Our Faith and Hope, No. 1

THE TWO SAINTS

1. The two saints in conversation. The angel selected to especially instruct Daniel, says to him, in chapter 10:21, “There is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Jude 9, has the expression, “Michael the archangel.” Archangel is the head over angels, as archbishop is head over bishops. But who is the archangel? The apostle, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, says, “The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” And John 5:25, proves that it is the voice of the Son of God that wakes the dead to life: “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” These texts prove that Michael is the Son of God. Therefore the Son of God was one of the two heavenly beings. And and as there were but two engaged in revealing to Daniel the great facts of the vision, the angel Gabriel, mentioned in chapter 8:16; 9:21, is the other heavenly being. How beautifully grand the scene! The Son of God and the angel Gabriel in conversation! One inquires of the other, “How long the vision” concerning Persia, Grecia, and Rome? The other directs the answer to the prophet, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” OFH1 109.5