Daniel 12:1 “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:”
Prince= a head person (of any rank or class), chief (captain), general, governor, keeper, lord, prince(-ipal), ruler, steward.
“And at that time Michael shall stand up”
Michael the archangel, as has already been observed, was ever reputed and known to be the guardian of the Jewish people.
Again let us draw understanding from Deuteronomy when God divided the Nations. Look at this;
Deuteronomy 32:8-9
8.When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9.For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance
See Acts 17:26
Here was when the Nations were divided into their various portions, God gave each of them an angelic being as their guardian spirit but for Israel it was Christ, hence they had none, this is why he was referred to in Daniel 12:1 as “the prince that standeth for the children of your people Israel”
Similarly, in Joshua 5:13-14
13.And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14.And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant.
Here he was seen with the sword drawn. The lord Christ!
Therefore reading in Daniel 10:13, it said:
“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.”
So who then was this prince in Daniel 10:13?
“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me”
We have indicated that this is neither an evil spirit nor an angel of some sort but king Cyrus whom God had destined to be the deliverer of the Jewish people; but was feeling incapable because of the nation of the assignment, and so was resisting this secret inspiration which God had sent him.
We have a similar inspiration given to the widow that fed Elijah in 1 Kings 17:9
“Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee”
The key word there is the word “commanded.”
Note, this was unknown to the woman that she was working out the perfect will of God when she finally gave the Prophet her last meal. Same was with king Cyrus, but he was more or less resisting this inspiration that God was giving to him to carry out. But this he finally yielded to do, when Michael came onto the scene to persuade him. And so, in yielding to go he finally wrote the decree;
Ezra 1:1-2
1.Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2.Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah
Here was the assignment given to him why the Lord God called him his anointed as found in Isaiah 44:26-28, and so he was called the anointed of the Lord in Isaiah 45:1;
“Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;…
Isaiah 45:13 “I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of host”
You see that?
But lo, “Michael”
But angel Gabriel, who was speaking, did not leave Cyrus till Michael came to take his place.
Michael, means “who is like God,” and this often appears to mean the Messiah, at other times the highest or chief archangel.
Indeed there is no archangel mentioned in the whole Scripture but this one. Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7. The one Chief or arch angel means chief messenger, and Malachi tells us this MESSENGER was the Christ. See it;
Understand this also in Colossians 1:18 we are told;
“….he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence”
The word preeminence .= prwteuw proteuo,=means.. to be first (in rank or influence):–have the preeminence.. Foremost (in time, place, order or importance):–before, beginning, best, chief(-est), first (of all), former.
Meaning Christ must have the first place in all things and in all realms.
So we read Malachi 3:1;
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts”
Here the two messengers are mentioned, one is John the Baptist the other is Jesus Christ. But what did the scripture called Him here? a “messenger”, same thing as angel as used of John in
Luke 7:27; “This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee”
aggelov aggelos, ang’-el-os = from aggello) a messenger; especially an “angel”; by implication, a pastor:–angel, messenger.
It is an issue for some people when you use the title “messenger” or “angel” for Jesus the Christ. They feel it is blasphemous to do so. Forgetting that it’s just another phase of His ministry in relation to the work of redemption of humanity. Otherwise how will you believe the everlasting Father is the same person as the Son. (Isaiah 9:7)
It’s just a ministry, for “father”, “son” and “Holy Ghost” which are titles, are one and the same person in different dispensation of the ministry of redemption.
In fact, John called Him an angel. See it; Revelation 10:1
”And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire”
Who else should have a Rainbow on his head if you know what the Rainbow stands for?
I will give a brief explanation on this in the next post.
So Angel Michael is Jesus Christ Himself in another phase of His ministry.
To be continued…