christophany

In Exodus 23 I want us to pay attention to vss.20-23. Here God promises that the children of Israel would be guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise. Who is this Angel that will be guiding them? It can be none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. This is what theologians refer to as a Christophany. A Christophany is very similar to a Theophany which is a physical, audible, and/or visible manifestation of God. In short, it is a visible appearance of God in bodily form in the O.T. times. A good example of this would be in Gen.18.

A Christophany is just such an appearance of Jesus before His incarnation. In Christophanies He is often called "the Angel of the LORD" i.e., "Angel of Yahweh". Another good example of a Christophany is Joshua 5 where Joshua met the "Commander of the LORD's army", and there Joshua worshiped Him. (note: men don't worship angels.) And here, in Exodus 23:21 the children of Israel are commanded to obey His voice and not to provoke Him, or He would not pardon their transgressions...(Exodus 23:21). Angels don't pardon people. Only Christ can pardon. So again, this lets us know that this is a Christophany.

What's the lesson in all of this? The key to victory for the Israelites in the upcoming takeover of the Promised Land would not be Israel's skill but the presence of this Angel, who, again, is the pre-incarnate Christ. And that's the lesson for us. The key to victory over the evil one in his territory, this world, is the presence and power of Jesus Christ in our lives!