The Spirit of Christ told Moses that He appeared as “God Almighty” to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“The Messenger of His Face” first appeared to Isaiah in Isaiah 6. He Will Be of the Armies said, “Who shall go for Us” (Isaiah 6:8). The “Us” was explained in Isaiah 48:16 as “the Lord God and His Spirit sent me.” The Targum translated this as “the Lord God and His Word sent Me.”
Paul told us that these words were spoken by the Holy Spirit. This was the Spirit of Christ.
He was also the speaker in Genesis 1, 3, and 11, where we find three more “Us” statements that explain God’s plan of salvation, beginning with “Let Us make man in Our image.”
He Will Be of the Armies was the Commander of the Armies of the Lord who appeared to Joshua, saying, “Take the sandals off your feet” (Joshua 5:15). These were the same words He spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:5).
Moses said, “What if they say to me ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13).
Speaking through His Messenger, God replied, “Say to them ‘(Yĭhvah) He Will Be, the Elohim of their fathers, has appeared to me’” (Exodus 3:16).
In Exodus 6, Elohim said, “I, (Yĭhvah) He Will Be, appeared to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name, He Will Be, I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:3).
Of course, the name of God has been known since the time of Adam and Eve. It was the Messenger, Israel’s Elohim, who was named He Will Be at the burning bush. He said that He had only “appeared as God Almighty.”
Then, He explained the meaning of the plural word Elohim as one God who speaks for another.
Speaking through His Messenger, God sent Moses to Pharaoh, saying, “You shall be as Elohim to Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be your prophet” and “You shall speak all that I command you” (Exodus 7:1-2).
From this, the Israelites understood that their Elohim was the speaker for the invisible God.