Michael the Prince Stands Up-2by Desmond Ford

jesus saw, and was saying, thatthe Roman emperors would demandworship for themselves, and wouldnot abide those people who hadanother King, the Lord of glory.

jesus saw more than that.Throughout his prophecy in Mark13 (and Matthew 24 and Luke 21)he gives us a portrayal of crises,

tragedies, trials, and tribulations that would continue to afflictthe people of God.

He saw that for centuries, during the Middle Ages, millionswould die at the hands of the union of church and state. TheInquisition, under the authority of a power that also claimed thename of Rome, tortured and burned millions of Christians.

Then jesus saw that at the end of time this conflict would bur-

The longest prophecy of the Bible, Daniel 10-12,foretells a series of coming great conflicts,

culminating in a final worldwide conflict.Antichrist will make war against God's people.They will be delivered at last when Michael-

Christ-stands up to intervene.In the third year of Cyrus, kingof Persia, a revelation was givento Daniel (who was calledBelteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned agreat war. (Daniel 10:1 NIV)Later, the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel and says,

"Now I have come to explain to you what will happento your people in the future, for the vision concerns atime yet to come." (Daniel 10:14)So the introduction to this prophecy we're looking at says,

"This prophecy is not only true, but concerns a great warfare, agreat conflict. And this conflict is about the people of God whowill be threatened"

Greal Conflicl ComingWhen our Lord said, "When you see 'the abomination that causesdesolation' standing where it does not belong" (Mark 13:14) hesaw, first of all, the pagan Roman armies coming to attackjerusalem, and destroy the temple. With their idolatrous militaryensigns the armies would be an abomination to the pious jews.

God could have protected the city if its inhabitants had accept-ed the Messiah. The Roman armies would never have been there.jerusalem would have stood forever. jeremiah 17 tells us that.

Greal Conflicl RepealedBut Christ saw more than that immediate tragedy of A.D. 70. Healso saw the deepening antagonism between the Roman Empireand the infant church. just as the Roman armies in A.D. 70attacked jerusalem, so in the following centuries the same Romanpeople would bitterly oppose the New jerusalem of his church,the holy city of the Christian people. (The holy city is a termgiven in the New Testament to the church of Christ.)

$hapter 10 is the prologue tothe next prophecy, the lastone of Daniel. After verse 3

of chapter 12, you have the epilogue.Here's the beginning of the pro-

logue:

geon on a worldwide scale. A worldwide Calvary would be threat-ened for his body-for the church is his body (Ephesians1:22-23). Christ sawall of that, and Daniel 11 is about that.

Promise of DeliveranceAt the beginning of the end of Daniel's last prophecy we read:

"At that time Michael, the great prince, who protectsyour people, will arise [stand up]. There will be a time ofdistress such as has not happened from the beginning ofnations until then. But at that time your people-everyone whose name is found written in the book-willbe delivered." (Daniel 12:1)Delivered. This is a word that speaks so beautifully about the

courage of those that will not bend or budge or bum.

Daniel's Stories Unlock PropheciesRemember we have said that the stories in the first part of Danielare the keys to the later prophecies. What you have in the greatprophetic chains is Just worldwide application of the principlesseen in individual life histories. The stories have the same theme.

We see Daniel being delivered in Daniel 6, when he is throwninto the pit of lions. King Darius asks, "Is thy God, whom thouservest continually, able to deliver thee?" "Our God is able." (SeeDaniel 6:20-22 KJV.)Then the decree went forth: 'There's noGod like the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" No Godlike him He delivers

In Daniel 3, there was also a death decree about worship just asin Daniel 6. It's a harder decree in Chapter 6. Chapter 3 demand-ed a positive homage. In chapter 6, all you had to do was not doanything. This is much harder. This is where most people faiLPeople are not terribly bad, or terribly good. They're just neuters.They don't do anything.

Delivered from What?The key word "deliver" anticipates the crisis at the end of time.When we come to the last prophecy of Daniel, we have the fullf10weringimplicit in that one word of promise: deliver. "At thattime shall Michael stand up .. and at that time thy people shall bedelivered" (Daniel 12 I) From what? Please look at verse 45 ofchapter II.

(Daniel didn't write that chapter heading, "Chapter 12." Hewrote chapter 12, but he didn't write the number there. WhatGod has joined together we must not put asunder. Chapter IIand chapter 12 are all part of the same prophecy.)

He will pitch his royal tents between the seasat the beautiful holy mountain. Yethe willcome to his end, and no one will help him.

(Daniel 11:45 NIV)

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Pitch Palatial TentsWhat does this mean, "He will pitch his royal [palatial, NRSV]tents"? These tents are the headquarters of an invading army,pitched between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, and sur-rounding Jerusalem. The army has come down by way of theValley of Megiddo, the way all the armies came from the north.

Coming by Megiddo, they surround the holy city. This is thetext Christ was quoting from, as well as others in Daniel, when hesaid, "When you see the abomination stand where it ought not."The Greek translation of Daniel 11:45 uses that same word"stand." He plants the tabernacle of his palace, and he standsbetween the seas around the glorious holy mountain.

Daniel's Symbols Now WorldwideBut we must remember that Daniel, to explain the future, has touse the chess pieces of his time. All the prophetic chess pieces, orsymbols, that Daniel had were those known in Old Testamenttimes: Israel, Babylon, Jerusalem. Daniel is prophesying about aninvading army surrounding Jerusalem.

But when we come to the New Testament, all the things thatbelonged to Israel are now worldwide. (You can't put the newwine into old bottles.) Israel is now worldwide-the Christianchurch. The holy city is now worldwide-the bride of Christ, alsothe church. Babylon is now worldwide-a worldwide union ofchurch and state that opposes God's people, all false religion thatpersecutes the church of God. Whenever we are reading aboutthe Christian era in prophecy, we must translate the OldTestament terms.

When they apply to the New Testament, we must translatethem in terms of the new covenant.

The Antichrist AppearsWhat is Daniel saying in II :45? A power will besiege the churchof God in the last days to try to destroy it. In other words, thesame thing as foretold in Mark 13:14 and Matthew 24:15. Also,the same thing as that which happened in A.D lO-but now on aworldwide scale.

This power is Antichrist.Then it will not just be the Roman armies against one city, but

all Babylonian hosts, the "flooding of the mighty EuphratesRiver," to engulf the holy people, the Jerusalem of God.

So-from what are we to be delivered? That last worldwideconflict. Will everyone be delivered? No. Long before the finalattempt, many will anticipate this dreadful death decree againstGod's people. There will be martyrs

Revelation 20 tells us that. The early verses of Revelation 20talk about those who are executed and beheaded because theywould not give in during the last conflict. They refuse to give in,to surrender. The vast body of believers, however, is to be deliv-ered at the second coming of Christ.

The crisis is when spiritual Babylon, or Antichrist, or the abom-ination of desolation, makes his last attack on the church. It isduring this crisis that Michael stands up to deliver his people.

WHO IS MICHAEL?Who is Michael? 1believe that Michael is the preexistent Chlist.You would not believe the letters 1 receive on this topic, the pages

that have been exchanged on this. To me, it is no great matter. Butevery word of God is precious, so we do what we can. I write inresponse, "Look, I may well be wrong. I'll give you my opinion."That's all I can offer you now.

The New Testament tells us that it is the voice of Michael that rais-es the dead. (1 Thessalonians 4: 16, "the voice of the archangel")Jesus said it would be his voice that would raise the dead Oohn528-29)

The description of Michael given in the book of Daniel (10:5-6)line-for-line matches the description ofjesus in Revelation 1 (13-15).

Does Jude 9 Disagree?A key text against my view is Jude 9. (Do you remember the little boywho was sent to count the pigs7 He said, "Look, there were six pigs,and one running around so fast I couldn't count him." Some books ofthe Bible are a little like that. They are a bit hard to lay hold of. Judeis one such. But it is the second to the last book, just beforeRevelation.)

When the Archangel Michael, contended with the deviland disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare tobring a condemnation of slander against him but said, "TheLord rebuke you!" Gude 9 NRSV)My friends write to me-they are good people, some are much bet-

ter people than I'll ever be-and say, "Now look, Des, you must bewrong in this idiosyncrasy of yours. Jude 9 is quite clear that Michaelis not the Lord. Michael says to the devil, 'The Lord rebuke you' SoMichael has to be an ordinary angel."

Wrinen AgainThere is a great line of Scripture from the mouth of Jesus that says, "Itis written again" (Matthew 4:7). That's a wonderful line. We mustnever make up our mind on anything important from just a singleisolated text. You can prove anything that way, anything.

Let me give you a horrible example. Paul writes,

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselvesbe circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.(Galatians 5:2 NIV)Most American men who read this text are circumcised. Does this

Scripture mean that Christ will profit them nothing7 A text without acontext is a pretext, is it not7 What Paul means, of course, is that ifyou do this or that or anything else to try and earn salvation, you willlose it.

Single, isolated texts can easily be misread. "All things are for yoursake" (2 Corinthians 4: 15 KJV) Does that mean I can drive off in yourMercedes any time llike7 All things are for my sake. The Scripturesays so.

"Hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40). No need tostudy any of them. Hang them.

We can't prove anything worthwhile Just on one isolated text, oron a part of a text.

Zechariah Explains Jude 9Let's look at Zechariah 3.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing beforethe angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side toaccuse him. The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you,Satan!" (Zechariah 3:1-2 NIV)Does that phrase jog your memory7 What did it say inJude 97

That Michael the Archangel dared not bring a reviling accusation, butsaid, "The Lord rebuke you." Here we have the same words in twoplaces. In both places it's the same confrontation, between the twosame beings. Between Satan and another supernatural being.

Who is it who says in Zechariah 3:2, "The Lord rebuke you"7 It'sthe Lord' So a person cannot argue that Michael cannot be the Lordin Jude 9 because he uses the expression "The Lord rebuke youl" Inthe original event, in Zechariah, it is God himself that uses thephrase!

Christ of the TheophaniesWhy does God say, "The Lord rebuke thee"7 Because it is God in thePerson of the Christ of the theophanies. By that I mean that Christwas not only the mediator among men beginning with his birth inBethlehem. Throughout all Old Testament ages Christ was God's rep-resentative. (Theologians use the expression "preexistent Christ," thatis, the Second Person of the Godhead before his incarnation as Jesus.)

No one has seen God at any time, meaning God the Father. Butthe Son has revealed him all through the ages. He came in such a waythat he would be visible to human eyes. The One who gave the TenCommandments from Sinai was Jesus Christ. The One who walkedwith Adam and Eve in Eden was Jesus Christ. The One who appearedto Abraham was Jesus Christ. But he came as a representative of theFather in the sense of being an intermediary-in anticipation of hisincarnation.

In that humble status, God the Son does not of himself dischargeall the big weapons against the devil, but rather invokes the name ofhis Father. So the Lord says, "The Lord rebuke you." It's no more ahumiliation than the fact that in the days of his flesh he prayed, heneeded sleep, he needed food; for our sake, he humbled himself.

And even in Old Testament times, the same was true-whichexplains Jude 9. Zechariah tells us quite plainly it was God who said,'The Lord rebuke theel" to Satan. But it was God in the Person of theMediator, by which we mean the Second Member of the Godhead,when he appeared to man.

Michaelis Christ in RevelationFurther evidence that proves to me that Michael is the preexistentChrist is in Revelation 12. (We have to be careful because all of usfind it easy to believe what we want to believe.)

Revelation 12:7-9 pictures the clash of the armies of Satan and thearmies of heaven Who leads the armies of heaven7 Michael (7). It isMichael who overcomes the devil.

In the following passage we are told it was Christ who overcameSatan (Revelation 12:10-11). So Michael is Christ. He is that GreatPrince. He is Messiah the Prince.