The name and title of a celestial being mentioned in Jude 9 as contending with the devil about the body of Moses. The name Michael occurs also in Dan. 10:13 , 21 ; 12:1 as one of the “chief princes” of the Jews, who had been helping Gabriel at the court of Persia, who alone shared Gabriel’s knowledge of the future, and who would deliver Daniel’s people from their foes at the end of time. The context requires that Michael be considered a supernatural being. In Rev. 12:7 Michael commands the angelic forces in the great struggle in heaven that resulted in the expulsion of Lucifer and his angels. In each instance the name occurs in the context of conflict with Satan. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Didymus refer to Jude 9 as a quotation from the pseudepigraphal Assumption of Moses, extant portions of which, however, do not contain such a statement.
The Millerites and others identified Michael the archangel with Christ. In an exposition of Dan. 12:1 William Miller wrote: “Michael, in this passage, must mean Christ; He is the great Prince, and Prince of princes” ( Evidences From Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ [1840], pp. 108, cf. p. 209). Other commentators set forth three main arguments for holding that Michael is simply another name for Christ: (1) the statement in Jude 9 ; (2) the voice of Christ is the voice of the archangel ( 1 Thess. 4:16 ); (3) Michael is called a prince ( Dan. 12:1 ) even as Christ is ( Isa. 9:6 , 7 ; Eze. 37:25 ; Dan. 8:25 ; 9:25 ; Acts 5:30 , 31 ) (F. H. Berick, The Lord Soon to Come [1854], pp. 137–139).
Most Seventh-day Adventists have held that Michael is Christ. On the basis of these and other passages of Scripture, Seventh-day Adventists conclude that Michael is none other than Christ—“archangel” not in the sense of being the highest angel (chief among equals), but of being ruler over the angelic hosts (as infinitely superior to them). According to 1 Thess. 4:16 , the voice of the archangel is heard when Christ descends and the righteous dead are raised, whereas in John 5:25–29 it is the voice of Christ, the Son of God, that summons the dead. In view of the fact that Michael means “Who is like God?” and that Satan’s rebellion was essentially a challenge of the deity and prerogatives of Christ as the Son of God, the name is particularly appropriate in the context of conflict with Satan, in which it always occurs. See SDACom 7:706; SDADic 714.