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Chapter 8 We Are Told That Antiochus Rose up Against the ‘Prince’ of Israel, but Was Broken by No Human Hand

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Chapter 8 We Are Told That Antiochus Rose up Against the ‘Prince’ of Israel, but Was Broken by No Human Hand The Great Prince 1 CHAPTER EIGHT The Great Prince We come now to the final part of the revelation. If indeed chapter 11 does end with the destruction of the Greek empire, we can anticipate, in the light of previous chapters, that the Messiah will now come into the picture. This is what we read: ‘At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.’ (Daniel 12:1-3) This abundantly confirms our expectations. The prophets indicated that the coming of the Messiah would be associated with a time of great trouble (Jeremiah 30:5-9). The Jews certainly believed that the Messiah would deliver them (Jeremiah 23:5, 6), but most were blind to the fact that only those who are written in God’s book would be saved (Isaiah 4:2-4). The resurrection of the dead had been foretold (Isaiah 26:19), also the abolition of death and coming of joy for ever (Isaiah 25:8; 35:10). Having confirmed that these verses probably do refer to the coming of the Messiah, let us see now how they were fulfilled. Michael First, we must identify Michael. His name means ‘Who is like God?’ He is ‘first of the chief princes’ (10:13, Young’s Literal Translation), ‘your [Daniel’s] prince’ (10:21), ‘the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people’ (12:1, R.V.), ‘the archangel [chief angel]’ (Jude 9). In the book of Revelation Michael is depicted as head over all the angels of God. It is generally taken that Michael is the guardian angel of the Jews. However, Daniel 12:1 indicates that he is more than this — he is the prince of those who are written in God’s book, the Lamb’s book of life. In Revelation 12:7 we find that it is he who fights and vanquishes Satan. This is no ordinary angel — not even the highest ranking of the angels created by God. This, surely, is Jesus Christ Himself. It is Christ who bruised the serpent’s head, bound the strong man, destroyed the works of the devil, brought to nought him that had the power of death and triumphed over principalities and powers. We are told that Satan and his angels warred against Michael and His angels (Revelation 12:7). We are told later that Satan’s earthly puppet (the beast) and his armies war against Christ and the heavenly army (Revelation 19:19). It is likely, surely, that if Christ is needed to crush Satan’s earthly puppet, Christ is needed also to crush Satan himself. Christ, we are told, will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead shall rise. Christ said, ‘All that are in the tombs shall hear his [Christ’s] voice, and shall come forth’ (I Thessalonians 4:16; John 5:28, 29). Michael may well be the mysterious, divine ‘Angel of the Lord’ — also called the angel of His presence and the messenger (angel) of the covenant. This is indicated by Jude 9 and Zechariah 3:1-4. In Jude we find Michael contending with the devil1 and saying, ‘The Lord rebuke you’ and in Zechariah we find the Angel of the Lord contending with Satan and The Great Prince 2 saying, ‘The Lord rebuke you’. The ‘Angel of the Lord’ appears quite frequently in the Old Testament, and it is clear that on a number of occasions (including Zechariah 3) the Being is none other than God Himself.2 In one particular case the Angel is shown to be not only the Lord Himself, but also the ‘guardian angel’ of Israel. ‘Behold I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.’ (Exodus 23:20-22) This angel may well, like Michael, be described as ‘the guardian angel of Israel’. The passage quoted suggests that the angel is actually divine, and the following verses confirm this: ‘And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.’ (Exodus 13:21). ‘Then the angel of God who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them …’ (Exodus 14:19) Here the Person in the pillar of cloud and fire is described as ‘the Lord’ and also as ‘the angel of God’. I suggest that the guardian angel of Israel is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. It is generally acknowledged that the ‘Prince of the host’ (Daniel 8:11) is God Himself and that ‘the host’ refers to the faithful Jews. Michael is described to Daniel as ‘the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people’ (12:1, R.V.). It looks as if the ‘Prince of the host’ and Michael are one and the same person. The natural conclusion is that Michael is God Himself. The ‘Prince of the host’ was also called ‘Prince of princes’ (8:25) — Christ is called ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords’ (Revelation 19:16). There are some interesting words in Zechariah 12, a chapter which probably predicts the Jewish military victories and religious revival in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, as well as applying spiritually to the true Israel and heavenly Jerusalem. ‘On that day the Lord will put a shield about the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, at their head.’ (Zechariah 12:8) The ‘angel of the Lord at their head’ may refer to the divine Angel that led the children of Israel in the wilderness. This chapter in Zechariah appears to deal with the times of both Antiochus Epiphanes and the Christian church, so this verse forms yet further evidence that the divine Angel of the Lord, the Prince of the host, Michael and Jesus Christ are one and the same Person. At the very outset of the conquest of the promised land, Christ appeared to Joshua and revealed Himself to be both the Prince of the host and the Angel of the Lord (Joshua 5:13-15). Joshua saw a Man standing over against him with His sword drawn in His hand. Joshua went up to Him and asked Him whether He was friend or foe. The reply was, ‘Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come’ (R.V.). ‘Captain’ translates the word sar, which is translated ‘prince’ in Daniel 8:11. Thus this Man was none other than the ‘prince of the host’ of Daniel 8. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped Him, and said, ‘What does my The Great Prince 3 lord bid his servant?’ The Prince of the Lord’s host answered, ‘Put off your shoes from your feet; for the place where you stand is holy’. And Joshua did so. The Man had also revealed Himself to be the divine Angel of the Lord who had been leading Israel, because when the Angel of the Lord called to Moses out of the burning bush, He said, Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground — I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:5, 6). The Angel went on to tell Moses that His name was I AM. Over a thousand years later, Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’; and the Jews tried to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:58, 59). The belief that Michael is Christ is by no means new; but owing to the heretical ideas usually associated with it, it has been condemned by the orthodox in the past — although this attitude is changing now. In fact the belief is perfectly scriptural. Michael is described as ‘the archangel’, which means the chief angel — and note that in the Bible, Michael is the only archangel. An angel (messenger) is one who is ‘sent’, and Christ repeatedly claimed that He was ‘sent’ by God the Father. ‘I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.’ (John 8:42). Having said all this, we can see that there are very strong grounds for believing that Michael is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah.
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