Our text this morning is found
in the psalm that we read, Psalm 34 and verse 7. 34th Psalm, verse 7, The angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth
them. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them." Who is
this angel of the Lord? Well, it is not a created being. It is, in fact, God Himself,
even the Lord Jesus Christ in a theophany. If we turn to the
New Testament, remember how there in the 7th chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles we have the record of the martyrdom of Stephen and
also the great sermon or the apology for his faith that he
makes even as he is dying and there we see how Stephen recounts
something of God's dealings with the children of Israel in the
Old Testament and amongst other things he speaks of this angel
in that 7th chapter of the Acts and in verse 30, when 40 years
were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount
Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When
Moses saw it, he wandered at the sight, and as he drew near
to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I
am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst
not behold. And then again, at verse 37,
this is at Moses, which said unto the children of Israel,
A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear, this is he,
that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which
spake to him in the Mount Sinai and with our fathers who received
the lively oracles to give unto us. So we have these references
to the angel he was there as Stephen says in the burning bush
he was there upon Mount Sinai and it is that same angel that
we read of in that 23rd chapter of Exodus who was to go before
the children of Israel and was to lead them in the way remember
the words that we read there in verse 20 of Exodus 23 behold
I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring
thee into the place which I have prepared beware of him and obey
his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions,
for my name is in him." Now it's interesting just what he said
concerning the angel there in that portion. He is clearly one
who is able to forgive sins. That's what's said to Moses,
is it not? He will not pardon your transgressions,
he says, to obey his voice. And he clearly has power to forgive
sins if he will. And we can think of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the course of his earthly ministry in Mark
chapter 2 where we see him performing that miracle upon the paralyzed
man whose friends bring him where Christ is. Remember what the
Lord says to him as they present him to them, as they present
him, the paralyzed man, to him. He says, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. And how the scribes are angered
at him declaring such a thing. They say that he's a blasphemer. Who can forgive sins, they say,
but God's own It is God's prerogative to forgive sins. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, as God manifests in the flesh, is able to forgive
sins. The psalmist says, Elsewhere
thou wast a God that forgave us them, though thou tookest
vengeance on their inventions. And this angel, you see, is also
one who can forgive sins. This is clearly God. This is,
in fact, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, when we come to the New
Testament Scriptures, the writings of the apostle there in the 10th
chapter of 1 Corinthians, he says, neither let us tempt Christ
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. He's referring again to the children
of Israel in the days of Moses there in the wilderness, where
the fiery serpents were sent upon them, and he speaks of them,
you see, as those who were tempting the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
Christ himself then who was there with them. How was Christ there
in the Old Testament, in those wilderness wanderings? He was
that angel. of the Lord that went before
them. The angel then is Christ. And what does it say there in
that portion that we read at the end of Exodus 23? My name
is in him, is what the Lord God says concerning the angel to
Moses. And we think of the words of
the Lord Jesus again in John 14, I am in the Father and the
Father in me. Christ and the Father, are they
not one? The Lord Jesus Christ declares
the same. And we see quite clearly that
they are one. Again, in that 22nd verse of
Exodus 23, if they shall indeed obey his voice and do all that
I speak, All that I speak, and His voice, that is the voice
of the angel, they are one and the same thing. Those are parallel
statements that we have there in Exodus 23, 22. If they shall
indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak, I speak, His
voice is one and the same thing. The angel then is Christ, this
is God. This is one of those theophanies,
an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament, as it were, in
anticipation of the fullness of the time when God would send
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Well, let us come
to consider the words that we have here in our text this morning,
Exodus 34 and verse 7. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him. and delivereth them." And I want
us to consider this text under four headings concerning the
angel of the Lord. First of all, we recognize here
that in the angel it is God who is revealing himself. God, as
it were, who is showing his face, if we might use such an expression. He says again in Exodus, Exodus
33 and verse 14, My presence shall go with thee. How does God's presence go with
them? It goes with them by means of the angel. Now, the particular
word that is used there and rendered presence in our authorized version
is literally the word face. And you might observe that as
an alternative reading in the margin there in Exodus 33 and
verse 14. My face shall go with them. Remember the particular blessing
that the sons of Aaron were to pronounce upon the children of
Israel. We sometimes use it ourselves,
do we not, as a benediction at the end of a service? There,
at the end of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord spoke unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this
wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face
shine upon thee. and be gracious unto thee. The
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them." God's name, of course,
is a revelation of Himself. When God declares His name, He
is manifesting Himself. And here we have it justly. God's
face to shine, God's countenance to be raised upon his children,
my presence, my face shall go in the angel there. We see the face of God. We have
this revelation of God. It's the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. That great New Testament text
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, that God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, says Paul, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of God comes in
the face of Jesus Christ. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone that God reveals himself. He is the image of the invisible
God, says the Apostle. And again, we have those words
in the opening chapter of John's Gospel, that no man hath seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. It's the face of the Lord, it's
the revelation of God that we have here. This angel, I say,
is none other than the Lord himself. Look at the words of the text
and the context in which these words are found. The angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth
them of taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the
man that trusteth in him. This is the one that we're to
trust in. This is the one who goes before the children of Israel. And we have it, of course, in
that imagery of the fire that goes before them in the night,
the cloud that leads them in the way by day, the promise that
God gives in Exodus again, and there at the end of the of the
13th chapter verse 21 in Exodus 13 the Lord
went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way
and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day
and night he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor
the pillar of fire by night from before the people It is the Lord
Himself who goes before them, as it says there in verse 21.
And there, as He goes before them, He is in the fiery, cloudy
pillar. This is the angel of the Lord. And it's interesting, as we consider
these things, to see how that even in Old Testament Scriptures
we do see Something of the doctrine of the Trinity, that great mystery
which is God that is revealed of course in all its fullness
when we come to the New Testament Scriptures. That God is one and
yet God is three. God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But even there you see in that
portion that we read In Exodus 23 we see a distinction in the
persons in the Godhead. Look again at what it says. In verses 20 and 21 of that chapter,
Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way,
to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. beware
of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon
your transgressions for my name is in him here is God speaking
it's God the Father who speaks and we have the personal pronoun
in the first person singular behold I he says behold I sends
an angel and then At the end of verse 21 he speaks of my name. But also the angel he's spoken
of and the angel he's spoken of of course in the third person
there. He speaks of her. I send an angel before thee to
keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have
prepared. Beware of him. obey his voice he will not pardon
your transgressions there is a distinction in the persons
the one who speaks and the one who is being spoken of this is
the father speaking of the son that son who is the only begotten
of the father who is full of grace and truth that son whom
God will send into the world in the fullness of the time. It is in and through this angel
then that God was pleased to come even to the children of
Israel and to reveal himself to them. But what is to be their
attitude to this one? Well, they are to fear him. They
are to fear him. Here in our text you see the
angel of the Lord encompassed round about them that fear him. He is to be feared. And isn't
this another indication that this one is none other than God
himself. Now it's interesting that is
striking really what we read further there in Exodus 23 because
as God promises to send the angel before them, see the name that
is given to the angel subsequently in verse 27 of Exodus 23, I will
send my fear before thee says God. Even the angel you see has that
particular name, the angel is to be feared beware of him says
God provoke him not oh how important it is that we reverence that
name that name which is above every name even the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ how necessary it is how important it is in
the service of worship that we never take that name lightly
upon our lips keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.
Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,
for they consider not what they do. Be not rash with thy mouth.
Let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God,
for God is in heaven, thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words
be few." Is the language of the wise man in the book of Ecclesiastes,
is it not? How reverence becomes the service
of God's house, as we come to worship God in and through Him
who is the only mediator, even the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
we have it here, you see. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them, who taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. O fear the Lord, ye His saints, Why this angel is the
Lord? He is to be feared. We are to
stand in awe before Him. Are we not to recognize something
of His greatness and something of His glory? Oh, you remember
that incident that's recorded during the ministry of the great
evangelist of the 18th century, George Whitfield, when he was
there somewhere in New England as he was ministering and preaching
the Word of God and the people were gathering together and many
gathered and not only adults but many children and after the
service one asked a young boy who was present what he thought
of the great preacher, the great evangelist Mr. Whitfield whom
he'd been hearing preaching And the little boy looked up and
says, oh, he makes God to seem so big. He makes God to seem
so big, so great, was that God that Whitfield preached. And the little boy, you see,
was in awe of God. Oh, out of the mouths of Bibles
and Socrates. How we should have such great
views of God. His glory. and His holiness. He is, is He not, the Holy One
of Israel? He is that One before whom those
burning angels, the Seraphim, and they are burning angels because
they are so pure, they are so holy, they are sinless, they
are elect angels, they have never transgressed, they are about
the throne of God, they wait upon Him day and night in His
temple, they fly at His bidding, and yet they bow their head before
the Almighty, and they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. All the thrice Holy
Jehovah, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we should be those friends
who know something of that fear of the Lord. Fear the Lord, ye
His saints. The angel of the Lord encompass
round about them that fear him. What is this fear? Well, it's
not slavery. There is a fear, of course, that only engenders
a spirit of bondage. When James will rebuke Sam in
his day, he says, Thou believest there is one God, thou doest
well. The devils also believe and tremble. All the demons,
those fallen angels, they know something of fear. And we see
it, do we not, in the course of the Lord's own ministry, there
in the synagogue in Capernaum at the beginning of Mark's Gospel? Let us alone! What have we to
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to torment us before
the time? O thou fray! Are they in fear
before Him? That's not the fear that is the
mark of those who are the saints of the Lord. God's children don't
have a slavish fear. Thank God, it's a very different
fear to that. It's a healthy feeling of fear. It's that that we see in the
130th Psalm If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, says David. There is forgiveness with thee,
that thou mayest be feared. We fear the God who forgives
us, that God who is so kind and compassionate. It's not a fear
that brings torment. It's a fear then that brings
hope into the soul of the sinner. that fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, or to be made wise unto the salvation
that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. To have that knowledge of God
in Christ, the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of knowledge.
Life eternal, says Christ, to know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. What do we know of this
fear? The fear of the Lord. The angel of the Lord encampers
round about them that fear. Joseph Hart says of this fear,
this fear is the spirit of faith, the confidence that's strong,
an unctuous light to all that's right above, to all that's wrong. It is a good thing, is it not,
to know that fear, your fear of the Lord. and it is a mark
of those who know the angel of the Lord. But then also here,
with regards to the angel, do we not learn something of the
favour of those who have any knowledge of him? That is the
knowledge of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
does the text say? He delivereth them. He delivereth
them. What a fiver is this! The angel
of the Lord encompass round about them that fear Him and delivereth
them. Oh, it is a great fiver, is it
not, to know His blessed protection. And isn't that the imagery that
we have in this verse? He encompass round about them
that fear Him. He surrounds them. He's all about
them. They're protected on every hand. Again, think of the language
of the 125th Psalm. Thy the trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abide us forever
as the mountains are round about Jerusalem So the Lord is round
about his people from henceforth even for evermore. And we have
it there of course in the Old Testament with that angel who
goes before them in the fiery cloudy pillar. And it comes as
that fiery cloudy pillar between the children of Israel and the
Egyptians. And so one cannot come near unto
the other. There's that wall of protection.
This is what God, you see, provides for His people. This is how God
favors His people. He preserves them from every
harm and every danger. He keeps them. He holds them
in the hollow of His hand. They're kept. They cannot keep
themselves. Oh, do we recognize that? Do
we feel that? Where would we be left to ourselves? Surely
left to ourselves we would not be in such a place as this, this
morning. We're no different to others
who pass the door and never think to enter in. We're not better
than others. Left to ourselves we would only
desecrate the Lord's door and never think upon His name. Our
God must be the one who works within us and God must be that
one who is constantly keeping us, kept. kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation," says Peter, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Oh, what a favor then to know
that God is the one who protects us. And as God is that one who
constantly protects us, we have his favor in this. He makes every
provision for us, does he not? And that's what we have here
again, in the context. look at the language that follows,
verse 9, "...of fear the Lord ye his saints, for there is no
want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing." How God provides and provides all the needs of His
children David can say in Psalm 37, I have been young and now
I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his
seed begging bread. Our God will provide. Is that
not his name in a sense? Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will
provide. It will be seen in the holy man.
God's children have to look to Him and trust in Him. And He
supplies all their needs. That is the promise that He has
given. And He supplies not only their temporal needs, He will
also make every spiritual provision for His people. He who has given them His only
begotten Son to be their Saviour, will He not with Christ also
freely give them all things? Paul says, I hath not seen or
heard neither hath entered into the heart the things that God
hath prepared for them that love him. All friends were to be those
who would recognize these things. God favors his people. And he
favors them by supplying not only their temporal needs, he
supplies also their spiritual needs. He grants to them the
forgiveness of their sins. He blesses them with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What are we
to do then? We are to look not at the things
that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. The things
that are seen are temporal, the unseen things are the eternal
things. Or we look beyond, you see, the
things of this present world. We recognise that God has laid
up in store eternal blessings for His children. He favours
them, He provides all their needs, that is His promise. And so He
gives this angel of the Lord to them, and with Him He gives
them all things that they ever stand in need of. And then also
with regards to this angel, we must ultimately come to this
last point, the necessity of faith. How we have to have faith in
Him. Faith in the Lord. The end of verse 8, Blessed is
the man that trusteth in Him. We recognize the parallelisms
between verses 7 and 8. The angel of the Lord, as I said
at the outset, is the same as the Lord himself. This is God's eternal Son, who is spoken
of under the name of the angel of the Lord. And so where there
is trust in the Lord, so there is trust in him who is the angel
of the Lord. And how is that trust to be seen? Well, it's seen in prayer and
the psalm. In many ways, it's evidently
a prayer, is it not? Look at the way David speaks
in verse 4. He says, I sought the Lord, and he heard me. and delivered me from all my
fears." Verse 6, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles. Verse 15, the eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their
cry. When we think, you see, of the
the imagery that is being used with regards to this angel and
I says when God gives that promise, my presence or my face shall
go with it. We recognize of course that God
doesn't have a literal face. God is a spirit. but we have
this language so often used in scripture where God is described
to us in human terms anthropomorphisms is the technical term for it
God speaks of himself as if he does have a face as if he has
eyes and ears but that's in order that we might understand he condescends
to speak in these physical terms as he reveals himself to us but
what Language is this then that we have here in verse 15, the
eyes of the Lord, thinking of the face, the presence of the
Lord, the angel of the Lord, the eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. He hears
us. When we come and call upon him,
he looks upon us, he sees us. Again, we think of that Aaronic
blessing back in Numbers chapter 6. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make His face to shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon them, and give thee peace. He looks upon His people. He
sees them. He sees all their needs. He knows
better than we know ourselves what those needs are. And when
we cry to Him and call upon Him, He's here. is always open unto
our crying, He hears us in all our poor prayers and petitions
and I say friends that this praying is the language of faith,
is it not? Here is the evidence of faith
when the poor man spoken of in verse 6 cries and the Lord hears
the cry of that poor man and the Lord saved him out of all
his troubles oftentimes God's people feel themselves to be
in great strife, many troubles they have their fears as well
as their troubles those fears spoken of in verse 4 I sought
the Lord says David and he heard me and delivered me from all
my fears I'll be those friends who come with our fears and our
trouble our trials, our difficulties and we cry to the Lord and we
seek his face and what does God do? God hears. Oh God, hears
our prayers and as God hears, so God answers prayers and how
does God answer prayers? He grants deliverances to his
children. He delivers them. That's what
it says, is it not here at the end of the text? And delivereth
them." And we have it again, verse 17, the righteous cry,
and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Verse 19, many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. And we see time and again, and
these are not vain repetitions, There's no such thing as bowing
repetition. There's no idle words in God's
book. Oh, every word you see carries
weight. How precious these words are
when God says He will deliver His children. And so we have
the testimony of the Apostle when we come to the New Testament.
There in the first chapter of 2nd Corinthians. Paul says who
delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust
he shall yet deliver us that is deliverance in the past that
is deliverance in the present that is deliverance in the future
he is the God of deliverances and we are to be those you see
who come to him and we are to come to him in this language
of faith or to be those who would really seek that felt sense of
His gracious presence. What does David say? The language
is so beautiful here in verse 8. He says, O taste and see that
the Lord is good. All we want is a religion that's
not just informing our minds. We don't just want a notion or
sort of faith. We want something that is real
and substantial, something that feeds our souls with a taste,
with a taste of goodness of God. I know I've many times referred
to it, but how striking is John's language there at the beginning
of his first epistle, when he speaks of the reality that he
knew of the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
we've said it only in recent days, In his epistles he's having
to answer those so often who deny the truth of the doctrine
of Christ. John contends for the reality
of his deity. He is truly God's, but also the
reality of his human nature. He's a real man. And John knew
it, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the Word of Life. Oh, we knew it. He was that favoured
disciple who was there at the Last Supper and the intimacy
leaning upon the Lord's bosom. He loved the Lord. And the Lord
loved John. And friends, isn't that what
we are to desire, that we might know Him that way? Oh, the intimacy
of it, the taste and to say that the Lord is good, that this angel
of the Lord that is round about us is so close to us that he
comes to his children as it were and embraces them and holds them
in his arms. Or what do we know then of this
one who is spoken of here by David? It's David In prophecy,
David's a prophet of the Lord, is he not? He's speaking here
of his greatest son, the promised Messiah, the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord encompass
round about them that fear him and deliver us there. O taste
and search that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Lord, we have that sort of fight,
we are trusting in this one. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his sons,
for there is no want to them that fear him. Oh, the Lord bless
his word to us.