The Archangel Michael, also sometimes called Saint Michael, is an enigmatic character. While he is commonly called Saint Michael and an archangel in the Roman Catholic tradition, what exactly it means to be an archangel and Michael’s role in the divine hierarchy is not easy to determine. Saint Michael is only identified as an archangel once in the New Testament, though the Old Testament mentions him more often. But the scattered pieces of evidence of holy Michael across the Bible reveal a very interesting picture of a divine warrior in the service of the Lord, perhaps even as the equivalent of Christ.
Who is Saint Michael?
Michael means “who resembles God” or “who is like God,” which implies a likeness, most likely of character. The word “archangel” is a transliteration of the Greek archangelos. The term combines “archon,” which means “chief,” and “angelos,” which translates to “messenger” or “angel.”
Both Bible references to an archangel come from the New Testament. The first tells us that Jesus Christ will return with the voice of a chief angel, and the second that the chief angel, who engaged in a confrontation with the devil, was somehow like God. It is common for names in the Bible to say something about the individual’s character, so Michael resembles God.
The story of the angel who confronts the devil can be pieced together from a variety of sources. After creation, there was a battle in heaven. Lucifer, the “light-bearer,” the “morning star,” who was the chief among angels, rebelled against God. Because of Lucifer’s envy, pride, and desire to sit on God’s throne, he did not want to be subject to God or to serve Him. He took a third of the angels with him. Michael was loyal to God and declared he would serve God, for “who is like unto God.”
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With the other two-thirds of the angels, he defeated Lucifer and cast him and his supporters out of heaven. Lucifer became called Satan, and those angels who supported him became devils or evil spirits. As a reward for his loyalty, Michael was made the chief angel. Due to this leadership role, the Church named the Archangel a Saint, and the Eastern Liturgy assigned him the title of the “Archistrategos” (“highest general”).
Many Archangels, or is Michael the Only Archangel?
According to the Apocrypha, there are many archangels. The Book of Enoch mentions four archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, each with a distinct function. The Testament of Solomon, the Apocalypse of Zephaniah, and the Apocalypse of Paul add Sariel, Raguel, Jeremiel, and others to the list of archangels. Other extra-biblical books also refer to other archangels.
The Bible, however, knows only one archangel: Michael. It refers to Michael in Daniel 10:13, 21, 12:1, Jude 1:9, and Revelation 12:7. These verses tell us much more about Michael and may support his connection to the title of archangel.
Michael is called “one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13). The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, suggests he is the first in rank or power and foremost to appear. He is the chief and highest in rank. The Hebrew word translated as “one” is “echâd” and could also be translated as “alone,” “only,” or “first,” identifying Michael as the only archangel or first in rank.
A couple of verses further, Michael is called “your prince” (Daniel 10:21), and implies Michael is the heavenly prince of his exiled nation. Later, Daniel 12:1 calls Michael “the great prince who has charge of your people,” reinforcing the idea of Michael as the head of the exiled Jews.
Revelation 12:7-9 depicts Michael as head of the heavenly armies. It reads:
“Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels fought back. But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, along with its angels.”
The text shows the Archangel Michael as the leader of the heavenly angels, in direct opposition to Satan and his angels. He is victorious in battle and defeats the forces of evil.
The Archangel Michael’s Office
The Bible describes Michael as a warrior-like individual. He always intercedes to protect his people, whether in the one-on-one confrontation over Moses’s body (Jude 9) or as the head of the heavenly host (Revelation 12:7).
In the Jewish tradition, when Israel began their takeover of the promised land, Joshua encountered an individual who identified himself as “the commander of the army of the LORD” (ESV) or “captain of the host of the LORD,” according to the King James Version (Joshua 5:14). Since Joshua was the leader of God’s people at that time, the commander of the Lord’s army had to be the leader of God’s heavenly host and therefore was not human. As the leader of the people of God on earth, Joshua “fell down” and worshipped this commander, asking what he, a servant of the commander, could do for him.
What is noteworthy is that this commander of the army of the Lord accepted the worship. He could, therefore, not have been a regular angel since unfallen angels would never agree to be worshiped (Revelation 19:10). In this case, like with instances where the Bible mentions Michael by name, the context is a conflict situation where the leader of the heavenly host acts to protect God’s people.
One distinctive characteristic of the commander of the Lord’s army is that he held a “drawn sword” in his hand, ready for battle (Joshua 5:13). Only in two other instances does the Bible describe a heavenly being with a drawn sword. The first is the well-known story of Balaam and the talking donkey (Numbers 22). Here the one wielding the sword is referred to as “the angel of the Lord,” and he is protecting God’s people from the evil actions of the prophet Balaam (Numbers 22:23, 31).
In the second instance, David sinned against God and saw the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword, about to deliver punishment. David and his company “fell upon their faces,” a phrase used to indicate worship. The angel of the Lord does not prevent them from worshipping him, which again shows that this is not a regular angel but rather a divine being.
The angel of the Lord is not always associated with combat. Sometimes, he only delivers a message. Such was the case with Hagar, who fled Abraham’s residence because Sarah treated her harshly. The angel of the Lord then appeared to her and told her to return home.
When Menoah, Samson’s father, encountered an angel, he initially believed it was a regular angel (Judges 13:16). When he eventually realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he told his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God” (Judges 13:22). The angel of the Lord is a manifestation of the Divine (Joshua 2:1 cf. Exodus 20:2). It was, after all, the angel of the Lord that spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-4). He not only protects and acts on behalf of his people, but he sometimes also conveys messages to them directly.
Saint Michael in the Catholic Tradition
In Roman Catholic teachings, Saint Michael has four main roles. The first is as the leader of the Army of God and the leader of celestial forces in triumphing over the powers of Hell. He is the angelic model for the virtues of the “spiritual warrior.” His second role is as the angel of death, carrying Christian souls to Heaven. His third role is to weigh souls on his perfectly balanced scales, a common object he holds in art. The fourth role of Saint Michael is as the special patron saint of the Chosen People in the Old Testament and as the Guardian of the Catholic Church.
Reinforcing the role of Saint Archangel Michael as a protector, the prayer to St Michael the Archangel asks him to defend the faithful from evil.
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
The Messenger, the Angel, and the Temple
As indicated before, the word angelos (Malak in Hebrew) translates to angel or messenger. The context usually determines which one to use but it does not matter much because an angel is a messenger. The words malak and angelos do not necessarily refer to created beings. The angel of the Lord is Divine and defined as an angel.
Malachi 3:1 states, “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming.” This verse can only refer to Christ. In some Bibles, the translators preferred “angel of the covenant” over “messenger of the covenant” (MKJV, AOV). It makes no difference which one the translators use since Christ was, in word and deed, the messenger or angel of the covenant. It would, therefore, not be strange or inappropriate to refer to Christ as an angel, neither would it imply he was a created being.
Archangel Michael and Christ
Peter and the sons of Zebedee saw Moses in physical form on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9). That could only have happened if Moses had been resurrected. Therefore, the argument between the Archangel Michael and the devil (Jude 9) was about Moses’ resurrection, not just about his body. Christ alone has the authority to mediate on man’s behalf before God (1 Timothy 2:5). By performing that task, the Archangel Michael showed his divine nature.
The angel of the Lord, the commander of the Lord’s army, and the Archangel Michael hold the same position and perform the same functions. Thus, these three seem to be the same entity. The angel of the Lord is none other than the commander of the Lord’s army. Jude 9 more closely identifies them as the Archangel Michael.
We find a vivid description of Christ as leader of the heavenly host when “the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses” (Revelation 19:11-14). Christ presents himself as “the commander of the armies of the Lord” or “the chief angel, who resembles God.” It is, after all, what the term “the Archangel Michael” means.
Who Is the Archangel Michael?
An analysis of the Archangel Michael leads us from the commander of the army of the Lord, to the angel of the Lord, to a Divine entity worthy of worship and perhaps the equivalent of Christ. It would explain why Archangel Michael is called the “chief prince” and “your prince” (Daniel 10:13,21) and “the great prince who has charge of your people” (Daniel 12:1). It also clarifies why Christ will return with the voice of an archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and why Michael interceded with God on behalf of the body of Moses (Jude 9). The Archangel Michael, as head of the heavenly host of angels, in juxtaposition to Satan and his angels, would also make sense since Satan desired the position of leader of all the angels (Isaiah 14:13).
Originally published: December 29, 2023. Last update: February 17, 2025, by Jessica Suess.
