Jesus fulfills the role of a messenger in fact he was "The Messenger Of The Lord" not unlike the figure we see in the Old Testament. Jesus shared in God's glory and presence ([John 17:4-6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.17.4-6)) came down from heaven ([John 6:38](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.6.38)) to do God's will ([John 5:30](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.5.30)), manifested God's name to his people ([John 17:4-6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.17.4-6)), and his work ([John 4:34](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.4.34)). W. F. Howard notes in his analysis of the fourth gospel that: > [!quote] [[Howard1947-zu]] > “He who sent me,” is found on the lips of Jesus no less than twenty-six times, whilst the verb ajpostevl (used by John with precisely the same meaning) occurs eighteen times in the Gospel for the Son’s mission from the Father, and three times in the First Epistle. The term “He who sent me” is in this Gospel a divine title, and when the Auctor ad Hebraeos called Jesus “the Apostle of our confession,” he expressed in one noun what St. John proclaims in a verbal phrase on almost every page. A contemporary of John’s disciple, Polycarp [c. AD 70 156], Justin was active in Ephesus and in Rome. Both cities were key centers of Christianity. Ephesus, for example, was the final home of John the apostle (Adv. haer. 3.3.4), Mary the mother of Jesus [[Juncker_undated-ol|Günther Juncker]]) Notes that early church fathers like Polycarp, Justin Marytr, Irenaeus and Tertullian all used the word angel to describe a role of Christ in connection to passages like [Isaiah 9:6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/ISA.9.6) and some fathers like Theophilus Of Antioch supported the concept, although they do not expressly use the title. [[noauthor_undated-lg|Irenaeus]] and [[Schaff2017-yc|Tertullian]] believed that all the OT Theophanies (Appearance of God in a bodily form) were appearances of Christ. It was Christ, “the Word of God,” who walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden, who appeared to Abraham as God and Lord in [Genesis 18:80](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/GEN.18.80), who appeared to Jacob in [Genesis 28:81](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/GEN.28.81) and to Moses in [Exodus 3:82](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EXO.3.82). It should be stressed that they all used angels as a role, ie the messenger, not of Christ's nature. In fact, over time the use of angels to describe Christ started to be applied less over time because of how easy it was to confuse the teaching that Jesus is God and not a created being. in [[Schaff2017-yc|On The Flesh of Chirst]] Tertullian states: > [!quote] Tertullian >He has been, it is true, called “the Angel of great counsel,” that is, a messenger, by a term expressive of official function, not of nature. For He had to announce to the world the mighty purpose of the Father, even that which ordained the restoration of man. But He is not on this account to be regarded as an angel, as a Gabriel, or a Michael. Hippolytus, Clement, Origen, Cyprian, Novatian, Victorinus, Eusebius, Athanasius, Hilary, and Epiphanius, all referred to Christ by the title Angel as well ([[Juncker_undated-ol|Günther Juncker]]) ). All of this stems from the New Testament teaching, as Günther Juncker continues on to say at the conclusion of his work: > [!quote] [[Juncker_undated-ol|Günther Juncker]]) >For John, Christ was always the Logos, the Messenger, and Revealer of the Father. But for John Christ was also God. And it was Christ’s glory which was seen in all of the OT theophanies: cf. [John 1:14-18](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.1.14-18), [3:13](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.3.13), [8:19](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.8.12) ,[John 8:56-59](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.8.56-59), [12:41](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.12.41). (While this may seem like a hasty generalization, we are virtually compelled to it by John’s view of the transcendence and invisibility of the Father.) But John is not unique in this regard. That the preexistent Son of God was active in the OT is axiomatic to much of the NT. The best-known passage is [1 Corinthians 10:1-4](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1CO.10.1-4). But note also [1 Corinthians 10:9](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1CO.10.9) and [Jude 5](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JUD.5). For in the latter two passages the best textual readings place Christ squarely into the Exodus theophanies. It is not simply a matter of typology but of the “real presence” of Christ. In the context of Christian theology, Jesus is often seen as fulfilling the role of a messenger from God, akin to figures depicted in the Old Testament. In addition to his role as a messenger, early church fathers and New Testament writers also portrayed Jesus as the fulfillment of the figure of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. This understanding is evident in passages such as [John 1:14-18](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JHN.1.14-18), where Jesus is described as the Logos, the Messenger, and Revealer of the Father. Other New Testament references, like [1 Corinthians 10:1-4](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1CO.10.1-4) and [Jude 5](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JUD.5), further affirm Christ's active presence in Old Testament events. This belief persisted among early Christian theologians, including Hippolytus, Clement, Origen, and Athanasius, who referred to Jesus as the Angel. Early church fathers like Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian used the term "angel" to describe Christ's role as a messenger, although they emphasized that this designation was in terms of function, not nature. Over time, however, this terminology became less common due to concerns about potential confusion regarding Jesus' divine nature. Nonetheless, the concept of Jesus as the divine messenger who reveals God's will to humanity remains central to Christian belief, as reflected in various passages from both the Old and New Testaments.