Defend Jehovah's Witnesses: Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Conclude That 'Michael' is a Name For Christ in Heaven?

Just as Immanuel is another name for Jesus, Michael is also a pre-human name for Christ. So EVERYTHING said of Christ is also said of Immanuel and Michael. Whether we use the name Michael or Jesus we are speaking of the same individual.

Now, comparison of Biblical statements lead to the reasonable and logical conclusion that Michael was Christ's heavenly name.

The term "archangel" means "chief angel," or "principal angel." It occurs in the Bible only in the singular which indicates that there is only one. Michael is the only one ever called "archangel."

1.) Only two names are associated with authority over angels: Michael (Rev.12:7) and Jesus Christ (Mat.16:27; 25:31; 2Thes.1:7). Michael leads the angels to defeat Satan and hurl him to earth (Re 12:7). Christ leads that heavenly army of angels and conducts God's war. (Re 19:13,19).

2.) At 1Thes. 4:16 the voice of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is described as that of an archangel. The Greek grammar demands that the voice is Christ's, not that he is accompanied by the voice. In every biblical occurrence of this idiom it is always describing the voice of the subject (Lk. 4:33; Rev 5:2; 7:2; 10:3; 14:7,9,15,18; 19:17, Ac 7:60). If Christ were not the Archangel, describing his voice in this way would be like describing a man's voice as a mouse's; highly demeaning and disrespectful. Only the single archangel has the voice of the archangel. Hence, this prophecy gives strong reason for identifying Jesus as the archangel, Michael.

3.) Only one voice can command the dead to rise in the coming resurrection. This authority has been given to the Christ by his Father (Jn.5:25,26). But it is the voice of the archangel that raises the dead during the resurrection. (1Thes. 4:16; cf Dan.12:2). Since only the voice of Christ can raise the dead at the time of the end, and this voice is the voice of an archangel, it is only reasonable to conclude that Christ must be the Archangel.

4.) In Daniel chapter 7, there is a prophecy about the march of world powers to the end-time. At the climax of that prophecy we read that Christ was "given rulership and dignity and kingdom" (Dan.7:13, 14). Then Daniel foretold that during "the time of the end" *Michael* will "stand up" (Dan.10:13;11:40; 12:1). Michael's "standing" indicates a ruling capacity and thus supports the conclusion that Michael is Jesus Christ, since only Jesus is Jehovah's appointed King.

Hence, in the climax of one prophecy, Jesus becomes a king in the end-time. In the other prophecy, Michael exercises kingly power in the end-time. Since both prophecies deal with the same time and the same event, it is reasonable to conclude that they are also dealing with the same person.

5.) Michael's "standing up" was to be associated with an unprecedented "time of distress" (Dan.12:1). The same tribulation is mentioned in Mt.24:21 in regard to Christ's "presence" in kingdom power. Then the book of Revelation (12:7,10,12) specifically mentions Michael as acting at the establishment of God's Kingdom and links this event to extreme trouble for the earth. The correlation of the timing and actions of Michael and Jesus are difficult to ignore.

6.) Finally, Satan is abyssed by an "angel" for a thousand years. (Rev.20:1, 2, 10) However, when Christ was on earth, the demons identified him as the one who was to hurl them into the "abyss" (Mt 8:29). Then Jesus is the one prophesied to crush Satan's head (Gen.3:15; 1Jn 3:8), yet it is the conquering Michael with "his angels" referred to in Revelation 12 as conquering Satan (Ps. 110:1, 2; Acts 2:34, 35).

All the above shows that Michael is repeatedly said to be at the same place as the Christ during the same time period doing the same unique thing as the Christ, but is never seen with the Christ! Kinda like Clark Kent and Superman. This argues that Jesus and Michael are the same, since they both command God's army, the heavenly host of angels.

Because of the solid scriptural evidence that Michael is Christ, most early "church fathers" and many Trinitarian scholars from different religious denominations have agreed that Michael is one of the names of the Christ, including most early Protestants Scholars.

Jehovah's Witnesses' doctrine is not affected in the slightest if Michael is not Christ. Therefore, it is no problem if our logical conclusions regarding Michael are proved wrong when those new scrolls are opened! (Jn.17:3; 1Jn.4:15; Rm.10:9) On the other hand, Trinitarians are aware of the difficulties caused if Christ is identified as Michael due to the extremely strong implications of his inferiority.

SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.

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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Conclude That 'Michael' is a Name For Christ in Heaven?