“Is Jesus actually Michael the Archangel?”

QUESTION: Is Jesus actually Michael, the Archangel?

ANSWER:Absolutely not! This false teaching, which dishonors the Lord Jesus, is promulgated by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Scripture nowhere teaches that Jesus is the angel Michael.

The angelic messenger sent to Daniel refers to Michael as “one of the chief princes,” “your prince,” and “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people” (Dan. 10:13,21; 12:1 NKJV). Jude 9 calls him “Michael, the archangel.” He is the only angel called “the archangel” or “chief angel.” Revelation 12:7 says that “Michael and his angels fought with the dragon.” He is thus presented as the great angel with a special responsibility for Israel; he had to combat Satan on their behalf.

The Lord Jesus is not a creature. He is the Word who in the beginning was with God and who is God (Jn. 1:1). In fact, He is “the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:13-18).

Great and powerful as he is, Michael is but a creature with creature limitations. Contending with the devil, he “dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 9). By contrast, the Lord Jesus Himself bluntly rebuked the devil: “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’” (Mt. 4:7).

Michael is one of those angels of whom Hebrews 1:6 says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” He is one of those “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). The Lord Jesus, “who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death” is now “crowned with glory and honor.” He alone, not the archangel Michael, is the “appointed Heir of all things ... the brightness of (God’s) glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power ... (who) when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” and under whom all will soon be placed in subjection (Heb. 1:2-3; 2:8). What a tremendous contrast! Let us worship the Lord Jesus, and Him alone!

QUESTION: Since the Bible says Christians are in the world but not of the world (Jn. 17:11-19), is it right for Christians to say, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”?

ANSWER: This may be a common saying in the world, but it should not be the Christian’s motto. God’s Word clearly points out the inappropriateness of fellowship between righteousness and lawlessness, light and darkness, the believer and unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:14-16). His answer is not “Join them,” but rather, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:17-18 NKJV). Certainly, His fellowship and fatherly help will more than compensate us for all that we may suffer from the world around us.

By Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.