Michael

Biblical Texts

An angel named Michael appears in five verses of the Bible.

• Daniel 10:13, 10:21: The being who appeared to Daniel says that when he was withstood by "the prince of the kingdom of Persia," "Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me." He then calls Michael "your prince."
• Daniel 12:1: The verse foretells that in the time of final tribulation "shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people."
• Jude 1:9: "Michael the archangel" disputed with the devil over the body of Moses. On that occasion Michael "durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."
• Revelation 12:7-9: In heaven Michael and his angels fight against the dragon and prevail, and the dragon is cast out into the earth. The text identifies the dragon as "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan."

Apart from this angel, the Old Testament also mentions several men named Michael, as in Numbers 13:13.

Background

The Hebrew name Mikha'el is interpreted as the question "Who is like God?" Michael and Gabriel are the only angels identified by name in the Bible.

The book of Daniel belongs to the genre of apocalyptic literature. Daniel speaks of nations as each having a "prince" ("the prince of Persia," "the prince of Grecia," Daniel 10:20), and many interpreters take these princes to be spiritual beings assigned to the nations.

The account in Jude 1:9 does not appear in the Old Testament. Early church fathers are reported to have said that the story came from a Jewish work known as the Assumption of Moses. Michael also appears as a leading angel in Jewish writings of the intertestamental period, such as the Book of Enoch.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, Michael is portrayed as an angel who protects God's people. The New Testament takes up this portrait and depicts Michael as an angel who fights against the forces of evil that oppose God's people.

The victory, however, does not rest on Michael himself. In Jude, Michael leaves judgment to the Lord. In Revelation, likewise, the saints overcome the dragon "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:11).

Interpretations and Debates

• Who is Michael? Most denominations regard Michael as a created angel.
• The Seventh-day Adventist Church understands Michael as a name referring to the preincarnate Christ. The church nonetheless affirms the full deity of Christ and states that it does not regard Christ as a created angel.
• Jehovah's Witnesses hold that Jesus, both before he came as a human being and after his resurrection, is Michael the archangel. This claim is tied to their doctrine that Jesus is a created being.
• Other denominations reject this view. Hebrews 1 states that the Son is superior to the angels. Moreover, the Michael of Jude does not dare to rebuke the devil himself, whereas Jesus rebukes Satan directly. These two points are offered as grounds for the objection.
• Archangel: In the Bible the word "archangel" occurs only in Jude 1:9 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The archangel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is not named.
• Schemes such as the "seven archangels" or the nine orders of angels derive from extrabiblical literature and later tradition.
• Nor does the text directly state that Michael expelled Satan at his original fall. Interpreters differ on when the battle of Revelation 12 takes place.
• Church tradition: The Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion venerate Michael as an archangel and keep September 29 as his feast day. Protestants generally do not practice the veneration of angels.

In the Korean Church

The New Korean Revised Version renders the name as Migael, while the Catholic Church renders it as Mikael. Among Korean Catholics, Mikael is a common baptismal name. In Protestant preaching, Michael is usually mentioned in sermons on spiritual warfare and the victory of Christ that take Revelation 12 as their text.