HIS WONDERFUL, HOLY NAME!
HIS WONDERFUL, HOLY NAME!
And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” —Judges 13:18-23
Now here is a most marvelous revelation. The angel of the Lord said that his name was “wonderful.” In Isaiah 9:6 we are told that Jesus “will be called WONDERFUL Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Is this a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus? It surely appears so because of what follows.
They gave an offering “to the Lord” and “the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar.” When this happened they “fell on their faces to the ground.” Why did they do this? Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” They understood that this “angel of the Lord” was none other than God Himself that they had seen. They understood that “ no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20) and yet his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
Angel of the LORD, LORD and God here in these verses are used interchangeably by Manoah and his wife when describing the One who had appeared to them. This is no surprise when we consider Who Jesus is. What a glorious experience that Manoah and his wife had. And yet, this same one that appeared to them, glory of glories, resides in us through His Holy Spirit. Rejoice! Serve Him faithfully! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diQPE7lYNsQ
Dear Father, You have worked marvelously in history and so You do in the present and will do in the future. Oh, that I would be sensitive to how You are working and faithfully serve as You desire me to. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus my King. So be it!