AP

The mysterious angel Michael is mentioned five times in the Bible.

So as much as I would like to ignore him because I don’t quite know what to do with him, I can’t. This is especially true if I am going to understand the book of Daniel, which mentions Michael three times.

Michael means “Who is like God?” and a number of people bear the name in various genealogical lists, especially in 1 and 2 Chronicles.

Daniel shows us the angel Michael assisting the Son of Man, the Messiah, in his salvation of God’s people:

Daniel 10:12–13 Then [Messiah] continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

Although the prince (שׂר, sar) of Persia resisted the Messiah, Michael “one of the chief princes” (sarim) helped him to overcome this resistance.

Daniel 10:20–21 So [Messiah] said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; ²¹but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.)

Who are the “princes of Persia and Greece”?

Perhaps they are the human rulers of these empires, Darius and Alexander the Great and their successors. These godless human princes persecuted Judah to one extent or other and so persecuted Messiah himself.

Or perhaps they are not persons but personifications of the spiritual evil inherent in these empires.

Or perhaps they are real spiritual persons, “the demonic powers that influenced the national leadership in Persia and Greece” (ISBE 3:347), demons who work their power and influence through these empires to attack Messiah and his people. Paul taught that demons lurk behind wicked earthly institutions when he said that “the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons” (1 Cor. 10:20).

We must also factor in that the Bible portrays godless earthly empires who physically attack God’s people as representations of the godless spiritual forces who spiritually attack God’s people. Thus, in Revelation 17 to 19 the earthly Babylonian empire is an apocalyptic symbol of the evil spiritual empire arrayed against God’s people. Egypt is referred to in the same way (Rev. 11:8).

This means that whether you interpret the “princes of Persia and Greece” as persecuting human rulers, as personifications of godlessness, or as malevolent spiritual influencers, it all practically amounts to the same thing: these princes represent a powerful spiritual threat against Messiah and his people.

The angel Michael is sent to help Messiah in this battle. I cannot agree with those – including Spurgeon, John Gill, and Matthew Henry – who identify Michael with Jesus, for Daniel writes of one helping the other. The fact that Michael is a distinct, named, spiritual person suggests that “the princes of Persia and Greece” are also real spiritual persons, but his role of helping Messiah stands, however they are understood.

Hebrews describes angels as “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). Angels rushed Lot and his family out of Sodom (Gen. 19:16). Angels ascended and descended from heaven to bring covenant help and blessing to destitute Jacob (Gen. 28:12), and strengthened him before his fraught reunion with Esau (Gen. 32:1). An angel shut the lions’ mouths for Daniel (6:22). David affirmed that “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (Ps. 34:7). Psalm 91 says that the LORD “will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (91:11). An angel released Peter from prison on the eve of his scheduled execution (Acts 12).

In the Gospels angels also help – or are at least available to help – the incarnate Jesus. After his forty-day temptation “angels came and attended him” (Mat. 4:11). In his anguish in Gethsemane “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43). Jesus rebuked his disciples at his arrest saying: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mat. 26:53)

Michael is one such angel. He helps Messiah to protect and save Daniel and God’s people (Dan. 10:13, 21). He is “the great prince who protects your people” (Dan 12:1). Stephen Noll is right to call him “Israel’s guardian angel” (NIDOTTE 4:941).

The book of Revelation picks up on Daniel’s portrayal of Michael in its apocalyptic depiction of the Last Days:

Revelation 12:7–9 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Jude makes the only other reference to an angel called Michael. He refers however not to the Michael of Daniel, but to an apocryphal story about “Michael and the devil disputing over the body of Moses” from a lost first-century Jewish text called The Testament of Moses. Jude uses this story to illustrate his point that Christians ought not “reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.”

So, who is the angel Michael in Daniel? He is an angel sent to help the Messiah to save and protect his people.

Though “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12), do not be dismayed!

For the LORD has abundantly provided in Jesus Christ and his ministering angels all the strength we need to stand firm against them.

– Campbell Markham