Watchtower Wednesday last week drew some really good answers and I will gratefully incorporate them into my answer to this question today. The Watch Tower Society answer is an emphatic 'Yes!' of course, using Daniel 10:13, 21; Daniel 12:1; Jude 9; and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 as evidence.
After all, isn't it Michael who fights for the people of God (Daniel 12:1)? isn't Jesus described by Paul as 'coming with the voice of an archangel' (1 Thess.4:16)?
Archangels
It is always good to ask where in the Bible do we find the ‘reasoning’ presented to us by a Jehovah’s Witness. Nowhere does the Bible tell us the archangel Michael is Jesus...nowhere. Nowhere do the Bible writers present the convoluted and flawed reasoning of the Watch Tower on this and many other issues. Let’s be confident in what the Bible says, and what it doesn’t say.
Michael is one of four archangels, angels of high rank. In Daniel 10:13 he is described as ‘one of the chief princes.’ The archangel Michael has high ranking equals. The article I cited fails to mention this fact. Of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses can only have one archangel because Jesus has a unique status and place in the purposes of God.
One of the great rebellions in Scripture is the rebellion of angels (2 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 3:20) ‘who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling…’ (Jude 6) Jude goes on to write of an angel who was faithful in staying in his proper dwelling, within the limits of his authority:
‘But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgement, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’ (Jude 9)
Jesus’ words to Peter clearly demonstrate he has authority in himself to rebuke the devil (Mt.16:23). Indeed, Jesus has authority over life and death (John 10:17,18) something archangels do not have, authority to cast down ‘the god if this world,’ (John.12:31) A cursory reading of the gospels shows Jesus consistently speaking in his own name, by his own authority, for instance, ‘You have heard it was said...but I say to you…’ (Mt.5) Was the archangel Michael being presumptuous here?
It is also the case that Watch Tower teaching has a created being saving creation, effectively creation saving itself. He may be ‘The Greatest Man who Ever Lived’ but still creation cannot save itself.
The Voice of an Archangel?
A favourite text is 1 Thess.4:16,’For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.’ Here, they reason, the Lord has ‘the voice of an archangel’ therefore he must be an archangel. The text also talks about ‘the sound of the trumpet of God.’ If the voice of an archangel makes him an archangel does the trumpet of God make Jesus God?
Clearly this means the Lord is accompanied by the sound of the trumpet of God. In the same way, he is accompanied by the voice of an archangel. The book of Revelation, so beloved (in part) by Jehovah’s Witnesses, makes clear the meaning of the archangel’s voice:
‘Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, (get ready now, here it comes) calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ‘put in your sickle, and reap…’ (Rev.14:14-16)
But to the Son...
Hebrews makes clear the difference between archangels and Jesus Christ:
‘To which of his angels did God ever say, You are my Son, today I have begotten you?’ (Surely, for a JW, the answer is ‘Michael’)
Of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire’ But to the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever’...and ‘You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands…’
And to which of his angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’
Are they (angels) not ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Heb.1)
‘It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come…’ (Heb.2:5)
Angels are, indeed, ministering spirits, as clearly evidenced in Daniel when the archangel flew from God’s throne the moment Daniel’s prayer was heard (Dan.10:12).
Jesus is something else altogether. He is ‘the Word’ that pre-existed creation (Jn.1:1) who created ‘all things’ (Jn.1:3) having life in himself (Jn.1:4), the power to grant it (Jn.11, esp. v.25), to lay it down, and to take it up (Jn.10:17,18). ‘In him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily…’ (Col.2:9)
Conclusion
‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.’ Col.1:15-20)
Of course, we know the Watch Tower interferes with this text among many others, but for more on this and to see my previous posts on this issue see:
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