Sermon # 22 - God's Divine Presence Series

Gideon encounters the Angel of the LORD

In Judges 6:16 we read, Then the Lord said to him, Truly, I will be with you, and you will overcome the Midianites as if they were one man. (BBE)

As we studied in the previous chapter, the word of the Lord came to Gideon in Judges 6:16, when the Israelites who were the people of God, were subjected to untold misery by the ruthless Midianites. The Midianites plundered their fields that were ripe for harvest, and hindered the Israelites from enjoying the benefits of their hard labor. Gideon along with the Israelites was overwhelmed with a sense of insignificance, abasement, and lack at these constant attacks by Midianites, who frequently swarmed in like destructive locusts. The Israelites were so terrified that they hid in caves to be safe from the fierce Midianite invasion. As the Israelites cried out to the Lord in their distress, the Lord spoke to Gideon, and assured him that He would be with him, and help Gideon overcome the Midianites who were numerous and strong, as though they were just one man.

Someone said it this way ‘when problems come they come in battalions’ and some of us may have passed through such seasons in our lives. It doesn’t really matter if we are faced with countless difficulties, if the Lord is with us we are assured that we can overcome all of it as though they were just one little problem. To those who like Gideon, and the Israelites feel that they are unable to enjoy the fruit of their hard labor, this is the assurance that comes from the Lord. If the Lord is with us like He was with Gideon, He can transform our situation, and bless our efforts to produce bounteous blessings.

The period in which Gideon lived was approximately 1200 years prior to when Jesus lived here on earth. The news of this deliverance was brought to Gideon in Judges 6:12 by an angel of the Lord, who said, “And the angel of the Lord came before his eyes, and said to him, The Lord is with you, O man of war.” (BBE)

The term angel of the LORD is used in Judges chapter 6 Verses 11, 12, 20, 21 and 22, but in Judges chapter 6 verses 14 & 16 it says that the Lord said to Gideon, ‘I will be with you’. When talking about the problems and difficulties they faced, the word came from the angel of the Lord, but when Gideon needed the confirmation that God was with him, the Lord Himself spoke and assured him.

As the terms angel of the LORD and the Lord have been used interchangeably, the question that could arise in our minds is, whether the one who spoke to Gideon was the angel of the LORD or the Lord Himself.

The reality is that when faced with those unsurmountable difficulties, the Lord Himself comes to assure us that He is with us, and will always be with us.

Hagar encountered the Angel of the LORD

We read in Genesis 16:7, “The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur.”(GNB)

For a little background to this verse. Abraham and Sarah were childless, and the Lord promised Abraham that they would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the skies, and the sand on the seashore. Sarah however, got frustrated with the wait as they were getting on in years. It seemed that this promise of God had become an improbability. Sarah decided to act, and gave a suggestion to Abraham, to have a child through her maid Hagar. Abraham consented and Hagar got pregnant with a child of Abraham. After Hagar conceived, Sarah was so filled with jealousy that she began to torment Hagar.

Unable to handle the torture at the hands of Sarah, Hagar decided it best to run away from her mistress, into the wilderness, and that was when we read in Genesis 16:7 that the angel of the LORD met Hagar near the spring, in the desert on the road to Shur.

In Genesis 16:10, we read, Then he said, "I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. (GNT)

We read in Genesis 16:13, Hagar named the LORD, who had been speaking to her, "You Are the God Who Watches Over Me." She said, "This is the place where I watched the one who watches over me." (GW)

The angel of the Lord, met with the pregnant Hagar, wandering in the wilderness with no hope whatsoever and assured her that He would make her descendants numerous. However, Hagar suddenly realized that it was the Lord Himself who spoke to he, for it was the Lord alone who could increase her descendants, and promise her a future in her hopeless situation. She therefore acknowledged that it was God who watched over her, and she called the place rightly, the one where she beheld or watched the One who watched over her.