Daniel 10 and 12 and Thoughts on Michael

Brief thoughts on Michael in Scripture

A study written for Bill Hollis by Eugene Prewitt on January 13, 2008

The scripture testimony regarding “Michael” is quite brief. The following are all the passages in scripture referring to Michael:

Da 10:13, 21  But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one [that is, “first”, YLT] of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. . . . [21]  But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

Da 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Jude 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Re 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

From these passages we can gather several points with certainty:

Michael is an exalted being, one sent to help Gabriel in his struggles

Michael is either “one of the chief” [KJV] or “the first of the chief” [Young’s Literal Translation] among the angels.

Michael is Daniel’s “prince” and a “great prince”

At the time of trouble Michael stands as prince in defense of Daniel’s people.

Michael is the archangel.

Michael fought with the Devil regarding the resurrection of Moses’ body (and won…).

Michael was over the angels that fought against the devil and his angels.

The positions ascribed to Michael in these verses include “prince” of God’s people (i.e., Daniel’s people), archangel, and captain of the faithful angels.

When Jesus returns to this earth several things will happen that seem relevant to what we know about Michael.

There will
be a resurrection of the bodies of the saints.

Commands will be given to the loyal angels to gather the saints.

The kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of Christ.

The faithful will sit with him on his throne.

The resurrection will be called for by the mighty voice of Christ.

Joh 5:25  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

The commands will be given by the voice of Christ.

Mt 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. {with…: or, with a trumpet, and a great voice}

Mr 13:27  And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

The kingdoms will be ruled by Christ.

Re 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

It is interesting, and sensible, in light of this that the name “prince” is reserved for Jesus. On earth there are many princes, but in the kingdom of God we find one:

Ac 3:15  And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Ac 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Re 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

As the devil made an issue of even a single resurrection, that of Moses, it must come as a complete overthrow of his entire authority when all the saints are resurrected. And we should note again that they are resurrected by the voice of Jesus.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

And the voice of “the Lord” that is connected, by Paul, to the resurrection is the “voice of the archangel.”

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

This brings us to a good question. Is Jesus the captain, or prince, of the armies of heaven? Or might he have an angel working under him in that position? We find a definitive answer by comparing two texts of scripture:

Jos 5:14  And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? {margin — captain: or, prince}

 

Re 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Notice the contrast. The “captain of the host of the Lord” receives the worship of Joshua. The mighty angel of Revelation refuses the worship of John.

These observations lead, it seems to me, to the following inescapable conclusion:

Either there are two captains of the Lord’s hosts, two beings with the voice of the archangel, two beings exalted to be “prince” over God’s people, two agents in the resurrection of the saints, two beings giving commands to the angels of God,

Or…

Jesus, a name chosen by God for our Savior, had the name “Michael” in the Old Testament.

It is interesting, in this connection, to note that the New Testament references to Michael are all references to Old Testament events…the fall of Lucifer and the resurrection of Moses. We find no use of the name “Michael” for any being after the day that God’s Son is named “Jesus.”

Now, Bill, the passage you shared with me yesterday fits in so nicely here:

Heb 1:5-6  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Worship was given to the “captain of the host of the Lord.” Even more than this, Joshua was commanded to put off his shoes. The place where he was standing was holy. Josh 5:26. Doesn’t this remind you of Moses at the burning bush? Who was it, in that bush, that made the ground holy, before whom Moses worshipped unrebuked? Methinks, Bill, that it must have been our Lord Jesus.

And what does the Bible call him?

Ex 3:2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

And more than that, when Malachi predicted that Jesus would come, what did the prophet call him? He calls “the Lord” the “messenger of the covenant.” The Hebrew for “messenger” is just that common word translated “angel” 111 times in the Old Testament.

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

Jesus, Michael, our Prince, our coming King, captain of the host of the Lord, the Archangel, will descend and rout the prince of this world, send the holy angels to gather the saints, and we will reign with him.

Amen! I so look forward to it. Below is the Word version.

Dan_10 and 12 — Brief_thoughts_on_Michael_in_Scripture