High Angel Christology: Is Jesus Christ Michael the Archangel?

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Foreword

This mini-book was created primarily for the benefit of Jehovah’s Witnesses, to provide a critical examination of one of their more controversial and hotly debated doctrinal issues, and to better equip the faithful Witness with the tools to handle even the most ferocious attacks upon their views. It is also my hope that even non-Witness will be able to benefit from this work, and at the very least take away from it the understanding that the Trinitarian position is most definitely not the only well supported Christological view in existence today, nor was it the only popular view even in the first few centuries.

It should also be noted that nothing presented in this work is original research—it is a consolidation[1] of research from several books and scholars. What I mean by this is that I, the compiler, did not technically write anything, but rather simply collected numerous articles and essays, broke them all down into their basic points, organized those points into topical groups, and then finally put everything back together again as a single, comprehensive mini-book.

One of the benefits of this type of work, of course, is a great deal of saved time in research. With all relevant points and answers in one place, the Witness or curious student of the Bible will not have to repeatedly trudge through numerous, lengthy articles, all providing pieces of what they need but not always the whole.

The information in this mini-book was taken primarily from five sources. Those sources are:

1. “Michael.” Insight on the Scriptures. Vol. 2 (393-394). Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1988.
2. Flemings, Harold. “Biblical and Historical Views of Christ as an Angel.” January 1993.
3. McManigal, Chuck. “Angels as Jehovah's Representatives - Is Jesus Christ Michael the Archangel?”
4. The collective works of Heinz Schmitz.
5. http://jehovah.to/xlation/ar.html

So then, with the formalities out of the way, please sit back and hopefully enjoy, hopefully ponder, and hopefully make use of the points to follow.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

First of all, let us place on the table, so to speak, everything that we will primarily be working with. Michael is mentioned five times in the Bible. Here are the references. All scripture citations in the following list are from the King James Version.

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” (Daniel 10:13)

“But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” (Daniel 10:21)

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." (Daniel 12:1)

“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke thee.”" (Jude 9)

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9)

Additionally, there is one reference to an unnamed archangel in Thessalonians:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

This is the only other reference to an archangel in the Bible.

What we may glean just from the surface of these Scriptures is the following:

• He is “one of the chief princes”. (Hebrew: sarim)
• He helped an angel stand against the 'prince of the kingdom of Persia'.
• He is referred to as “Michael your Prince” (the 'your' being plural in Hebrew)
• He will be 'standing for the children of [Daniel's] people.
• He will 'stand up' just before the greatest ever 'time of trouble'.
• He is called 'the archangel'
• He contended with the devil.
• He did not dare bring about a 'railing accusation'.
• He left it to God to rebuke the devil.
• He has 'his angels'.
• He battled against the devil.
• He threw the devil and his angels out of heaven.

Let us keep these points in mind as we now move through the points of our first few sections.

2.0 JESUS AS AN ANGEL IN GENERAL 

2.1 Precedent

It was not uncommon for angels to appear as men (Gen 18:3; cf. Heb 13:1). God himself never appeared directly to men in human form, but always used mediums or representatives. [will add on to this point later with examples and explanations of the laws of agency]

2.2 Angel of Great Counsel

The Septuagint translation of Isaiah 9:6, 7 next commands our attention. Both Jews and Christians alike understand that Isaiah 9:6, 7 is a prophecy about the Messiah, the Christ. Translator Lancelot C.L. Brenton rendered the Septuagint verses:

For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him. His government shall be great, and of his peace there is no end...

The phrase "Messenger of great counsel" translates the Greek Mεγαλης βουλης αγγελος, megales boules aggelos', which is also translated "Angel of great counsel". This inference may be more than suggestive.

2.3 Like an Angel of God

And what was a trial to you in my flesh, you did not treat with contempt or spit at in disgust; but you received me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus". (Galatians 4:14) (NWT)

There is certainly the sense here that being received like an angel was the same as being received like Jesus Christ. Doesn’t this suggest then that Jesus Christ is an angel, albeit an exceptional one?[2]

2.4 Angel of the Abyss

The demons know who is going to abyss them. They said: “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29) “And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep [Greek: αβυσσος, abyssos].” In Revelation 20:1-3, John tells us: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit [Greek: αβυσσος, abyssos]”. Thus, we see that the Bible implies that Christ the angel of the abyss.

3.0 JESUS AS MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

3.1 The Only Archangel

Michael is the only one said to be “the archangel,” meaning “chief angel,” or “principal angel” in the entire Bible (Jude 9). The term also occurs in the Bible only in the singular. This seems to imply that there is but one whom God has designated chief, or head, of the angelic host.

3.2 Angel in the Cloud

With Pharaoh’s armies pursuing them, Moses and the Israelites were accompanied by an angel through the miraculously parted Red Sea. At Exodus 14:19-22, we find:

"Then the angel of the true God who was going ahead of the camp of Israel departed and went to their rear, and the pillar of cloud departed from their van and stood in the rear of them. So it came in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. On the one hand it proved to be a cloud together with darkness. On the other hand it kept lighting up the night. And this group did not come near that group all night long. Moses now stretched his hand out over the sea; and Jehovah began making the sea go back by a strong east wind all night long and converting the sea basin into dry ground and the waters being split apart. At length the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land..." (NWT)

The Apostle Paul identified the angel that followed them through the Red Sea at 1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

"Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all got baptized into Moses by means of the cloud and of the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they used to drink from the spiritual rock-mass that followed them, and that rock-mass meant the Christ." (NWT)

Interestingly, the angel that had been assigned to Israel is named "Michael" in other passages.[3]

3.3 Voice of an Archangel

At 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the voice of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is described as being that of an archangel, or head Messenger, suggesting that he is, in fact, himself the archangel.

"because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God's trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) (NWT)

3.3.1 This text depicts him as descending from heaven with “a commanding call.” It is only logical, therefore, that the voice expressing this commanding call be described by a word that would not diminish or detract from the great authority that Christ Jesus now has as King of kings and Lord of lords. (Mt 28:18; Re 17:14) If the designation “archangel” applied, not to Jesus Christ, but to other angels, then the reference to “an archangel’s voice” would in fact be describing a voice of lesser authority than that of the Son of God. If Jesus is not the archangel in this event and he is superior to the archangel, then why would he perform this act as though he was someone of lower rank? Wouldn’t he be using an archangel’s voice because he is an archangel?

3.3.2 As a man with a tenor voice is identified as a tenor, and a man with a bass voice is identified as a bass; why would it be strange for a person with “an archangel’s voice” to be identified as the Archangel Michael? Who is said to have the archangel’s voice in Scripture? None other than Jesus Christ. At 1 Thess. The phrase “the voice of an archangel” (literally, ‘the voice of archangel’) the “an” in English renderings, (or course there is no ‘an’ in the Greek) does not suggest that there are a group of such beings with that type of voice, nor are there more than one Archangel and Christ is one of them; any more than saying of a great operatic tenor: “he has the voice of a Caruso.” There was only one Enrico Caruso. What is being described is the type of voice possessed by the one described as “having a Caruso type of voice.”

3.3.3 The Greek for 'with an archangel's voice' in 1Thessalonians 4:16 is literally 'εν φωνη αρχαγγελου, en phone archangelou', 'EN FWNHi ARXAGGELOU' (with an/the archangel's voice), in the oblique dative case. A reasonably close parallel to en phone archangelou' in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is at 2 Peter 2:16: “the dumb ass speaking with man's voice”. Here we have 'εν φωνη, en phone' (with the/a voice) together with a genitive. The donkey was speaking with a man's voice - but it was the donkey that was speaking, not a man nearby. Likewise, in all other cases where 'en phone' is used in the NT, the voice in question always belongs to voice of the subject in the clause, not some unspecified third person.

See: BAG, page 878, [FWNH/phone - 1. Voice]

All these references have 'phone' (FWNH) in an oblique case, genitive or dative, thus signifying not just a noise, but a voice.

+ [Re 5:2] NWT And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: [ EN FWNHi (dat.) MEGALH (WH)]

+ Re 14:7 (cf 9)] NWT saying in a loud voice: [ LEGWN EN FWNHi (dat.) MEGALH (WH)]

+ Joh 5:28] NWT Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice [ AKOUSOUSIN THS FWNHS (gen.) AUTOU (WH) ]

+ 1Th 4:16 ] NWT because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, [ EN KELEUSMATI (WH) ] with an archangel's voice [ EN FWNHi (dat.) ARXAGGELOU (WH) ] and with God's trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.

+ Ac 9:7 ] NWT (not referenced in BAG) Now the men that were journeying with him were standing speechless, hearing, indeed, the sound of a voice, [ AKOUONTES MEN THS FWNHS (gen.) (WH) ] but not beholding any man

See also: Lu 4:33; Rev 5:2; 7:2; 10:3; 14:7,9,15,18; 18:1; 19:17; Ac 7:60.

3.4 The Dead Shall Rise

Jesus has been given authority by his Father to raise the dead. (Jn.5:25,26). But the voice of the archangel also raises the dead (1Thes. 4:16; cf Dan.12:2).

Daniel 12:1, 2 states:

And during that time Mi′chael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people… And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches [and] to indefinitely lasting abhorrence.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 states:

because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.

This text at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says the dead shall rise at the voice of the Archangel; and Christ affirms that the dead shall be raised by his voice.

John 5:28, 29 quotes Jesus Christ as saying:

Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice [referring to himself as the “Son of man” at V.27] and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.

All three of these accounts are referring to the resurrection when the dead will hear the voice of Jesus, or Michael the Archangel, and come forth out of their graves. Additionally, the verses in Thessalonians and John use the Greek word φωνη phone - once for the archangel's voice, once for the Son of Man's voice, following which the resurrection takes place. One voice, not two, is heard. Logically, then, we must conclude that there is one voice because there is one person.

3.5 The Great Prince

The first mention of “Michael” in the Bible is at Daniel 10:13 where he is described as “one of the foremost princes”; he came to the aid of a lesser angel who was opposed by “the prince of the royal realm of Persia.” The account reads: “But the prince of the royal realm of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty one days, and, look! Michael, one of the foremost princes, came to help me. …” In that same chapter, V.21b says: “…and there is no one holding strongly with me in these [things] but Michael, the prince of you people.”

What we learn from the above is that Michael is a “foremost” prince and that he is both “strong” and is “the prince of [Daniel’s] people,” “the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of [Daniel’s] people.” (Da 10:13, 21; 12:1) It should be noted that the Hebrew term sar, prince, is also used prophetically of the Messiah (Christ) in the book of Isaiah, where he called a "princely ruler" and "prince of peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7)

3.6 Captain of the Host

Michael is the Prince “which standeth for the children of [Daniel's] people”, i.e. Israel. This identifies him with the “captain [Hebrew: sar] of the host of the LORD” who met Joshua (Joshua 5:14). Jehovah's Witnesses and evangelical Bible commentators alike agree that this was the prehuman Word of God.

The fact that Michael 'disputed about the body of Moses with the devil', presumably during the lifetime of Joshua, also strongly indicates that he was the 'captain of the host of the LORD' referred to in Joshua 5:14.

3.7 Standing as King

In Daniel chapter 7, there is a prophecy about the march of world powers to the end of the age. At the climax of that prophecy we read that "someone like a son of man" was "given rulership and dignity and kingdom," and that one is Jesus Christ. (Dan.7:13, 14) Daniel wrote that reached down to "the time of the end" (Dan.10:13; 11:40) Michael would stand up:

“And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book. And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust, who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches [and] to indefinitely lasting abhorrence.” (Da 12:1, 2)

Note that in verses 2, 3, 21 those standing up are said to be kings. Likewise, Michael's 'standing up' in Daniel 12:1 is appropriate, because he, too, is a King. In Daniel’s prophecy, ‘standing up’ frequently refers to the action of a king, either taking up his royal power or acting effectively in his capacity as king. (Da 11:2-4, 7, 16b, 20, 21) Michael's "standing" indicates a ruler and supports the conclusion that Michael is Jesus Christ, since Daniel 7:13, 14 foretells how the 'Son of Man' - Christ - would become a King, and since Jesus is Jehovah's/Yahweh's appointed King, commissioned to destroy all the nations at Har–Magedon—Re 11:15; 16:14-16.

3.8 Times of Distress

From the words of Daniel chapter 12 we can also see that when the time comes when “Michael, the great prince” stands up—or takes his power, there would be “a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. Matt. 24:21 is one of the chapters dealing with events to occur in the last days, and particularly when Jesus “stands up” from sitting at the right hand of God—or takes his power, “for then there will be great tribulation such has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”

Both prophecies deal with the same time and the same event (especially considering that Jesus directly references Daniel just six verses before mentioning the “great tribulation” at Matthew 24:21); thus, the conclusion is obvious: clearly, Michael the great prince, and Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, who is also the “great prince” since he is the Son of the King of Eternity, Jehovah God, both take their power, or “stand up” at the very same time of distress/tribulation never before seen—no—not even at the time of the flood, until that time. There are not two princes, namely Michael and Jesus Christ, who are both sons of a king, who “stand up” together at that same time. They are the same prince—Jesus is Michael the Archangel.

3.9 Whose Angels?

Michael has authority over the angels (Rev.12:7) and so does Jesus Christ (Mat.16:27; 25:31; 2Thes.1:7). Revelation 12:7 refers to 'Michael and his angels.' Similarly, “the Son of Man shall send forth his angels” (Matthew 13:41), the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels (Matthew 16:27); “he [the Son of Man] shall send his angels” (Matthew 24:31). 2 Thessalonians 1:7 tells us that: the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” The fact that this expression ('his angels') is used with regard to both Michael and Christ, strongly suggests that they are one and the same.

3.10 Satan’s Opponent

Michael leads the angels to defeat Satan and hurl him to earth (Re 12:7). So does Jesus. (Re 19:13, 19). It is Christ, not just an angel, who destroys him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2:14) According to Matthew Henry's commentary: “The parties-Michael and his angels on one side, and the dragon and his angels on the other: Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and all his instruments.”

The book of Revelation (12:7-10, 12) specifically mentions Michael in connection with the establishment of God’s Kingdom and links this event with trouble for the earth:

And war broke out in heaven: Mi′cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled 8 but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. 9 So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God!...On this account be glad, YOU heavens and YOU who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”

Jesus Christ is later depicted as leading the heavenly armies in war against the nations of the earth. The nations are destroyed by Jesus and *his* army of angels. (Rev.12:12; 17:16, 17; 19:11-16) This would mean a period of distress for them, which would logically be included in the “time of distress” that is associated with Michael’s standing up. (Da 12:1) Since the Son of God is to fight the nations, it is only reasonable that he was the one who with his angels earlier battled against the superhuman dragon, Satan the Devil, and his angels.

3.11 Prophecy and Privilege

Who else but the glorified Jesus Christ should have the privilege of ousting Satan from heaven? Wasn’t it Jesus Christ who proved to be the “seed of the Woman” (Gen. 3:15) who was going to have the privilege of crushing Satan’s head? Being cast out of heaven was the first stage of Satan’s eventual complete destruction, (Heb. 2:14) symbolized by the “crushing” of Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15); and yet, it is Michael with "his angels" who does this in Revelation 12.

4.0 JESUS AS ABADDON/APOLLYON

"And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon."

Who really is this Abaddon/Apollyon mentioned at Revelation 9:11, who is over subjects of God and who performs God’s will? The New Life Study Testament lists Abaddon/Apollyon as one of "Satan's names." p. 104

The Nelson Study Bible/NKJV says, "The angel of the bottomless pit is demonic and controls the demonic locusts." Interestingly, it then contradicts itself by saying, "If this angel serves God, this is another instance where the activity of Satan or his demons is under the Lord's sovereign control (see 2 Cor. 12:7, 9)." Why is there a tendency to view the angel at Rev 9 in a bad light?

In Rev 9:1 the angel is described as a star fallen from heaven, hence it is thought of as "a fallen angel" (see Oxford Annotated Study Bible/RSV). However, stars/angels are also referred to in Revelation as fallen (Rev 6:13; 8:10), but without the sinister connotations applied to them. The confusions lies in that very little is written concerning Abaddon/Apollyon. Can Jesus be tied to Abaddon/Apollyon? Consider the following:

4.1 The Destroyer

Abaddon, or better, Apollyon, means Destroyer.

James 4:12 says "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy." NASB Here the Judge is able to destroy, yet God "hath given all judgment unto the Son." Jn 5:22 ASV Many commentarians believe that the Angel of the LORD (malak YHWH) is Jesus, yet the "Angel of the LORD" destroys 185,000 men. (2 King 19:3, 5)

The NIV and Young's Literal Version both capitalize adoni at Ps 110:1 and Joshua 5:14, because they believe that they both refer to Christ. Yet the angel at Jos 5:14 is a captain of God's army "to take charge of the battle on earth." NIV Study Bible (Sounds like a Destroyer to me)

4.2 Who's Got Mah Keychain?

The angel Abaddon is given a key ot the abyss (Rev 9:1), Jesus also has a key to the abyss Hades. (Rev 1:18)

4.3 Into the Abyss With Ye!

The demons at Luke 8:31 entreat JESUS not to command then to depart into the abyss. It seems Jesus had authority over this part of their destiny.

4.4 I Have the Power!! (Not a He-Man Reference)

Keys "is used in the NT to denote power and authority of various kinds."—Thayer. If the Abaddon is a demon (as many incorrectly assume), then why does he hurl Satan into the abyss (Rev 20:1, 2), and bound him for 1000 years. Abaddon here seems to defeat Satan, but then so does Jesus in Rev 19:13, 19.

4.5 Whose Side Are You On Anyways?

If Abbadon/Apollyon was really a demon, why is he given a key to lock up, and then eventually release/cast out Satan and the other demons (Rev 20:1-3)? Did not Jesus say:

"But the teachers of the law from Jerusalem said that he (Jesus) was possessed by Beelzebub, and that it was only by means of the ruler of the demons that he cast out demons. So he called them over, and using metaphors asked them: 'How can Satan cast out Satan?'" Mark 3:22, 23, 21st Century NT

It simply does not make sense to have one evil angel keeping all the other evil angels suppressed for a certain time, only to eventually release them, especially as, Apocryphally, God is called, "You who close and seal the Abyss with your fearful and glorious name." (Prayer of Manasseh, 3) cf. Ex 23:20-22

4.6 Criss-Crossing to a Conclusion

Interestingly, the NIV Ryrie Study Bible cross-references the angel of Rev 20:1 with Jesus at Rev 1:18. It then cross-references the angel with the key to the abyss at Rev 9:1 with Jesus at Rev 1:18, and then, it cross-references Abaddon at Rev 9:11, with Rev 9:1.

Now the NASB Reference Edition 1971 cross-references Luke 8:31 (see above) to Rev 9:11. Rev 9:11 is then cross-referenced BACK to Luke 8:31 and Rev 9:1, 2. Rev 9:1 is cross-referenced to Luke 8:31, and to Jesus again at Rev 1:18

The Nelson Study Bible/NKJV cross-references the angel at Rev 20:1 to Jesus at Rev. 1:18 and the angel of the abyss at Rev 9:1. It then adds more confusion to its footnote at 9:11 by cross-referencing this same angel at 9:1 with Jesus statement at Luke 8:31.

The Prophecy Study Bible/KJV by Tim LaHaye cross-references Rev 9:11 to Rev 20:1. The it cross-references Jesus at Luke 8:31 to Rev 20:1.

The Leadership Study Bible/NIV by Zondervan cross-links Rev 9:1 and verse 11 back and forth to each other, then it cross-references 9:1 to Jesus at Luke 8:31.

The Baptist Study Edition cross-references Rev 9:1 with Rev 9:11 and also to Jesus at Luke 8:31.

The Novum Testamentum Graece/Nestle-Aland 27th Edition cross-references Jesus at Luke 8:31 with Abaddon at Rev 9:11.

The Life Application Study Bible/NLT mentions that the angel in 9:1 is possibly "Christ" or a "good angel."

The Mens Study Bible/NIV cross-references Rev 9:11 to 9:1, and then to Luke 8:31.

The Full Life Study Bible/NIV cross-references Rev 9:11 to Luke 8:31.

4.7 Process of Elimination

We know that Jesus is called a King in heaven and so too Jehovah and humans that are resurrected to heaven. Clearly, Jehovah is not the "angel who is a King" and the heavenbound resurrected humans are not angels at all. Doesn’t this leave Jesus as the likely candidate? (Jeremiah 10:10; Zechariah 14:9; Psalm 2:6-8; Luke 1:32,33; Daniel 7:13, 14, 27; and 2 Timothy 2:11,12)

Commenting on Revelation 9:11, The Interpreter’s Bible says:

Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God’s bidding.

The Geneva Study Bible adds at Revelation 9:1

(2) That is, that the angel of God glittering with glory, as a star fallen from heaven. He may be Christ, who has the keys of hell by himself and by princely authority, #Re 1:18 or some inferior angel who has the same key entrusted to him and holds it ministerially, or by office of his ministry, here and #Re 20:10 so the word "falling" is taken; #Ge 14:10, 24:46, Heb 6:6.

It seems to make sense to apply the language in regards to the angel in Rev 9 to Jesus, as many in the past have even tied Jesus to Michael and one of the Angels of the LORD (Jehovah), malak YHWH.

5.0 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. But why so many names for a single person? Why isn’t just the one name, Jesus, sufficient?

A. In his prehuman existence Jesus was called “the Word.” (Joh 1:1) He also had the personal name Michael. By retaining the name Jesus after his resurrection (Ac 9:5), “the Word” shows that he is identical with the Son of God on earth. His resuming his heavenly name Michael and his title (or name) “The Word of God” (Re 19:13) ties him in with his prehuman existence. The very name Michael, asking as it does, “Who Is Like God?” points to the fact that Jehovah God is without like, or equal, and that Michael his archangel is his great Champion or Vindicator.

Q: Daniel 10:13 states that Michael is only “one” of the chief princes. Does not this mean that Michael is not unique in his position and rank, thus meaning that he cannot be Christ, since Christ Jesus is most definitely unique?

A: The fact that Michael is “one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13) does not rule out his being Christ in his prehuman existence. It does not even preclude his being unique. Why should all princes have equal rank? England's Prince Charles doesn't have the same rank as Prince Andrew or Edward! 'Princes' (plural) implies at least two. Since God himself is called “the Prince of the host” and “the Prince of princes” (Daniel 8:11, 25), there is no reason why the two “chief princes” should not be God and Christ.

Q: Jude 9 states that Michael “did not dare” rebuke Satan, while Christ most definitely did rebuke Satan while on earth (Matthew 4:10). Does not this rule out Christ being the Archangel?

A: The fact that he did not dare 'bring against [the devil] a railing accusation' (KJV) does not prove that Michael is not Christ. True, Christ did rebuke the demons, but he certainly did not bring about 'railing accusations' against them. The Greek κρισιν βλασφημιας (krisin blasphemias) has been rendered 'slanderous judgment' (Analytical-Literal Translation), 'abusive condemnation' (Amplified Bible), 'insulting words' (Good News Translation), 'slanderous accusation' (New International Version). Michael refused to lower himself to the level of the opposers mentioned in Jude's letter, who did dare to bring 'railing accusations' against those who deserved glory. In fact, he would not even resort to abusive speech against the devil himself. That is all.

Q: Is not the fact that Michael is the not the only archangel proven by Strong’s Dictionary, which also calls Gabriel an archangel?

A: The fact that Strong's Dictionary calls Gabriel an 'archangel' is neither here nor there, because the Bible doesn't!

Q: Is not the fact that there is more than one archangel proven by An American Translation and Moffat’s translation, which render Daniel 10:13 as, “one of the archangels”?

A: The fact that Daniel 10:13 in An American Translation and Moffat's translation uses the expression 'one of the archangels' is likewise irrelevant, because the Hebrew does not say 'archangels,' but rather 'chief [or first] princes'.

Q: Is not 1 Thessalonians 4:16 simply implying that Christ will be accompanied by an archangel, and not that he is an archangel himself?

A: It is really straining the sense of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to say that he is just accompanied by an archangel, who calls out. When we say: “He ran in with a shout,” we understand that it is the same person who is running and shouting! If you say: “He walked in with a trumpet blast,” on the other hand, you are not implying that it is he who was blowing the trumpet (although he might be). The two cases are clearly different.

Reply from a Reader: It's intriguing that the following quotes from Aid to Bible Understanding CONTRADICTS the above. MICHAEL... The only holy angel other than Gabriel named in the Bible (Michael p.1152) GABRIEL... The only holy angel other than Michael named in the Bible (Gabriel p.612) Gabriel is a holy angel, & IF JESUS is 'Michael' & 'Abaddon' & 'Apollyon', then Michael & Gabriel are NOT the only holy angels named in the Bible.

Rejoinder: The Aid book and the Insight book do not mention Apollyon as a holy angel for the same reason they do not mention Jehovah as a holy angel. Consider: Apollyon is a name derived from the pagan god Apollo (which also means Destroyer), not that they were the same, but the name carried some semantic value. Also, Tartarus is a Bible name borrowed from paganism, again, to display the semantic in the meaning, not to imply that they were the same. What am I saying? The angel in Exodus 3:2-15 was called Jehovah, not that he was Jehovah, or that we should go around calling angels by that name, but that the angel was representative of the task he was performing.

6.0 CHALLENGES FROM THE BOOK OF HEBREWS

Perhaps the most frequently quoted passages to make the case that Jesus was not and is not an angel are found at Hebrews 1:5, 13 and 2:5 which are translated this way in the Revised Standard Version:

Hebrews 1:5 - "For to what angel did God ever say, ‘Thou art my Son...’"

Hebrews 1:13 - "But to what angel has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand...’"

Hebrews 2:5 - "For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come..."

Since God said to Jesus ‘Thou art my Son’, ‘Sit at my right hand’ and subjected the coming world to him, then it would appear Jesus is not an angel, unless Jesus is an angel in a way that differentiates him from the others.

Clearly, although Jesus is called an angel in the Bible, he is far from being like the other angels. The Watchtower commented: “The basic meaning of “angel” (Hebrew, mal•'akh´; Greek, ag´ge•los) is “messenger.” As the “Word” (Greek, lo´gos), Jesus is God's messenger par excellence.” (15/12/1984, page 29.)

To illustrate this point farther, look at Psalm 82:7, where Jehovah said to Israelite judges:

"Nevertheless, you shall die like men and fall like any prince." (Revised Standard Version)

Does the expression "you shall die like men" mean that those judges were not men or does it mean that they were being differentiated from ordinary men? In kind, the Hebrew passages could be complying with this same idea, that is, that Jesus though an angel, is to be distinguished from "ordinary" angels.

Another example might be brought forth to demonstrate this thinking. The account at Acts 23:9 reads:

"And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying we find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God." (KJV)

Some scholars understand that the "spirit" referred to here is a demon while the "angel" referred to one of the faithful holy angels. But does that mean that "angels" are not "spirits" since the passage reads "spirit or an angel"? No, the Scriptures are plain that angels are spirits.[4] Notwithstanding that fact, angels are differentiated from spirits at Acts 23:9.

Could this same principle apply with respect to the citations from Hebrews 1:5, 13 and 2:5 and the question of Jesus’ status as an angel? Let us move forward with some quotations to see.

After commenting on a text that some use to disprove that Jesus was not an angel, Doctor Watts in his Glories of Christ, pp. 223-224 goes on to say:

“The other text that I have heard urged to prove that Christ never was an Angel, is Heb. 1:5: ‘For unto which of the Angels said he at any time, thou are my Son, this day have I begotten thee.’ Although this text abundantly proves that Christ is exalted above all other Messengers, it by no means proves that he never was a Messenger himself. If I should say of General Washington that he was made superior to all the officers of the Revolutionary army, for to which of the officers said Congress at any time, thou shalt be commander-in-chief, and again when they brought him into the army, they said, let all of the officers obey him, and of the officers it is said that the government gave them commissions and appointed them wages, but to Washington it said, thou hast loved thy country, and hated treachery, therefore the government, even thy government, hath exalted thee to honor and office, above thy fellows; such conversation would go just about as far to prove that I thought Washington never was an officer in the army of the Revolution, as the first chapter of Hebrews goes to prove that Christ never was a Messenger of God. In fact the above text taken in its connexion [connection] goes rather to prove, then to disprove, that he is one of God’s Angels, or Messengers, because the writer, after speaking of him in connexion [connection] with the Angels several times, finally asserts that he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, by which he must mean his fellow messengers [angels] for there are no others mentioned in this connexion [connection].

“The drift of the writer in the first chapter of Hebrews, was not to show that Christ was no Messenger, but to show that he was made greater than all the Messengers of God: Therefore, when the above text is brought to prove that Christ never was an Angel, that is, a Messenger of God, it is pressed into a service for which it was never designed by the writer.”

The objection that Christ cannot be called an angel, because Hebrews 1:4 says that he was “made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” is unfounded. Note that he inherited, obtained the name, not that he always had it. When Hebrews chapter 1 refers to the angels, it means the angels in general. It does not necessarily have to imply that Christ can't be called an angel. When Luke 21:29 refers to “the fig tree and all the trees”, it doesn't mean that the fig tree isn't a tree too. Likewise, when the Bible refers to Christ and the angels, it doesn't have to imply that he's not an angel. As the above quoted author brings out, the main point of Hebrews 1 is to elevate Jesus above the angels (an elevation that an Almighty would not need), and NOT to exclude him from having been one himself initially. Hence the ARCH in ARCHangel. If the title "archangel" also applied to other angels, then the reference to "an archangel's voice" would not be appropriate.

7.0 ANGELIC-CHRISTOLOGICAL VIEW AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF WISDOM LITERATURE AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA

John Cunningham in Christology and The Angel of the LORD states:

The dividing line between Wisdom the woman and God can grow hazy. Without the introductory verses to Proverbs 1:22-33 one might easily assume that the speaker is not Wisdom but God! Theologians have observed that Wisdom functions as a mediator between God and humanity...Wisdom's mediating role may have answered a spiritual need earlier fulfilled by the king (see Ps. 72:1; 1 Kings 8:22-53).

Oxford Companion to the Bible, (under Wisdom)

In Hebrew thought a patriarch’s personality extended through his entire household to his wives, his sons and their wives, his daughters, servants in his household and even in some sense his property. The "one" personality was present in the "many" who were with him. In a specialized sense when the patriarch’s as lord of his household deputized his trusted servant as his malak (i.e. his messenger or angel) the man was endowed with the authority and resources of his lord to represent him fully and transact business in his name. In Semitic thought this messenger representative was conceived of as being personally-and in his very words-the presence of the sender

We cannot see God, and as a loving result, he is invisible to us. (1 Tim 1:17; John 1:18; Col 1:15) So he sends a lesser Jehovah, Jesus Christ, whom we can see, just as he has sent his angels in the past. When we again, through the view of angelic agency, consider the Wisdom literature and the Pseudepigrapha, we are given an insight long ignored:

Wisdom 10:18 "She brought them over the Red Sea, and led them through deep waters" RSV

Compare:

Exodus 14:19 "Then the angel of God who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them." See also Num 20:16 RSV

Ex 23:20,21 "Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. [Compare 3 Enoch 12:5]

Wisdom 10:19 "but she [Wisdom] drowned their enemies, and cast them up from the depth of the sea."

Compare:

Rev 7:1 "After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree."

Wisdom 10:13 "When a righteous man was sold, wisdom did not desert him, but delivered him from sin. She descended with him into the dungeon."

Compare:

Daniel 3:25 "He answered, "But I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods...Nebuchadnez'zar said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set at nought the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.'"

Dan 6:22 "Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.'"

1 Enoch 42:1, 2 “Then wisdom went out to dwell with the children of the people, but she found no dwelling-place. So wisdom returned to her place and she settled permanently among the angels.”

Compare:

"So the Logos (Word) became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)

8.0 JEWISH INFLUENCE AND BACKGROUND

“First Oxford Lecture on The Development of Christology” by Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis states:

1. Most discussion of the LOGOS has, understandably focused on Philo. I don't want to get embroiled in the highly sophisticated world of Philo, except to say that there is a steadily increasing body of opinion that, in actual fact his ideas are very Jewish in origin if not in expression. His use of LOGOS/LOGOI language is best understood as an adaptation to a Hellenistic idiom of the peculiarly Jewish language of angels. Long before Philo, Greek speaking Jews had used Logos language as an alternative to Angel of LORD. As Jarl Fossum has pointed out, a key passage in this respect in Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge 96-99. In this passage Moses' encounter with the burning bush is retold and where the biblical account (Exodus 3) has the Angel of the LORD in the bush, Ezekiel a divine Logos. Logos language, then, is Angel of the Lord language, (cf. also Wisdom of Solomon 18:15f, reworking 1Chron 21:16.

2. Similarly, though Wisdom has had her own independent history within Israelite culture, she has already been identified with the Angel of the LORD long before early Christianity. This is clear from Sirach 24:4 where Wisdom takes up the position of the Angel of the LORD in the cloud of Exodus 14:19 and Wisdom of Solomon 9:1-2, 18:15-16 where Wisdom, Logos and Angel of the Lord are equated. Wisdom and Logos, then, both point to the importance of angelic categories as the common denominator in Jewish mediatorial speculation.

A Dictionary of Angels, by Gustav Davidson on p. 312 says:

In Enoch II, 33, wisdom is hypostasized. God orders wisdom, on the 6th day of Creation, 'to make man of seven substances.' In Reider, The Book Of Wisdom, wisdom is the 'assessor on God's throne,' the instrument or divine agent (i.e. angel) 'by which all things were created.' [Cf. the Logos of Philo.] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Angel,' the term 'angel of the Lord' finds a 'counterpart in the personification of wisdom in the Sapiential books, and in at least one passage (Zachariah 3:1) it seems to stand for that Son of Man whom Daniel (Daniel 7:13) saw brought before the Ancient of Days.

Scholar Frances Young observes in talking of Wisdom in From Two Roots or a Tangled Mass-The Myth of God Incarnate:

Interestingly enough, some of the names of those concretely envisaged beings, the archangels, suggest the personification of divine attributes; Gabriel - might of God, Phanuel - face of God.

The Dictionary of Demons and Deities states, under Wisdom:

Philosophers such as the author of the Book of Wisdom took great care not to lose the mythological connection which made for good literature, and also attracted those who adopted a view of the divine world which retained its plurality while placing Israel's God at the top. Christians were no doubt indebted to a two-deity system which reckoned with a major god with whom a minor, mediating deity was associated. The minor deity could be identified as Yahweh (with El Elyon being the high god; Deut 32:8, 9 with note in BHS), as the Son of Man (Dan 7:13, 14) or as the archangel Michael (Dan 12:1). The old mythological tradition and the two deity system helped early Christians in their attempt to define the nature and function of Christ.

For Christ's Sake, pp. 108, 109 says:

..it is possible to say that the hypostasized Wisdom of late Jewish writing 'is an anonymous heavenly redeemer figure' very similar to those in both Greco-Roman and Christian thought. At the same time, Jewish theologizing about angels also made use of the descending and ascending pattern for figures of redemption. In Isaiah 63 it was the 'angel of [God's] presence' who 'saved' the Israelites-and 'in his love and pity...redeemed them.' Dozens of similar instances can be found throughout the Old Testament. Talbert also cites numerous instances in extra Biblical writings in which archangels descend in human form. Some of the language used of these angelic redeemers is actually paralleled in the fourth Gospel: in the Testament of Abraham, for example, the archangel comes down and tells the patriarch 'everything which he has heard from the Most High,' while in another work an archangel, the 'firstborn of every creature,' descends to earth and 'tabernacles' among men. In all these writings there is the taking of bodily form, the successful struggle with evil, and the final ascent of the heavenly being. Moreover, in some cases the angel and Wisdom traditions merge with each other and with the concepts of the Logos and the first-born son...the themes of pre existence, descent and glorious ascent are found in Philippians 2:6-10, and those of descent and exaltation in Romans 1:3-4, while in Galatians 4:4 there is a clear reference to Christ as an angel: 'You have received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 'In teaching about Christ as pre-existent, 'the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature [by whom] all things were created' (Col. 1:15), clearly Paul is describing not the historical Jesus whose profile we can discern, however dimly, in the Gospels, but with a figure cast in the Wisdom literature speculation-that is, with a mythological construct.

Martin Werner in The Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 133 states:

the influence of the late-Jewish speculation about the archangel Michael in the earlier period of Post-Apostolic Christianity helped to preserve the Angel Christology: indeed it even provided new stimulus for the further development of Christology. In his day Wilhelm Bousset had already alluded to the fact, being the first to do so, in his writing about the 'Antichrist'. The figure of the archangel Michael had perhaps already influenced Philo's speculation about the Logos, and Philo had affected Christian authors of the Post-Apostolic period. In any case Philo did not identify the Logos with the Messiah, but with an archangel, and he predicated to him that which was appropriate to the archangel Michael. Thus the late-Jewish speculation about Michael (which imparted Messianic traits to the archangel), the Philonic Logos-doctrine and the PostApostolic Logos-Christology appear in a sequence and indicate that the late-Jewish doctrine of angels was their common presupposition.

The Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 122 says:

The Pauline portrait of Christ corresponds to the apocalyptic concept of the heavenly Messiah as Prince of the Angels and an angelic being. The eternity of the unchanging being of God was not attributed to Christ by Paul. The pre-existent Christ also, as a creature, 'had come into being', and could, accordingly, be set forth as the Second Adam on analogy with the First Adam, who had been created (1 Cor. xv, 45). The preexistent Christ did indeed exist in 'divine form'; but Paul himself had expressly denied that, despite this, 'equality with God', in the strict sense, could be asserted, i.e. an equality which would render the Christ essentially different from all other creatures, not only from men, but also from the angels (Phil. ii, 6). Paul attributed the 'image of God', not only to Christ (2 Cor. iv, 4), but also to man (1 Cor. xi, 7). This Christ had, as man had, in common with Adam in the creation narrative of Gen. i, 27. Paul in naming Christ, as did others in the New Testament, the 'Son of God , did not exceed the late Jewish doctrine of angels. In Enoch vi, 2 the angels are designated 'sons of heaven', as they are in many places in the Old Testament. It was not only in the statement of 1 Cor. viii, 6, that 'through him' all things exist, that Christ, according to the contemporary mode of thought, was exalted essentially as God over the angels. The conception of Christ as the agent of creation paralleled in a certain manner the other statements of Paul in which, in conformity with late Jewish thought, the direction and government of the world were ascribed to certain angelic-powers and the Law of Sinai given to the people of Israel, not by God, but by angels. The exaltation of the Heavenly Christ to cosmic significance here was clearly related to that late Jewish speculation which increasingly assigned divine functions to mediators of a celestial kind. This tendency, to render God completely transcendental, established itself firmly in the doctrine of angels which was so comprehensively developed in late Judaism.

The Formation of Christian Dogma, pp. 123, 124 states:

A peculiar situation in this connection is constituted by the use by Paul and the Primitive Christians of the Christological title of Kyrios. This title had long been considered, without proper evidence, simply as a transference of the Septuagint name for God to Christ. It was accordingly, overlooked that while Paul did indeed apply sayings of the Septuagint concerning the Kyrios to Christ, there is not one instance of his having done this where the saying referred to God (ho theos), an exception which cannot be accidental. The truth is that the invocation and designation of Christ by Kyrios prove themselves to be a particular instance of the general, but too-long-neglected, fact that late Judaism and Primitive Christianity designated and invoked the angels as kyrioi. The transference of the title of Kyrios to the angels is already evident in the designation of God as the 'Lord of Lords', i.e. of the Kyrioi. In 4 Ezra 'Lord' is 'the term repeatedly used for the angels. On the other hand, the Apocalyptist, in converse with the angel of revelation, calls himself his 'servant , as Paul did himself in relation to Christ., In the Christian apocalyptic literature this transference of the title of Kyrios to the angels was preserved, as is seen in the Shepherd of Hermas, the Ascensio Jesaiae, the Apocalypse of Sophonias 5 and the Apocalypse of Abrahams In this connection certain clear examples from the New Testament may be cited. In Acts x, 3 f. Cornelius addresses the angel which appears to him as Kyrie, and with the same address Peter answers the anonymous voice from heaven in Acts x, 13 f, Particularly notable is the passage of Acts ix, 5. Herein Paul does not at first recognise the glorified Jesus, who appears to him on the way to Damascus, and he has to ask, 'Who art thou?' However, he addresses the heavenly appearance, which was still unknown to him, without further ado with Kyrie. It was clear to him from the first that he had to do with a heavenly being (and certainly not with God himself, who never thus appeared in late Judaism). To such a being appertained in any case the address of Kyrie. Thus certain New Testament evidence is provided of the fact that the title of Kyrios had become a designation for a particular class of angels in the in the heavenly hierarchy. The title in this sense is frequently met in the New Testament 'Kyriotes', e.g. Eph. i, 21; Col- i, 16; Jude 8; 2 pet. ii, 10. In the New Testament this expression generally does not designate any other than a class of angels. In these terms 1 Con viii, 5 is to be understood, this being a passage in which Paul speaks of the many Kyrioi. These were in fact closely related to the many gods, over against whom Paul set Christ as the one Kyrios, with whom the faithful ought naturally alone to seek to deal. This passage, accordingly, provides effective evidence of the connection between the late Jewish and primitive Christian teaching about the Christ and the apocalyptic doctrine of angels. Among the many Kyrioi-angels was one who was marked out in a peculiar manner by God as the 'Chosen' for the office of the Christ and the world-ruler of the final epoch. Within the range of his own late-Jewish apocalyptic thought, Paul meant nothing different from that which incidentally appears in other forms in the late Jewish Apocalypse of Enoch and, later with variations, in the Christian Ascensio Jesaiae. In Enoch lxi, 10 the Christ is ranked, without qualification, among the hosts of angels, and he is, primarily, named together with the angels of lordship' (angeloi tes kyriotetos); but he is also 'the Chosen', who will ascend the Throne of God as the judge of the World, and is entitled to worship. Finally, reference must also be made to a peculiar instance in the speech of Stephen in Acts vii, 30 ff. Herein the angel (angelos), which appeared to Moses on Sinai, is identified with the Kyrios as the pre-existing Christ. The ascription of the title of Kyrios to Christ thus constitutes a remarkable piece of evidence indicative of the fact that, in terms of the Primitive Christian conception, related as it was to the apocalyptic doctrine of the Messiah, Christ was a high heavenly being of angelic kind.

9.0 ANGEL-CHRISTOLOGY IN EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

Professor Martin Werner in Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 137 states:

In the 19th century the Berlin Old Testament student, who was also editor of a church newspaper and an ecclesiastical politician, Ernest Wilhelm Hengstenberg, in his many volumed work on the Christology of the Old Testament, concentrated upon the Early Christian identification of Christ with the angelic figures of the Old Testament, particularly the archangel Michael.

Formation of Christian Dogma, pp. 122, 125 says:

In the Primitive Christian era there was no sign of any kind of Trinitarian problem or controversy, such as later produced violent conflicts in the Church. The reason for this undoubtedly lay in the fact that, for Primitive Christianity, Christ was . . . a being of the high celestial angel-world, who was created and chosen by God for the task of bringing in, at the end of the ages, . . . the Kingdom of God.

Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 140 states:

The pre-Arian discussion of the Angel-Christology did not turn simply on the question whether Christ was an angel, but on another issue, namely, in what sense could he, as an angel, rank as God. The explanation which was offered by the supporters of the Angel-Christology was that Christ, according to his nature, was a high angel, but that he was named 'God'; for the designation 'God' was ambiguous. The word 'God' did mean, in the first place, the absolute divine omnipotence but it was also used for the beings who served this deus verus [Latin, 'god true'= (the) true God]. That these were designated 'gods' implies reverence and recognition of Him who sent them and whom they thus represented. Consequently in the Scriptures (Exod. xxii, 28), not only angels, but even men could be called 'gods' [cf. Ps. 8:5; Heb. 2:7, 9; Ps. 82:6, 7; John 10:34, 35] without according them the status in the strict sense. Even Latantius [260-330 C.E.] had thought in this way2 ... 2 Latantius, inst. Epitome [The Epitome Of The Divine Institutes], 37.

Brittanica.com says of Angel-Christology:

Here Arius joined an older tradition of Christology, which had already played a role in Rome in the early 2nd century--namely, the so-called angel-Christology. The descent of the Son to Earth was understood as the descent to Earth of the highest prince of the angels, who became man in Jesus Christ; he is to some extent identified with the angel prince Michael. In the old angel Christology the concern is already expressed to preserve the oneness of God, the inviolable distinguishing mark of the Jewish and Christian faiths over against all paganism. The Son is not himself God, but as the highest of the created spiritual beings he is moved as close as possible to God. Arius joined this tradition with the same aim--i.e., defending the idea of the oneness of the Christian concept of God against all reproaches that Christianity introduces a new, more sublime form of polytheism.

In “A review of *Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence*” by Gieschen, the reviewer states:

Gieschen's conclusions are (1) that angelomorphic traditions "were profoundly employed in earliest extant expressions of Christology," (2) that Angel of the Lord traditions in particular were very important in contributing to the linking of angelomorphic figures intimately identified with YHWH (i.e., the Angel, the Glory, the Name, the Word, Wisdom) to the fleshly Jesus who had ascended and was now enthroned," (3) that early Christians combined various antecedent traditions in formulating their Christology, and (4) that traditions about the invisibility of God were important contributors to the development of angelomorphic traditions and to early Christology. Overall, Gieschen contends that angelomorphic traditions "were some of the oldest and most significant traditions that inspired the Christology which we now find in early Christian literature, including the New Testament." Indeed, Gieschen holds that "the central root" from which various early christological traditions developed (e.g., Wisdom/Spirit/Name/Glory/Son of Man/Image/Anthropos Christologies) is "the angelomorphic tradition in which the Angel of the Lord is God appearing in the form of a man."

Even when discussing Philo, many have realized that his writings on Wisdom/Logos can be best understood with an angelology in view.

Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 133 says:

The belief that Michael the Archangel was the same as the Word/Wisdom, was carried over by Philo of Judea who, ‘identified the Logos with the archangel Michael.

In her Logos and Its Function in the Writings of Philo of Alexandria: Greek Interpretation of Hebrew Thought and Foundations of Christianity: Part One, Marian Hillar writes:

The Angel of the Lord, Revealer of God: Philo describes the Logos as the revealer of God symbolized in the Scripture (Gen. 31:13; 16:8; etc) by an angel of the Lord (Somn. 1.228-239; Cher. 1-3). The Logos is the first-born and the eldest and chief of the angels.

Intermediary Power:

The fundamental doctrine propounded by Philo is that of Logos as an intermediary power, a messenger and mediator between God and the world. And the father who created the universe has given to his archangel and most ancient Logos a pre-eminent gift, to stand on the confines of both, and separate that which had been created from the Creator. And this same Logos is continually a suppliant to the immortal God on behalf of the mortal race, which is exposed to affliction and misery; and is also the ambassador, sent by the Ruler of all, to the subject race. And the Logos rejoices.... saying "And I stood in the midst, between the Lord and you" (Num. 16:48); neither being uncreated as God, nor yet created as you, but being in the midst between these two extremities, like a hostage, as it were, to both parties (Her. 205-206).

From the Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman[5]:

Philo, as far as I know, ascribed no 'condescension' to his Logos, for he considered him a creature, or, at least, an emanation, as well as his companion Angel. He speaks of him as a second God (vid. Euseb. Præp. Ev. vii. 13, p. 323, ed. 1688); as an Archangel between God and man, neither increate nor a creature, an intercessor with God, a messenger from Him (Quis hæres, p. 509), as the first-born Son, His Viceroy (de Agricult. p. 195), the created idea or plan, the [kosmos noetos] on which the visible world was made (de Opif. mund. p. 5, Quis hæres, p. 512). There is nothing then in him which needs explanation when he speaks of the Almighty and His two ministering attendants; but if a writer such as Irenæus uses language of a like character, he must be interpreted, not by Philo, but by other statements of his own and by the doctrine of his brother theologians. Indeed, when closely inspected, the doubtful language of this great Father explains itself.

In Justin Martyr's “Dialogue With Trypho”, we discover more as we shall see:

Chapter XXXIV: "For Christ is King, and Priest and (a) god and lord, and angel and man and captain..."

Chapter XXXVII: "Moreover in the diapsalm of the forty-sixth (47) Psalm, reference is thus made to Christ, 'God went up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing ye to our God'... and Trypho said.... 'For when you say that this Christ existed as (a) god before the ages, then that he submitted to be born and became man, yet 1 that he is not of man this appears to be not merely paradoxical but also foolish'... 'Now assuredly, Trypho,' I continued, 'The proof that this man is the Christ of God does not fail... that he existed formerly as Son of the Maker of all things, being (a) god, and was born a man by the virgin..."

Chapter LV: "And Trypho answered, 'We shall remember this your exposition, if you strengthen (your solution of) this difficulty by other arguments; but now resume the discourse, and show us that the spirit of prophecy admits another God besides the Maker of all things..."

Chapter LVI: "Then (Justin) replied, 'I shall attempt to persuade you, since you have understood the Scriptures (of the truth) of what I say, that there is, and that there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things; who is also called an Angel, because he announces to man whatsoever the Maker of all things above whom there is no other God - wishes to announce to them...'. Then (Justin) replied, 'Reverting to the Scriptures, I shall endeavour to persuade you, that he who is said to have appeared to Abraham, and to Jacob, and to Moses and who is called "God" is distinct from Him who made all things - numerically, I mean, not (distinct) in will'... 'For I affirm that he has never at any time done anything which he who made the world - above whom there is no other god - has not wished him both to do and to engage himself with'."

Chapter LXI: "I shall give you another testimony, my friends,' said I, 'from the Scriptures, that God begat before all creatures a beginning (who was) a certain rational power (proceeding) from himself, who is called by the holy spirit, now the glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, (a) God, and then Lord and Logos... He speaks by Solomon the following, "If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting, and review them. The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works. From everlasting he established me in the beginning before he had made the earth"..."

Chapter LXII: "...Even as the Scripture by Solomon has made clear, that he whom Solomon calls Wisdom, was begotten as a beginning before all his creatures and as offspring of God..."

Werner in ibid p. 135 says of Justin:

For Justin [Martyr] the Logos-Christ was, therefore, the archistrategos, the highest angel prince and leader of the angelic host.

Clement of Alexandria (153—193—217 C.E.) explains[6]:

Formerly the older people [the Israelites] had an old covenant, and the law disciplined the people with fear, and the Word was an angel; but the fresh and new people [the Christians] has also been given a new covenant, and the Word has appeared, and fear turned into love, and that mystic angel is born—Jesus.

Hippolytus (170—236 C.E.)[7]:

"And lo, Michael." and Who is Michael but the angel assigned to the people? As God says to Moses. "I will not go with you in the way, because the people are stiff-necked; but my angel shall go with you.”

Melito, (160-170-177 C.E.)[8]:

He who in the law is the Law; among the priests, Chief Priest; among kings, the Ruler; among prophets, the Prophet; among the angels, Archangel; in the voice of the preacher, the Word; among spirits, the Spirit; in the Father, the Son; in God, God; King for ever and ever.

In Early Christian Doctrines pp. 94-95, J.N.D. Kelly writes concerning The Shepherd of Hermas, of the 2nd or 3rd century:

In a number of passages we read of an angel who is superior to the six angels forming God's inner council, and who is regularly described as 'most venerable', 'holy' and 'glorious'. This angel is given the name of Michael, and the conclusion is difficult to escape that Hermas saw in him the Son of God and equated him with the archangel Michael...Christ's pre-existence, was generally taken for granted, as was His role creation as well as redemption. This theme, which could point to Pauline and Johannine parallels, chimed in very easily with creative functions assigned to Wisdom in later Judaism...There is evidence also...of attempts to interpret Christ as a sort of supreme angel ... Of a doctrine of the Trinity in the strict sense there is of course no sign, although the Church's triadic formula left its mark everywhere.

Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 135 states:

The counterpart of this is afforded by an identification of Christ with the archangel Michael, an identification which is made in the Shepherd of Hermas. ... According to the early Christian writing Of The Threefold Fruits, Christ, as one of the seven archangels of God, was created ‘from fire’ and exalted to the status of ‘Son.’

(see also Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible)-The Shepherd of Hermas was so near and dear to the ante-Nicene Fathers that many of them considered it canonical scripture.

10.0 OPINIONS OF MORE CONTEMPORARY BIBLE SCHOLARS

On this subject scholar Martin Werner[9] wrote:

... in the Post-Apostolic period the appearances of angels in the Old Testament narrative, so far as they occurred in some way for the succour of men, had already begun to be interpreted as appearances of Christ. This identification long remained a favourite one, as Origen, Justin, Irenaeus, Novatian and the Letter of Hymenaeus as well as other documents abundantly show us.

A popular, contemporary Protestant evangelist, Billy Graham[10], claimed that:

Some places in the Old Testament tell us that the Second Person of the Trinity appeared and was called either ‘the Lord’ or ‘the angel of the Lord’. Nowhere is it clearer than in Genesis 18 where three men appear before Abraham. Their leader is clearly identified as the Lord, whereas the other two are merely angels... We must remember, then, that in some cases in the Old Testament God Himself appeared in human form as an angel...

The Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature by McClintock and Strong[11] submitted:

...the ‘Sons of God’, or even in poetry, the ‘gods’ (Elohim), the ‘holy ones’, etc. are names which, in their full and proper sense, are applicable only to the Lord Jesus Christ. As He is ‘the Son of God’, so also is He the ‘angel’ or ‘messenger’ of the Lord.

Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia[12] states this:

“But we have not only this, that Michael is here [Daniel 12:1], not ‘one of the chief princes,’ nor even ‘the first of them;’ but ‘the chief prince,’ because no other prince is worthy to be named in the same breath with him; as in fact he is that unlimited and everlasting ruler of whom the whole book of Daniel prophesies, at the coming of whose kingdom all its rivals were swept away, and no place was found for them.

“A dispassionate consideration can scarcely fail to convince us that this being whom Daniel saw is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. …There is nothing strange and unprecedented in the view that this prince of his people, this great prince, this effective helper superior to men and angels even when he stood alone; should be a person about whom there was indeed a great mystery in the Old Testament, but who had been known throughout the whole course of revelation to Daniel’s people, as standing in some very close relation at once to Jehovah and to them.

“To deny that the Angel of the Lord is the Son of God is to introduce confusion into the whole of the record of God’s dealings with his ancient people; if, on the contrary, we affirm their identity, when the supposition that he and Michael are one and the same is the simplest and most natural imaginable, as will appear all the more if we attempt to construct a different theory.”

Scholar John A. Lees[13] states:

The earlier Protestant scholars usually identified Michael (the archangel) with the preincarnate Christ, finding support for their view, not only in the juxtaposition of the ‘child’ and the archangel in Revelation 12, but also in the attributes ascribed to him in Dnl [Daniel]...

Protestant Reformer John Calvin[14], in his Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Daniel[15] said regarding "Michael" in its occurrence at Daniel 12:1:

I embrace the opinion of those who refer this to the person of Christ, because it suits the subject best to represent him as standing forward for the defense of his elect people.

Regarding the occurrence of "Michael" in Revelation 12:7-10, Methodist Adam Clarke remarks[16]:

By the personage, in the Apocalypse, many understand the Lord Jesus.

Notice what Bible Scholar John Wesley[17] notice says in his commentary on Daniel:

Chapter XII

A promise of deliverance, and of a joyful resurrection, ver. 1 - 4. A conference concerning the time of these events, ver. 5 - 7. An answer to Daniel's enquiry, ver. 8 - 13.1 For the children - The meaning seems to be, as after the death of Antiochus the Jews had some deliverance, so there will be yet a greater deliverance to the people of God, when Michael your prince, the Messiah shall appear for your salvation. A time of trouble - A the siege of Jerusalem, before the final judgment. The phrase at that time, probably includes all the time of Christ, from his first, to his last coming.

John Wesley on Daniel 10:21

Michael - Christ alone is the protector of his church, when all the princes of the earth desert or oppose it.

Geneva Study Bible[18]:

Da 12:1

And at that {a} time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

(a) The angel here notes two things: first that the Church will be in great affliction and trouble at Christ's coming, and next that God will send his angel to deliver it, whom he here calls Michael, meaning Christ, who is proclaimed by the preaching of the Gospel.

Da 10:13

But the {h} prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, {i} Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. (h) Meaning Cambyses, who reigned in his father's absence, and did not only for this time hinder the building of the temple, but would have further raged, if God had not sent me to resist him: and therefore I have stayed for the profit of the Church.

(i) Even though God could by one angel destroy all the world, yet to assure his children of his love he sends forth double power, even Michael, that is, Christ Jesus the head of angels.

William L. Alexander, Doctor of Divinity stated[19]:

There seems good reason for regarding Michael as the Messiah. Such was the opinion of the best among the ancient Jews.... With this all the Bible representations of Michael agree. He appears as the Great Prince who standeth for Israel (Dan. xii. I), and he is called "the Prince of Israel" (Dan. x. 21)

International Bible Dictionary[20] says:

Michael ... in Dan. 10:13,21; 12:1, is described as having a special charge of the Jewish nation, and in Rev. 12:7-9 as the leader of the angelic army. So exalted are the position and offices ascribed to Michael, that many think the Messiah is meant.

J.P. Lange's Commentary On The Holy Scriptures, s.v. Rev. 12:7, calls the figure here (Rev 12:7-10) "the warlike form of Christ."

An Exposition of The Bible[21], produced by 27 different scholars, says of Michael:

It is even itself probable that the Leader of the hosts of light (in Rev. 12:7-9) will be no other than the Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.... Above all, the prophecies of Daniel, in which the name Michael first occurs, may be said to decide the point.

Matthew Henry Commentary:

Concerning Revelation 12:9 in Henry’s unabridged and concise commentaries:

2. The parties-Michael and his angels on one side, and the dragon and his angels on the other: Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and all his instruments. This latter party would be much superior in number and outward strength to the other; but the strength of the church lies in having the Lord Jesus for the captain of their salvation.

Verses 7-11 The attempts of the dragon proved unsuccessful against the church, and fatal to his own interests. The seat of this war was in heaven; in the church of Christ, the kingdom of heaven on earth. The parties were Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and his instruments.

Concerning Daniel 10 in Henry’s unabridged commentary:

Here is Michael our prince, the great protector of the church, and the patron of its just but injured cause: The first of the chief princes, v. 13. Some understand it of a created angel, but an archangel of the highest order, 1 Th. 4:16; Jude 9. Others think that Michael the archangel is no other than Christ himself, the angel of the covenant, and the Lord of the angels, he whom Daniel saw in vision, v. 5.

Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, in his Christology of the Old Testament and a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions[22] identifies the archangel Michael with the Logos-Christ:

The two passages in the New Testament, in which Michael is mentioned, serve to confirm the result already arrived at. That the Michael referred to in Rev. xii. 7 is no other than the Logos, has already been proved in my commentary upon that passage. Hofmann (Schriftbeweis i., p. 296) objects to this explanation, and says, 'in this case it is impossible to imagine why the Archangel should be mentioned as fighting with the dragon, and not the child that was caught up to the throne of God.' But we have already replied to this in the commentary, where we said, 'if Michael be Christ, the question arises why Michael is mentioned here instead of Christ'. The answer to this is, that the name Michael [Who is like God?, that is, 'Who dares to claim that they are like God?'] contains in itself an intimation that the work referred to here, the decisive victory over Satan, belongs to Christ, not as human, but rather as divine [compare 1 John iii. 8]. Moreover, this name forms a connecting link between the Old Testament and the New. Even in the Old Testament, Michael is represented as the great prince, who fights on behalf of the Church (Dan. xii. 1).' The conflict there alluded to was a prediction and prelude of the one mentioned hero. The further objections offered by Hofmann rest upon his very remarkable interpretation of chap. xii., which is not likely to be adopted by any who are capable of examining for themselves.

The following is a rather lengthy quote from: The Bible Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Atonement, Faith and Election[23], a copy to be found in the library of Harvard University:

“I am not alone in this opinion; most of the principal writers of the Trinitarian school have advocated the same doctrine. Brown’s dictionary of the Bible on the words Michael, and Angel says, that both these words do sometimes refer to Christ; and also affirms that Christ is the archangel. Woods Spiritual Dictionary teaches nearly, if not exactly, the same on this subject that Brown’s does. The former was a Calvinist, the latter a Methodist. Buck in his Theological Dictionary says, under the article Angel, d) that Christ is in scripture frequently called an Angel. Butterworth, Cruden, and Taylor in their concordances, assert that Michael and Angel are both names of Christ. Doctor Coke, a Methodist bishop, in his notes on the Bible, acknowledges that Christ is sometimes called an Angel. See his notes of that passage where the Angel of the Lord spake to the people at Bochim. Winchester has taught the same doctrine in the 152nd page of the first volume of his lectures on the prophecies. Whitefield, in his sermon on the bush that burnt and was not consumed, says that the Angel that appeared to Moses in the bush was Christ. Pool, in his Annotations, explains those passages where the Lord appeared to the Patriarchs under the character of an Angel, as referring to Jesus Christ. Bunyan makes the pilgrim ascribe his deliverance from Apollyon to Michael. He says, “Blessed Michael helped me.” Pilgrim’s Progress, Cincinnati edition, page 54. Guyse in his Paraphrase on the New Testament, on Rev. 12:7, acknowledges that many good expositors think that Christ is signified by Michael; and also gives it as his opinion.

“Doctor Watts in his [G]lories of Christ, page[s] 200, 201, 202, 218, 223, and 224, teaches the same doctrine. Watts, Dodridge and some others have called this Angel of the covenant, or Angel of God's presence Christ's human soul, whom they think was the first Being that God ever created. I agree with them that Christ is the first Being that God created, but I cannot see the propriety of calling the pre-existent Christ a human soul, seeing he did not descend from humans but existed before the human family was created.

“Thomas Scott, in his notes on the Bible, says the Angel that appeared to Hagar when she fled from her mistress, one of the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, the Angel that appeared to Moses in the bush, and the Angel that spoke to the Jews at Bochim, was Jesus Christ: and also asserts that Michael the Archangel is Jesus Christ. See Gen. xvi. 9, 10. Chap. Xviii throughout. Exod. iii. 2-7. Judg. ii. 1-5, Dan x. 13, 21. Chap. xii. 1, Rev. xii. 7.”

The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library[24] states:

In his post-resurrection heavenly life, Jesus is portrayed as retaining a personal individuality every bit as distinct and separate from the person of God as was his in his life on earth as the terrestrial Jesus. Alongside God and compared with God, he appears, indeed, as yet another heavenly being in God’s heavenly court, just as the angels were — though as God’s Son, he stands in a different category, and ranks far above them

11.0 INDEX OF ALLUSIONS AND VERBAL PARALLELS FOR THE BOOK OF DANIEL

I included this index from the UBS4 Greek text for the purpose of answering two questions relevant to my theory: (1) Does Revelation draw heavily from the book of Daniel, (2) Are the “tribulation” and surrounding events set to begin during Michael’s “standing up” (Da 12:1) related to the “tribulation” and surrounding events set to begin during “Christ’s presence” (Mat 24:21)?

1.12, 14           Re 2.10

2.28                 Lk 21.9

2.28, 29           Mt 24.6; Re 1.1, 19; 4.1; 22.6

2.34-35            Mt 21.44

2.44                 1 Cor 15.24; Re 11.15

2.44-45            Mt 21.44

2.45                 Theodotion; Mt 24.6

2.45                 Re 1.1, 19; 4.1; 22.6

2.47                 1 Cor 14.25; Re 17.14; 19.16

3.4                   Re 10.11

3.5-6                Re 13.15

3.5                   Mt 4.9

3.6                   Mt 13.42; 13.50

3.10                 Mt 4.9

3.15                 Mt 4.9

3.23-25            He 11.34

3.36 LXX        He 11.12

4.2                   Jn 4.48

4.12, 21           Mt 13.32; Mk 4.32; Lk 13.19

4.30                 Re 18.10

4.34                 Re 4.9

4.37                 Jn 4.48

5.20                 Ac 12.23

5.23                 Re 9:20

6.1-27              He 11.33

6.21                 2 Tm 4.17

6.26                 1 Pe 1.23; Re 4.9

7.18                 Re 14.14

7.14                 Mt 24:30; 28:18; Mk 13.26; Lk 1.33; Jn 12.34; Re 10.11; 11.15; 19.6

7.18                 Re 22.5

7.20                 Re 13.5

7.21                 Re 11.7; 12.17; 13.7

7.22                 Lk 21.8; 1 Cor 6.2; Re 20.4

7.24                 Re 17.12

7.25                 12.14; 13.5

7.27                 Re 20.4; 22.5

8.10                 Re 12.4

8.16                 Lk 1.19

8.26                 Re 10.4

9.6, 10             Re 10.7; 11.18

9.21                 Lk 1.19

9.24                 Ac 10.43

9.26                 Lk 21.24

9.27                 Mt 24.15; Mk 13.14

10.5                 Re 1.13

10.6                 Re 1.14-15; 2.18; 19.12

10.13, 21         Jd 9; Re 12.7

11.31               Mt 24.15

11.36               2 Th 2.4; Re 13.5

11.41               Mt 24.10

12.1                 Mt 24.21; Mk 13.19; Php 4.3; Jd 9; Re 3.5; 7.14; 12.7; 13.8; 16.18; 17.8; 20.12; 20.15; 21.27

12.2                 Mt 25.46; Jn 5.29; 11.24; Ac 24.15

12.3                 Mt 13.43; Eph 2.15

12.4                 Re 22.10

12.4                 Re 10.4

12.7                 Lk 21.24; Re 4.9; 10.5-6; 12.14

12.9                 Re 10.4

12.11               Mt 24.15

12.12               Jas 5.11

Number of Hits for Revelation:          52

Closest Runner up:                            19

Number of links b/w tribulations:       14

11.1 Expansions Answering Question One[25]

Da 1.12, 14 “Please, put your servants to the test for ten days, and let them give us some vegetables that we may eat and water that we may drink;…Finally he listened to them as regards this matter and put them to the test for ten days.”

Compare:

Rev 2.10 “Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. Look! The Devil will keep on throwing some of YOU into prison that YOU may be fully put to the test, and that YOU may have tribulation ten days. Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Da 2.28, 29 “However, there exists a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Neb·u·chad·nez′zar what is to occur in the final part of the days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed—this it is: “As for you, O king, on your bed your own thoughts came up as regards what is to occur after this, and the One who is the Revealer of secrets has made known to you what is to occur.”

Compare:

Re 1.1 “A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.”

Re 1.19 “Therefore write down the things you saw, and the things that are and the things that will take place after these.”

Re 4.1 “After these things I saw, and, look! an opened door in heaven, and the first voice that I heard was as of a trumpet, speaking with me, saying: “Come on up here, and I shall show you the things that must take place.””

Re 22.6 “And he said to me: “These words are faithful and true; yes, Jehovah the God of the inspired expressions of the prophets sent his angel forth to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.”

Dan 2.44 ““And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite;”

Compare:

Re 11.15 “And the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices occurred in heaven, saying: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.””

Dan 2.45 “forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and [that] it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold. The grand God himself has made known to the king what is to occur after this. And the dream is reliable, and the interpretation of it is trustworthy.””

Compare:

Re 1.1 “A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.”

Re 1.19 “Therefore write down the things you saw, and the things that are and the things that will take place after these.”

Re 4.1 “After these things I saw, and, look! an opened door in heaven, and the first voice that I heard was as of a trumpet, speaking with me, saying: “Come on up here, and I shall show you the things that must take place.””

Re 22.6 “And he said to me: “These words are faithful and true; yes, Jehovah the God of the inspired expressions of the prophets sent his angel forth to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.”

Da 2.47 “The king was answering Daniel and saying: “Truly the God of YOU men is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a Revealer of secrets, because you were able to reveal this secret.””

Compare:

Re 17.14 “These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him [will do so].””

Rev 19.16 “And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Da 3.4 “And the herald was crying out loudly: “To YOU it is being said, O peoples, national groups and languages,”

Compare:

Re 10.11 “And they say to me: “You must prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.””

Da 3.5, 6 “that at the time that YOU hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the zither, the triangular harp, the stringed instrument, the bagpipe and all sorts of musical instruments, YOU fall down and worship the image of gold that Neb·u·chad·nez′zar the king has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship will at the same moment be thrown into the burning fiery furnace.””

Compare:

Re 13.15 “And there was granted it to give breath to the image of the wild beast, so that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause to be killed all those who would not in any way worship the image of the wild beast.”

Da 4.30 “The king was answering and saying: “Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built for the royal house with the strength of my might and for the dignity of my majesty?””

Compare:

Re 18.10 “while they stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and say, ‘Too bad, too bad, you great city, Babylon you strong city, because in one hour your judgment has arrived!’”

Da 4.34 ““And at the end of the days I, Neb·u·chad·nez′zar, lifted up to the heavens my eyes, and my own understanding began to return to me; and I blessed the Most High himself, and the One living to time indefinite I praised and glorified, because his rulership is a rulership to time indefinite and his kingdom is for generation after generation.”

Compare:

Re 4.9 “And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one seated upon the throne, the one that lives forever and ever,”

Da 5.23 “But against the Lord of the heavens you exalted yourself, and they brought before you even the vessels of his house; and you yourself and your grandees, your concubines and your secondary wives have been drinking wine from them, and you have praised mere gods of silver and of gold, copper, iron, wood and stone, that are beholding nothing or hearing nothing or knowing nothing; but the God in whose hand your breath is and to whom all your ways belong you have not glorified.”

Compare:

Re 9.20 “But the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they should not worship the demons and the idols of gold and silver and copper and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;”

Da 6.26 “From before me there has been put through an order that, in every dominion of my kingdom, people are to be quaking and fearing before the God of Daniel.”

Compare:

Re 4.9 “And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one seated upon the throne, the one that lives forever and ever,”

Da 7.14 “And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”

Compare:

Re 10.11 “And they say to me: “You must prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.””

Re 11.15 “And the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices occurred in heaven, saying: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.””

Re 19.6 “And I heard what was as a voice of a great crowd and as a sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders. They said: “Praise Jah, YOU people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.”

Da 7.18 “But the holy ones of the Supreme One will receive the kingdom, and they will take possession of the kingdom for time indefinite, even for time indefinite upon times indefinite.’”

Compare:

Re 14.14 “And I saw, and, look! a white cloud, and upon the cloud someone seated like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.”

Re 22.5 “Also, night will be no more, and they have no need of lamplight nor [do they have] sunlight, because Jehovah God will shed light upon them, and they will rule as kings forever and ever.”

Da 7.20 “and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other [horn] that came up and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking grandiose things and the appearance of which was bigger than that of its fellows.”

Compare:

Re 13.5 “And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given it, and authority to act forty-two months was given it.”

Da 7.21 ““I kept on beholding when that very horn made war upon the holy ones, and it was prevailing against them,”

Compare:

Re 11.7 “And when they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them.”

Re 12.17 “And the dragon grew wrathful at the woman, and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.”

Re 13.7 “And there was granted it to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”

Da 7.22 “until the Ancient of Days came and judgment itself was given in favor of the holy ones of the Supreme One, and the definite time arrived that the holy ones took possession of the kingdom itself.”

Compare:

Re 20.4 “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years.”

Da 7.24 “And as for the ten horns, out of that kingdom there are ten kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate.”

Compare:

Re 17.12 ““And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast.”

Da 7.27 ““‘And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the rulerships will serve and obey even them.’”

Compare:

Re 20.4 “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years.”

Re 22.5 “Also, night will be no more, and they have no need of lamplight nor [do they have] sunlight, because Jehovah God will shed light upon them, and they will rule as kings forever and ever.”

Da 8.10 “And it kept getting greater all the way to the army of the heavens, so that it caused some of the army and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it went trampling them down.”

Compare:

Re 12.4 “and its tail drags a third of the stars of heaven, and it hurled them down to the earth. And the dragon kept standing before the woman who was about to give birth, that, when she did give birth, it might devour her child.”

Da 8.26 ““And the thing seen concerning the evening and the morning, which has been said, it is true. And you, for your part, keep secret the vision, because it is yet for many days.””

Compare:

Re 10.4 “Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was at the point of writing; but I heard a voice out of heaven say: “Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.””

Da 9.6, 10 “And we have not listened to your servants the prophets, who have spoken in your name to our kings, our princes and our forefathers and to all the people of the land… And we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God by walking in his laws that he set before us by the hand of his servants the prophets.”

Compare:

Re 10.7 “but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.””

Re 11.18 “But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give [their] reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.””

Da 10.5 “I also proceeded to raise my eyes and see, and here was a certain man clothed in linen, with his hips girded with gold of U′phaz.”

Compare:

Re 1.13 “and in the midst of the lampstands someone like a son of man, clothed with a garment that reached down to the feet, and girded at the breasts with a golden girdle.”

Da 10.6 “And his body was like chrys′o·lite, and his face like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes like fiery torches, and his arms and the place of his feet were like the sight of burnished copper, and the sound of his words was like the sound of a crowd.”

Compare:

Re 1.14-15 “Moreover, his head and his hair were white as white wool, as snow, and his eyes as a fiery flame; and his feet were like fine copper when glowing in a furnace; and his voice was as the sound of many waters.”

Re 2.18 ““And to the angel of the congregation in Thy·a·ti′ra write: These are the things that the Son of God says, he who has his eyes like a fiery flame, and his feet are like fine copper,”

Re 19.12 “His eyes are a fiery flame, and upon his head are many diadems. He has a name written that no one knows but he himself,”

Da 10.13, 21 “But the prince of the royal realm of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty-one days, and, look! Mi′cha·el, one of the foremost princes, came to help me; and I, for my part, remained there beside the kings of Persia…However, I shall tell you the things noted down in the writing of truth, and there is no one holding strongly with me in these [things] but Mi′cha·el, the prince of YOU people.”

Compare:

Re 12.7 “And war broke out in heaven: Mi′cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled”

Da 11.36 ““And the king will actually do according to his own will, and he will exalt himself and magnify himself above every god; and against the God of gods he will speak marvelous things. And he will certainly prove successful until [the] denunciation will have come to a finish; because the thing decided upon must be done.”

Compare:

Re 13.5 “And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given it, and authority to act forty-two months was given it.”

Da 12.1 ““And during that time Mi′cha·el will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book.”

Compare:

Re 3.5 “He that conquers will thus be arrayed in white outer garments; and I will by no means blot out his name from the book of life, but I will make acknowledgment of his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Re 7.14 “So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one that knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Re 12.7 “And war broke out in heaven: Mi′cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled”

Re 13.8 “And all those who dwell on the earth will worship it; the name of not one of them stands written in the scroll of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered, from the founding of the world.”

Re 16.18 “And lightnings and voices and thunders occurred, and a great earthquake occurred such as had not occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive an earthquake, so great.”

Re 17.8 “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction. And when they see how the wild beast was, but is not, and yet will be present, those who dwell on the earth will wonder admiringly, but their names have not been written upon the scroll of life from the founding of the world.”

Re 20.12 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds.”

Re 20.15 “Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.”

Re 21.27 “Also, he measured its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to a man’s measure, at the same time an angel’s.”

Da 12.4 ““And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of [the] end. Many will rove about, and the [true] knowledge will become abundant.””

Compare:

Re 22.10 “He also tells me: “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the appointed time is near.”

Re 10.4 “Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was at the point of writing; but I heard a voice out of heaven say: “Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.””

Da 12.7 “And I began to hear the man clothed with the linen, who was up above the waters of the stream, as he proceeded to raise his right [hand] and his left [hand] to the heavens and to swear by the One who is alive for time indefinite: “It will be for an appointed time, appointed times and a half. And as soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces, all these things will come to their finish.””

Compare:

Re 4.9 “And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one seated upon the throne, the one that lives forever and ever,”

Re 10.5-6 “And the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised his right hand to heaven, ⁶ and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore: “There will be no delay any longer;”

Re 12.14 “But the two wings of the great eagle were given the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place; there is where she is fed for a time and times and half a time away from the face of the serpent.

Da 12.9 “And he went on to say: “Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of [the] end.”

Compare:

Re 10.4 “Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was at the point of writing; but I heard a voice out of heaven say: “Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.””

11.2 Expansions Answering Question Two

Da 2.28 “However, there exists a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Neb·u·chad·nez′zar what is to occur in the final part of the days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed—this it is:”

Compare

Lu 21.9 “Furthermore, when YOU hear of wars and disorders, do not be terrified. For these things must occur first, but the end does not [occur] immediately.””

Da 2.28, 29 “However, there exists a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Neb·u·chad·nez′zar what is to occur in the final part of the days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed—this it is… “As for you, O king, on your bed your own thoughts came up as regards what is to occur after this, and the One who is the Revealer of secrets has made known to you what is to occur.”

Compare:

Mt 24.6 “YOU are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that YOU are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Da 2.45 “forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and [that] it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold. The grand God himself has made known to the king what is to occur after this. And the dream is reliable, and the interpretation of it is trustworthy.””

Compare:

Mt 24.6 “YOU are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that YOU are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Da 7.14 “And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”

Compare:

Mt 24.30 “And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Mk 13.26 “And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”

Da 7.22 “until the Ancient of Days came and judgment itself was given in favor of the holy ones of the Supreme One, and the definite time arrived that the holy ones took possession of the kingdom itself.”

Compare:

Lu 21.8 “⁸ He said: “Look out that YOU are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time has approached.’ Do not go after them.”

Da 9.26 ““And after the sixty-two weeks Mes·si′ah will be cut off, with nothing for himself.

“And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin. And the end of it will be by the flood. And until [the] end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations.””

Compare:

Lu 21.24 “and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.”

Da 9.27 ““And he must keep [the] covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease. “And upon the wing of disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.””

Compare:

Mt 24.15 ““Therefore, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,)”

Da 11.31 “And there will be arms that will stand up, proceeding from him; and they will actually profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and remove the constant [feature]. “And they will certainly put in place the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.”

Compare:

Mt 24.15 ““Therefore, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,)”

Da 11.41 “He will also actually enter into the land of the Decoration, and there will be many [lands] that will be made to stumble. But these are the ones that will escape out of his hand, E′dom and Mo′ab and the main part of the sons of Am′mon.”

Compare:

Mt 24.10 “Then, also, many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another.”

Da 12.1 “And during that time Mi′cha·el will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book.”

Compare:

Mt 24.21 “for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”

Mk 13.19 “for those days will be [days of] a tribulation such as has not occurred from [the] beginning of the creation which God created until that time, and will not occur again.”

Da 12.7 “And I began to hear the man clothed with the linen, who was up above the waters of the stream, as he proceeded to raise his right [hand] and his left [hand] to the heavens and to swear by the One who is alive for time indefinite: “It will be for an appointed time, appointed times and a half. And as soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces, all these things will come to their finish.””

Compare:

Lu 21.24 “and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.”

Da 12.11 ““And from the time that the constant [feature] has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.”

Compare:

Mt 24.15 ““Therefore, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,)”

---

[1] con sol i date - verb (used with object) 1) to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite; combine: 2) to discard the unused or unwanted items of and organize the remaining.

[2] The Greek text reads: "ως αγγελον θεου εδεξασθε με ως χριστον ιησουν"

[3] See Daniel 10:21; Daniel 12:1; compare Exodus 23:20-23; 32:34; 33:2; Jude 9.

[4] See Psalm 104:1, 4; Hebrew 1:7; 1 Kings 22:20-22.

[5]  http://www.newmanreader.org/works/tracts/arianism/section10.html

[6] The Instructor, Book I, chapter VII (7); ANF, Vol. II, p. 224.

[7] Scholia On Daniel, 13; ANF, Vol. V (5), p. 190. (Compare, Exodus 14:19; 23:20, 3; 32:34; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Insight On The Scriptures, Volume 2, p. 816, paragraph 9).

[8] On Faith; ANF, Vol. VIII (8), pp. 756-7.

[9] Martin Werner, D.D., The Formation of Christian Dogma, p. 130.

[10] Billy Graham, Angels: God's Secret Agents, (Doubleday), p. 33.

[11] McClintock and Strong, "Angel." The Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature Volume I, p. 226.

[12] Patrick Fairbairn, D.D., editor, Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing, 1957, Vol. IV, pp.238,239; Revised 1997, Vol. Seven, p. 800. (originally published as The Imperial Bible Dictionary, 1891).

[13] John A. Lees, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1930, Vol. III, p.2048.

[14] See Calvin's writings online at http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/comment3/comm_vol25/htm/vii.htm

[15] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Daniel, trans. T. Myers (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), vol. 2 p. 369.

[16] In his multi-volume commentary -- not just the 1-volume abridged ed. by Ralph Earle----published by Abingdon Press, vol. 6, page 952.

[17] See Wesley's writings online at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/daniel.htm

[18] See http://www.ccel.org/g/geneva/notes/Daniel/12.html

[19] William L. Alexander, D.D., A Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, originally edited by John Kitto, 3d ed. (Edinburgh: A & C Black, 1886). vol. 3, p. 158.

[20] International Bible Dictionary. Illustrated (Plainfield, NJ, Logos Internatioanl, 1977), p. 35, published by Logos International, an evangelical Protestant outfit.

[21] An Exposition of The Bible. published in Hartford, CT, 1910, by the Scranton Co., vol. 6, p.882.

[22] Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, Christologie des Alten Testaments und Kommentar uber die messianischen Weissagungen. 1836-9, Vol. IV, pp. 304-5 (in the T. & T. Clark publication; p. 269 in the Kregel publication).

[23] William Kinkade, The Bible Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Atonement, Faith and Election. NY: H.R. Piercy, 1829, pp.152-5.

[24] The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 1967-68, Vol. 50, p. 258.

[25] For the sake of the compiler’s convenience, all Scriptures are from the NWT.