THE ANGEL OF THE LORD
Lesson 26
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After forty years had
passed, an angel appeared to Moses in
the flames of a burning bush in the
desert near Mount Sinai. When He saw
this, he was amazed at the sight. As
he went over to look more closely, he
heard the Lord’s voice:”
‘I am the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear
and did not dare to look. Then the
Lord said to him, ‘Take off your
sandals; the place you are standing
is holy ground.’”
A Controversial Point
Some readers may
consider the following remarks to be
blasphemy, but let me say that
nothing could be further from the
truth. Unfortunately, many people
believe that it is slanderous to say
that Jesus lived in the form of an
angel before He came to Earth.
Surprisingly, these same people have
no problem accepting the fact that
Jesus lived in a lower form of a man
while He was on Earth. Do not
misunderstand my statement that Jesus
lived in the form of an angel before
He came to Earth. Jesus is not a
created being. He is eternal God,
just like the Father is God, and He
has existed from time everlasting.
(John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:17; 1
Chronicles 16:36) The Bible plainly
teaches that Jesus lived in Heaven
before He lived on Earth. (John
14:24; 17:5; Hebrews 1:1-3)
Angelic in Form
Consider this
possibility: Prior to taking on the
form of a man, Jesus lived in Heaven
in the form of an angel and the
angels called Him “Michael”
(which means “One who is like
God”). Before we get too
involved in this topic, I ask that
you prayerfully consider a simple
concept about the Godhead. I am not
asking you to agree with me, but I
would like to present a summary
statement first, allowing you to see
the big picture before demonstrating
from Scripture that Jesus is Michael.
Here is the concept:
Three Gods rule over the Universe;
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
Each God is separate and distinct in
His own right. They have the same
authority, power and ability, but
they function in different roles
according to a mutual covenant
between themselves. The role of the
Father is universal focus. He is the
object of worship and the Supreme
Ruler of the Universe. (The “out
front” position of the Father
also makes Him the focus of
litigation should a contest over
governance arise.) The role of the
Son is to live among the created
beings as one of them, to faithfully
instruct and demonstrate God’s
love to all beings. The role of the
Holy Spirit is to live within the
soul of each created being, making
intimate communion between God and
creature simultaneously available to
everyone – everywhere –
anytime. This concept of the Trinity
establishes that God is above us (the
Father), beside us (the Son) and
within us (the Holy Spirit). If this
view of the Godhead is correct, the
following information about Michael
should be easier to understand.
Michael
Jesus is called by
many names in the Bible. Each name is
like a prism that reflects something
new about His marvelous wisdom and
ways. Whether He is called “The
Word, “The Lamb of God,” or
“The Rose of Sharon,” each
name reveals another aspect of His
beautiful character. The name
“Michael” also reveals
something very important about Jesus.
It identifies how closely He
identified with the angels before He
took the form of a man. The subject
of Christ’s preexistence is
important because the disclosure of
Jesus, His authority, power, and love
and humility is a very encompassing
subject. To the angels, He is Michael
the archangel (the prefix arch means
“over” or “above”
all angels). To man, He is Jesus,
Savior, King of kings and Lord of
lords, the “arch man,” if
you will. A revealing of all that
Jesus is also exposes the other
members of the Godhead since the
members of the Godhead are one in
purpose, plan and action. The Father
and Holy Spirit are keenly interested
in the actions and testimony of Jesus
because as “The Word,” He
represents them, too. Since Jesus is
Creator/Heir of Earth, He will take
possession of Earth at an appointed
time. People who trust in Him for
salvation should be willing to
understand all they can about Him and
His ways since He is Lord and Master
to all who call on Him.
There is one Archangel
in Heaven. Four books in the Bible
offer information about Him:
1.
“But even the archangel Michael,
when he was disputing with the devil
about the body of Moses, did not dare
to bring slanderous accusation
against him, but said, ‘The Lord
rebuke you! ‘” (Jude 9)
In this text, Michael
is identified as the archangel. Some
people are offended by the idea that
Michael, the archangel, is another
name for Jesus, the Son of God.
Sometimes, a portion of this text is
used to prove that Michael is not
Jesus because Michael says to the
devil, “The Lord rebuke
you.” The argument goes like
this: “If Michael is Jesus, why
would He refer to Himself in the
third person?” This objection is
not valid. Notice what Zechariah 3:2
says, “The Lord said to Satan,
‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The
Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke
you!’”
The language of
Zechariah 3:2 is identical to Jude 9.
In both cases, Michael is speaking of
Himself in the third person. He
speaks with divine authority in the
argument over the body of Moses and
ends the argument without slandering
the devil. This is Jude’s point
in verse nine. Jude contrasts the
words of Jesus with men who are like
“unreasoning animals,”
carelessly slandering celestial
beings without realization of their
wrongdoing. We also know that when
the devil tempted Jesus in the
wilderness, Jesus did not slander the
devil or rail against him. Speaking
to Lucifer, Jesus said, “Do not
put the Lord your God {me} to the
test.” (Matthew 4:7, insertion
mine.) Jesus knew who He was.
So did the devil and he retreated.
2.
“For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call
of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first.” (1 Thessalonians
4:16) Before we examine the details
of this verse, we need to consider
two other texts. Notice what Jesus
said about Himself, “I tell you
the truth, a time is coming and has
now come when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God and those who
hear will live.” (John 5:25)
Whose voice did Jesus say the dead
would hear at the resurrection? Jesus
also said, “For my Father’s
will is that everyone who looks to
the Son and believes in him shall
have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day.” (John
6:40)
These three texts
harmonize only if the archangel is
Jesus Himself. The Lord Himself will
speak with the authority of the
archangel and call the dead to life.
When Jesus comes in glory, all the
angels will be with Him. (Matthew
25:31) The dead will hear His voice
at the last day. Some people try to
ignore the weight of the textual
evidence by saying the archangel
joins with the Lord in raising the
dead. Why does Almighty God need an
archangel to help Him raise the dead?
Jesus alone has the keys to the grave
and He alone has the authority to
redeem man! (Revelation 1:18; 5:9)
Read 1 Thessalonians
4:16 again and notice how Paul
connects two important themes. First,
the Lord Himself is the Redeemer
coming down from Heaven to gather up
His saints. Second, the Lord Himself
is also the archangel. Michael,
leading Heaven’s angelic host.
Paul merges two perspectives about
Jesus in this text. From man’s
point of view, Jesus is the Redeemer.
From the angel’s point of view,
Michael, the archangel, is the
Commander-In-Chief who leads the
heavenly host. In other words, Jesus
has great authority rising from both
identities-He is the Redeemer of Man
and Commander-in-Chief of angels.
3.
“At that time Michael, the great
prince who protects your people, will
arise. There will be a time of
distress such as has not happened
from the beginning of nations until
then. But at that time your
people-everyone whose name is found
written in the book-will be
delivered. Multitudes who sleep in
the dust of the earth will awake:
some to everlasting life, others to
shame and everlasting contempt.”
(Daniel 12:1,2) These verses reveal
two impressive facts. First, the
Great Tribulation commences when
Michael stands up. This suggests that
at the present time, Michael must be
seated and Scripture verifies this
point, “…We do have such a
high priest, who sat at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in
heaven, and who serves in the
sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up
by the Lord, not by man.”
(Hebrews 8:1-2) In other words, when
Michael stands up, His work of
intercession at the right hand of the
Father (Hebrews 7:25) will be
finished and a time of distress will
then begin on Earth. Do not overlook
the fact that Michael is the great
prince who protects His people. It is
well known that a prince becomes a
king when the kingdom is actually
handed over to him. The same is true
of Jesus. At the present time He is
“a prince in
waiting”-waiting for Earth to
become His dominion. (Hebrews 1:13;
Revelation 11:17) According to the
Bible, the Father will hand over the
kingdom to Jesus during the Great
Tribulation, at the time of the
seventh trumpet. (Revelation
11:15-19) His first action (as King
of kings) will be to pour out seven
bowls of vengeance upon the wicked
people of Earth. (Revelation 15 and
16) Therefore, when Jesus appears in
the clouds of glory He will
appropriately wear the title,
“King of kings and Lord of
lords.” Revelation 19:16) The
second impressive fact found in
Daniel 12:1,2 is that Michael, the
archangel, is associated with a
resurrection of the righteous. (Paul
confirms this point in 1
Thessalonians 4:16.) Yet what makes
the book of Daniel so amazing is that
it was written about 600 years before
Paul even appeared on the scene. From
Daniel’s perspective, Michael
had not become “Jesus” yet!
When studying the Old Testament, keep
in mind that the name
“Jesus” was not associated
with the second member of the
Godhead. This did not happen until He
was born to Mary. These texts from
Daniel suggest that Michael is
actually Jesus and His position in
Heaven is “Archangel.” One
text in Daniel is sometimes used to
support the idea that Michael is not
Jesus. “But the prince of the
Persian kingdom resisted me
twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of
the chief princes, came to help me,
because I was detained there with the
king of Persia.” (Daniel 10:13)
This text describes an event when
Gabriel needed Michael’s help to
overcome the devil’s influence
over the king of Persia. At first, it
may seem strange that Michael is
called “one of the chief
princes,” especially if He is
the archangel. However, this use of
language can be easily harmonized if
the reader can accept two concepts.
First, Jesus lived among the angels
as “one” of them, just like
He lived among men as “one”
of us. In other words, Michael looked
like the other chief princes of
Heaven. Second, in Heaven’s
administrative order, the highest
rank is that of a servant leader.
Jesus said, “The greatest among
you will be your servant.”
(Matthew 23:11) For example, when
Jesus lived on Earth, did He awe the
multitudes with His glory? Did He
lord His divine authority over
mortals or rule from an exalted
throne? Did He surround Himself with
an entourage of 10,000 servants? The
answer to each question is
“No.” Even though Jesus is
Almighty God, He chose to subject
Himself to the Father, the Plan of
Salvation, and even death itself. He
lived as a humble servant of man and
Michael lived the same way in Heaven
among the angels. Servant leadership
is the highest order in God’s
kingdom and Gabriel refers to Michael
as one of the chief princes because
He functioned as that. Keep this
parallel in mind: From man’s
perspective, Jesus appeared to be one
of us and from the angel’s
perspective, Michael appeared to be
one of them.
4.
“And there was war in heaven,
Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon, and the dragon and his
angels fought back. But he was not
strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven.” (Revelation
12:7,8) I believe this war took place
on Resurrection Sunday. This text
describes Michael and His angels
fighting against Satan and his
angels. Michael and Satan are
commanders, each having an army of
angels. Lucifer is the Prince of
Darkness and sin. Michael is the
Prince of Righteousness and light.
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