It has generally been assumed that this refers to some Archangel leading the angelic hosts in intervention on behalf of Israel at the very end of the age. To be consistent however with our belief that the Tribulation is not confined to the period of the Second Advent, but has stretched across the Christian era from 70 AD until the present time, then we must admit that Michael, whoever he may be, has been standing for quite some time.

In searching the various Bible Commentaries and Dictionaries, I found the following information which supplies the explanation as to Michael's true identity.

1) DR. WILLIAM SMITH'S BIBLE DICTIONARY

"The Rabbinical traditions about Michael oppose him consistently to the accuser and enemy of Israel... they give him the title of `the great High Priest in Heaven' as well as that of `the great prince and conqueror.' It is clear that the sounder amongst them intended to personify the Divine power and typify the Messiah."

2) DR. J. CUMMING - 19th CENTURY PROPHETIC COMMENTATOR

"I accept the generally received opinion of commentators that Michael the Prince which standeth for the ancient people of God, is not a created angel but our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

3) DR. ADAM CLARKE'S BIBLE COMMENTARY

"Of this personage (Michael) many things are spoken in the Jewish writings. Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh says `Wherever Michael is said to appear the glory of the Divine Majesty is always to be understood.' So it seems as if they considered Michael in sort as we do the Messiah manifested in the flesh."

In a further note on the use of the title Archangel for Michael in Jude v 9 Clarke states that:-

"There can be properly only one Archangel, one chief or head of the angelic host. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind ever found in the plural; there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this Archangel and head of all the angelic orders' - the Devil, Great Dragon or Satan is hhead of all the diabolic orders. When these two hosts are opposed to each other, they are to act under these two chiefs as leaders, hence in Revelation 12:7 is said, Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon and his angels The word MICHAEL (in Hebrew) seems to be compounded of (WHO), KI (LIKE), EL (GOD) - HE WHO IS LIKE GOD. Hence by this personage many understand as Jesus."

Most of the earlier Protestant Historist students and scholars of prophecy identified Michael, with the pre-incarnate Christ. In the pre-Bethlehem manifestations of Jesus, the theophanies, He is referred to as the Angel of the Lord. As such He announced the impending judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham, as such He gave to Joshua the battle-plan for Jericho and as such he announced the birth of Samson to Manoah and his wife; to give but a few examples. Furthermore in the Apocalypse Jesus is depicted as ANOTHER ANGEL, sealing the Tribes of Israel in Revelation 7 and again in Revelation 10 as the ANGEL or messenger of the New Covenant who launches the Reformation by the opening of the Little Book . It comes as no surprise to us that Jesus should be referred as Michael or He who is like God, for Paul the Apostle wrote:-

"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world, received up into glory." 1 Timothy 3:16

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Corinthians 5:19

Jesus Himself declared:-

"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." John 14:9

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Having established that Michael represents Jesus, and that the period when He stands up to deliver is the "last days" or "time of the end" which we demonstrated was the Christian era of prophecy, we also note that the people to be delivered are described as:-

"the children of thy people... every one that shall be found written in the book." Daniel 12:1

The book is undoubtedly the Lamb's Book of Life, and the people are Christian Israelites. Jesus, our greater Michael has been standing up to deliver from sin and death by the power of His atoning blood ever since Calvary. He Himself declared:-

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said signifying what death He should die." John 12:32-33

Thus the prophet Isaiah had foretold:-

"The Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Isaiah 59:20

The Apostle Paul expands upon this when he states,-

"And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the DELIVERER, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Romans 11:26-27

The actual word "standeth" in Daniel's prophecy means "to arise" and we find that the prophet Malachi describing the Tribulation period as being a day that "will burn as an oven" goes on to declare:-

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2

The Hebrew word translated arise means "to appear" which brings us back to the Olivet Discourse in which Jesus stated:-

"After the tribulation of those days..... shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in heaven... and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:29-30

Thus whilst Jesus by His atoning death and High Priestly ministry has been delivering throughout the Christian dispensation; the climax, the work of delivering, will be His physical return in power and glory to save the creation from self destruction and to set up His righteous Kingdom on earth.

Whilst the primary deliverance is spiritual it is always followed by physical deliverance e.g.

1) The great spiritual awakening known as the Protestant Reformation was followed by physical deliverance from Spain and France.

2) The Wesleyan Revival and Evangelical Awakening of the Eighteenth Century was followed by physical deliverance from Napoleon.

3) The Pentecostal Revival spearheaded by George and Stephen Jeffreys the 1920s and 1930s was followed by physical deliverance from the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

So at the end of this age in like manner will the nations of regathered Israel be delivered from all their adversaries through Jesus Christ, born of salvation raised up in the House of David by whom Zachariah foretold that we would be:-

Thus has Michael stood up, is standing up and WILL YET stand up to deliver the Covenant People of Anglo Saxon Israel both spiritually and nationally.

Editors comment: the following appendix is referred to in Countdown number 26 page 8 paragraph 2.

APPENDIX 1 - Eusibius' Account of the Siege of Jerusalem and the Flight of the Christians

"The whole body, however of the Church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to me of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan called Pella. Here (in Jerusalem) those that believed in Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned the royal city its and the whole land of Judea, the divine justice for their crimes against Christ and His Apostles, finally overtook them (the Jews) totally destroying the whole generation of these evildoers from the earth. But the number of calamities which then overwhelmed the whole nation, the extreme misery to which particularly the inhabitants of Judea were reduced, the vast numbers of men, ",omen and children that fell by the sword and famine, and innumerable other forms of death; the numerous and great cities of Judea that were besieged, as also the great and incredible distresses that those experienced who took refuge at Jerusalem, as to a place of perfect security; these facts as well as the whole terror of the war and each particular of progress, when finally the Abomination of Desolation according to the prophetic declaration stood in the very Temple of God, so celebrated of old, but which now was approaching its total downfall and destruction by fire all this I say anyone that wishes may see accurately stated in the history written by Josephus. It may, however, be necessary to state in the very work of this writer, how about three hundred thousand that flocked from all parts of Judea at the time of the Passover were shut up in Jerusalem as in a prison. For it was indeed just, that in those very days in which they had inflicted the sufferings upon the Saviour and Benefactor of all men, the Christ of God, destruction should overtake them, thus shut up as in a prison, as exhibition of Divine Justice."

EUSIBIUS' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY BOOK 3 - CHAPTER --324 AD

APPENDIX 2 - The Times of the Gentiles

In His Olivet Discourse and in connection with the Tribulation and the Siege

of Jerusalem, Christ stated:

"They (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke 21:24

For many centuries these words of Christ were a puzzle to students of Bible Prophecy; but as long ago as 1754 AD the light began to dawn and Bishop Newton of Bristol in his book "Dissertation on the Prophecies" demonstrated that the latter chapters of the Book of Daniel, foretold the rise and subsequent fall of the Turkish, Ottoman Empire. He concluded by quoting Daniel 12:12, showing that it foretold release for the Holy Land of Palestine in the "one thousand, three hundredth and five and thirty days." (1335 prophetical year/days on the Turkish Moslem Lunar Calendar) and that this would be the year 1917/18 of the Christian era.

Over a century later in 1878 AD, Dr. Grattan Guinness, the great exponent of the Historist interpretation of prophecy, produced a book entitled "The Approaching End of the Age" in which he stated that:-

"The destruction ... of the Ottoman Empire ... should be a trumpet blast to Christendom proclaiming that the day of Christ is at hand."

In a subsequent publication entitled "Light for the Last Days" written in

1887 AD, the same author proclaimed:-

"The 1335 years of Daniel 12:12 which is Eastern in character and lunar in scale, measured back from the year 1917, lead up to the great Hegira era, the starting point of the Mohammedan calendar, the birthday of the power which has for more than twelve centuries desolated Palestine and TRODDEN DOWN Jerusalem."

In 1898 AD, the late Dr. Aldersmith wrote a book entitled "The Fullness of the Nations" in which he predicted that Great Britain which he identified as modern regathered Israel, would liberate Jerusalem from the Turks in 1917 AD. He states:-

"The great Seven Times (2520 years) may not have commenced until after the battle of Carchemish and the accession of Nebuchadnezzar in 604 BC...if so, as students of the prophetical word are agreed that when Jerusalem ceases to be trodden down the Times of the Gentile are fulfilled...When these things come to pass, many who now laugh at our views will indeed have their eyes opened and realise that Great Britain is indeed the lost House of Joseph."

Sure enough after Seven Times (2,520 years) of being trodden down by Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the Saracens and the Turks, the ancient city of Jerusalem was liberated by British Commonwealth forces under the command of General Allenby on December 9th 1917 AD which was the year 1335 on the Moslem Calendar, as the coins reproduced herewith demonstrate.

Not only had Allenby liberated the city and brought to an end the Time of the Gentiles to the exact date which Daniel had forecast, but he had also carried out the liberation in the exact manner that the prophet Isaiah had foretold when he wrote these words:-

2 Coins

Not only were these events a remarkable fulfilment of prophecy, an outstanding proof that the Bible is true; but if 1917 AD marked the beginning of the end of the Gentile World Order, then Jerusalem had to be liberated by people of Israelite origin, which clearly demonstrates beyond contradiction that Britain and the Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth nations are indeed Lost Israel, now regathered under a Davidic Monarch and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We will finish this topic of by taking an extract from the Article "Announcing the Kingdom of God-The Countdown has begun"