Who is Michael?
He is the only Angel named in scripture as being an Archangel per se. He is not necessarily the only Archangel, for reasons that may be explained another time, but in the cannonized English translated bible, he is the only Angel referred to as an Archangel, or chief Angel.
His name means "He who is like El," and sometimes is translated as a question, "Who is like El?" for no apparent contextual reasons.
He is noted as having contended with Satan over the body of Moses (Jude 1:9), and having been at the head of the Angelic armies of Yah when Lucifer was banished. (Revelation 12:7)
In the book of Daniel he is made mention of often, as being "one of the chief princes," and "your prince." (Daniel 10:13, 21).
In Daniel 12 he is said to stand up, bringing into effect the time of trouble. (Daniel 12:1)
Let us focus on the last two verses - in Daniel - as they seem to give the greatest insight into just who this mysterious being is.
Daniel 10: 21. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Take special note of the last line... Michael your prince. Your prince. The Angel speaking to Daniel in this chapter makes 2 mentions of Michael, once as being with him as he remained in Persia, as one of the chief princes... and here, as he is speaking to Daniel still, he refers to him as "your prince". Who is our prince?
Lets move two chapters down now to Daniel 12.
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: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people."
Who fits the description of being the great prince? Our prince? The one that stands for us?
Who is our high priest? The one who sits now doing his work in the heavenly sanctuary, and will stand up, ending the judgment of the living; with a great time of trouble to pass?
Archangel is only used twice in scripture. One case is Jude 1:9... This is the other.
1 Thessalonians 4:16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Who then is Michael? Who is the Archangel, the prince of our people, our intercessor, our high priest who will stand up when the time comes? Who could rightly assume the name of, "He who is like El?"
Michael, I believe we can say with little if any doubt, was the pre-incarnation state of Yahshua.
Of course, I am saying that Yahshua became an Angel, and not that an Angel became Yahshua, for if we say that, well.. then we have some theological problems, with Angels becoming Gods. :)
We know then that Christ took on the guise of an Angel, before he was born into our Earth as Yahshua, the savior of our race. Why? Why would the Son of God take on the form of an Angel? We know why he took on the form of man... but why Angels?
Because He knew, obviously, before Lucifer was even created, what would come about. He knew that he would sin, He knew the destruction and sin that would come about as a result. Yet God could not refuse to create him, or just blot him out when he sinned, for doing so would violate the free will of his beings, the most important gift that he gave to all creations, from Angels to men... the gift to choose.
If he had not made Lucifer, he would have been stripping away not only his right to choose, but the right for all other creations to choose. So great was his love that, instead of just brushing the idea under the carpet, never making it known to anyone.... he went through with it anyway.
God could not stop the then loyal Angels from rebelling, and he could not stop Lucifer either. Well, he *could* have, it was possible, but he could not, being who he is, have destroyed them for exercising the very paramount gift that he gave to them. He could, however, make every necessary precaution to keep the loyal Angels, loyal.
Why did God become an Angel? For the same reason that He became a man. He knew, beforehand, what was going to result in Lucifer's mind, before he himself knew he even had pride in him. He knew that his Angels would be tempted, and that some would rebel and fall. He could not stop it by force, as such is against his nature... So, He took on the form of an Angel, so that the Angels still loyal could know him as one of their own, the leader of their race, as one OF their race.
It would have been enough for Yah to simply have stayed who he was all the way through, always in the form of the Almighty, and the Angels could have chosen based on simply the fact that he was Yah, their creator, and that He loved them. But Yah wants every provision to be made for his children, of all kinds, to come to him. He is "willing that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(2 Peter 3:9).
He wanted every measure to be taken that his Angels would choose Him, without violating their free choice, just as with us... Again, it would have been enough to stay as God, but Yah did not want simply what was "enough". He became an Angel so that his Angels could see him, so that they could know him, so that they could work with him and see him as one of their own, to call him a friend and a co-labourer, to know God personally, as one of their own kind.
It would have been enough, it would have been sufficient to choose on, if it was simply Yah, the creator, against Lucifer, a rebellious Angel.... but Yah wanted them to have every chance to stay loyal, every reason. He wanted to make it so that whatever Lucifer could show or appeal to, as one of their own kind, He could appeal to, and with the light instead of the darkness. He became Michael, He who is like El, He became everything that Yah is, embodied in an Angel.... just as he became everything that Yah is, embodied in a man.
Christ, the bible tells us, was made perfect by suffering, (Hebrews 2:10) that he might be a perfect high priest for us. Did he need to suffer to know what it was like? Did Yahweh, or his Son, not have a sufficient imagination to know what it would be like to be human? Yes, they did.. It was not for His sake that Yahshua came to earth and suffered as we did, but for ours. He came, not so that he could boast and say "Look at what I did, eh, eh?" He came so that we could look to him and know that he became one of us, that he had been through everything we have been through first-hand, and that he overcame.
Just as the Angels were given the son of Yah in the form of Michael, so that they could choose between Yah and Satan, being even more informed as to Yah's nature... We are given Yah in the form of Yahshua, that we can do the same. It would have been sufficient for us, if we simply knew God was in the sky somewhere. It would have been sufficient if he was sacrificed as God, or as an Angel, or if he came to Earth as a man and was killed at a young age. He did not need to suffer in the ways that he did.
But he chose to. For the same reason that He incarnated into Michael, He incarnated into Yahshua, and became a man, was tempted as a man, was tortured as a man, was tried as a man, and was killed as a man, for our sakes. Not only, so that we could claim His blood and sacrifice... but so that we could know him even more intimately, even more closely, so that we could choose while being all the more informed, between Yah, and Satan. He has made every plea possible with every Angel, and every sinner, to return to his love. He was truly made perfect by suffering... perfect as our mediator, our friend, and our savior.
Yah bless and be with you.
- Luke