Michael the Archangel

Linuxjunkie85

Hello All, I'm new here and I see there are lots of encouraging threads here. :-) I am trying to understand why Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Michael the Archangel is Christ. To me this would lower Christ to the level of the Angels and if the annointed would be above the angels, then Christ would be below the annointed of mankind. (Assuming that the rank of order is Jehovah > Christ > Annointed > Angels > Mankind). This whole situation makes no sense to me. Could someone shed some light on this for me?

zen nudist

that Michael the Archangel is Christ. To me this would lower Christ to the level of the Angels and if the annointed would be above the angels, then Christ would be below the annointed of mankind.

it depends on how you look at angels, many seem to think of an angel as a species, but the word really means messenger, and Jesus did say he was the Cheif messenger of God, which is what Arch Angel means too.... Jesus was the great Apostle, another similar term meaning one sent forth... etc...

As the Cheif of all angels, or the highest ranking messenger, it would not make Jesus one of the rest of them...but the highest of them and according to JW theology, that is the only place the first born of God should be prior to his coming to Earth.

JWs, See Jesus as the first of his angelic brethren and the only one directly made by God... so logically the cheif or arch angel should be him... and the name Micha-el means who is like god? or god like one.

euripides

There have been a number of threads on this topic, one of the broadest and most fascinating, covering thirteen webpages and viewed over 4,200 times, is here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/80742/1.ashx Scout around in the back topics and you'll see plenty to get lost in... Euripides

Jaypeeto

I now laugh at the WTS notion that Jesus is Michael the Archangel. And I'm in good company. Read the early Christian writers from the 1st through the 3rd century. Start with Clement of Rome (1st century), then Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (2nd century) and so on. NOBODY , neither inside the Church or OUTSIDE the church back then had ever even heard of such nonsense as Jesus being Michael the Archangel. Justin even stated explicitly and repeatedly that Jesus Christ was Almighty God. Love, Jaypeeto

zen nudist

One early response was that Jesus may have been an angel from heaven. After all, the Son of Man is a celestial figure who comes on the clouds of heaven surrounded by angels. The Greek text of Isaiah 9:6 describes the Messiah as "the angel of great counsel." Perhaps Jesus was himself a powerful angel, or even an archangel. Traces of this christology can be found in a first- or second-century Christian book named The Shepherd of Hermas. One passage, Sim. 8.3., virtually identifies Jesus with Michael the archangel.

http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/openhse/trinity1.html#Angel

the idea that Jesus and Micha-el were the same is not new nor exclusive to JWs.... 7th day Adventists, where likely, JWs got the idea from, hold that Jesus is both God and Michael

The bible is full of odd sayings indicating that Jesus had some form of existance prior to being made a human, that he emptied himself of that form which was in the form of God [spirit like the angels].

even if you believe in the three headed monster called the trinity, it is not unlikely that each head had its own name as they are all call persons....

many Identify the Angel of YHWH --who was the head of the army of God, with Jesus' pre-human existance as well...showing that the term Angel is not out of the question

in Daniel it says Michael will stand up [often used of kings taking power]... and In matthew 24 Jesus essentially quotes this very passage

and applies it to his taking kingdom powers.

peacefulpete

Jewish interest in angels springs from their polytheistic heritage. The divine assembly of gods was recaste as an assembly of superhuman spirits that do the bidding of the one god. The literature from the Persian period to the centuries A.D. were filled with stories of angels and archangels and their fights and powers. Michael was one of the characters that had a larger role in popluar mythology. In fact most ften when an unname messenger of God or other titile appears in the OT he is assumed to have been said angel. Therefore it is only natural for the name to have been used in the NT along with Gabriel. Though it could just as easily been Raphael or Uriel, Raquel,Sariel Gabriel or Jeremiel all of whichwere called archangels in prechistian works. It is suggested but not certain that the name itself Michael/Mikal and the charcter were simply a remake of the Canaanite deity spelled in English is also 'Mikal' who's name meant "to be able". The later slight alteration in spelling (aleph added)being a desire to mirror the endings of the other angels whose names all ended with "el".

Leolaia

John Day makes a pretty good case that both Michael and the "one like a son of man" from Daniel are monotheistic survivals of the god Baal; note especially the description of "walking on the clouds of heaven" (cf. the Baal epithet "Cloud Rider"), the relationship between the "one like a son of man" and the Ancient of Days (who corresponds to the god El), and bibilical and extrabiblical tradition about Michael as a divine warrior, as one who would rule as Messianic king (as per Daniel 12:1, and compare with Baal's kingly role), and Michael as the bringer of rain, snow, and hail in the Targums. Mikal was a local deity in Beth-Shan (and if I recall correctly, a chthonic deity) and the resemblance between Michael appears to be only phonetic similarity of the name.

Interestingly, many of the angels and fallen angels of 1 Enoch appear to be survivals of Canaanite gods and heroes. In the list of fallen angels (1 Enoch 6:7-8), we find Shemihazah and Arteqoph listed together (smychzh, 'r'tqp), with their names meaning "Heaven has seen" and "Earth is power" (cf. Arteqoph teaching humans the "signs of the earth" in 8:3), recalling the gods Shamem and Arets "Heaven and Earth," Danel (cf. the Danel of the Aqhat myth and Ezekiel 14:14, 20, 28:3), Shamshiel (cf. Shamash, who taught "the signs of the sun"), Sahriel (cf. Shahar), Yamiel (cf. Yamm, the god of the Sea), and so forth. Raphael may be related to the chthonic deity Rapha since he is described as "in charge of the spirits of men" in 1 Enoch 20:3 (compare 22:1-14 in which Raphael shows Enoch "the hollow places where the spirits of the souls of the dead" are gathered) and has a "healing" function in Tobit 3:17 and 1 Enoch 10:7.

peacefulpete

I found this at an online encyclopediaof deities of Canaan:

also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man, brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and waring a tall, pointed headdress with a goat's or gazelle's head on his forehead. Resheph was worshipped especially at Ras Shamra (Ugarit), Byblos, and Arsuf (later Apollonia, near Yafo); under the title Mikal (or Mekal) he was also worshipped at Beth-shean in eastern Palestine and at Ialium in Cyprus. Resheph was usually believed to be related to Mot, the god of sterility and death, but he also seems to have been a god of well-being, plenty, and fertility, and in that respect he may have been a form of the god Baal.

adelmaal

Personally, I don't know if there exists a parallel between Jesus and Michael but I think the Witnesses are so bent on making one because it's just one more thing that supports their belief that Jesus is NOT God himself. They will grasp onto anything that proves they are right about the Trinity not being a Bible teaching. Hard to have Jesus be an archangel and at the same time be God himself. That would be my speculation.

Michael the Archangel

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