No messenger or angel
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There's an interesting variation between the New International and New Revised Standard versions of Isaiah 63:9. The NIV expresses quite beautifully that "the angel of his presence saved them," while the NRSV contends that "it was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them." Both convey Isaiah's revelation that God does not plan to redeem creation by force, by tinkering with free will, or from afar. God redeems creation by becoming one of us, by drawing near to us and being with us.
The former translation may be more poetic, but the latter illuminates another dimension of God's plan for salvation: God doesn't send a deputy, a delegate, a stand-in for the real thing. God sends God. Christians reading this text through the lens of the New Testament confess that God shows up in person--in the person of Jesus Christ. The incarnation pierces the membrane between heaven and earth and places us directly in the presence of the divine.