This Is The Angel That Does Not Forgive Sins Of Mankind

BEWARE OF HIM, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

Exodus 23:21

When the Almighty God talks, only a fool turns deaf ears to His words. Anyone who ignores His words do so to his or her own detriment. If no one can turn down his words, imagine what will happen if one fails to follow his instruction.

The Almighty God doesn’t expect his children to just follow his instructions; he wants them to follow it to the latter, that’s why he never gave out instruction in the Bible days to anyone without giving enough details. Even with a detailed instruction, he meticulously state the consequences of not following it. 

In the Garden of Eden, after growing several trees, he told Adam and Eve to eat the fruits on any of the tree, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which was placed in the midst of the Garden they must never taste it. 

Coming across this verse in Genesis, one might be tempted to think that that was just the instruction given. 

The full details of the order was later revealed by Eve during her communication with Satan. They were not only to avoid eating it, but also to avoid touching it. 

As stated earlier, God doesn’t give out instructions without stating the consequences of failing to follow them. He told the first couple on earth that if they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

If you keep combing through your Bible, you will discover the same pattern of laid down instructions for Noah, Moses, Joshua, Saul and so on. 

Similarly, according to Exodus 23:21, God told Moses to give out that instruction to the children of Israel. As they’ve never journeyed through the wilderness to the land he promised them, they needed someone to lead and guide them to the said place. 

For that reason, God told Moses he would send an Angel to lead them. 

As you’ve rightly figured out, he will never give instruction without accompanying them with enough details.

Consequently, his instruction concerning the Angel was detailed and accompanied with dare consequences if they fail to follow the instructions to the latter.

To reiterate, he told them to obey and not to get the Angel angry. As expected, he revealed what would happen if they did otherwise. 

Actually, the mission of that Angel was to guide and lead them to the promised Land. With that kind of mission, a typical Angel can never hurt the people he was expected to guide and lead. 

However, this case was quite different. Even though the Angel was a typical angel, something distinguished him from the other ones in Heaven, which was the NAME of God placed in him.

Of course, you might have come across a term like that in the Bible. 

The term is very important to anyone interested in knowing more about all the spiritual beings in heaven. 

Whenever God places his NAME in an Angel, the spiritual being automatically becomes a replica of God, which makes him no longer an ordinary Angel.

Everything the Angel does is now more or less like God is the one doing it. 

More so, whatever he says is more or less like God is the one saying it. 

The Voice

To understand what a replica of God is, you need to observe the way Angels talk.

Let me show you the difference between the conversations of Angel Gabriel with Mary and an another Angel with Jacob.

To Mary, Angel Gabriel said…

… “Rejoice, highly favored one, THE LORD IS WITH YOU; blessed are you among women!”

Now see the conversation between the other Angel and Jacob…

And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

13 I AM THE GOD OF BETHEL, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

When Angel Gabriel communicated with Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus, he did talk as an Angel. The words he used in communicating with her revealed his identity as a messenger sent from the Lord. 

On the contrary, the Angel who communicated with Jacob in the dream spoke as if he was God. In fact, at a point, the Angel said, as I highlighted above: I AM THE GOD OF BETHEL. 

Can you imagine an Angel saying that he was the God of Bethel?

You may think Jacob — perhaps — mistook The Almighty God for an Angel; never, as that was not the first time he was seeing angels in the dream. 

When his Father commanded him to leave Canaan and go to Padanaram, he decided to rest at Bethel, which was where he had a dream and saw numerous Angels ascending and descending off a ladder. In that dream, he saw the Lord above the ladder. 

Of course, that confirmed Jacob saw Angels before he got to Laban's house, where he, later, saw that said Angel in his dream telling him he was the God of Bethel.

Assuredly, Jacob did not mistook the Almighty God for another spiritual being. It was indeed an Angel who spoke in that manner. 

If you remember, I told you earlier that when the NAME of God is inside an Angel, he is a replica of God. Therefore, “everything” he does or says is more or less like God is the one doing or saying it.

Notably, this was not the only instance in the Bible that Angels talked like God. I’m quite sure if an Angel talks like God in our presence; some Christians, most especially we theologians and Bible scholars, would have taken the Angel to be the Devil in disguise.

Onward…

There are several instances in the Bible that different Angels talk like God. 

Another instance of such was noticed in the journey of Balaam to Moab. The Angel who appeared to him spoke as the Almighty God. He categorically stated that the way of Balaam was perversed before him, not perversed before God as expected by Christians, because this particular spiritual being had the NAME of God in him.

And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold…

 I have come out to stand against you, because YOUR WAY IS PERVERSE BEFORE ME.

Numbers 22:32

Also, during the time of Joshua, an Angel came from Gilgal to a place called Bochim. At that place, the children of Israel were gathered together. So, the Angel met them there and spoke thus…

… “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.

Judges 2:1

Can you see that? 

An angel said in his own words that he brought them to the land he swore to their Fathers and promised never to break his covenant with them.

Of course, no where was it written that an Angel made a covenant with the children of Israel. God himself, in the book of Genesis, made the covenant with Abraham. 

Definitely, the Angel spoke in that manner because he bore the name of God.

Joshua Worshipped An Angel

And he said, Nay; but AS CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD AM I NOW COME. And JOSHUA FELL on his face to the earth, and DID WORSHIP, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?

Joshua 5:14

Like the case of John in Revelation, Joshua fell down and worshipped an Angel that appeared to him in Jericho as Captain of the host of the Lord. Surprisingly, the Angel accepted Joshua’s worship. 

On the contrary, when John who wrote the book of Revelation worshipped an Angel, the Angel rebuked him.

Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I FELL DOWN TO WORSHIP before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

Then he said to me, “See that you DO NOT DO THAT. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. WORSHIP GOD.”

Revelation 22:8-9

As you’ve read above, the Angel did not only rebuke John, but he also told him to worship the Almighty God.

Also, Jesus had a similar experience with Satan — Angel Lucifer of old — who demanded a worship from him. In fact, he enticed the Son of God with the glory of the great kingdoms of the world. As expected, Jesus rebuked him. 

Therefore, on no account should a man worship an Angel. Only God must and should be worshipped. 

In the case of Joshua, the opposite was the case. Joshua knew the person who conversed with him. In fact, Joshua himself asked the spiritual being what the Lord's message was.

 Even though he knew this was an Angel, he worshipped him.

Assuming he made a mistake like John, the question then is…

Why did the Angel accept the worship and not rebuke him like John was rebuked?

To understand what happened in this case, you need to read the conversation between them. 

And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

Joshua 6:2

There, the Angel spoke as a replica of God. Before the Spiritual being communicated with Joshua, he demanded for his Sandal to be taken off his feet which was quite unusual of Angels. 

The very first time we observed this in the Bible was in the case of the encounter of Moses with an Angel of God, in the desert, who appeared in a flame of fire. 

AND THE ANGEL of the Lord APPEARED to him IN A FLAME of fire from the midst of a bush. 

So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

Exodus 3:2

That Angel that appeared to Moses was even referred to as Lord. In fact, at a point, Moses who wrote that account called the Angel, God. Let me show you below…

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Exodus 3:4

As you can see above, I underlined Lord and then God to make you see exactly what Moses called the Angel. 

In addition, when the Angel began to talk, take a look at what he said...

… “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

That Angel told Moses he was the God of his Father. 

Perhaps, you did not notice something in that Joshua 6:2… I showed earlier.

 To reiterate, see it below…

And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

Joshua 6:2

Can you see there again that just as the book of Genesis referred to an Angel as Lord and God, so was an Angel referred to as Lord in the book of Joshua? Observably, the two books were not written by the same author in case you think that was a mistake.

So, the Angel Joshua worshipped was not an ordinary Angel as he had inside of him the NAME of God. Had it not been for the NAME of God in him, which we figured out through his conversation, he wouldn’t have accepted the worship of Joshua. 

Angels Blotting Out Sin

And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; YOUR INIQUITY IS TAKEN AWAY, AND YOUR SIN PURGED.”

Isaiah 6:7

Even the Scribes knew that only God had the power to forgive sin.

On that fateful day, they witnessed Jesus as he forgave the sin of the paralytic man who was brought into a room at Capernaum through the roof. 

They were indignant at the words of Jesus.

 What sort of blasphemy could this be? 

How could a man born of a woman forgive the sin of another man like him? 

Such questions would have cut across their minds.

They never realize Jesus, being 100 percent man on Earth, had the power to forgive sin. To make them realize what he possessed and who he was, he forgave the paralytic and commanded him to rise up right in their presence.

Most definitely, only God can forgive sin. However, in the vision of Isaiah, the Almighty God was right there in the vision sitting on his throne when an Angel blotted out all the sins of Isaiah. 

This makes people believe Angels can forgive the sin of mankind like God does...

Do not be mistaken. No Angel has such power, but any spiritual being who has the NAME of God in him automatically possesses a replica of God’s power as witnessed in the aforementioned cases of Moses and Joshua.

God knew the children of Israel would never realize this difference among his Angels, that was why he WARNED them before sending an Angel who would bore his NAME. 

In the words of God, he stated in Exodus 23:21 that the Angel would not forgive their sins if they provoke him. 

Traceably, among the Triune God, no one dares God the Father. He is unlike God the Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, God the Holy Spirit can not be compared with God the Father & God the Son who forgive all sins made against them. For Holy Spirit, he doesn’t forgive people for the sin of blasphemy made against him.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Matthew 12:32

Indeed, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10).

Understandably, God the Father forgive sins. However, things will have gotten out of hand if his forgiveness is not sought in time. The resultant effect of His one minute anger is not desirable at all. 

In few minutes at Taberah, his anger brought down fire that killed several children of Israel who were outside the camp. Observably and unfortunately, before Moses prayed for God to stop the fire, several children of Israel had given up the ghost.

That’s even too small to make anyone realize what the anger of God is capable of doing. 

Do you know all the children of Israel who cried in the land of bondage before God called out for Moses never entered the promised Land? 

Let me show you why in Numbers 32:13…

So the LORD’S ANGER was aroused against Israel, and HE MADE THEM WANDER in the WILDERNESS FORTY YEARS, UNTIL ALL THE GENERATION that had done evil in the sight of the Lord WAS GONE.

Can you imagine??? All of them in their millions who God brought out of bondage due to his mercy died in the wilderness because God the Father was angry for their evil deeds.

Before this time, hope you remember that God had WARNED them about the Angel who would lead them; he said to them through Moses…

 BEWARE OF HIM, and obey his voice, PROVOKE HIM not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

Exodus 23:21