#790 Jesus and Michael the Archangel by Brett Hickey Welcome to Let the Bible Speak. We appreciate your making us a part of your morning. We feel a great responsibility in helping you meet your spiritual needs and obligations. We value your questions and comments in part because they tell us what topics we need to address. A recent question is a case in point: "Is Jesus Michael the Archangel?" The Lord provides an abundance of information for us in the Scriptures, and we want to absorb as much of that information as possible. We also need, however, to remember that God doesn t answer every question we ask. An important Scripture to remember is Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord. 1 Whenever the Lord fails to satisfy our curiosities, we must accept that and move on, remembering that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. (2 Pet. 1:3) God does not leave us hanging in regard to our question today. You will see from Scripture that Jesus in not Michael the archangel. First of all, there is no place in the Bible that says Jesus is Michael or any other angel. Before we make such a significant association with any kind of certainty we really need to have the Scripture offer a clear identification. Otherwise we are dealing with mere speculation. More on this fascinating issue, right after our song The question Is Jesus Michael the Archangel? betrays a fundamental misunderstanding about Jesus, angels, and worship. No single Scripture gives us more clarity on this question than does Hebrews 1:5-8. Listen to what the Holy Spirit says: For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father? Or again, I will be His Father, and He will be my Son? And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says, Let all God's angels worship Him. In speaking of the angels He says, He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire. But about the Son He says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. (NASB) This passage describes two distinct levels of beings. The word angel literally means messenger, and can refer to mere messengers of men. In most cases, however, the word angels refers to beings who serve God. 2 Angels are ranked higher than men (Heb. 2:7), yet, all angels are inferior to God, and therefore, are expected to worship Him. Never is any angel (including Michael the archangel) ever worshiped in Scripture. Jesus as the Only Begotten Son of God is worshiped repeatedly in the New Testament. In the passage we just noticed (Heb. 1:8), there is a stark contrast between Jesus and the angels. In verse five, the Spirit says essentially, God never says to an angel, You are My Son. Then, He says, Let all the angels worship the Son. [italics mine] Then, the clincher in verse 8, the Father says to the Son, Thy throne, O GOD, will last forever and ever. We see God and Jesus on one level; Michael and all other angels at a lower level. This in no way is intended to demean the angel Michael. He is, in fact, the archangel (Jude 9), and likely ranks highest among the angelic beings. Jesus emphatically rejects identifying himself with Michael and the angels when He is tempted in Matthew 4:1-11. In verses 8-9, the Bible says, 1 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2 See W. E. Vine, Vine s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985. 1
Jesus and Michael the Archangel, by Brett Hickey, sermon #790 2 of 5 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. Jesus responded in verse 10, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. Another significant point here is that Jesus rebukes the Devil; whereas, Jude 9 says that Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you! That demonstrates clearly that Michael was not the Lord, or else he could have issued the rebuke. In sharp contrast, Jesus is repeatedly referred to as the Lord 3 and is, therefore, fully justified in rebuking the Devil. This truth is further accentuated by the apostle John s experience in Revelation 22:8-9: And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. (KJV) The angel that John saw emphasized that he had the same relationship toward God as he (i.e., John) did. They both were bound to worship God, and neither had the right to receive worship. The first Gentile convert, Cornelius, when overcome with gratitude to Peter for sharing the gospel with him, crossed the line in Acts 10:25-26, And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man." The issue: only God is worthy of worship not men; not angels. While this is sufficient in answering our initial question, it raises some interesting questions on worship addressed repeatedly in the New Testament. Keep in mind, now, that Jesus said only God is worthy of worship. If Jesus is worshipped, then wouldn t that make Him God? Absolutely! It is noteworthy that there are six different words in the Greek language (the language the New Testament was originally written in) that are translated worship. None of these words, though, are appropriate in any sense other than when directed to Almighty God. The word proskuneo is the word used in Matthew 4:10, when Jesus said, You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve. According to W. E. Vine s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, this word means to make obeisance, do reverence to from two words that mean literally to kiss towards. Joseph Thayer adds in his Greek-English Lexicon, meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand; among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence. This is the most common word for worship, being used sixty times in the New Testament. No single New Testament book uses this word as frequently as the twenty-two times found in the book of Revelation. Matthew uses the word thirteen times more than all the other gospel writers together. As we just noticed, this word for worship is applied exclusively to God in Matthew 4:10. It is used in worship directed to the Father in Jesus conversation with the Woman at the Well in John 4:21-24, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, 3 A search of NT (NKJV) for Lord Jesus : 116 instances (e.g., Luke 24:3, Acts 16:31, Rom 1:7, Gal. 1:3, Phil 3:20) Online, one can go to http://biblos.com/, search for Lord Jesus. (about 265 instances)
Jesus and Michael the Archangel, by Brett Hickey, sermon #790 3 of 5 and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." No New Testament passage has the word worship as concentrated as does this passage. The word worship or worshipers is found eight times in seven verses. Repeatedly in the book of Revelation, the term worship is mentioned in similar ways. The words of Revelation 4:10 are typical: The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne. (KJV) Then, the wording is varied somewhat in Revelation 14:7 and Revelation 15:4, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. (KJV) Contrast these scriptures with the use of the word worship in the unholy practice directed toward the Dragon, the Beast and the image of the Beast worshipped by men in Revelation 13:4-15, Revelation 14:9-11 and Revelation 16:2. We find in Revelation 13:4, 8, And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (KJV) This word for worship is also used in reference to the false worship of demons in Revelation 9:20 ( And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk ) (KJV) and then, again, with reference to idols in Acts 7:43 ( Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them. ) (KJV) But what about the worship of Jesus? We get the meaningful information that we are looking for at this point, for this word worship (proskuneo) is also used twelve times of Jesus. Were you aware that this term was applied to Jesus so many times? Let s take a look at these. Notice in each case how the significance of faith is tied in to these passages. In Matthew 2:2 the wise men from the East inquire, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." When they find Jesus we read in verse 11, And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This began even in his infancy. Herod, you remember, pretends to desire to do the same in Matthew 2:8, And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also. " Next, the apostle illuminates the same question when Jesus heals the leper in Matthew 8:1-3, When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. The leper worships Jesus, and yet there is no rebuke like Jesus issued to the devil, like the angel gave to the apostle John or like Peter gave to Cornelius.
Jesus and Michael the Archangel, by Brett Hickey, sermon #790 4 of 5 Next in Matthew 9:18, we read, While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live. " Instead of correcting this man for worshiping Him, Jesus rewarded his faith in verse 24-25 by raising his daughter from the dead. After Jesus walked on the water in Matthew 14:33, his disciples worshiped Him, saying, Truly, You are the Son of God. In the next chapter is one of the most fascinating events recorded in the gospels. The apostle writes in Matthew 15:22-25 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, Send her away, for she cries out after us. But He answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me! Jesus spoke very frankly with this woman and yet, when she worshipped him, He did not correct her. Instead, He commends her in verse 28, "O woman, great is your faith!" and rewards her by healing her daughter. Just a few chapters after Matthew records Jesus stern rebuke of Peter ( Get behind me Satan! You are an offense to me ), he writes in Matthew 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. [italics mine] The phrase kneeling down is rendered worshiping in other translations (e.g. KJV, ASV) and is from the same word in the original language that we have been discussing (proskuneo). Jesus turned and corrected James and John, but no rebuke was issued for worshiping Him. After His resurrection, the Bible says in Matthew 28:9, And as they [the women who had gone to Jesus tomb] 4 went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. He did not criticize them for this, but instead said, Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. Then, a few verses later in Matthew 28:17, the apostle says, When they [the disciples] saw Him, they worshiped Him. The closing words of Luke s gospel confirm the truth that we have noticed over and over again, this time when Jesus ascended into heaven. Luke 24:50-53 reads, And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy... So, what have we learned from the Scriptures this morning in response to the question, Are Jesus and Michael the archangel one and the same? We emphasized that we do not get the answer to every question, and that we should accept what we see in Deuteronomy 29:29 that The secret things belong to the Lord. We noted that Michael was a high ranking angel, but that this left him far short of being the Son of God the Word from eternity. Hebrews chapter one places Jesus far above all angels referring to Him as one who is worshiped as God. In fact, all angels (which would include Michael) are commanded to worship Jesus. We also saw that Michael dared not rebuke the devil, while Jesus did. We read of an angel rejecting worship from John telling him to worship God while Jesus accepted worship from John and the rest of the apostles on more than one occasion. Finally, we noticed at least a dozen other instances in which various men and women worshiped Jesus without being corrected by Him. 4 A bracket [ ] within quotes is used to note words added that are not in the original quote.
Jesus and Michael the Archangel, by Brett Hickey, sermon #790 5 of 5 We will bring our study to a close with the fitting words found in Revelation 5:8-14, Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing! And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever! Then the four living creatures said, Amen! And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. Stay with us until after our song, and we ll tell you how you can get a copy of this message. Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. We pray you have heard God speak to you through His word. If you d like a free transcript or DVD of this sermon, #790, Jesus and Michael the Archangel, please write the address to follow. We also offer our free Bible study course to complete at home. Join our group page on Facebook for updates on the sermon airing each week. We always welcome your comments and questions. Finally, we echo the sentiment of the apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless. Sermon delivered by evangelist Brett Hickey over Let the Bible Speak January 24, 2011 Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: www.letthebiblespeak.com) COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to www.letthebiblespeak.com for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. PDF, 3/16/2011