Transcript & Slides: Archangel Michael

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Archangel Michael
By David Feddes

One way to see the greatness and wonder of God as well as his goodness to us is by considering the heavenly beings that he's made. Today we're going to be focusing on the Archangel Michael and what the Bible says about the Archangel Michael. But before we do that, I just want to do a little bit of reviewing. Last week we reflected on what it means to speak of God as the Lord of hosts or as Yahweh Sabaoth, and I just want to clarify some terms again. In many Bibles, you'll read that the translation doesn't even have that at all. It doesn't have hosts or Yahweh. Some translations will have Yahweh of hosts—not very many—a few will have Jehovah of hosts. You can tell in the original what it's like if you read your translation closely. If you see LORD capitalized, that means it's actually translating YHWH or Yahweh. Many translations will just say Lord Almighty, and they're translating hosts as Almighty. That's not quite good enough in some ways because to say that he's the Lord of hosts or the Lord of armies is a different thing than to say that he's all-powerful. Of course, he's all-powerful as well, but at any rate, when you're reading your translation and you see the four letters of LORD capitalized, then that translation is saying that here's what is sometimes called the tetragrammaton—the four-letter name of God is there.

Now some of you may wonder, how did we get some saying Yahweh and some Jehovah? So I'll give just a quick brief on that. The Hebrew is, and if you're reading Hebrew, you read from right to left—you read the opposite direction basically. You can see the letters are a little different than ours. Now when you have the Yod, it can be either J or Y because it's not a joy; it's the Hebrew letter Yod. Sometimes, you know, there's Dutch people and German people when they see a J, they say yeah like if your name is John, they'll say yawn. That's kind of what it's like—the Y and the J are very similar. You find the same thing with the Vav, which is sometimes rendered as a V or a W. Again, the Germans and the Dutch can help us to see how W and V are so close because wherever you see when they say water, Vater, you know the W's always turn into V's. Anyway, so the Yod can be a J or a Y, the Vav can be a V or a W. So when you have YHWH or JHVH, that's where you get, if you wondered how in English or in our letters when you say Yahweh or Jehovah, you say how could anybody think those are the same thing. Now we also got some different vowels out of the deal, and I'll briefly explain that. I don't want to bog you down in this, but as I mentioned before, many Jewish people avoided saying the tetragrammaton—that four-letter name of God—out loud. They tried to avoid speaking it so they would never take it in vain, and instead they would say Adonai, which means my Lord. It wasn't considered to be the name of God; it was a reverent way of speaking of God as my master, my Lord, or my king. So they would say Adonai whenever they saw those letters.

So later on, the biblical copies or in the original Hebrew, it's all consonants—there are no vowels, it's just all consonants. But later on, the Hebrew copyists would add some vowels, and so you would take this word, the four letters, and they put these little dots around them that gave you a clue as to what vowels were supposed to be pronounced. Well anyway, when they did all that copying, they copied in the vowels for Adonai because you were supposed to say Adonai whenever you saw those four letters, and they copied in those vowels. And so you wound up with the consonants of Yahweh and the vowels of Jehovah roughly, and that's how you got Jehovah. And so when you're looking at the song such as "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah" or some translations will speak of Jehovah, others as Yahweh, we shouldn't get too hung up on what exact pronunciation would be correct. But it is the name of God that He gave to Moses at Mount Sinai, the name which means it's rooted in the word for "I am" and it reminds us "I am who I am." The name in the New Testament that most closely resembles that is the name Yahshua, the Lord Yahweh saves, and Yahshua is the Hebrew and Aramaic name for Jesus. And there again, if you get too hung up on pronunciation, just realize that pronunciation is not the end of the world. We are all pronouncing all the Bible names wrong all the time because we're speaking in a different language. So if you want to say Yan, John, you know the Germans will say Yawn because they can't even say the J. But in Greek it's Johannes. You say James, you say Yahshua. In Greek it's already Greek, it's Jesus. So don't get too hung up on the pronunciation. I just give you this at no extra charge to give you a sense of what those translations are doing with that sacred name that God revealed and how Yahweh or Jehovah, you might read those names printed differently, but they all refer to that great I AM WHO I AM, the covenant name that God gave us in the Old Testament, and then he gave us the name of Jesus and the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by which we worship him under the new covenant.

Now, last week we looked at Yahweh of hosts and the hosts of Yahweh. I'll give you a very brief review. The hosts of Yahweh can refer to all of his great angel armies, but when the Bible speaks of heavenly beings or spirit beings, it speaks of a council of the holy ones. There are a few passages that speak of them as the gods, and it's not necessarily meaning gods as a bad thing, but as spirit beings that are subordinate to the one creator God. Sometimes it speaks of sons of God, and they are part of a council who together with the Lord himself are involved in decisions affecting the Earth. And again, we need to remember that even if it uses such lofty titles as gods or sons of gods, they are never on an equal with the one true God who created and made everything else, including all the spirit beings. Angels also in the Bible are messengers who carry important news from God or important decrees from God to humans when we need to know such things. The name hosts means armies, and it means that among other things, the angels of God are warriors when necessary. They are guardians; they know how to fight, they know how to deal with opposition, and they are also an assembly. And in the Bible, very often we find the spirit beings in visions worshiping the Lord and giving him praise and glory because he's the one they adore, he's the one they love, he's their creator. And when we looked at the hosts of Yahweh, then I just wanted to remind us what that tells us about Yahweh of hosts, what it tells us about God himself because we're not thinking about angels, not even about great Michael himself just for the sake of paying attention to them, but also for what it tells us about God. God speaks to and he listens to a council. He does that with his heavenly council and he does that with his human image bearers. He communicates to us and he listens to us and our prayers become part of his counsel decisions. He loves and exalts his family; he doesn't just hog all power and all activity to himself. He enjoys lifting up his family members and he enjoys sharing his reign with imagers. That's true of the spirit beings, that's true of human beings. The Bible says that those who are faithful in small things in this life are going to be put in charge of great things in the life to come. It also reminds us how creative God is. The wonderful variety of creatures that he's made, as if it weren't enough to look at the animal kingdom and the amazing variety there, it's astonishing to think that there's just a whole different order of being unlike anything that's here on Earth that God has made. God speaks through angel messengers, and that reminds us that God likes to communicate very often through others that he appoints. He communicates through the authors of the scripture, he communicates through the preaching of the word, he communicates through the testimony of individual believers. He's a commander of armies, not only of the spirit armies, but also of his agents here on Earth. And so we're to put on the full armor of God because we have a great commander. And if angels, beings of such a great and magnificent and high order, are worshiping him, how much more we who are even lower than the angels at least for now, how often and how gloriously ought we to be giving him praise. So we have a great and wonderful God and that comes through in all of his works and certainly in the spirit beings, the angel realm that he's made.

Now when we think about Michael, there's going to be several passages that we're going to look at. I'm going to focus first simply on verses 7 through 9 of Revelation chapter 12: "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. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the Earth, and his angels with him." Then he goes on to say, "Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the Earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short." So this is the word of God to us. And when we think about this word from God, we're going to be reflecting on what God does through his mighty archangel Michael.

Now Michael himself is called by several different titles or descriptions in the Bible. He is called "your prince" when God's people are being spoken of, the people of Israel and then later the Israel of God, those who have been included in God's people. Michael is referred to as "your prince." He's also called the "great prince." There are princes, and then there is the great prince. In this passage that we've just read in Revelation chapter 12, he is acting as the general, the commander of the angel forces. And in Jude 1 verse 8, he is called the archangel. The archangel, "archon" is ruler or prince or a governing angel. And so whatever title is used, Michael is obviously a stupendously great spirit being.

We're going to look at several passages and several things about Michael that are revealed in the word of God. First of all, he ranks as a heavenly prince. Another is that he protects God's people. He leads the angel armies under God, of course, he's never the ultimate leader, but he's the one that the supreme leader, God himself, has put in command of the angel armies. Not only is he in command, he wins. He wins the war against Satan's armies. And the Bible says that when the ultimate time comes for Michael, and it says he arises, then it triggers distress such as the world has never seen before. But it also means the deliverance, the final deliverance of all God's people in the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Because when Michael arises, he is announcing the return of the king.

So let's look at some of the passages related to that, and then we'll get back to this summary. First of all, the place in the Bible that speaks of Michael as the archangel is Jude 1 verses 8 and 9. It says, "These dreamers pollute their own bodies, they reject authority, and slander glories," or sometimes translated "heavenly beings" or "celestial beings." "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" Notice that he's called there the archangel, and it's also one of these baffling and mysterious passages for a couple of reasons. What's this about him arguing or contending with the devil about the body of Moses? In the Old Testament, it doesn't mention that. It simply says that when Moses died, God himself buried Moses and nobody knew where it was. And yet it seems that when that happened, there was actually an argument that went on. The devil contended about the body of Moses, and the mighty archangel Michael was involved in contending back. Now Satan is the accuser, and when the devil is contending about the body of Moses, it seems that he was contending whether Moses deserved an honorable burial at all. After all, he died, which meant he was a sinner, and he died before entering the promised land because he had disobeyed God. God had told him on one occasion, "Now you are to speak to that rock, and God will bring water out of the rock for the people." But Moses was in a very foul mood; he was furious with those people, and he says, "Ah, do I got to bring water out of this rock for you again?" And he smacked it with his rod, and God did bring water out of the rock, but he said to Moses, "You're not going to enter the promised land." And of course long before that, Moses had also murdered an Egyptian. So when the devil says of Moses, "He's a sinner; he does not deserve an honorable burial," he seems to have a good case. What does Michael have to say? Michael does not slander Satan; he does not say anything against him. And in this context in Jude, it seems that there are some people who took angelic or spirit beings very lightly. They were either a joke or they would just speak mockingly or scoff about angels or slander them. And the point that Jude is making is that even the greatest of spirit beings would not do that kind of thing when he's speaking about the devil himself because remember the devil himself was once a great and splendid glory. He was a mighty spirit being, and even in his fallen state, there are some things that are very magnificent and to be reckoned with about Satan. So you do not speak lightly about even fallen angels, let alone the glorious ones. So Jude says now if you're tempted to take spirit beings lightly, don't be such a dunce. When Michael himself was arguing with the devil, he didn't actually bring any kind of argument. He simply said, "The Lord rebuke you." He invoked the greatest of all, and in doing so, he won his case because sure Moses had sinned in various ways, but God had claimed Moses as his own, and God was going to make provision for Moses' sin, and God had decided to give Moses a decent burial, and Satan's objections were not going to go anywhere when God had decided that.

So this great archangel takes very seriously the glory and honor of other angels, even the splendor of the fallen angels, and he always calls upon the Lord. You see in one sense how humble even the archangel Michael is. He doesn't call on his own authority but on God's when he's dealing with the devil. And so that's one place where we see the greatness of Michael and his title, the archangel. In another place, he's called "the prince." And if you read Daniel 10, there's a vision that Daniel has, and Daniel's been fasting and praying for three weeks, and there's something that's troubling him greatly. He's been troubled in an earlier passage about the situation of Jerusalem being fallen and the people being in exile and so on, even though he holds the second highest position in the world basically. He is heartbroken about what's going on with God's people, and so he's fasting and praying. And then a being comes to him—a being so overwhelming and so glorious and so splendid that Daniel can't stand in his presence, and he faints, and he is just overwhelmed. But this spirit being says, "Fear not, Daniel. Your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words." So Daniel's prayers have been getting through, they've been heard, but there was a delay in the answer. He says, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me." So this angel who is so great and magnificent that Daniel faints in his presence is assisted by an even greater one named Michael. "There is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince." And so when you read that passage, you find that there's a description of something going on in the world of nations of peoples, and apparently there is a prince—a spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. And later on he says that a prince, a spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece, is coming. Persia is going to fade as a world power, and Greece is going to rise to power, and it's going to have something to do with the mysterious spirit realm, not just who has the biggest armies here on Earth. You know the historians write about Xerxes and the forces of Persia, and then they write about the military tactics of people like Alexander the Great who brought the power of Greeks and Macedonians to bear on the world. And the Bible says there's more to that, and of course the reason the historians have to leave it alone is because we don't have a clue exactly what's going on in those realms. All it does is say there is a mighty prince of world powers, and there are various princes of various powers, and then there is your prince—the prince of God's people. And sometimes it would seem that people are pretty weak, and you might think that their prince is pretty weak. You would be thinking wrong. So you have this great prince, Michael.

Now to understand what's going on in that Daniel passage, it does help to look at a couple of other passages. In Deuteronomy 32 verses 8 and 9, it says, "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind"—that's at the Tower of Babel—"he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God, but Yahweh's portion is his people." So it seems that at the division of the Tower of Babel, God put lesser spirit beings than himself in charge of various nations. And it turns out that some of those beings were among the rebels against God. But in God's judgment on the nations, those nations were disinherited for a time, and God had a plan that he would bring them back again and integrate them with his own people Israel. But they had various powers that had a role in what would happen in those nations, and God had had Israel for himself, and he also had a special spirit being appointed for Israel, namely Michael.

In Daniel chapter 4, you read about the greatest king in the world, one of the most powerful people the world has ever seen, King Nebuchadnezzar. He had absolute and total control over a very great and vast empire, and his Babylon was a fabulous city. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered one of the seven wonders of the world. This was a great king, and if you didn't believe it, ask him. And so he had a vision, and he wanted that vision interpreted to him. And Daniel explained the vision to him, and it was a vision that he was going to lose his mind and be thrown out of running his empire. And because he had grown so proud, the Bible says, "Behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven." And this watcher had given advance warning in the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. And then it says, "The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will." This great and powerful King Nebuchadnezzar seems to rule everything, but he's been watched. There are watchers in the heavenly council, and the watchers say to one another, "I think he's getting too big for his britches, and too many people are suffering under his reign." And when Daniel interprets this vision, he says, "O King, you know, I wish this was just going to happen to your enemies, but it is going to happen to you. And now, King, you need to turn from your wickedness and do what is right, and turn from oppression and be kind to the needy." Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn't. And a year later, he was strutting around on the roof of his great palace looking over the city, and he says, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built by my power and for the glory of my majesty?" And a voice of one of the watchers came and said, "This is what is decreed for you, O Nebuchadnezzar." And all of a sudden the king thought he was a cow, and they put him out to pasture. For seven years he was eating grass and wild growth, and his fingernails grew like claws, and he was just a raving maniac. And then seven years later, it says he lifted his eyes to heaven. Well, Nebuchadnezzar himself is the author, by the way, of Daniel 4. He tells the story from his own point of view. He says, "I lifted my eyes to heaven, and my sanity returned to me." If you want to get your head on straight, you got to look up. And he looked up, and he got his head on straight again. And then his kingdom was restored to him. Now the thing I want to emphasize here is the role of the watchers in all of that. The ones who are called the watchers issue a decree, and they even are kind enough to say, "Now here's the decree, but if you repent, you might be able to avoid what's been decreed." Yet he doesn't learn, and so what is decreed happens to him. By the decree of the watchers, the most powerful man in the world is not immune when the watchers decide it's time for him to lose his power.

And so when we get to this passage, we have a sense of some of the beings that are at work, the ones who are called the gods or the sons of gods, the ones who are princes in that realm. And when we see them, we see there's a war. And to put it in context, this war that we've been reading about is a war that is triggered by Jesus himself. Revelation chapter 12 begins with a vision of an enormous red dragon, and this dragon is waiting to devour the child of a woman. And this woman represents the people of God who are straining to give birth to the Messiah. And although the dragon wants to destroy the child, he fails, and the child is exalted to heaven's throne. And it is when this child has been born and gone to heaven's throne that there is this war between Michael and his angels, and the devil is unable to prevail. He is not strong enough, and he is thrown down. Just as during Daniel's prayers there was something going on on Earth—a man on his knees for three weeks—and that has power somehow in the heavenly realms where there's a battle going on for three weeks. So when Jesus dies on the cross, the Bible says that he triumphed over those powers and put them to open shame at the cross. And because of what he did at the cross, now Michael and his angels have tremendous power against those spirit beings in that other realm, and the great dragon is hurled down. Jesus' victory on Earth triggers victory in that spirit realm.

And then Daniel says there is still a future role for Michael that's coming. This great prince, here the phrase "great prince" is used: "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." So when the great prince arises, it's going to trigger an all-out conflict on Earth. Remember that vision in Revelation where the devil has gone down to you here on Earth, and he's full of fury because his time is short? Now when Michael arises for the final mop-up, then it triggers a final dreadful response from Satan and from his forces, and that sets off intense distress on Earth as this heavenly conflict comes full force to the earthly realm. At that time, your people will be delivered. And what's involved in that deliverance? "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake—some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever." That's what awaits us. Sometimes the Bible even compares the stars or likens the stars to the angels, but it's saying that when we rise from the dust, we become people who shine with the brightness of the heavens. We are the ones who will lead others to righteousness, and we'll be like the stars forever and ever in our beauty and brilliance and power. And all of that is triggered when Michael, the great prince, arises and makes that final move on Earth.

Now when the Bible speaks of distress and deliverance, it's not just in the Book of Daniel. The New Testament picks up on that, the words of Jesus himself: "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." So with the great trumpet call, Jesus comes with all of his mighty angels. And you remember what it said in Daniel: it says those who are written in the book are going to be rescued. Those who are written in the book are the same who are called here the elect, the chosen of God, those whom he has written in his book from before the foundation of the world. And at Jesus' return, his mighty angels are going to be gathering in all those whom they know are his. They know who's in that book; they've been watching over those who are in that book in a more unseen capacity. And now the time comes to make themselves known fully in all their power and splendor, and then they gather in those who are in the book, and they scatter and cast away those who do not belong to the Lord.

In 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16 and following, it says, "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. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." There is that great day coming, and how is it announced? It is announced with a loud command of God himself. It is announced with the voice of the archangel. Who's the archangel? Well, we know from Daniel that Michael will arise, and then the dead will be raised, and the trumpet call of God. So there's three great announcements: a loud command, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet call of God. By the way, that's one reason this is the verse where the word "caught up" or "rapture" is used. And this is one reason why I don't think it will be much of a secret. You know, there are some who view their rapture as kind of a secret disappearance. I believe that it's going to be a very noisy appearance—that Christ is going to come with great splendor and glory and with an awful lot of noise, with his own command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and then those who are dead will rise first. The Bible says that those who die aren't in second place. Those who have died, their souls have gone to be with the Lord, but when Jesus comes again, their bodies will be the first to be glorified. And then those who belong to Jesus who are still alive are going to have their bodies glorified too. You know, even if we're alive when Jesus returns, that doesn't mean nothing needs to happen to us. When he comes again, our bodies need to be transformed, set free from sin, and given the glory that he intends for us to have as his sons and daughters. So those who are dead will rise in their splendid bodies, and then those who are still alive will receive their bodies. Then we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Now I don't even believe that that means necessarily that we just all go do a U-turn and go back to heaven, but that instead this is at the same time God bringing heaven to Earth. We rise up to meet him; we rush out to meet him because we want to welcome him. But then he's going to make all things new. And so the upshot is we will be with the Lord forever. Whatever interpretation one has of the specific events of the rapture, it's pretty clear that Jesus is coming again. It's really clear that the angels are coming with him. It's really clear that the archangel Michael is going to be announcing that coming. And so we can look forward with joy to what the Lord is going to do.

So those are the passages in the Bible about the archangel Michael and his role in God's purposes and plans. We've seen that he ranks as a heavenly prince, and when we thought about princes, we saw that princes have a role sometimes in the governance of nations, and his role is in relation to the particular nation of God's chosen people, Israel, and those who become part of the Israel of God by faith. I should add, when we think of princes as the Bible speaks of them, sometimes in the role affecting nations, but if you read Revelations 2 and 3, those two chapters of Revelation, in the message of Jesus to the seven churches, how does each of those begin? "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, to the angel of the church of Smyrna write, to the angel of the church of..." and it goes on like that. "To the angel of each of those seven churches, here's what you're to write." And some people interpret that to mean that this is a message for the pastor. And you know, as I mentioned, angel can mean messenger, so that's a possible interpretation. But many who studied those passages carefully do think that it's also just a communication to the angel or the watcher who has responsibility for that church. We shouldn't get too speculative. It may be that there is an angel of the church of Moni or even of the family of faith. You think that it's logical to think that each person has a guardian angel but not that there is a great spirit being with a special view towards particular churches. It seems like in the Bible that there is. But whatever the case might be with that, we know that spirit beings have a role in the affairs of nations, and especially Michael in the affairs of God's people. And it is encouraging to know that there is one like that who protects God's chosen people. And even when he might seem low profile for a while, when he arises, all of the enemies are fleeing.

He leads the angel armies under God. That is a very, very great angel because when you consider some of his subordinates, when they come to Earth, humans just collapse in their presence. And he's a bigger deal than they are, so don't mess with Michael. I guess, you know, that may be too much slang, but don't mess with Michael. When he fights and when he commands the armies, he doesn't just command them, he wins. The Bible says the devil was not strong enough. Consider that—the devil was not strong enough. And it's not because the devil is a wimp. We sometimes give though too much credit to the devil and to the demons. We speak quite a bit more probably about Satan than we do about Michael, and about the demons than we do about the angels. That's a mistake. We ought to realize that yes, there are fallen angels, but there are also the angels who love God and are loyal to him and whom God commissions to be our helpers and our defenders. I mentioned in the meditations in Jesus firsthand one of my favorite pieces of prisoner art. I wish I had kept that. I could find that envelope. I know I kept it. I can't find it in my files, or I would have put it up here. But it's beautiful art, and it has that tug of war between the angels and the demons. And in that artwork, the demons are dripping sweat, and they're leaning back, and they're pulling as hard as they can on their end of the rope. And then on the other end of the rope, the angels are kind of standing there with one hand on the rope looking pretty relaxed. And then at the very far end of their rope is one big finger holding down the angel's end of the rope. Now that is good theology because it is not a fair fight. It is not an even match. In some ways, you might not even want to say that it would be an even match if you just considered the fallen angels against the glorious angels because there are more angels who didn't fall than who did. And it's also fair to say that the mighty Michael who didn't fall is greater than the greatest of the angels who did fall. So even if it were just a contest between the might and glory of fallen angels against good angels, the good angels have the upper hand. But they really have the upper hand because of the hand that is with them at the other side of the rope. They have the power of God. So when Michael is contending with the devil, he simply says, "The Lord rebuke you," and that takes care of it.

Sometimes our, you know, the prison who scribbles on an envelope is maybe not going to be somebody that you're forced to read about in your literature classes. But John Milton, at least in some classes that still know what great literature is, might assign you Paradise Lost. And in that, there is a tremendous scene where for three days the powers of the demons are fighting against the powers of the angels. And each day kind of seems to—the first two days seem to end in a draw. They're duking it out, and they just—they don't come to a resolution. And then it says on the third day, God sent forth the Son of God, and all the demons at his appearance fly away. And Milton adds this little line, which is one of my favorites: "And he put forth not half his strength." He put forth not half his strength. And so we know that the great Michael will prevail because not just of his greatness but because of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that when he does arise near the end of time in more power here on Earth against Satan, that there's going to be distress and tribulation such as the world has never seen, but there's going to be deliverance—a wonderful and glorious deliverance—when he announces that Jesus is back, and the trumpet sounds, and the command of God is heard, and Christ and the elect angels are gathering in the elect from the four winds, and the return of Christ has been announced.

I'm almost embarrassed to put up the next slide, but maybe some of us are so brain dead that we still need to ask, so what? You know, why should I pay attention to any of this? Well, I'll just remind you of a few reasons. One is we have friends in very, very, very high places. We have, of course, the great God himself, and we also have his great counsel and those who serve him, and we have mighty Michael. Another reminder is that God sends help when we pray. Daniel prayed and prayed and prayed and fasted, and things seemed to be just as distressing. And three weeks later, an angel showed up, and that angel had been fighting all along, and Michael had been fighting all along, and it took three weeks to get through. Again, we don't understand all this that goes on in the spirit realm, but we do know that prayers here on Earth were heard in that realm. And perhaps not only were they being sent to help Daniel, maybe he was helping them. Maybe his three weeks of fasting and prayer were giving added strength from the Lord to the angels. And so we must believe that God answers prayer, and he sends help when we pray. When we face lesser tribulations, perhaps then we'll come at the very end of time. Let's remember the devil is furious. Why? Not because he's winning, but because he knows that his time is short. He's living on borrowed time. And so when the attacks become fierce, don't give up or give in. The attack is fierce exactly because he knows he's already been defeated. And so there are mop-up battles that are very fierce, but his power was broken when Christ triumphed at the cross. And when Michael and his angels triumphed in the spirit realm already at that time, Michael is too strong for Satan. And so we ought, when we think even of Satan at all—you know, it's a big mistake to ignore Satan and the demons. It's also a big mistake to think as though God and Satan are opposites but equal. No, not even Michael and Satan probably are opposites and equal. Satan's not equal to Michael, let alone to God. There is as much difference between God and Michael as there is between an elephant and a mosquito, or more, because there's an infinite difference between God and Michael. So you have to think, you know, get wrap your mind around about the greatest thing you can think of and then say, and that is a little almost nothing compared to the one who made him. Michael is too strong for Satan, and so we ought not to exalt Satan to such a degree that we think he's a counterpart to God.

And then we need to realize that Jesus infinitely surpasses Michael. And when we think of that, we also need to keep in mind a couple of the disastrous errors that have been made. There are folks who pray to angels. Already in Colossians 2, it speaks of people who had fallen into the error of worshiping angels. And there was a temptation if you actually see a beautiful and mighty angel to worship them. But the Bible says you don't worship angels, you worship God. You don't pray to angels, you don't pray to saints, you don't pray to Mary, you pray to God. And you don't also say that Jesus simply is Michael come to us in a different form. That's the disastrous, calamitous error of the Jehovah's Witnesses, that Jesus is actually just the greatest of angels. That's a pretty nice thing to say about a carpenter, isn't it? To say that he's actually the greatest of angels come to live among us. No, God came to live among us. The one far greater than Michael came to live among us, and we praise and worship him. And the final thing to remember in all this is there is a glorious future coming, and we need to be ready for it because when the voice of command is given, when Archangel Michael gives his announcement, when the trumpet of the Lord sounds and time shall be no more, it is too late to switch sides. You don't get to be on the side of Lucifer and the demons and then say, "Oopsie daisy!" when they turn out to be the losers. That's not how it works. You do need to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ now to get on the side of the angels now because then it's too late. But what a glorious future it is when he does come. And so today, here again, if you're not already following the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing about Michael is one more reason to follow the one who is greater than Michael, to get ready to meet him face to face. Because when we see that face, the Bible says the kings of the Earth will want the rocks to cover them and they'll want to hide in caves because that face is one they cannot face. So get ready for that. And then when you are ready to meet him face to face, it is one of the supreme pleasures that we're going to get to see his face and reign with him forever, that his brilliance is going to be shining from us, that when the great prince Michael arises, the great king, God himself, Jesus Christ, comes again, and multitudes who lie in the dust will arise, some to shame and everlasting contempt, but others to light and glory, and they'll shine like the stars forever and ever. Get ready for a glorious future to be with Jesus, to be with the saints who lived throughout history, to be with Michael and the watchers and the great sons of God or gods in the heavenly council, the cherubim, to be with the millions upon millions of angels, some who've watched over you your whole life and you didn't even know it, but to know them, to rejoice in them. What a future it is going to be, and it never ends. It never ends. We will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, says the scripture, comfort one another with these words. And it says that to people who just lost loved ones, comfort one another with these words. Oh Lord, we thank you for who you are, for all of the magnificent creations that you have made, and also the mind-boggling plans that you have for your world and for your universe. Help us, Lord, to grasp just a little of what you're up to, and then keep growing and growing in our understanding. And above all, Lord, not just in the knowledge that puffs up but in the love that builds up, to know again the humility and glory and wonder of your mighty angels, including even the wonderful Michael. And we pray that you will help each of us to take comfort again in the fact that you give your angels charge concerning us to keep us in all our ways. And so we praise you for sending yourself and your Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and also for all the mighty forces that are enlisted on our behalf. We pray, Lord, that each of us may live in joy, in confidence, and help, Lord, each one of us to be prepared for that great day when you come again with all your angels and claim all of your own. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Archangel Michael
Slide Contents
By David Feddes

יהוה צבאות
Yahweh Sabaoth
Yahweh of hosts
Jehovah of hosts
LORD of hosts
LORD Almighty

יהוה
י = J or Y
ו = V or W
יהוה = YHWH = JHVH

יהוה = YHWH = JHVH
Many Jews avoided saying יהוה aloud. Instead, they said אדני Adonai (my Lord).
Later Bible copyists added the vowels of Adonai to the consonants JHVH.
יהוה  (JHVH) became יֱהוִה֙ (Jehovah).

Hosts of Yahweh

• Council of holy ones
  • Gods
  • Sons of God
  • Creations of God
• Angels: messengers
• Hosts: warriors
• Assembly: worshipers

Yahweh of hosts

• Speaks and listens to council
  • Loves and exalts his family
  • Shares reign with imagers
  • Creates splendid variety
• Speaks through messengers
• Commands mighty armies
• Deserves awestruck worship

⁷ And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Michael

• Your prince (Daniel 10:21)
• The great prince (Daniel 12:1)
• General of angels (Rev 12:7)
• Archangel (Jude 1:8)

Archangel Michael

• Ranks as heavenly prince
• Protects God’s chosen people
• Leads angel armies under God
• Wins war against Satan’s armies
• Triggers distress and deliverance
• Announces Jesus’ return

Archangel Michael
These dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander glories (doxas). But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 1:8-9)

Prince Michael
Fear not, Daniel… your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me… there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince. (Daniel 10:12-13, 21

Sons and peoples
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But Yahweh’s portion is his people. (Deuteronomy 32:8-9)

Watchers
Behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven...  The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. (Daniel 4:13, 17)

War in heaven
There was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back…. And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan. (Revelation 12:7-9)

Great prince
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. (Daniel 12:1)

Deliverance
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3)

Jesus’ return
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31

Announcer
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. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Th 4:16)

Archangel Michael

• Ranks as heavenly prince
• Protects God’s chosen people
• Leads angel armies under God
• Wins war against Satan’s armies
• Triggers distress and deliverance
• Announces Jesus’ return

So what?

• We have friends in high places.
• God sends help when we pray.
• War is fierce, but victory is sure.
• Michael is too strong for Satan.
• Jesus infinitely surpasses Michael.
• Get ready for a glorious future!