Who is Michael the archangel?

Question 8011.

Michael the archangel is one of only two angels named in the canonical Scriptures, and of the two he is the one consistently found in conflict. His name is a question in Hebrew, mi ka el, meaning who is like God, and the expected answer is nobody.

That name turns out to be the key to the whole subject. A creature whose very name denies any rival to God is exactly the creature you would want at the front of the fight against the one who wanted to be like God.

Michael the archangel in Daniel

Michael appears three times in Daniel. In Daniel 10:13 an angelic messenger explains that he was withstood for twenty one days by the prince of the kingdom of Persia until Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help him. In 10:21 he is called your prince, addressed to Daniel as an Israelite.

Then in Daniel 12:1 comes the fullest statement. At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. The setting is a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation, and Michael the archangel stands up in the middle of it.

Three passages, one consistent role. Michael is associated with Israel, he engages hostile spiritual powers, and he appears at moments of national crisis. Nothing in Daniel suggests a general guardian of individuals. His brief is a people. See Daniel 10 for the fullest picture.

The title archangel

The word archangel appears only twice in the New Testament, and only one of those uses names anybody. Jude 9 speaks of Michael the archangel contending with the devil about the body of Moses. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says the Lord will descend with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

The Greek archangelos means chief or ruling messenger. Michael the archangel is the only being Scripture directly gives this title. Daniel calls him one of the chief princes, which suggests he is not the only one of his rank, but the New Testament never names another.

That restraint is worth noticing. Popular tradition has produced lists of seven archangels with elaborate portfolios, drawn largely from the book of Tobit and from Enoch. Scripture gives us one name and one title, and I am content to stop where it stops.

The dispute over the body of Moses

Jude 9 is a strange and instructive verse. When Michael the archangel contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgement but said, The Lord rebuke you.

Jude is not primarily teaching angelology here. He is making an argument about the false teachers in his letter, who blaspheme what they do not understand. The contrast is the point. If Michael the archangel, in a direct confrontation with Satan himself, would not deliver a railing accusation, what business have these people speaking so freely about spiritual powers?

I find this the most practically useful verse in the whole subject. A great deal of contemporary spiritual warfare teaching consists of exactly the sort of shouted rebuke that Michael declined to give. He deferred to the Lord. So should we. See can we rebuke Satan or demons.

War in heaven

Revelation 12:7 gives us the last biblical appearance. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

Two details matter. Michael the archangel has angels under his command, which confirms a rank and a structure. And the outcome is not in doubt, though the passage is careful to say in verse 11 that they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Even in the angelic conflict, the decisive factor is the cross.

On the timing, I take this expulsion to occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation, which fits the chapter’s own chronology of the woman, the child, and the twelve hundred and sixty days. See the role of angels in the end times.

Is Michael the archangel Jesus?

This needs addressing plainly, because Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh day Adventists have both taught some version of it. The identification cannot stand.

Hebrews 1 exists precisely to establish the superiority of the Son over angels, asking to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son. If Michael the archangel were the Son, the entire argument collapses. Jude 9 shows Michael refusing to rebuke Satan on his own authority, while Jesus rebukes demons constantly on His own word. Colossians 1:16 says all angels were created by the Son and for the Son.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 is sometimes offered in support, since the Lord descends with the voice of an archangel. But descending with the voice of an archangel no more makes Him an archangel than descending with the trumpet of God makes Him a trumpet. See is Jesus the angel Michael.

Michael and Israel

One thread runs through every appearance and is easy to miss. Michael the archangel is tied to Israel specifically. Daniel calls him the prince who has charge of your people. In Revelation 12 he fights on behalf of the woman, who represents Israel, at the moment when the nation is under the fiercest assault in its history.

This fits the wider biblical framework in which Israel remains a distinct people in God’s purposes, with covenants that were never transferred elsewhere. Michael’s assignment presupposes that Israel still matters, which is precisely what Romans 11 argues at length.

It also has a bearing on how we read Daniel 10. If there are angelic beings connected with nations, then international events have a dimension we cannot see. What I firmly reject is the notion that believers today are called to engage such powers directly. Daniel prayed and fasted. He did not address the prince of Persia.

What Michael the archangel does not do

It is as useful to note the silences. Michael never receives worship and never invites it. He is never presented as an object of prayer, never given a shrine, and never described as interceding for individuals. Scripture gives us one Mediator, and it is not an angel.

Nor is Michael the archangel described as a guardian of individual believers. His assignment in Daniel concerns a nation. Whatever we conclude about angelic care for individuals, and the New Testament does say something about it, Michael is not the text to build it on.

He also never acts independently. In Revelation 12 he fights, but the victory is credited to the blood of the Lamb. In Jude 9 he will not even pronounce judgement without deferring. There is a consistent picture here of enormous power operating under authority, which is a lesson in itself.

The archangel and the return of Jesus

1 Thessalonians 4:16 places the voice of an archangel at the moment when the Lord descends and the dead in Christ rise. Paul does not name him, and I will not either, though it would be a natural fit if the voice belonged to Michael the archangel.

What matters more is the shape of the verse. A cry of command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God. This is military language for a mustering, and it reads as the moment when the commander of the hosts calls His people home.

Notice too that the descent is His and the raising is His. The archangel’s voice accompanies; it does not accomplish. Read 1 Thessalonians 4 with that in view and the comfort Paul intends comes through clearly.

Why Michael matters pastorally

You might reasonably ask what practical difference any of this makes on a Tuesday. Three things, I think.

It tells us the conflict is real. Daniel 10 shows a prayer answered on the first day and a messenger delayed for three weeks by opposition. That is a picture of a universe in which unanswered does not mean unheard, and it has helped a good many praying people keep going.

It tells us Israel is not finished. Michael the archangel still has charge of Daniel’s people, and Revelation 12 shows him fighting for them at the very end. And it tells us how to conduct ourselves in conflict, which brings us back to four careful words spoken to the devil himself.

So, now what?

Hold to what Scripture says and resist the pull of the rest. Michael the archangel is a created being of high rank, associated with Israel, engaged in real conflict, and deferential to God even when facing the enemy directly.

Then let his restraint teach you. The mightiest created warrior in the Bible met Satan face to face and said four words: the Lord rebuke you. If that was enough for him, our shouting is not strength. Where have you been relying on volume instead?

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

Jude 9 (ESV)