Judges 13:18 (NLT) “Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”

God has been involved with His creation since the very beginning. He has always been active in the world and especially among His people, even when they turned away from Him. During one of those times of turning, God decided to intervene and make a visit to a couple of no particular importance. His plan was to make a barren woman fertile and to bless this couple with a child who would be no ordinary child. This child would be another one of Israel's judges who God would use to deliver the Israelites from their enemies. This was none other than Samson, who the Lord would bless with supernatural strength when the Spirit of the Lord would come upon Him. Manoah and his wife, the soon-to-be parents, were awestruck with how they were made aware that this would happen. A man appeared to Manoah's wife to let her know what the plan was, and then to both her and Manoah. Manoah, in his excitement, asked the man who is described in the Bible as "the angel of the Lord" what His name was. The response was "it is too wonderful to understand."

As we explore what this could possibly mean, we can surmise a few things. First, it is believed that every time that God appeared in human form, it was a Christophany, which is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. The Bible tells us that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20) and that Jesus is the one that makes Him known (John 1:18). It's interesting to note that after the incarnation of Jesus (God the Son), the appearances of God in human formed stopped occurring. So, one of the reasons that the angel of the Lord said that His name was too wonderful to understand may have been because Manoah would never have been able to comprehend God's awesome plan of salvation where He would come and be born of a virgin, walk on this earth for thirty-three years and die on a cross to pay for the sins of mankind. Then He would rise from the dead on the third day and walk on the earth with His disciples for another forty days. His wonderful name was and is Jesus and the wonder of what He would do would not have been intelligible to Manoah, who was living among a very sinful people that had turned away from God. He would not have understood anything about having an intimate relationship with God as we do now because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. What His name implied would have blown his mind! We as followers of Christ today, while knowing the full story, still have a hard time wrapping our minds around the wonder of who God is and the wonder of what He did through Jesus.

Another reason for the name of the angel of the Lord to be too wonderful to be understood is because it is God's name, and God is too great, powerful, and incredible to understand. We only know a little of who He is and even that blows us away. We serve an awesome God who is too wonderful to understand or explain but who made it possible to know Him intimately through His Holy Spirit. His name still remains too wonderful to understand, but thankfully, we can still receive His love into our hearts and rely on His mercy and grace to make it through this life in victory until we go to be with Him in heaven for eternity, which is for ever and ever. That, too, is too wonderful to understand!

Pastor Joey Vazquez