SDA Confusion: Jesus vs. Michael, Who’s Who? | Part 8

In spiritual gifts volume 1 on page 43 Ellen White the Adventist prophetess writes I saw that Moses passed through death but Michael came down and gave him life before he saw corruption Satan claimed the body as his but Michael resurrected Moses and took him to heaven the devil tried to hold his body and railed out bitterly against God denounced him as unjust in taking from him his prey but Michael did not rebuke the devil although it was through his temptation and power that God’s servant had fallen Christ meekly referred him to his father s saying the Lord rebuke thee

So is Jesus Michael the Archangel the Adventist Church would have us think so which is why we are going to examine this more closely today you’re going to want to watch this through to the end as there will be some very important distinctions that have to be understood especially if you are going to use this argument apologetically with Seventh Day Adventist there will also be a bonus point now I see a lot of Christians that love to use the Michael the Archangel argument against sdas when contending for the true Christ but unfortunately there is a lot of conf confusion

Regarding what the SDA Church teaches on the subject sdas are often falsely saddled with the Jehovah’s Witnesses position which is that Jesus is an Angelic being but this is incorrect that’s not what SD believe so what does the SDA Church teach and is it biblical as we read from Ellen White the SDA Church does indeed teach that Jesus is Michael the Archangel but they claim that the word Archangel is a title not a type of angelic being this is to say they think that Michael is simply a another name for Jesus who is not an angel but the commander of the Heavenly

Angelic armies in fact many times you’ll see them claiming that Archangel is a unique title reserved for Jesus there’s only one Archangel and this further evidences that it’s Jesus such as former SDA evangelist Henry farband who states the term Archangel is found only twice in scripture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 it is the voice of the Archangel that awakens the dead in Jude 9 the Archangel challenges Satan about the body of Moses both times the word is defined as the Archangel never an archangel or one of the archangels this clearly implies that there’s only one Archangel now we’ll

Come back to this claim a little bit later but understand that the SDA church does not teach that Jesus is an Angelic being rather Michael and Archangel are titles but I want us to recall what Ellen White said in spiritual gifts no not that she errly claim that Michael resurrected Moses and took him to Heaven something scripture does not state but what she said regard regarding Michael in contrast to the Lord she states that Jesus didn’t rebuke Satan but left that to the Lord because she rightly recognized that Michael doesn’t do the rebuking in Jude n but leaves that to

The Lord this distinction was a consistent teaching of hers by the way another example of this is found in the devotional lift him up on page 235 like we looked at back in part one where she stated that the man Christ Jesus is not the Lord God Almighty again demonstrating that in her thinking that was a type reserved for God the father but this gives us a logical syllogism that we can work with to test the SDA Church’s position if it can be established from scripture that Jesus is indeed the Lord the Almighty then it can be conclusively determined that Jesus is

Not Michael because Michael distinguishes himself from the almighty I’ll even raise the stakes with the SDA church and stick with examining judee’s own theology to test the claim prior to verse 9 Jude exorts Christians to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the Saints against ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ referring to Jesus as Lord scripture is clear such as in the schma of Deuteronomy 6:4 and Ephesians 4 which clearly state that there’s only one Lord but thankfully

Because I know sdas are not going to accept the fact that Jude calls Jesus the Lord we don’t have to rely on making these sorts of inferences because Jude himself then goes on to tell us who this Jesus is that he exhorts us to defend against ungodly people specifically in verse 5 where he tells us that Jesus was the one who led Israel out of Egypt which is referenced in multiple places in the Old Testament namely Hosea 13:4 and Deuteronomy 5:15 and who was it that Moses and Hosea tell us LED Israel out of Egypt and gave them the law the Lord the Almighty God which means in judee’s

Mind Michael and Jesus are not the same because he tells us Michael left the rebuking to the Lord in verse 9 but tells us four verses prior that Jesus is the one that led Israel out of Egypt the Lord God Jude most assuredly knew the Old Testament furthermore all throughout his ministry the Lord Jesus rebukes the Demonic by casting out demons even uh rebuking Peter who was influenced by Satan clearly demonstrating that he has no issues rebuking Satan but hold on says Mr or Mrs Adventist there’s another Central claim we must dispel and that’s the conflation of the Angel of the Lord

With Michael the Archangel as can be seen in the now defunct book questions on Doctrine where the SDA Church writes that the use of the expression the Lord rebuke thee is significant it is found in but one other place in the Holy scriptures Zechariah 3:2 there the speaker is the Angel of the Lord verse one but in verse two it is expressly the Lord who speaks here we find the angel of the Lord equated with Jehovah himself and it is he who says to Satan the Lord rebuke thee this is a unique expression the first biblical use of it by the Lord in dealing with Satan the same

Expression is used in Jude might it not be then that the same Divine being is revealed here in Zechariah he was manifested under one of his titles the angel of the Lord in Jude another one of his titles Michael now the angel of the Lord is indeed the almighty God the pre-incarnate Christ and not an Angelic being we know this because he is worshiped in Genesis 16:13 as well as in judges 622 through 24 the scriptures are clear that that is something that only the almighty God is due we also see in Genesis 48:15 and 16 that Jacob prays to the angel of the Lord referring to him

As The God Who has been his Shepherd and delivered him from all harm but did you notice the conflation regarding the claim made in questions on Doctrine they appealed to Zechariah 3:2 in connection with Jude 9 to say that the phrase the Lord rebuke thee is only found in these two verses but in Jude 9 Michael doesn’t do the rebuking he leaves that to the Lord distinguishing himself from the Lord as even the SDA Prophet is recognized in Zechariah 3:2 the angel of the Lord does do the rebuking so if Michael and the angel of the Lord are the same figure Jesus Christ then why

Didn’t Michael do the rebuking in Jude n so this badly backfires on them they are taking two distinct figures and equating them together when they are not the angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate word whereas Michael the Archangel is a powerful Angelic creature he didn’t rebuke Satan in Jude 9 because he recognized that the devil was a formidable Foe and was wise enough to leave the rebuking of him to the almighty God but lastly remember how we looked at one of the other common defenses being that Archangel is a title uniquely reserved for Jesus well in the

September 14 1882 issue of the signs of the times an official orgon of the SDA Church Ellen White is documented saying that Satan was what in heaven an archangel so no Jesus is not Michael the Archangel but understand that the SDA church does not teach the same thing that Jehovah’s Witnesses do they don’t claim that he is an angel however their prophetess who holds divinely inspired Authority distinguish Jesus from the Lord the Almighty making him a lesser Divine being in doing so which was the consistent teaching of hers also don’t take the bait when they appeal to the

Protestant reformers that held to Michael the Archangel being a type that pointed to Jesus Jehovah’s Witnesses and sdas alike love to appeal to them to try and support their views but all of the reformers were Orthodox trinitarians that believed Jesus is the Lord the Almighty God one with the father and the spirit something that both SDA and Jehovah’s Witnesses reject so appealing to the Protestant reformers is superficial if you’re going to use this apologetic with sdas stick to pointing out that Jude clearly didn’t believe that Jesus was Michael because Jude

Believed that Jesus was the Lord and yet distinguished Michael from the Lord don’t try and argue with them that they teach that Jesus is an angel even if we know from scripture that Michael is an angel SD do not think so so utilize what they do believe and point out the error from there however if you do want to see actual Angelic heresy in Adventist theology check this

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