Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

12:5-9
Chronologically, this explanatory section fits in
between verses 5 and 6.
We should note to begin with that the Holy War is
initiated, not by the Dragon, but by Michael and His
angels. There should be little question that this
Captain of the angelic host is a symbol for the Seed of
the Woman, the Son of God – represented now not as
a Child, but as Michael, the great Warrior-Protector
who leads the armies of heaven in battle against the
demons. St. John’s symbolism is not casual; it is
intentional, and very precise. He carefully chose to
reveal Christ in terms of the specific Biblical
connotations associated with Michael.
The name Michael (meaning Who is like God?) occurs
elsewhere in the Scriptures only in Daniel and Jude.
Michael is portrayed in Daniel as “the great Prince”
who stands as the special Protector of the people of
God. War breaks out in heaven between the good and
evil angels, and even Gabriel is unable to overcome the
demons until Michael comes to do battle with the
enemy (Dan. 10:12-13, 20-21). In view of what is
revealed about Michael in the latter part of Daniel 10,
it is likely that the otherwise unexplained vision in the
first part of the chapter refers to Him as well: Daniel
saw a man
dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a
belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, His
face like lightning, His eyes were like flaming torches, His
arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the
sound of His words like the sound of a tumult. (Dan. 10:5-6)
The closing passage of Daniel’s prophecy refers to
Michael as the Guardian over God’s people, who will
arise to fight on their behalf during a time of great
tribulation, saving all whose names are written in the
Book of Life (Dan. 12:1). 27 Michael’s name does not
appear again in the Bible until an offhanded mention
by Jude, who tells us that He “disputed with the devil
and argued about the Body of Moses” (Jude 9).28 Jude
also calls Him The Archangel, a term which – contrary
to some speculations that have developed about the
various ranks of angels – does not necessarily mean
“member of a superior class of angels,” but rather simply
“the Chief of the angels,” an expression equivalent to
“Captain of the LORD’s hosts” (Josh. 5:13-15).
This would also tend to identify Michael with the
Angel of the LORD (cf. Ex. 23:20-23), a figure who is, in
most cases, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. 29 The
only other Biblical occurrence of the word Archangel is
in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, where Christ descends in the
Second Coming “with a shout, with the voice of the
Archangel,” or, better, “with a shout, with Archangelic
Voice.” The clear implication is that Christ
Himself shouts with the Archangelic Voice. 30 (The fact
that there are superior ranks of angels [cf. Rom. 8:38;
Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16] means that a more general use of
the term archangel is theologically valid. But the Bible
itself does not seem to use it in this way.) Carrington
observes that the term Archangel “may even be
compared with ‘Lord of hosts,’ and it may perhaps have
meant that manifestation of God in which He appears
as leader of the armies of Israel or of the heavens.” 31
Accordingly, in the Book of Revelation we find Him
leading the armies of heaven in victorious conflict with
Satan, actions clearly predicated of Christ throughout
the New Testament (cf. Matt. 12:22-29; Luke 11:14-22;
Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 19:11-16).
Even at first glance, therefore, there is much to
commend the view that Michael is a symbolic
representation of Christ, a name that emphasizes His
divine nature and power; and that the “angels” who
accompany Him are His apostles, “together with all the
angelic forces in sympathy and cooperation with
them.” 32 This view both explains, and is reinforced by,
the passage as a whole. As Philip Carrington argues, “It
makes sense of the chapter. Of course if you want the
book to be a Chinese puzzle, this will not weigh with
you; but if you think that the author (or even the final
editor) of the book intended this chapter to have a
meaning, then you will think it reasonable to consider
an interpretation of it which removes confusion. A
Woman who is pictured as the Bride of the Lord bears
a Son; she is the new Eve, and therefore her son is to
crush the Serpent; she is the Virgin of Isaiah, and
therefore he is a warrior-king. There follows a war with
the Serpent, in which an opponent casts him out of
heaven; the Serpent then went off to make war with the
rest of the seed of the woman. Clearly, then, the person he
had first fought with was also the seed of the woman.
Why drag in anyone else?
“The battle royal is followed by a choric song out of
heaven, and, as we have seen, the function of these
choric songs is to make clear the main action which is
depicted in symbols. It says, Now is come Salvation and
Power and the Kingdom of our God and the Authority of
His Messiah, and then (going on to think of the
followers of Christ rather than Christ himself), They
conquered him through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word
of His Witness. Now this admittedly means that it is the
Christ whose power has come, and that it is through his
blood that victory has been obtained. It tells us who
conquered Satan and how; it was Jesus on the cross.” 33
We have already noted that the Holy War was initiated
by the attack of Michael and the army of heaven. In
response, the Dragon and his angels waged war. But
this defensive action by the forces of evil proved an
utter failure: They were not strong enough, and there
27. Calvin recognized that this description of
Michael must be a reference to Jesus Christ; see
his Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet
Daniel (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1979), Vol. 2, pp. 369ff.
28. By “Body of Moses” Jude probably means the
Old Testament Covenant community, the
equivalent of the “Body of Christ”: cf. the
“houses” of Moses and Christ in Heb. 3:2-6.
29. See the discussion of this point in Herman
Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, translated by
William Hendriksen (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951), pp. 256ff.
30. A most helpful discussion of this whole issue is
in Carrington, pp. 218-24. See also E. W.
Hengstenberg, The Revelation of St. John (Cherry
Hill, NJ: Mack Publishing Co., [1851] 1972),
Vol. 1, pp. 464-72.
31. Carrington, p. 222.
32. Terry, p. 386.
33. Carrington, p. 219.
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