All this is implied, indeed, in the facts that the Church of that and the present day is the same; that the method of salvation through faith in him was the same then as now; and that he was the Saviour and Mediator alike them and at present: and otherwise it is not perceived how an intelligible or satisfactory answer can be given to the questions, How did he exercise the office of Mediator under the ancient economy? What agency did he exercise towards his people? How did he exemplify his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King? A reference to the designations by which he was recognized, and the acts ascribed to him in connection with those designations, will supply the appropriate answer. If it was He who appeared in a form like that of man to Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, walked and conversed with him as a man, and heard the prayers addressed directly to him on behalf of the righteous dwelling in Sodom; and who, under various designations, appeared in the same form to Jacob, to Moses, to Balaam, to Joshua, to Gideon, to Manoah, to David, and others; then may we safely conclude that, under the like designations, he was familiarly known and worshipped throughout the patriarchal and Levitical dispensations.
CHAPTER II.
The Messiah announced by Malachi, as Adonai, even Melach, the Messenger of the Covenant—His Appearance to Jacob at Bethel; and to Isaiah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and others, under various designations, as Adonai, Melach, a Man, Jehovah Zebaoth, the Holy One, El-Shaddai, &c.
It will be seen that the designations referred to include all those which are applied to the Divine Being: and that in numerous instances they are applied interchangeably in the same passages and connections, in such manner as clearly to show that they identify the same Person. Thus the words El, Elohe, Elohim, translated God; and Jah, Jehovah, Adon, and Adonai, translated Lord, are, separately, and also in conjunction with Melach, Angel or Messenger, and with other names of office, employed to designate and identify that delegated Person who is “both Lord (Jehovah) and Christ.”
In demonstration of this, we may first refer to some passages in which the appellative Melach, the primary signification of which is Messenger, occurs, as a designation of him who was sent of the Father; as Malachi iii. 1: “Behold, I send my messenger, [John the Baptist,] and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Adon whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even Melach, the Messenger, of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith Jehovah Zebaoth.” And Isaiah xl. 3, 5: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohe. … And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.”
These prophecies are quoted by the Evangelists as identifying Jesus the Christ. See Matthew iii. 1–6; xi. 10; Mark i. 2–4; Luke iii. 3–6; John i. 6–8. They point to John as he who was spoken of by these prophets, and as proclaiming in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. He whose way was prepared was therefore the Messenger of the Covenant, the Adon, the Elohim, and the Jehovah—the delegated official Person to whom these several designations are applied in the predictions. That official Person was the Revealer, as well as the subject of the ancient revelations; and, as will hereafter be more particularly noticed, manifested himself in different aspects and relations of his official work, and in those diverse relations often spoke predictively (as at the close of each of the above passages) and otherwise, to and of himself.
The same conclusions result from a passage in the narrative of Jacob’s journey from Padan-aram to Shechem, Gen. xxxii., taken in connection with the reference to it by the prophet Hosea: “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. … And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with Elohim and with men, and hast prevailed. … And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen Elohim face to face.” Hosea, referring to Jacob, chap. xii., says: “He had power with Elohim; yea, he had power over the angel, [Melach, the Messenger,] and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-El, and there he spake with us; even Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth—Jehovah is his memorial.” Here the God-man, the only Divine Person who, under the ancient or present dispensation, has ever manifested himself visibly in the likeness of man, is seen face to face by Jacob, and is denominated Elohim, the Messenger, the Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth, whose peculiar designation is Jehovah. Accordingly, Hosea says of Melach, the Messenger, that Jacob made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-El, indicating that it was in the place which he named Beth-El that he first recognized the official acting administrator of providence and grace, the God-man, in the relations in which he then appeared to him. The passage specially referred to by the prophet in relation to Beth-El is in Gen. xxviii., where Jacob’s flight to Padan-aram, to avoid the wrath of Esau, is narrated. On his way he slept in the open field, and beheld in a dream a ladder extending from earth to heaven. “And behold! Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah Elohe of Abraham, and Elohe of Isaac, &c. And Jacob awoke and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place: … this is the house of Elohim.” The Messenger therefore to whom Jacob made supplication, and whom he first saw at Beth-El, was Jehovah the Elohe of Abraham and Isaac, even Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth.
To show by another instance that He who in the ancient oracles is called Adon, Adonai, and Jehovah Zebaoth, is in the New Testament referred to as the Christ, Isaiah vi. may be cited. I saw, says the prophet, “the Adonai sitting upon a throne.” “Then said I, Woe is me! … for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah Zebaoth.” The apostle John, chap. xii., ascribes what was announced at this scene to Christ, and adds: “These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him.”
With respect to the point now particularly in view, the Scriptures quoted above render it certain that the Divine Person who by Malachi is called the Messenger of the Covenant, and the Adonai, and by Hosea, the Messenger, Elohim, and Jehovah, is identical with Jesus the Christ.
“Sometimes the same Divine appearance which at one time is called Melach Jehovah, is afterwards called simply Jehovah, as in Gen. xvi. 7; Col. v. 13; Exod. iii. 2; Col. iv., &c., &c. This is to be so understood that the Angel of God is here nothing else than the invisible Deity itself, which thus unveils itself to mortal eyes.” And after referring to Michaëlis and Tholuck, “Hence Oriental translators, as Saadias, Abusaides, and the Chaldeo-Samaritan, wherever Jehovah himself is said to appear on earth, always put for the name of God, the Angel of God.” Gesenius, Lex., Art. Melach.
Illustrations might be adduced from the New Testament to show that the apostles understood the Messiah and the Messenger Jehovah to be the same Person. Thus, Galatians iv. 14: “Ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus;” where the rendering, in our own and other versions, “an angel,” corresponds with the erroneous usage so common in the Old Testament. The meaning is: Ye received me with respect and confidence, as ye would have received the Melach, the Messenger Jehovah, even Jesus the Messiah. For undoubtedly, had a created angel been referred to, a comparison would not have been made placing the Messiah on a level with him. The instances in the New Testament in which the Angel Jehovah is referred to, though unhappily not discriminated in our translation, are from the context easily distinguishable. See Acts vii. 30, 35, 38.
The word Adonai occurs as a Divine designation several hundred times in the Old Testament, chiefly in the form indicated above, but sometimes simply Adon. It is often employed in connections which clearly show it to be a personal designation of the Messiah, and which assert or imply his official prerogatives, agency, or relations. It is employed interchangeably with Jehovah, Elohim, and other Divine designations, sometimes preceding and at others following them; sometimes with, but more commonly without the article.
In the second of the above forms, this word is commonly, like the secular English title lord, applied to men in the relation of masters or rulers, as Melach is applied to men to distinguish them officially as messengers.