Unfortunately many being blinded by prejudice are unable to see past the colored lenses of the creeds they wear; they approach the scriptures carrying way too much “baggage” most of which was derived in the dark ages through the doctrines and precepts of men. This baggage clouds their judgment and thus they are unable to approach the scriptures with an open mind so as to be to be taught of the Lord. Rather they are compelled by these preconceived ideas to attempt to force the scriptures into harmonizing with them, something which they can never do, for there is no association between light and darkness, truth and error, they can never be reconciled or harmonized one with the other. Of course this does not imply that they can’t delude themselves into believing their beliefs harmonize with the scriptures, unfortunately the only way in which this is accomplished is by wrestling with the scriptures.

Let us take for example our friend Hammer Stone in his reply to the thread posted by savedbygrace57 entitled, “Michael the Arch Angel is Jesus Christ”, dated Oct 6 2009

Both of these individuals are professed Trinitarians, yet they differ on the issue of the Arch angel Michael, nevertheless both have allowed preconceived ideas to cloud their judgement. However here we are more concerned with Hammer Stone and his remarks in reply to savedbygrace57 as they pertain to our next proof text we should like to examine.

“Yet Michael THE archangel (as there is but one), in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”.” (Jude 9)

Hammer quotes this text as evidence against the idea that Michael and our Lord are one in the same stating:

“This text, my friend, shows clearly yet again that this nonsense about Michael being Christ does not hold a drop of water. Christ need not say “The Lord rebuke thee!” because He is the Lord! The defense of Michael comes from someone who is lower than Christ using the Lord to rebuke Satan. Christ does not need to say that phrase; he’d simply say what he said to Peter. Get thee hence, Satan!”

Here as we said is an excellent example of personal prejudice, bias blinding one from seeing the truth, in this case it is his firm belief in the Trinity.

Now our friend here clouded by his belief in the Trinity asserts that when Michael said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Michael was referring to his superior Christ Jesus our Lord.

Is this so?

If indeed or Lord and Michael are one in the same, could he not have been simply referring to the Heavenly Father?

But of course our friends belief that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are all one in the God head, (Three God’s in one or one God composed of three individuals) equal in power and authority would not be able to perceive this. For as he suggest, Christ, i.e. God the Son does not need to call upon God the Father or God the Holy Spirit to rebuke Satan, he can simply do it himself as when he commanded Satan to “Get thee hence”.

If this is not so, then what evidence do we have to the contrary?

The only evidence we need is to prove that the word “Lord” as here mentioned in the statement, “THE LORD rebuke you!” was in reference to Jehovah God and not Jesus, and for this we need only to consult its counterpart found in the Old Testament. This we find in the book of Zechariah.

“And the Lord said to Satan, “THE LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zech 3:2)

Who is this first “Lord” the one who is speaking here?

Verse 1 tells us: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.”

Ah! The Angel [messenger] of the Lord, (also known as “the Angel of Jehovah”), and who might this be?

Who, but God’s chief messenger and representative, his chief spokesman, the “Logos” the “Word of God” our Lord Jesus Christ

So here we have our Lord exclaiming to Satan (the devil), “THE LORD rebuke you, Satan”, what LORD did our Lord evoke?

Why to none other than Jehovah God, the same one whom he evoked when he said “THE LORD rebuke you!” when contending with the devil over the body of Moses.

Now some may be having some difficulty in accepting this barring the fact that the text (Zech 3:2) uses the same Hebrew word, “LORD” (Strong’s # 3068 (Yah·weh): Jehovah = ‘the existing One‘) in all three instances in which it is found in the text.

Note the American Standard Version:

“And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee…?”

Why should the Lord God speak to Himself in the second person, should he have not just done as our friend Hammer stone suggested of our Lord Jesus Christ and speak for Himself, saying, ‘I rebuke thee, O Satan’.

The word, LORD: [proprietor,] is a Saxon word signifying ruler or governor. When the word represents the dread name of Jehovah, or Yahweh, it is generally printed LORD, in small capitals, in the Authorized Version. The word is applied to Jesus Christ, to angels, to princes, to masters, and to husbands.

When the risen Lord Jesus overtook Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road still breathing out threats upon the followers in the “Way” (Acts 22:4), the latter heard a voice from heaven IN THE HEBREW TONGUE, saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 26:12-14) To this Saul responded with, “Who are you, Lord?” to which he received this answer (in the Hebrew tongue) “I am Jesus!” (Acts 26:15) Since this was in the Hebrew tongue, the Lord must have called himself “Yahshua,” (Strong’s # 3091; meaning: the LORD is salvation “Yahweh (Jehovah) is the Savior.”

Thus it is permissible for our Lord to be referred to (not by the name, but) by the title of Jehovah, for our Lord shares this honor with the Father of being the Savior of the world.

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” 1 Tim 2:3

God is the originator of the entire plan of salvation–from start to finish he is thus THE Savior. But he accomplished his salvation through his Son.

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21)

“Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)

Now our friend Hammer Stone goes on to quote Hebrews Chapter 1 viz.

“For to which of the angels did He ever say, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten thee?”…”But to which of the angels has He ever said, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet?’ Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

He states: In order for Christ to be the chief angel, he’d obviously need to be an angel.”

Let us address this last statement, as many feel at odds with the mere idea that our Lord could ever have been an angel, yet the scriptures confirm this in fact the very text which we just reviewed in Zechariah confirms this viz.,

“And the Lord [referred to as ‘the ANGEL of the LORD’ in Verse 1] said to Satan, “The LORD [Jehovah God] rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! …” (Zech 3:2)

“…Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel: but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.” (2 Chron 6:4-6 ASV)

In the preceding Chapter we have further proof that our Lord was an angel, note Zech 2:1-5:

“Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ”

Now as previously stated when the word “LORD” is printed in small capitals it supposedly (at least according to the translators) is meant to mean Jehovah, or Yahweh, The LORD God Almighty.

Now who among us is ready to say that this second angel is the Almighty? Are we to believe that God likewise was an angel?

Obviously not! Therefore this other angel must be referring to our Lord, at the time referred to as the Angel of the LORD or Angel of Jehovah.

“Joshua when contemplating his plans for the conquest of the Promised Land, was met by this very same angel, a soldier with drawn sword who told him “as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come” (Josh. 5:13-14). In the days of Hezekiah the Angel of Jehovah appeared in the night and decimated the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:25), and in the last great conflict, said the revealing angel to Daniel, Michael the great prince will stand up to deliver Israel and bring the evil powers to an end (Dan. 12:1) and Michael here is but a cover name for the Angel of Jehovah.

His true identity is made known to us in the Book of Revelation, where in Chapter 19 the Heavenly Rider appears to make short work of the armies of evil, and reveals his name; the Word of God! (The Logos, Rev 19:11-16) Here in Zechariah, then, the Angel of Jehovah is the Divine Word, later to be personified on earth as Jesus Christ the Son of God.”