Are Michael the archangel and Jesus the same person?
Question:
My question is about the archangel Micheal. Was that Jesus' original name before he came to earth? I ask because in the book of Daniel and Revelation have some resemblance. (Daniel 10:13, 21; Daniel 12:1; Jude 9 and Revelation 12:7).
Answer:
The simple answer is that Michael is not Jesus by a different name. Jesus is called God's only Son. "By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (I John 4:9). In fact, the phrase "only begotten" used in some translations can also be translated as "unique of a kind." Yet, Michael is said to be one of several. "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia" (Daniel 10:13). In other words, there are more than one chief princes (archangels).
Second, Michael is clearly called an archangel (which means a chief angel) in Jude 9, yet the writer of Hebrews states that Jesus could not be an angel.
"God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself made purification for our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have. For to which of the angels did he say at any time, "You are my Son. Today have I become your father?" and again, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?" Again, when he brings in the firstborn into the world he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Of the angels he says, "Who makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire." But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom" (Hebrews 1:1-8).
All Revelation 12:7 says is that Michael and the angels under him threw Satan and his followers out of heaven. This does not imply that Michael was Jesus.
