Word of Encouragement (04/20/2022)
And he blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, 16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." (Gen. 48:15-16).
Yesterday, we saw that Jacob invoked the God of his fathers and his life to bless Joseph’s sons. Today, we see him invoking “the angel who has redeemed me from all evil” to bless them. This puzzles us. How can Jacob put God and an angel side by side to bless Joseph’s two sons? If it is wrong for us to pray to angels, isn’t it wrong for us to bless someone by angels? Angels have no power to bless us. The sovereign God, who alone possesses all things, is the only legitimate source of blessing. Was it too early in redemptive history for Jacob to understand this?
First, we wonder what Jacob meant by “the angel who has redeemed me from all evil”. He mentions only one instance of his encounter with “the angel of God,” who appeared to him and told him to leave Laban and go back to Canaan: “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream...” (Gen. 31:11). But interestingly, the angel of God said to Jacob, “'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me...” (Gen. 31:12-13). This angel identified himself as the God of Bethel!
But this was not the only instance. Three men appeared to Abram before they headed to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:2). While they were eating the food that Abram prepared, we are told, “The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son’” (Gen. 18:10). This was one of the three men! Then, “the LORD went his way” after talking with Abram about the impending judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:33). Then, we are told in the next verse, “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening...” (Gen. 19:1).
We are also told in Ex. 3 that “the angel of the LORD appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (v. 2). Then, we are told in v. 4, “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”
This is why we believe that “the angel of the LORD” was the pre-incarnate Christ manifesting Himself as an angel. We don’t know how much Jacob knew all this. but maybe he knew more than we think. Even though we have only one account of “the angel” appearing to him, he credits him for redeeming him “from all evil” throughout his life! If so, it is not so strange that he should pray for the angel to bless Joseph’s sons.
This shows that Jesus Christ is our eternal Savior, whose work of redemption had begun long before He came into this world through incarnation. Rev. 13:8 hints at this when it says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (KJV). This shows the limitation of human language to describe what goes on in the realm of divine eternity, which transcends the confines of time. In the realm of time and space, Jesus died as the Lamb of God two thousand years ago. But in the realm of eternity, He was already slain before the foundation of the world. Maybe we can never know how that can be.
But one thing is for sure: today’s passage shows how Christ entered our history even before His incarnation to take care of His people! If the Son of God did this even before He came into this world as our Savior, now that He has come and made Himself known as our Savior, would He not be all the more involved in completing our salvation for His name’s sake? How much more secure we are in His almighty and loving care, now that He has sent us His Holy Spirit! Let this security give us the courage we need to do what is right in God’s eyes!