Recently I watched a video by a pastor by the name of Dean Odle. He was teaching on a subject I was interested in hearing about. At the outset of his teaching he laid out 4 principles of proper Bible interpretation.
In a nutshell, those principles are reading the Bible literally unless it’s clear that a passage is metaphorical or allegorical; context; grammar and historicity. I was encouraged to hear this from the pulpit because my experience tells me that this is a glaring weakness in the Church, at least in the U.S.. Most Christians simply do not know how to study the Bible.
Anyway, I continued to listen. At one point in his teaching he said that he believed that the archangel Michael was the restrainer in 2 Thess. 2. His basis for this position was Daniel 12:1.
“Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”
Mr. Odle said that Michael is going to arise and get out of the way and by doing so will allow God’s wrath to pour out on the earth. According to him, as I understood it, this will happen after the 6th trumpet and this is when the antichrist is revealed.
Not withstanding the fact that the antichrist is revealed long before the 6th trumpet (he is revealed at least at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel when he spearheads a treaty or covenant with Israel; Dan. 9:27), Mr. Odle violated all of the principles of interpretation that he said he believed were essential to understanding Scripture. I wrote him the following email:
“Hello Dean,
I watched the video of your message on the coming great deception. Prior to watching that I watched the video of your message on the firmament and the ‘skyfall’, which I enjoyed immensely.
One of the things I appreciated was your walk-thru of how to study the scriptures accurately. Most churches do not teach their members how to ‘rightly divide’ the word, which is a genuine shame.
Along those lines of good hermeneutics that you spoke of, I wanted to challenge you on something you said, namely that the restrainer is Michael the archangel. You cited Daniel 12 and I believe you are in error in your interpretation of that passage. The context is key. What you did is what many Christians do which is put the Church (and in the case of your teaching, the Church and the rest of the world) into passages where it doesn’t belong.
The context is referring to Daniel’s people. Michael is standing guard over them as it says in vs. 1. Michael is not standing guard over the whole world. What Michael is there to do is protect the righteous Jews – whose names are written in the book. The verse says they will be rescued. This verse is referring to Jacob’s Trouble, the Great Tribulation, which is the 2nd half of the tribulation (little t) or 70th week of Daniel (Chap. 9). The passage says it will last a time, times and a half of time, which we know is 3 ½ years (Dan. 12:7).
Notice it says it will be a time such as never occurred for a nation. We know that a remnant will be rescued. Jews will flee into the Judean hills east of Jerusalem the moment the antichrist takes his seat in the Holy of Holies, and be protected there for the 3 ½ years. (cf. Matthew 24:15-22 and Rev. 12:6) Jesus speaks of the same thing regarding the last 3 ½ years in Matthew 24 with respect to Jacobs Trouble/Distress.
Michael is charged with protecting Daniels people whose names are written in the book – they will be rescued. The people in this passage are Daniel’s people – the Jews. Rev. 12 says that during the last 3 ½ years Satan is going to try to wipe out Israel and the Jews, but he will fail. Michael is not the restrainer in 2nd Thess – the context in Daniel 12 denies that. That is NOT Michaels job.
Thanks and blessings to you,”
Dan Baker
I haven’t heard back from him as yet.