“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
(1 Thess 4:16, NKJV)
Over the course of time there are often assumptions made about issues of faith that in truth have no Biblical foundation. An example of this would be the archangels, with extensive theories centered around explaining what their field of responsibility would be. I believe the misunderstanding we face on this issue is grounded in an inaccurate translation of Dan 10:13 (in the KJV), supported by the apocryphal book of Henoch which identifies the archangels as Michael, Gabriel, Rafael and Uriel. In the Word Gabriel is merely called an angel (Dan 8:16, 9:21; Luke 1:19 & 26); and the other two, Rafael and Uriel, have no Biblical reference. Michael is thus the only archangel.
The word archangel only appears in the Word twice – in the Scripture quoted above and in Jude 1:9 – “Yet 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!’”
If we refer back to previous teachings we will recall that angel actually means messenger or sent one, and from this we can deduce that the archangel is in reality just that – the first/highest/most important of those sent out, indeed the chief messenger. In the KJV-translation of Dan 10:13 Michael is inaccurately called “one of the chief princes”, which should actually be “first of the chief heads” (as for instance translated in Young’s Literal Translation).
Michael’s name means “One who is like God”, and this can only really point to One – Jesus the Christ. In the light of the Scripture quoted earlier we can only reach one conclusion – Michael was, throughout, also a manifestation of the pre-incarnated Christ! The whole of Heb 1 is centered around the position of honour Christ holds among the angels. In his perspective on world history Daniel prophesies: “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people [Israel], shall arise.” (Dan 12:1, NRSV).
This is repeated in Rev 12:7, but is qualified by the “commander of the heavenly host” in Rev 19:11, where He is explicitly called the Word of God, “the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Read 1 Thess 4:16 again – Christ descended with the call of an archangel! It cannot be clearer! Only during the period that God became man, He, the first or head of the angels, was in a position lower than them (Heb 2:9).
We have learnt that Christ has many names in the Old Testament. One of these is Michael.
- Sela: Pray about 1 Pet 1:13, as the primary motivation underlying this teaching.
- Read: 1 Chr 20; Jer 46; 1 Pet 1
- Memorise: 1 Pet 1:13 (very important for this teaching) & 23.
For a deeper understanding: http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/michael.htm
