4. That Christ is the Hand and Arm of God

In Isaiah: "Is God's Hand not strong to save? or has He made His ear heavy, that He cannot hear? But your sins separate between you and God; and on account of your sins He turns His face away from you, that He may not pity. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins. Moreover, your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates unrighteousness. No one speaketh truth, nor is there true judgment: they trust in vanity, and speak emptiness, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth wickedness."³⁹⁴⁷ Also in the same place: "Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the Arm of God revealed?"³⁹⁴⁸ Also in the same: "Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the support of my feet. What house will ye build unto me? or what is the place for my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made."³⁹⁴⁹ Also in the same: "O Lord God, Thine Arm is high, and they knew it not; but when they know it, they shall be confounded."³⁹⁵⁰ Also in the same: "The Lord hath revealed His Arm, that holy Arm, in the sight of all nations; all nations, even the ends of the earth, shall see salvation from God."³⁹⁵¹ Also in the same place: "Behold, I have made thee as the wheels of a thrashing chariot, new and turned back upon themselves;"³⁹⁵² and thou shalt thrash the mountains, and shalt beat the hills small, and shalt make them as chaff, and shall winnow them; and the wind shall seize them, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: but thou shalt rejoice in the saints of Israel; and the poor and needy shall exult. For they shall seek water, and there shall be none. For their tongue shall be dry for thirst. I the Lord God, I the God of Israel, will hear them, and will not forsake them; but I will open rivers in the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the fields. I will make the wildernesses watery groves, and a thirsty land into watercourses. I will establish in the land of drought the cedar-tree and the box-tree, and the myrtle and the cypress, and the elm³⁹⁵³ and the poplar, that they may see and acknowledge, and know and believe together, that the Hand of the Lord hath done these things, and the Holy One of Israel hath shown them."³⁹⁵⁴

5. That Christ is at once Angel and God.³⁹⁵⁵

In Genesis, to Abraham: "And the Angel of the Lord called him from heaven, and said unto him, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest thy God, and hast not spared thy son, thy beloved son, for my sake."³⁹⁵⁶ Also in the same place, to Jacob: "And the Angel of the Lord spake unto me in dreams, I am God, whom thou sawest in the place of God³⁹⁵⁷ where thou anointedst me a pillar of stone, and vowedst to me a vow."³⁹⁵⁸ Also in Exodus: "But God went before them by day indeed in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire."³⁹⁵⁹ And afterwards, in the same place: "And the Angel of God moved forward, which went before the army of the children of Israel."³⁹⁶⁰ Also in the same place: "Lo, I send my Angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way, that He may lead thee into the land which I have prepared for thee. Observe Him, and obey Him, and be not disobedient to Him, and He will not be wanting to thee. For my Name is in Him."³⁹⁶¹ Whence He Himself says in the Gospel: "I came in the name of my Father, and ye received me not. When another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."³⁹⁶² And again in the cxviith Psalm: "Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord."³⁹⁶³ Also in Malachi: "My covenant of life and peace was with Levi;³⁹⁶⁴ and I gave him fear, that he should fear me, that he should go from the face of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. In the peace of the tongue correcting, he walked with us, and turned many away from unrighteousness. Because the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at His mouth; for He is the Angel of the Almighty."³⁹⁶⁵