Religion and Theology

The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is not Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Various scriptures in the bible have shown this.  The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was watching over the chosen people of God who were the Israelites. Jesus Christ claims that he had come for both the Jews and gentiles. For examples, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, the angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses claiming that he had seen the suffering of the people of Israelite (Exodus 34). He appeared to Jacob, Hagar, and Abraham who were all Israelites. Jesus Christ in the New Testament when he was asked by the Jews why he was associating with sinners, he claimed that he had come to bring salvation to all mankind.

The appearance of the angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament was a representation of the appearance of God Himself to mankind. This is shown through the fact that he claims to be divine, when he appeared to Moses, he told him that he was the IAM. He was also referred to as God by people like Abraham in the Old Testament. He is highly respected as seen when Moses went near the angel of the Lord in the burning bush. He was told to take off his shoes (Exodus 3). He also received burnt offerings and sacrifices as indicated when Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac for him (Gen. 2212).
The writers of the Old Testament also acknowledge him as the angel of God. On the other hand, Jesus Christ was neither respected nor referred to as God. Some of his disciples referred to him as son of God. Instead of receiving sacrifices, he was rejected and wounded for the sins of human beings (Luke 22).

The angel of Jehovah claimed to do what God can do. He promised Hagar that Ishmael will be a great nation. He also promised Abraham that he will get a son in old age and all the generation will be blessed through him. For Jesus Christ he performed miracles using the name of the Lord. For example, he healed the blind beggar and told him that his faith has healed him.

Christ in the New Testament was to continue with the work of salvation that had been started by God in the Old Testament through the Angel of Jehovah who was God himself. Angel of the Lord cannot be placed in the second trinity since he has not been seen by any person, he only manifested his presence through strange occurrences like fire and clouds yet Lord Jesus Christ was born by human being and he always identified himself with mankind.

The angel of the Lord in the New Testament is not being mentioned because he had sent Christ in human form to save people from their sins. God had mentioned this through the prophets in the Old Testament, when Christ was given a scroll to read in the temple he read that the spirit of the Lord was upon him. The identification of the angel of the Lord as IAM and also of Christ to the Jews as IAM was that he was trying to make them understand that he was the son of God. Both Christ and the angel of Jehovah performed more less the same incidences e.g. having compassion for women like Hagar and Mary Magdalene, this shows that Christ was identified with Angel of Jehovah who was God.

Therefore the angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament is not Jesus Christ in the New Testament but Christ came to continue and accomplish the work of salvation that had been started by the angel of Jehovah who is God.