Who Is Michael The Archangel Part 5

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WalterandDebbie

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11-7-22

Continued from Part 4

The GOD Family First, we have proven that the Father and Christ are NOT “equal.” The Father SENT Him, told Him what to SPEAK, and is GREATER than Christ. Yet, Christ is also “God.” The disciple Thomas, upon seeing proof of His resurrection, exclaimed to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). 262 Paul gives us the answer! He wrote of Christ, “He is the IMAGE of the invisible GOD, the FIRSTBORN over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible . . . . All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell” (Col.1:15-19). He was the FIRSTBORN – the FIRST of all CREATION – the first being that Almighty God created! As John wrote in the book of Revelation, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD” (Rev.3:14).

The One who became Christ HAD A BEGINNING! In the first chapter of John’s gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word [Greek, Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3). The word Logos means, “something said,” “the divine expression,” “utterance, word, work.” It is from the word lego, meaning “to lay forth.” In other words, to have a “word,” someone must SPEAK the word, formulate the Word in His mind, and utter the Word. Thus Christ, the Word, originally came forth from God the Father, as His Word, Utterance, or Work. Therefore He has primacy in all things, but always under the authority of the Father Himself. At some time, before the Creation of the Universe, then, God the Father brought forth the individual, the Archangel, known as the LOGOS! He is the “Angel of the Lord,” “The Messenger of the Lord,” “the Angel,” “the Commander of the Army of God,” “Prince of Peace,” and has many other names – one of them being “Michael, the Great Prince”! In other words, at some point in time BEFORE time itself was created, God the Father had a FIRSTBORN “SON”! As Paul wrote to the Hebrews, the Logos or One who became Christ “having become so much BETTER than the angels [all the other angelic beings], as He has by INHERITANCE obtained a more excellent NAME than they.

For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are MY SON, Today I have begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’? But when He again brings the FIRSTBORN into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God WORSHIP Him’ . . . But to the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O GOD, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, YOUR GOD, has ANOINTED YOU with the oil of gladness MORE THAN YOUR COMPANIONS” (Heb.1:4-9, NKJV). 263 The Logos who became Christ, a human being, was first of all a SON OF GOD, before Creation itself! Therefore He participated with the Father in the creation of all things, the entire Universe (John 1:1-3; Col.1:14-18; Heb.1:1-3). Therefore He is also called “God” and all the angels are commanded to worship Him (Heb.1:6). Solomon wrote of this amazing truth. He declared, in Proverbs, “Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His NAME, and what is HIS SON’S NAME, if you know?” (Prov.30:4). God the Father had a SON! Together they created the UNIVERSE! Another name of His Son is “Wisdom.” We read of “Wisdom”:

“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, FROM THE BEGINNING, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths, I WAS BROUGHT FORTH, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was BROUGHT FORTH; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep . . . . When He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I WAS BESIDE HIM AS A MASTER CRAFTSMAN; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:22-31, NKJV). This Great Being, the Logos, the first born or conceived and created of All God’s Creation, delighted in the Creation of mankind. He participated in all creation, “AS A MASTER CRAFTSMAN” or Master Builder. That is why we read in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God [Hebrew, Elohim, a plural form, meaning “THE MIGHTY ONES”] created the heavens and the earth.” And we later read, in this same chapter, “Then God [Elohim] said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness” (Gen.1:26).

“So God created man in His own image; in the IMAGE OF GOD He created him; male and female He created them” (verse 27). 264 God first expanded His divine Family by having a Son – the Logos. Then they created mankind in THEIR OWN IMAGE – the image of GOD! Why? Because God is in the process of EXPANDING HIS OWN FAMILY! He commanded mankind, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth, and subdue it; have DOMINION over . . . every living thing that moves on the earth” (verse 28). But today, mankind is just in the physical image of God, with body and mind made of DUST. Yet is it God’s plan and desire to bring MORE SONS into the everlasting spiritual GOD FAMILY! It all happens through Christ the Messiah. We read in Philippians: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of GOD, did not consider it robbery to be equal [margin, “something to be held onto to be equal”] with God [in His very own spiritual image and likeness as His first- born Son], but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He HUMBLED HIMSELF and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly EXALTED Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil.2:5-11). Through the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Yeshua the Anointed One of God, we may have our sins forgiven, and receive the Holy Spirit of God, and be begotten of God, and grow in Christ and His spiritual image so that one day we, too, can become members of the very GOD FAMILY!

Love, Walter and Debbie
 

WalterandDebbie

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11-7-22

Part 5

The Expanding Family Through Christ Notice!

Paul wrote: 265 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the SONS OF GOD. . . The Spirit Himself [or, itself] bears witness with our spirit That we are CHILDREN OF GOD, and if children, then HEIRS – HEIRS OF GOD AND JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us” (Rom.8:14-17). God created mankind in His own image so that one day He can set him over all the works of His hands! As David wrote in the Psalms, “You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put ALL THINGS in subjection under his feet” (Heb.2:7-8, quoted from Psalm 8:4-6). Paul goes on, “For in that he put ALL in subjection under him, He left out NOTHING that is put under him.

But NOW we DO NOT YET SEE ALL THINGS put under him” (Heb.2:8). As Ferrar Fenton puts it, “But if He subjected all, He could leave nothing unsubjected to him. However, we do not yet now see all subject to him” And Moffatt has it, “Now by putting all things under him, the writer meant to leave NOTHING outside his control. But, as it is, we do not yet see all things controlled by man.” “All things” means “ALL THINGS” – LITERALLY! It means THE UNIVERSE AND ALL CREATION! Can your mind grasp, comprehend, and encompass the awesome PLAN God has in store for those who love and serve Him faithfully, and who endure trials and tests to the very end? WE WILL RULE THE UNIVERSE, as CO-HEIRS with CHRIST Himself! All the planets, all the galaxies, all the splendors of Creation! Everything in space and time! As Paul wrote, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the END, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father . . . .

For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says, ‘All things 266 are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, Then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (I Cor..15:23-28). What a glorious Plan! What an awesome Calling! What a tremendous Eternity in store for the beloved and obedient! Adam Clarke’s Commentary The Adam Clarke Commentary has much to say about “Michael the archangel,” mentioned in Jude 9, where Jude relates, “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The LORD rebuke you!’”

Notice what Clarke has to say: “Verse 9. Yet Michael the archangel] Of this personage many things are spoken in the Jewish writings. ‘Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh says: “Whenever Michael is said to appear, the glory of the Divine Majesty is to be understood.”’ Shemoth Rabba, sec.ii, fol.104, 3. So that it seems as if they considered Michael in some sort as we do the Messiah manifested in the flesh.” Clarke continues: “Let it be observed that the word archangel is never found in the plural number in the sacred writings. There can be properly only one archangel, ONE CHIEF OR HEAD OF ALL THE ANGELIC HOST. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind, ever found in the plural; there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this archangel, and head of all the angelic orders; the devil, great dragon, or Satan, is head of all the diabolic orders.

When these two hosts are opposed to each other they are said to act under these two chiefs, as leaders; hence 267 in Rev.12:7, it is said: ‘MICHAEL and his angels fought against the DRAGON and his angels. The word Michael seems to be composed of mi, who, ke, like, and El, God; he who is like God; hence by this personage, in the Apocalypse, many understand ` THE LORD JESUS” (vol.3, page 953). Adam Clarke goes on, “It may be added, that the Jews consider Michael and Samael, one as the friend, the other as the enemy, of Israel. Samael is their accuser, Michael their advocate. ‘Michael and Samael stand before the Lord; Satan accuses, but Michael shows the merits of Israel. Satan endeavors to speak, but Michael silences him: Hold thy tongue, says he, and let us hear what the Judge determines; for it is written, He will speak to his people, and to his saints; Psalm 55:9.’ Shemoth Rabba, sec.xviii, fol.117, 3” (ibid.).

Love, Walter and Debbie
 

WalterandDebbie

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Continue from Part 5 Who Is Michael The Archangel?

Michael and Lucifer Michael and Lucifer contended or fought over the body of Moses. They will fight at the end time when war erupts in heaven one final time. They have been enemies – primordial foes – down through the ages. If Michael were over the devil in authority, at that time, then why did he call upon the LORD to rebuke him, instead of putting him down himself? The answer is God the Father has placed Lucifer, an anointed cherubim, the highest order of angels, over the earth as a king (Isaiah 14:13 – note that Lucifer has a “throne” below heaven, on the earth). But Lucifer, perfect in all his ways from his creation, chose to REBEL against God and led one third of the angels in a plot to take over the Universe, or to at least make himself co-equal with God (Isaiah 14:12-14; Rev.12:4). Lucifer was one of only TWO cherubims who were “anointed” by the Father, receiving a special dispensation of His Spirit and power (Ezek.28:12-14).

He was one of the TWO cherubim who covered – protected – God’s Throne (verse 14). The other One was the Logos – the One who became Jesus Christ – the One whose name was also “Michael”! This ancient reality is depicted in the two mysterious cherubim who “covered” the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat in the ancient Tabernacle and later the Temple of God. Moses was told: “And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. . . you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it OF ONE PIECE with the mercy seat” (see Exo.25:17-21). These two were unique in all the Universe! They were composed of pure gold at the end of the Mercy Seat, depicting the Throne of God, and yet they were “of one piece 268 with the mercy seat” (Exo.25:19). They protected the throne of God.

They faced eachd other. In the beginning they were “equal” – like siblings or brothers. They were the two “PRINCES” CLOSEST TO GOD of all beings in all Creation! Their character was shaped by being “hammered” – that is, put through fiery trials – and one became the essence of humility and obedience, and the other one at some point became lifted up, proud, and became disobedient (Ezek.28:14-15, 17). Showing their original “equality” with each other, they were depicted alike, facing one another (Exo.25:20). They were both “princes.” The Logos or Messiah was the “Prince of Peace” (Isa.9:6), the coming “Prince” (Ezek.44:3), “Prince and Saviour” (Acts 5:30-31) and the “Prince of life” (Acts 3:15). Lucifer, who became Satan, was “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph.2:2), the “prince of this world” (John 14:30, 16:11), and “prince of demons” (Matt.12:24, Mark 3:22).

Both of them are also characterized as “morning stars” (Isaiah 14:12; II Pet.1:19; Rev.22:16). The point of this is, Lucifer and the Logos were created by God the Father, and at the time of Moses, the Logos had not yet become Christ our Saviour, and had not yet triumphed over the Devil; therefore, as Jude writes, when contesting with the devil, he called on God the Father to REBUKE him! When Lucifer was cast out of heaven ages ago (Isaiah 14), it was God the Father who threw him out, for Christ said to His disciples, “I saw [as one watching the event] Satan fall as lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

Love, Walter and Debbie