Only one [archangel] is mentioned in the Bible, Michael. He is referred to in five places. In Dan. x. 13 he is called “The first of the chief princes,” (marginal reading,) and is said to have come to the assistance of Gabriel when he had been withstood “one and twenty days.” In Dan. x. 21 he is designated, “Michael your prince;” and in Dan. xii. 1 he is called "The great prince." In Jude 9 he is designated, “Michael the archangel;” while in Rev. xii. 7, he with his angels is spoken of as fighting the Dragon and his angels, and overcoming them. The name Michael appears to mean, “Who as God,” or “Who is like God.” This, we think, would indicate him to be the Messiah, while this view is confirmed by the only other passage in which the term archangel is used, 1 Thess. iv. 16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Let it be observed here, that it is not archangels, or an archangel, but “the archangel,” that is here referred to, evidently intimating that there is only one; and also, that while angels are often spoken of as manifesting the power of God, or swelling the train of Christ, archangels are never spoken of as doing so; and while the voice of the archangel in this passage is connected with the resurrection of the dead, the Savior expressly declares, John v. 28, that it is his own voice which will accomplish this stupendous miracle.
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