Is Jesus Christ Michael the Archangel?

Angels as Jehovah's Representatives - Is Jesus Christ Michael the Archangel?
by Chuck McManigal: http://www.jehovah.to/exe/general/archangel.htm

Also: http://jehovah.to/xlation/ar.html And: http://www.jehovah.to/exe/general/angel.htm

The Holy Scriptures are clear and consistent in showing that at times an angel, or angels, represented and spoke for Jehovah—and often in the “first person”. The following are several examples of this, but certainly not all. When an angel speaks for Jehovah in the first person (as if the angel were actually God Himself), the angel was neither presumptuous nor blasphemous since Jehovah God Himself dispatched the angel as an agent to act in His name. As Jehovah’s agents, any angel sent by Jehovah was obeying Him in accomplishing what Jehovah sent the angel to do. As Jehovah’s representative, the sent one was authorized to speak for Jehovah, which explains why in so many of the following accounts, an angel is speaking, but the angel speaks in the first person as though it were Jehovah Himself.

Since Jesus Christ is referred to as the Logos (the Word or “spokesman”), no doubt the angel Jehovah sent as his “messenger” (for that is what angel means), was, in many cases, none other than Jesus himself. This is not a popular notion among Trinitarians because, if Jesus is a sent-one/messenger/angel, this would indicate that Jesus, as the “Logos” in heaven, was a created being, which the Bible clearly teaches he is. (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; Prov. 8:22-30 as “Wisdom” personified). We will also discuss that—not only has Jehovah used Jesus as a messenger angel, but in heaven Jesus is none other than Michael the Archangel!

Gen. 16:7,9,10,11: “Later Jehovah’s angel found her [Hagar] at a fountain of waters in the wilderness, at the fountain on the way to Shur. …And Jehovah’s angel went on to say to her: “Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand.” Then Jehovah’s Angel said to her: ‘I shall greatly multiply your seed, so that it will not be numbered for multitude.’ Further Jehovah’s angel added to her: ‘Here you are pregnant and you shall give birth to a son and must call his name Ishmael; for Jehovah has heard your affliction.’ ”

Four times in the above verses we see “Jehovah’s angel” speaking for Jehovah. Please note that the angel spoke in the first person saying “I shall greatly multiply your seed…” Now, please note chapter 17, verse 20, Jehovah says [either directly, or possibly through that same angel]: “But as regards Ishmael I have heard you. Look! I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him very, very much. …” Now, who is the One that actually multiplied Ishmael’s seed? Was it the angel who was speaking for Jehovah in the first person, or was it Jehovah himself? I think the answer to that question is obvious. To show that the angel speaking for Jehovah as if he were Jehovah Himself was neither presumptuous nor blasphemous, Jehovah acted in harmony with what the angel said and actually did multiply Ishmael’s offspring “very, very much”.

Gen. 19:1,13: “Now the two angels arrived at Sodom by evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot caught sight of them, then he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the earth. …’For we are bringing this place to ruin, because the outcry against them has grown loud before Jehovah, so that Jehovah sent us to bring the city to ruin.’ ”

Now, looking at V.14 we read: “…and he [Lot] kept on saying: ‘Get up! Get out of this place because Jehovah is bringing the city to ruin!’…” And V.24 and 25 states: “Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah. So he [Jehovah] went ahead overthrowing these cities…”

Was it Jehovah or the two angels who actually brought the city to ruin? It could have been the angels through Jehovah’s authority and power that did it, or perhaps the angels were only speaking in Jehovah’s name for him, and Jehovah Himself actually took the action. In either case, the point is clear that these two angels were speaking in Jehovah’s name, and in the first person (plural), regarding the destruction of these wicked cities. They weren’t being either presumptuous or blasphemous, but were speaking in Jehovah’s name as Jehovah’s representatives.

Gen. 21:17,18: “At that God heard the voice of the boy, and God’s angel called to Hagar out of the heavens and said to her: ‘What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, because God has listened to the voice of the boy there where he is. Get up, lift up the boy and take hold of him with your hand, because I shall constitute him a great nation.’ ”

Again, we see the angel speaking for Jehovah in the first person as the angel says: “I shall constitute him a great nation” when it was actually Jehovah that fulfilled that promise.

Gen. 22:1,2 says that “God” put Abraham to the test. Yet, V.11 states “But, Jehovah’s angel began calling out to him: ‘…for now I know you are God-fearing in that you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me’ ”

Once again we see Jehovah’s angel speaking for Jehovah in the first person, as if the angel were Jehovah.

Gen. 22:15-18 says: “And Jehovah’s angel proceeded to call to Abraham the second time out of the heavens and to say: ‘By myself I do swear’ is the utterance of Jehovah…due to the fact that you have listened to my voice.’ ” Compare Gen. 26:3b-5 where this time it says that Jehovah [or, possibly the same angel] says the same thing to Abraham: “…and I will carry out the sworn statement that I swore to Abraham your father, ‘And I will give to your seed all these lands; and by means of your seed all nations of the earth will bless themselves,’ due to the fact that Abraham listened to my voice and continued to keep his obligations to me, my commands, my statutes, and my laws.”

Who is it that Jehovah’s angel swears by? Himself, or due to the fact that he speaks in Jehovah’s name, is it then, Jehovah that he swears by, or—does Jehovah simply speak through the angel, as His messenger, or spokesman?

Gen. 31:11-13: “Then the angel of the [true] God said to me in the dream, …‘I am the [true] God of Bethel…where you vowed a vow to me. …’ ” Did Jacob vow a vow to the angel, or to Jehovah? Here we have another occasion of the angel speaking in the first person, as if he were Jehovah.

Gen. 32:24: “Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to grapple with him until the dawn ascended.” V.28 says: “…for you have contended with God and with men so that you at last prevailed.” Then V.30 says: “…I have seen God face to face and yet my soul was delivered.” How do we harmonize this with scriptures such as John 1:18 which says that “No man has seen GOD at any time.”? Clearly, the angel served as the representative of Jehovah, and God allowed this angel to be seen, so that Jacob could say, “I have seen God face to face and yet my soul was delivered.” Obviously, had Jacob actually seen the very Almighty God Himself, his soul [life] would not have been delivered, since Exodus 33:20 says very clearly: “…You are not able to see my face, because no man can see me and yet live.” These words are specific and clear.

Ex. 3:2,4: “Then Jehovah’s angel appeared to him [Moses] in a flame of fire in the midst of a thornbush…” God at once called to him [Moses] out of the midst of the thornbush…” Here we have another case of Jehovah’s angel speaking in the first person for Jehovah. And the Scripture says “God at once called to him…” This is neither presumptuous, sacrilegious, nor was it blasphemous because “Jehovah’s angel” was sent by Jehovah Himself to do his will in the matter, and as Jehovah’s representative, the angel was authorized to “speak in Jehovah’s name”. Acts 7:30-32 recounts the above and says: “And when forty years were fulfilled, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel in the fiery flame of a thornbush. Now when Moses saw it he marveled at the sight. But as he was approaching to investigate, Jehovah’s voice came, ‘I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ ” Both the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) and the Greek Scriptures (NT) agree that the angel represented Jehovah and spoke for Jehovah in the first person!

The following account expresses very well the relationship the angel(s) has as “representative(s) of Jehovah, and the “authority” Jehovah gives them to speak for him in the “first person”—because “my name is within him.”

Ex. 23:20-23: “Here I [Jehovah] am sending an angel ahead of you to keep you on the road and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. Watch yourself because of him [the angel] and obey his voice. Do not behave rebelliously against him for he [the angel] will not pardon your transgression; because my name is within him. However, if you strictly obey his voice and really do all that I shall speak then I shall certainly be hostile to your enemies and harass those who harass you. For my angel will go ahead of you …”

I like the way The Living Bible expresses this same account: “See, I am sending an Angel before you to lead you safely to the land I have prepared for you. Reverence him and obey all of his instructions; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; he is my representative—he bears my name. But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies. For my Angel shall go before you …” The Contemporary English Version and Today’s English Version also express these verses very well and very clearly, showing that the angel was Jehovah’s representative, and as such, had the authority to speak in the first person for Jehovah. (“he bears my name” ).

Judges 2:1-4: “Then Jehovah’s angel went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said: ‘I proceeded to bring you up out of Egypt and to bring you into the land about which I swore to your fathers. Furthermore, I said “Never shall I break my covenant with you. And for your part, you must not conclude a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Their altars you should pull down. But you have not listened to my voice. …” ’ And it came about that as soon as Jehovah’s angel had spoken these words…”

Who was it that brought the Israelites “up out of Egypt” and brought them “into the land about which I swore to your fathers.”? Who was actually the partner in the covenant with the Israelites, the angel, or Jehovah Himself? Yet the angel speaks for Jehovah in the first person again. Jehovah’s angel had the authority from Jehovah to speak for him and the angel speaks in the first person as if he were Jehovah Himself!

Judges 6:11-24 Rather than to write out the entire account, please note that V.11 identifies the speaker as Jehovah’s angel at verses 11,12,20,21 and 22. Yet the account shows Gidean addressing Jehovah at verses 15 and 22, and Jehovah speaks through the angel at verses 14,16 and 23.

Judges 13:3-22 This account is also too long to write out, but the account repeatedly refers to Jehovah’s angel and “a man of the true God.” Verse 21 and 22 are especially of interest: “And Jehovah’s angel did not repeat appearing to Manoah and his wife anymore. Then it was that Manoah knew that he had been Jehovah’s angel. Consequently Manoah said to his wife: ‘We shall positively die, because it is God that we have seen’ .”

Obviously, it wasn’t actually God that they had seen, but instead they saw Jehovah’s representative, the angel, who they equated with their human thinking the same as seeing Jehovah Himself. Obviously, it wasn’t the same as “Seeing” Jehovah Himself, as they did not die! (Ex. 33:20; John 1:18).

That Jehovah Himself is not the angel is clear by noting Zech. 1:12, which reads: “So the angel of Jehovah answered and said: ‘O Jehovah of armies, how long will you yourself not show mercy to Jerusalem…” (See also V.13 to the end of the chapter).

Matt. 2:13: “After they had withdrawn, look! Jehovah’s angel appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying: ‘Get up, take the young child and its mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I give you word; …’ and he stayed there until the decease of Herod, for that to be fulfilled which was spoken by Jehovah through his prophet, saying: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’. ”

Here we have Jehovah’s angel “saying: ‘Get up, ...stay there until I [the angel] give you word.’ And then we read: “for that to be fulfilled which was spoken by Jehovah…saying: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ ”

Here we have Jehovah’s angel, his representative, speaking to Joseph in the first person, as if Jehovah Himself were speaking. And the account shows clearly that it was Jehovah who spoke through his prophet [at Hosea 11:1] saying “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Luke 2:9-11: “And suddenly Jehovah’s angel stood by them, and Jehovah’s glory gleamed around them, and they became very fearful. But the angel said to them: ‘Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city.’ ”

There are times when Jehovah’s angel is none other than Jesus Christ prior to his coming to earth. But then there are times when it is obvious, such as the above verses that this angel was not Jesus, as Jesus had already been born there in Bethlehem. Neither was the angel “Jehovah” Himself, but another representative of His. V. 9 states that “Jehovah’s glory gleamed around them”. Isaiah 42:8 says of Jehovah: “…and to no one else shall I give my own glory…” Yet, “Jehovah’s glory gleamed around them”. This is another indicator that this angel represented Jehovah and as such, Jehovah’s glory was there—much like angels in the past spoke for Jehovah in first person, as if they were actually Jehovah. Because this angel represented Jehovah, He allowed his own “glory” to gleam around them. This was not presumptuous or blasphemous on the part of the angel, as the angel himself could not, in his own power, usurp Jehovah’s “glory”, but Jehovah Himself sent it, or allowed “His glory” to be present.

Another verse that shows that Jesus was not always Jehovah’s angel, is Luke 22:43, which states: “Then an angel from heaven appeared to him [Jesus] and strengthened him.”

The Bible shows that at times even humans, as representatives of Jehovah, are credited with actions that Jehovah actually performed. For example, at Jeremiah 1:9,10 we read: “At that Jehovah thrust his hand out and caused it to touch my [Jeremiah’s] mouth. Then Jehovah said to me: ‘Here I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have commissioned you this day to be over the nations and over the kingdoms in order to uproot and to pull down and to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.” Who was it that actually was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and other cities of Judah? Lamentations [written also by Jeremiah] 2:2 is one of several places in the Bible that shows the destruction took place at Jehovah’s hand, not Jeremiah’s: “Jehovah has swallowed up, he has shown no compassion upon any abiding places of Jacob. In his fury he has torn down the fortified places of the daughter of Judah.

We have another example of an act credited to Ezekiel, as Jehovah’s representative, but actually performed by Jehovah Himself. At Ezekiel 43:3 we read: “And it was like the appearance of the vision that I had seen, like the vision that I saw when I came to bring the city to ruin.” Who actually brought the city [Jerusalem] to ruin? Ezekiel or Jehovah? Yet the action was credited to Ezekiel. Ezekiel spoke of himself in the first person as a representative of Jehovah in foretelling Jerusalem’s destruction. This is like the angels spoke in the first person, as for example, at Genesis 19:13, (seen earlier) which reads: “For we are bringing this place to ruin, because the outcry against them has grown loud before Jehovah, so that Jehovah sent us to bring the city to ruin.” Yet verse 24 shows clearly that it was actually Jehovah who accomplished this: “Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah.” This is, too, very much like what Jesus said at John 2:19. Here Jesus, as Jehovah’s representative, credits himself for an action that Jehovah actually did. “In answer Jesus said to them: ‘Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’”
No less than 20 different verses show clearly that in reality, Jehovah God raised Jesus from the dead. Obviously, if Jesus was truly “dead” he couldn’t raise himself up, but he, like angelic and human representatives before him, could speak for Jehovah in the first person!

So, even when Jesus was a perfect man on earth, he was Jehovah’s representative, or “sent one”, always in subjection to his Father, Jehovah God, who sent Jesus. How Jesus quickly refuted his enemies who accused Jesus of trying to make himself “equal to God” such as at John 5:18. John 5:19 says, in answer to them: “Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing.” And again in V.30 Jesus said: “I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative; just as I hear, I judge; and the judgment that I render is righteous, because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.” And again, at John 7:16, Jesus said: “…what I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me.” And at V. 28b-29 we read: “…Also, I have not come of my own initiative, but he that sent me is real, and you do not know him. I know him because I am a representative from him, and that One sent me forth.” Again at John 8:28b-29 we read: “…I do nothing of my own initiative, but just as the Father taught me I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me; he did not abandon me to myself, because I always do the things pleasing to him.”

The position of Jehovah’s Witnesses (and others as we shall see) is that Michael the Archangel is one of the heavenly names of none other than Jesus Christ. Consider the following.

The first mention of “Michael” in this context is at Daniel 10:13 where we read: “But the prince of the royal realm of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty one days, and, look! Michael, one of the foremost princes, came to help me. …” In that same chapter, V.21b says: “…and there is no one holding strongly with me in these [things] but Michael, the prince of you people.”

What we learn from the above is that Michael is a “foremost” prince and that he is both “strong” and “the prince of you people”.

Daniel 12:1 continues concerning “Michael”: “And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book. And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust, who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches [and] to indefinitely lasting abhorrence.”

From the above we can see that when the time comes when “Michael, the great prince” stands up—or takes his power, there would be “a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time.

Now, comparing those words with Matt. 24:21 in one of the chapters dealing with events to occur in the last days, and particularly when Jesus “stands up” from sitting at the right hand of God—or takes his power, “for then there will be great tribulation such has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”

Clearly, Michael the great prince, and Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, who is also the “great prince” since he is the Son of the King of Eternity, Jehovah God, both take their power, or “stand up” at the very same time of distress/tribulation never before seen—no—not even at the time of the flood, until that time. Now, there are not two princes, namely Michael and Jesus Christ, who are both sons of a king, who “stand up” together at that same time.

Daniel 12:2 states: And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust, who will wake up, …” While John 5:28,29 quotes Jesus Christ as saying: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice [referring to himself as the “Son of man” at V.27] and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” Both of these accounts are referring to the resurrection when the dead will hear the voice of Jesus, or Michael the Archangel, and come forth out of their graves.

Notice how Jesus Christ and Michael are joined as One in the following from 1 Thess. 4:16: “because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first”—again referring to resurrection. It is not difficult to see that if Jesus Christ has an archangel’s voice, that he is also that archangel!

Now, let’s consider Rev. 12:7 carefully. “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled, but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.”

Who else but the glorified Jesus Christ should have the privilege of ousting Satan from heaven? Wasn’t it Jesus Christ who proved to be the “seed of the Woman” (Gen. 3:15) who was going to have the privilege of crushing Satan’s head? Being cast out of heaven was the first stage of Satan’s eventual complete destruction, (Heb. 2:14) symbolized by the “crushing” of Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15).

Interestingly, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only ones who believe that Michael the Archangel is in reality none other than Jesus Christ.

From: Christology of the Old Testament and a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, 1836-9, Vol. IV, pp. 304-5, by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstengerg, we read: “The two passages in the NT in which Michael is mentioned serve to confirm the result already arrived at. That the Michael referred to in Rev. 12:7 is no other than the Logos, has already been proved in my commentary upon that passage. …the name Michael [Who is like God?, that is, ‘Who dares to claim that they are like God?’] contains in itself an intimation that the work referred to here, the decisive victory over Satan, belongs to Christ, not as human, but rather as divine [compare 1 John 3:8]. Moreover, this name forms a connecting link between the Old Testament and the New. Even in the OT, Michael is represented as the great prince, who fights on behalf of the Church (Dan. 12:1). The conflict there alluded to was a prediction and prelude of the one mentioned hero.”

The following is a rather lengthy quote from: The Bible Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Atonement, Faith and Election; NY: H.R. Piercy, 1829, pp.152-5, by William Kinkade, a copy to be found in the library of Harvard University. “I am not alone in this opinion; most of the principal writers of the Trinitarian school have advocated the same doctrine. Brown’s dictionary of the Bible on the words Michael, and Angel says, that both these words do sometimes refer to Christ; and also affirms that Christ is the archangel. Woods Spiritual Dictionary teaches nearly, if not exactly, the same on this subject that Brown’s does. The former was a Calvinist, the latter a Methodist. Buck in his Theological Dictionary says, under the article Angel, d) that Christ is in scripture frequently called an Angel. Butterworth, Cruden, and Taylor in their concordances, assert that Michael and Angel are both names of Christ. Doctor Coke, a Methodist bishop, in his notes on the Bible, acknowledges that Christ is sometimes called an Angel. See his notes of that passage where the Angel of the Lord spake to the people at Bochim. Winchester has taught the same doctrine in the 152nd page of the first volume of his lectures on the prophecies. Whitefield, in his sermon on the bush that burnt and was not consumed, says that the Angel that appeared to Moses in the bush was Christ. Pool, in his Annotations, explains those passages where the Lord appeared to the Patriarchs under the character of an Angel, as referring to Jesus Christ. Bunyan makes the pilgrim ascribe his deliverance from Apollyon to Michael. He says, “Blessed Michael helped me.” Pilgrim’s Progress, Cincinnati edition, page 54. Guyse in his Paraphrase on the New Testament, on Rev. 12:7, acknowledges that many good expositors think that Christ is signified by Michael; and also gives it as his opinion.

“Doctor Watts in his Glories of Christ, pp. 200-202, 218,223, and 224, teaches the same doctrine. Watts, Dodridge and some others have called this Angel of the covenant, or Angel of God’s presence Christ’s human soul, whom they think was the first Being that God ever created. I agree with them that Christ is the first Being that God created, but I cannot see the propriety of calling the pre-existent Christ a human soul, seeing he did not descend from humans but existed before the human family was created.

“Thomas Scott, in his notes on the Bible, says the Angel that appeared to Hagar when she fled from her mistress, one of the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, the Angel that appeared to Moses in the bush, and the Angel that spoke to the Jews at Bochim, was Jesus Christ: and also asserts that Michael the Archangel is Jesus Christ.

“I could mention many other writers who have advocated this doctrine, but these are sufficient to prove that it has long been believed among the most eminent Trinitarians. I forbear to quote the words of all these authors on the subject, because it would swell this work unnecessarily; and as those books are very common, the reader can examine them for himself.

“Little did many of these great and good men think that when they were teaching that Christ is an Angel, that he is the Angel of the covenant, the Angel of God’s presence, and Michael and Archangel, they were thereby undermining Trinitarianism; yet they actually were, because, if he was the Angel of God, and as Moses says, the Angel that God sent to bring the Jews out of Egypt, he cannot be God in the highest sense of the word.

“As the text which says Melchisedec was the Priest of the most high God, proves that Melchisedec was not the most high God, so the passages which say Christ is the Angel of God, prove that he cannot be that God, whose Angel or Messenger he is. [Christ is called ‘apostle and high priest.’ (Hebrews 3:1) This shows he is serving someone above him!]

After commenting on a text that some use to disprove that Jesus was not an angel, the author goes on to say: “The other text that I have heard urged to prove that Christ never was an Angel, is Heb. 1:5: ‘For unto which of the Angels said he at any time, thou are my Son, this day have I begotten thee.’ Although this text abundantly proves that Christ is exalted above all other Messengers, it by no means proves that he never was a Messenger himself. If I should say of General Washington that he was made superior to all the officers of the Revolutionary army for to which of the officers said Congress at any time, thou shalt be commander-in-chief, and again when they brought him into the army, they said, let all of the officers obey him, and of the officers it is said that the government gave them commissions and appointed them wages, but to Washington it said, thou hast loved thy country, and hated treachery, therefore the government, even thy government, hath exalted thee to honor and office, above thy fellows; such conversation would go just about as far to prove that I thought Washington never was an officer in the army of the Revolution, as the first chapter of Hebrews goes to prove that Christ never was a Messenger of God. In fact the above text taken in its connexion [connection] goes rather to prove, then to disprove, that he is one of God’s Angels, or Messengers, because the writer, after speaking of him in connexion [connection] with the Angels several times, finally asserts that he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, by which he must mean his fellow messengers [angels] for there are no others mentioned in this connexion [connection].

“The drift of the writer in the first chapter of Hebrews, was not to show that Christ was no Messenger, but to show that he was made greater than all the Messengers of God: Therefore, when the above text is brought to prove that Christ never was an Angel, that is, a Messenger of God, it is pressed into a service for which it was never designed by the writer.”

This is also an interesting quote from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1930, Vol. III, p.2048, by John A. Lees. He states: The earlier Protestant scholars usually identified Michael with the preincarnate Christ, finding support for their view, not only in the juxtaposition of the ‘child’ and the archangel in Rev. 12, but also in the attributes ascribed to him in Daniel.”

Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael is applied to God’s Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ, and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be the “archangel,” meaning ‘chief angel’ or ‘principal angel’. The term occurs in the Bible only in the singular. This seems to imply that there is but one whom God has designated chief or head of the angelic host. At 1 Thess. 4:16 the voice of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is described as being that of an archangel, suggesting that he is in fact, himself the archangel. This text depicts him as descending from heaven with a “commanding call.” It is only logical, therefore, that the voice expressing this commanding call be described by a word that would not diminish or detract from the great authority that Christ Jesus now has as King of kings and Lord of lords. (Matt. 28:18; Rev. 17:14). If the designation “archangel” applied not to Jesus Christ, but to another angel, then the reference to an “archangel’s voice” would not be appropriate. In that case it would be describing a voice of lesser authority than that of the Son of God.

There are also other correspondences establishing that Michael is actually the Son of God. Daniel, after making the first references to Michael (Dan. 10:13), recorded a prophecy reaching down to “the time of the end” (Dan. 11:40), and then stated: “And during that time Michael will stand up, the prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of ‘Daniel’s] people. (Dan. 12:1). Michael’s “standing up” was to be associated with “a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time.” (Dan. 12:1). In Daniel’s’ prophecy, “standing up” frequently refers to the action of a king, either taking up his royal power or acting effectively in his capacity as king. (Dan. 11:2-4, 7, 16b, 20, 21). This supports the conclusion that Michael is Jesus Christ, since Jesus is Jehovah’s appointed King, commissioned to destroy all the nations at Har-Magedon.—Rev. 11:15; 16:14-16.

The book of Revelation 12:7,10,12 mentions Michael in connection with the establishment of God’s kingdom and links this event with trouble for the earth: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down. …On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea.” Jesus Christ is later depicted as leading the heavenly armies in war against the nations of the earth. (Rev. 19:11-16). This would mean a period of distress for them, which would logically be included in the “time of distress” that is associated with Michael’s standing up. (Dan. 12:1). Since the Son of God is to fight the nations, it is only reasonable that he was the one who with his angels earlier battled against the superhuman dragon, Satan the Devil, and his angels.

As a man with a tenor voice is identified as a tenor, and a man with a bass voice is identified as a bass; why would it be strange for a person with “an archangel’s voice” to be identified as the Archangel Michael? Who is said to have the archangel’s voice in Scripture? None other than Jesus Christ. At 1 Thess. The phrase “the voice of an archangel” (literally, ‘the voice of archangel’) the “an” in English renderings, (or course there is no ‘an’ in the Greek) does not suggest that there are a group of such beings with that type of voice, nor are there more than one Archangel and Christ is one of them; any more than saying of a great operatic tenor: “he has the voice of a Caruso.” There was only one Enrico Caruso. What is being described is the type of voice possessed by the one described as “having a Caruso type of voice.”

To conclude: Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Patrick Fairbairn, D.D., editor, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing, 1957, Vol. IV, pp.238,239; Revised 1997, Vol. Seven, p. 800. (originally published as The Imperial Bible Dictionary, 1891), states this: “But we have not only this, that Michael is here [Daniel 12:1], not ‘one of the chief princes,’ nor even ‘the first of them;’ but ‘the chief prince,’ because no other prince is worthy to be named in the same breath with him; as in fact he is that unlimited and everlasting ruler of whom the whole book of Daniel prophesies, at the coming of whose kingdom all its rivals were swept away, and no place was found for them.

“A dispassionate consideration can scarcely fail to convince us that this being whom Daniel saw is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. …There is nothing strange and unprecedented in the view that this prince of his people, this great prince, this effective helper superior to men and angels even when he stood alone; should be a person about whom there was indeed a great mystery in the Old Testament, but who had been known throughout the whole course of revelation to Daniel’s people, as standing in some very close relation at once to Jehovah and to them.

“To deny that the Angel of the Lord is the Son of God is to introduce confusion into the whole of the record of God’s dealings with his ancient people; if, on the contrary, we affirm their identity, when the supposition that he and Michael are one and the same is the simplest and most natural imaginable, as will appear all the more if we attempt to construct a different theory.”

If you consider all of the above, there must be only one conclusion from the Scriptures and reason itself—that Michael the archangel is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ! Also See: http://tearsofoberon.blogspot.com/2009/09/high-angel-christology-is-jesus-christ.html