Exodus 23 — Thoughts

Is This Better Than Having Jesus?

I feel a little jealous when I read this chapter.

As I endure seasons of struggle or face difficult decisions, I long to have an angel to guard me and guide me. That’s exactly what God gave to the Israelites as they traveled through the desert. How amazing is that?

What might make it even better is that some scholars think this angel could have been a Christophany — an appearance of Jesus outside of the Gospels. The fact that God says “my Name is in him” about this angel supports the idea.

So I guess what I’m really longing for is to have Jesus with me, walking before me the way he walked before the 12 disciples during his time on earth. Wouldn’t life be better if we could see, hear, and touch Jesus?

And yet, Jesus says that it is better for us that we don’t have Him with us that way. In John 16, He tells his disciples, “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you… When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

So Jesus says we don’t need to have Him physically with us, and we don’t need an angel. He has already given us the Holy Spirit, which means that His presence actually lives inside us.

The Spirit is in us to guard us and guide us. The Spirit speaks God’s Word to our hearts, teaching us discernment and reminding us of God’s promises. Having the Spirit means we have God with us in ways His people in the Old Testament could never imagine.

I wonder if Israelites would have preferred to have the Spirit living inside them instead of the Angel of the Lord walking before them. Maybe they would actually be jealous of us.

(Originally written May 26, 2022)