A dramatic portrayal of our Lord Jesus in His august role as executioner of the justice of God, but justice tempered with mercy.
Three thousand years ago, the inhabitants of God’s holy city, Jerusalem, came so close to being destroyed that only an order from the Lord to His Angel to withdraw His hand prevented their complete destruction. These events are documented for us in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.
David was provoked by Satan to number Israel (1 Chr. 21:1). Although the Lord may have allowed this sin to occur (2 Sam. 24:1), David was wrong to yield to temptation, and God’s wrath was kindled against Israel. As we see in this account of the Angel of the Lord at the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite (called Araunah in 2 Samuel), the Lord is glorified in the end, despite the terror that preceded.
David commanded Joab and the rulers to number Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan (2 Sam. 24:2; 1 Chr. 21:2). Since he did not honor God by ransoming the half-shekel for each person counted, as was required by law (Ex. 30:12-13), we conclude that David’s heart was lifted up with pride in his numbers. God was displeased, and three options for the punishment of the nation were given to David through Gad the seer: either three years famine, or three months at the hands of David’s foes, or three days falling before the sword of the Lord, which is pestilence, in the hand of the Angel of the Lord. David chose to fall into the hand of the Lord, considering His great mercy (2 Sam. 24:14).
Were it not for the Lord’s command and King David’s subsequent repentance and sacrifice of burnt offerings and peace offerings, Jerusalem would have been utterly destroyed.
Through the many pictures and patterns given to us in these two passages, let us examine this figure known as the Angel of the Lord, and how we see a picture of both the chastening work and redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His work to come.
Who was the Angel?
As with His other appearances, in this instance the Angel of the Lord is equated with the Lord Himself. Notice how Gad the seer delivers the message of the Lord and the message of the Angel with equal authority (compare 1 Chr. 21:11-12 with vv. 18-19). Also, the works and the message which the Angel delivers are consistent with those of the Lord Jesus. The appearance of the Angel inspired fear whenever David, the elders of Israel, Ornan, or Ornan’s sons beheld Him, even to the point of hiding from His presence (1 Chr. 21:16, 20). Likewise, there will come a day when our Lord Jesus Christ will inspire fear on earth as a Man called Faithful and True, sitting upon a white horse, judging and making war in righteousness (Rev. 19:11).
The Angel’s Work
The Angel’s mission in this particular event was to destroy, throughout all the coasts of Israel, for three days with pestilence, using the sword of the Lord (1 Chr. 21:12). We see that by the time the Angel reached Jerusalem, seventy thousand men of Israel had died (2 Sam. 24:15). If God hadn’t “repented Him of the evil,” the Angel would have continued destroying.
This reminds us that, although the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world at His first advent in grace and truth, He is still the righteous Judge of the quick and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8). Before the remnant in Jerusalem was destroyed, we hear that wonderful command from God, “It is enough, stay now Thine hand” (2 Sam. 24:16; 1 Chr. 21:15).
We see that the Angel of the Lord began as the Destroyer but became the Deliverer, as David wrote in Psalm 34:7, “the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Likewise, if we receive the grace and salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our Saviour, or Deliverer. However, if we reject His truth, He remains the Destroyer, since He is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Mt. 10:28).
The Angel’s Whereabouts
We are told of three places where the Angel of the Lord stood. First of all, He stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite (2 Sam. 24:16). The threshingfloor was the place where the wheat was separated from the chaff. In Scripture, the picture of the threshingfloor is often used to describe God’s decision to judge, or “thresh,” a certain nation (Jer. 51:33; Dan. 2:35; Mic. 4:13). Therefore, it is appropriate to see that the Angel’s position at the threshingfloor coincides with the decision God made as to the survival of the nation of Israel. His wrath had to be appeased first. As a result of David’s repentance and the acceptable offering, the Lord in mercy stayed the plague. At His second advent, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge Israel, receiving the faithful believers out of the Tribulation and into His kingdom. But He will also condemn the unbelievers into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 25:1-30). Likewise, with the nations, the Lord will usher the believers into His kingdom, but the unfaithful into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (vv. 31-46).
Secondly, we see that the Angel of the Lord stood between the heaven and the earth (1 Chr. 21:16). This reminds us that there is One mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:5). Also, this position speaks of His Lordship over heaven and earth (Acts 17:24).
Finally, we are told that the threshingfloor was located at mount Moriah (2 Chr. 3:1), where a substitute was found for Isaac centuries earlier (Gen. 22:13). In the case of David and Israel, the substitute was the offering upon the altar (1 Chr. 21:26). In our case, God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32). Isaac was one man spared from death. In David’s time, the remnant of a nation was spared. And finally, the death of Jesus Christ is enough to save the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2).
The Angel’s Weapon
The pestilence was represented by the sword of the Lord (1 Chr. 21:12). The sword is a picture of the Word of God (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1:16). Therefore, not only did the sword of the Lord symbolize the Angel’s power to chasten His people, but also His authority to declare the Word of the Lord, as he would command David through Gad the seer (1 Chr. 21:18). We’re told that our Lord Jesus is the Word which was made flesh (Jn. 1:14). Not only does He have authority to declare God’s Word, but His Word chastens us, “piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Praise God, His work regarding His word is not over! At His return, His name will be “the Word of God…and out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations” (Rev. 19:13, 15).
The Angel’s Words
As His title implies, the Angel of the Lord did indeed have a message to deliver to David through Gad the seer. He told David to set up an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite (1 Chr. 21:18). David volunteered his life in the stead of his people, saying, “even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done?” (1 Chr. 21:17). The Lord had taken David from the sheepfolds to shepherd Jacob (Ps. 78:71), but there was only one Good Shepherd worthy enough to give His life for the sheep (Jn. 10:11). The Angel’s solution was not David’s life, but the offering of animals upon the altar. It reminds us that sin could only be dealt with through the shedding of blood of unblemished beasts upon the altar.
As for the ultimate satisfaction of God, only Christ’s death at Calvary could take away sins once and for all (Heb. 10:12). We see God’s acceptance and satisfaction pictured in the fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering (1 Chr. 21:26). The fire did not consume Israel, nor David, but it consumed the altar. Likewise, the Lord Jesus Christ was the Shepherd who was smitten in our place (Mt. 26:31). The Angel’s message led to God’s acceptance of this offering, resulting in His sword going back into its sheath.
The threshingfloor would also be the site of the future temple (see 1 Chr. 22:1-2; 2 Chr 3:1), where all Israel would seek to worship Him, and where all nations will one day come to worship (Zech. 14:16-19).
In summary, through this appearance of the Angel of the Lord, we see Christ’s wonderful character, His power to chasten and destroy, and His redemptive work. However, we know that the judgment of the Angel of the Lord was minor compared to what awaits the world. As 2 Corinthians 5:11 says, “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” May we continue to proclaim His good news until He comes!