Does ever one and one not add up to two? Sometimes in the Bible it seems that way. There are instances in the scriptures when God uses a visible agent to speak
for him, making it appear the agent is God Himself. 1Timothy 6:16 tells us God
“alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no
man has seen or can see.” Only by a visible agent such as an angel can
God “be seen.” Though the agent may be spoken of as God, clearly it can’t
be God who in truth is spirit. Otherwise, it would add up to our having two
Gods. Any such error in addition must derive from a failure in division-—to
not clearly distinguish God from the agent He uses. Always there is only One
God from whom are all things and one channel through whom He
reveals Himself. Examples abound as early as the book of Genesis.
We read that after the angel of the Lord had spoken to Hagar, her words were, “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Gen. 16:7-13)
The account of the three angels who spent the day with Abraham is a remarkable study in itself. See Gen. 18-19. This is the first account, and the one and only instance, where God appears in human form credited with the titles of His Deity. It would be natural to say that the man speaking is God. Five times he is addressed as Adonai, a name used only of God and never of man, nine times as LORD (Jehovah), a total of 14 times as Deity. The man is called by the names of God; he speaks as God; he makes promises as God; he holds the power of judgment as God, and executes that judgment. Note the strange play on words in Gen. 19:24. “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” Do you see the strange wording? We have two LORDS (two Jehovahs). There is a LORD, that is His agent walking on earth, and a LORD in heaven.
Consider the account in Genesis 32:24-30 of Jacob wrestling with the angel of God. “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Then he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." (We learn from Hoseah 12:3,4 that the man was the angel of God. “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor.”
We remember the experience of Manoah and his wife in Judges 13:18-22. “But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. So Manoah said to his wife, "We will surely die, for we have seen God.”
These and other instances show how God attributes His nature to those through whom He acts. The agent is said to be God even though he is only a channel. Is it not puzzling why no one ever seems to question these accounts but insists that Christ is God rather than his agent? We remember Thomas’s words upon touching Jesus’ body in John 20:28, “My Lord and my God!” Was Thomas seeing God or the chosen man through whom He purposed to be known? What do you say?