Consider the foretelling of the birth of Sampson by the "Angel of the Lord" :
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Excerpts from Judges 13, NASB).
These instructions offered by the Angel of the Lord showed that God knew in advance that Sampson would fulfil a planned purpose. Sampson would be free to make his own choices, good and bad; however God knew what the final outcome would be.
So who exactly was the messenger that gave Manoa and his wife these instructions? The Strongs concordance, the Greek and Hebrew lexicon, shows the “Angel of the Lord” here to be a combination of Strongs H4397 “Melak” a messenger or Angel, plus H3068 “Yehovah” Lord, or often God.
So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he asked, “Are You the Man who spoke to my wife?”
“I am,” He said.
The messenger then was an: Angel (Melak), Yehovah(Lord), and Man!
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
Interpretation: Angel Yehovah Man God!
Perhaps this was the same “Angel of the Lord” that appeared to Hagar, concubine wife of Abraham. After receiving instructions and prophecy from the “Angel of the Lord”, Hagar exclaims:
You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” NASB.
Yet in Exodus 33:20, God tells Moses: “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” NASB.
God appears in the form of a man. Could these then be Christophanies, or preincarnate appearances of Christ?
Jesus clearly did, in fact, exist since the beginning of our creation: Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58).
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,”(Jesus, Luke 10:18). Refers to the witnessing of an event that occurred even before man was created!
God often seems to send messengers in the Old Testament times, offering warnings, or giving instructions in order to bring about a known future in which he already exists. He knows when his warnings will not be heeded; yet still offers them in order to give us beings the choice.
Did God utter a fiat which unfolded as planned? Or does God move through time as we do, see the future, and steer things as was required to meet a desired end? Or did God come up with a plan from his above all time viewpoint and appear though out history as required to steer it to that end?
How could you describe Jesus appearing throughout history from his point of view? As a man, time seemed to have flowed for him as for us. But after rising to heaven, did he view events from beyond time, and then appear in the past when he desired? How else would this be possible? Or is it beyond my comprehension?
Please offer theories: