Is Jesus Michael the Archangel?

Transcription

1 Is Jesus Michael the Archangel? The simple truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures, is that Jehovah is God and Jesus is his son. More exactly, Jesus is Jehovah s only begotten Son, being the only creation in all existence that was directly created by Jehovah himself. But Jesus is not the only son. God is also Father to millions of other sons. Long before the universe was created God had a family of sons in heaven. All the angels are sons of God, created by God by means his firstborn Son. But the angelic sons of God are not all the same sort. God created one sort as cherubs. Another classification of the spirits is seraphim. And then there is the chief angel, an Archangel known as Michael, the great prince. As has already been established, God s name was originally represented in Hebrew by the Tetragrammaton the YHWH represented in English by the name Jehovah. But before God sent his Firstborn son to the earth his name was not Jesus. Jesus was the name given to him at birth by Joseph and Mary. Besides, the name Jesus is derived from the Hebrew name Joshua which means Jehovah is salvation. It is unlikely that a spirit would have been named a name that extols salvation from Jehovah long before the earth was even created or before Adam and Eve caused their offspring to be in need of salvation from God in the first place.

2 The Scriptures inform us that God has a specific name for all of the countless stars in the heavens. And of course, in the human experience everyone has a name too. It is usually the first thing a newborn baby is given. So what was Jesus name before he came to the Earth? Reasoning upon the Scriptures it becomes evident that the chief angel, Michael, is the one referred to by the apostle Paul, who emptied himself of his divine form and became the man, Jesus. This is what the Watchtower Society has long recognized and it is what Jehovah s Witnesses believe and teach. But some may object saying that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus is Michael. And that is true. But it must be realized that the identity of the Messiah was a closely guarded secret. Although God originally foretold that he would produce the Savior for mankind immediately after Adam and Eve brought sin and death upon themselves and their unborn offspring, the sacred secret was not fully revealed until the earthly coming of Jesus. JESUS PRE-HUMAN EXISTENCE Some people who ought to know better have foolishly asserted that Jesus had no pre-human existence. But while on Earth Jesus himself revealed in unmistakable terms that he indeed had a pre-human existence alongside God. For example, Jesus once told the Jewish Pharisee, Nicodemus, that no one had ascended into heaven except he that had descended, the Son of man. In this, Jesus was speaking of his future resurrection and ascension back to heaven and declared that no human had preceded him to heaven and he also, obviously, declared himself to have descended from heaven. Jesus also compared himself to the manna from heaven that God had miraculously provided the Jews in the Wilderness, saying to the Jews: Most truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father does give you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one

3 who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. On that occasion Jesus went on to say: I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will not get hungry at all, and he that exercises faith in me will never get thirsty at all. But I have said to you, you have even seen me and yet do not believe. Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and the one that comes to me I will by no means drive away; because I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me. Speaking on another occasion to the unbelieving Jews, Jesus also said: You are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. You are from this world; I am not from this world. In speaking to the disbelieving disciples, in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus, said to them: Does this stumble you? What, therefore, if you should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before? And lastly, in a prayer recorded in the 17th chapter of John Jesus requested of Jehovah the following: So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, THE GREAT PRINCE Michael the archangel is featured in the Bible as the chief angel; the leader of all of heaven s angels. He is also revealed to be the leader of God s people both before Christ and after. He is portrayed in the Bible as the savior of Christians during the tribulation and the vanquisher of Satan, the serpent. In short, Michael is shown to possess all authority in heaven and on earth the same as Jesus Christ. We are first introduced to Michael in the 10th chapter of Daniel, when an unnamed angel appeared to the prophet and

4 explained to him that the prince of Persia had waylaid him for 21 days, saying further to Daniel: And, look! Michael, one of the foremost princes, came to help me; and I, for my part, remained there beside the kings of Persia. Obviously the prince of Persia is not in reference to any human prince. No human, no matter how strong, could possibly resist a powerful angel. The prince of Persia is undoubtedly a demonic prince. Down further in the last verse of the 10th chapter, the angel revealed to Daniel that Michael was the prince of you people. Just as the Persians had a demon prince acting under Satan s authority, Jehovah s people even while in captivity in Babylon and then in Persia had a righteous prince ruling over them, a prince ruling in behalf of Jehovah. Michael was evidently the angel who represented Jehovah on Mount Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments. That is because, although the original account states that Jehovah came down upon the mountain, centuries later the apostolic writings reveal that the Law was actually transmitted through angels. Michael s leadership of Israel is also evident in what is stated in the letter of Jude: But when Michael the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses body, he did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms, but said: May Jehovah rebuke you. The next reference to Michael is at Daniel 12:1:2, which reads: 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

5 abhorrence. Here Michael is described not merely as one of the foremost princes, but as the great prince. And again, the angel states that Michael is ruling over God s people. However, there is a distinction. He is said to rule over the sons of you people not, you people. That is because the angel was foretelling the future, whereas in the 10th chapter the angel was relating what was then taking place. But the sons of you people is not in reference to the Jews. How to we know? Because Daniel 12:1-2 is foretelling events that will transpire during the time of the end. In fact, the time of distress mentioned by the angel is described in the exact same ter ms that Jesus later used when foretelling that the chosen ones would be saved out of a great tribulation, such as had never occurred before on earth, nor will ever occur again. Furthermore, Jehovah s Witnesses are well aware of the fact that the real sons of Abraham, the sons of you people, are not natural born Jews. They are Christians with the faith of Abraham, whom Paul stated was the father of all those who have faith. So, while Michael formerly was the heavenly leader of the Jewish nation, the Scriptures reveal that Michael is also the leader of Jehovah s people at the outbreak of the great tribulation. His standing in their behalf can mean nothing else but that the great prince will assert his power and authority as the ruler and protector of Christians. Of course, true Christians do not acknowledge any heavenly prince or lord as their leader except the Lord, Jesus Christ. Not coincidently, though, the Messiah is also declared to be the Prince of princes similar to Michael s designation as one of the foremost princes and the great prince.

6 Students of Daniel s prophecy ought to take note of the overall theme of the book that being, the advent of the kingdom of God. In the seventh chapter of Daniel the kingdom is given to the Son of man, who then slays the beastly kingdom. Son of man is the title given to Christ. In the eighth chapter the kingdom is given to the Prince of the army and the Prince of princes, who breaks the audacious king fierce in countenance. And in the 12th chapter of Daniel Michael, the great prince, stands up with ruling authority and conquers the king of the north. In this, though, the Watchtower seems to have gotten lost. They teach that the Prince of princes is Jehovah God himself. But that violates the obvious theme of Daniel and it is disharmonious with other related titles Jesus bears. For example, elsewhere in the Scriptures Jesus is called the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Prince of princes is in harmony with those titles a prince being the son of a king and often the heir apparent. The apostle Paul explained how Jesus is God s heir and that he inherited the throne of his Father. (Please note that Jesus does not possess the title of God of Gods. That title is reserved exclusively for Jehovah God. Instead, Jesus is one of the gods over whom Jehovah is God.) One common objection Trinitarians often put forward is that Michael could not be Jesus because of what is stated in the letter to the Hebrews, which says: For example, to which one of the angels did he ever say: You are my son; I, today, I have become your father? And again: I myself shall become his father, and he himself will become my son? But when he again brings his Firstborn into the inhabited earth, he says: And let all God s angels do obeisance to him. Their reasoning is: Since God did not declare any of the angels to be his special son, and Michael the archangel is obviously an angel, then Jesus could not be Michael.

7 This reasoning is badly flawed and reflects an ignorance of the most basic truths of the Bible; namely, that when Jehovah declared Jesus to be his son it was on the occasion of his being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer. That is when Jesus was anointed by holy spirit and born again. And being an ancestor of the Hebrew linage of kings stemming from David, Jesus also inherited the legal right to become the king of Israel. So, the answer to Paul s question, to which one of the angels did God ever say, You are my son? The answer is none. Jehovah did not say that to any angel. He said it to a man. Jehovah said it to Jesus. When Jesus was on earth he did not simultaneously live in heaven. Paul explained to the Philippians that Christ forsook his heavenly nature and emptied himself and became a man. After his resurrection and ascension back to heaven Jesus was exalted and given all authority over God s angels. The apostle Peter explained: He is at God s right hand, for he went his way to heaven; and angels and authorities and powers were made subject to him. Angels were not always subject to Jesus. They became such after his ascension. This gives rise to the question: How many commanders do the angels have? The question is asked in view of the fact that the 12th chapter of Revelation refers to Michael and his angels doing battle with the Devil and his angels. And since Jesus is the seed of the woman foretold in prophecy to be the one who will bruise the head of the serpent, why is Jesus absent from the vision of Revelation that portrays the beginning of the war against the serpent and his seed. Has Michael usurped Jesus as the ruler of the angels? Obviously not. Another objection occasionally encountered from the Jesusis-God crowd, is that Jesus could not be Michael because, as cited already, Michael did not have authority to rebuke Satan when a dispute arose over the disposition of Moses corpse whereas, Jesus does have authority to rebuke the

8 Devil. Obviously, though, Michael will have authority over Satan when the battle of heaven is fought. This reflects the fact that prior to his coming to the earth Jesus did not have all authority. That is why also, during the days of Daniel, Michael was simply one of the foremost princes. But after Christ triumphantly returned to heaven, victorious over the ruler of the world who tempted him in every way, now Michael is the great prince, commanding all of God s angels and having full authority to banish Satan from the heavenly realm and crush him. Also Revelation 20:1-2 reveals that an angel from heaven will ultimately bind Satan and hurl him into the abyss. It is inconceivable that anyone other than Christ will cast Satan down and lock him up and ultimately destroy him, since Satan was personally responsible for Christ s suffering and death. The crushing of Satan is not something that Jesus would delegate to any angel. Finally, just as Daniel 12:1-2 places the awakening of those asleep in the dust of the ground in the immediate context of Michael standing up, so too, Paul relates at 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 that Jesus will possess the commanding voice of an archangel when he wakes the dead. A careful examination of the Scriptures reveals that Michael is depicted as doing all the things of which it is Jesus sole prerogative to do and that the great archangel possess all the authority of Christ himself. That being the case, it should be apparent to honest-reasoning students of the Bible that Jesus Christ, the Prince of princes, and Michael the archangel, the great prince, are, indeed, one and the same.