Jesus Taunts Satan

After I listened to Dr. Heiser’s Youtube series “The Unseen Realm,” I bought the book.  There is another gem he shared with me that I’d like to share with you.   It's in the difficult text of Matthew 16:13-18:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

So who, or what, is the “rock” upon which Jesus will build His church?  Catholics say Jesus was saying Peter is the rock.  So, they say, he was the first pope.  But Protestants say, no, Jesus was doing a word-play.  Peter comes from the Greek “petros,” which means “stone.” But the word “rock” means, according to Vine’s, a “mass of rock,” a “sure foundation,” as opposed to a detached stone which could be “easily moved.” Therefore, they say, Jesus was saying He is the rock he was referring to; He is the foundation of the church (I Corinthians 3:11), immovable in His doctrines and foreknowledge.

Dr. Heiser admits to the accuracy of this word-play, but adds that Jesus has another word play for “who is the rock,” which conveys a cosmic scope.

To explain his idea, we must start with the fact that Jesus was leading His disciples into Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:13 above), which happens to be at the foothills of Mt. Hermon—a very significant mountain because of its moral darkness.  This mountain was the place where Satan and his fallen angels plotted to destroy the lineage of Jesus by sexual relations with earth women (Book of Enoch, Chapters 6 and 7).  (I’ve discussed the validity of the Book of Enoch, how it’s quoted in Scripture, in recent blogs).  So the mountain has one dark feature right there. 

Then there’s the fact that the meaning of Hermon, in Scripture, is Anathema, which means “devoted to destruction.”  Uttering Anathema on someone is the direst of curses one can pronounce.  Paul uses the word in Galatians 1:8:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Messing with Scripture’s gospel brings down curses from God, and separation from Him forever.  With meaningful repentance, God could forgive. 

Having this evil name is the second darkness around Mt. Hermon. 

Finally, to get to my third point of darkness about Mt. Hermon, you need some additional backup.  To review a previous blog: Genesis 6:1-4 really says that in Noah’s day, fallen angels came to earth, took on the form of men, and married and had sex with earth women.  The children of this sexual match of immortal angels and mortal women were aberrant.  They became renowned giants, and they were called Nephilim (the word is in the ESV or NIV translation).  The Nephilim, partially from demonic fallen angels, were wicked.  And being a mix of mortal and immortal, they were not human, so it’s then possible that they were unsaveable. They were also linked to the rapid immorality that brought on the Flood (Genesis 6:5), and the evil technology that they taught men—how better they can destroy themselves and their culture. 

To continue, we fast forward to the days of Moses and Joshua his general. Their purpose is to wipe out all the evil giants that have cropped up again in Canaan, God’s choice location for Israel.  Toward the end of this mission, Joshua defeated the giants of Bashan.  Their king, Og, had a bed that was between 14 and 16 feet long. Deuteronomy 3:11 and Joshua 13:12 records these facts:

…Og the king of Bashan was left…Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length…

…all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei… these Moses had struck and driven out.

The point of mentioning “king Og in Bashan” is this: Mt. Hermon is smack in the middle of the Bashan area.  Thus, Mt. Hermon and Bashan, in addition to being a meeting place for Satan’s minions, despite having a name that is accursed, and having had demonic giants, also still has a lot of wicked people. As Joshua 13:12 above notes, Ashtaroth was the capital city of Bashan.  Ashtaroth has a bad reputation as well; the people worshipped the goddess Ashtoreth (in other nations, she was called Aphrodite, or Ishtar—both fertility goddesses—we get Easter from Ishtar).  These goddesses were also known as the “queen of heaven” (Catholics take note), and the people of Bashan and Mt. Hermon persuaded the Israelites into worshipping this goddess as well. There were sexual rituals that took place.  The worship involved the “high places,” which were also constructed in Israel.  They were mentioned many times in the Old Testament.  God wanted them destroyed—they practiced sacred prostitution. This was heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual perversion. I mean, how bad is this?  See if you can imagine such perversity as prostitution part of your religion. All this is to say:  This was the third evil of this mountain area. 

In summary, for all three of the reasons listed above, Mt. Hermon was Ground Zero of the gates of hell on earth--and yet this is where Jesus was leading His disciples. 

Now, to finish the backdrop to the cosmic scope of what Jesus was doing on Mt. Hermon, I need to explain the “gates of Hell” quote. Hopefully you remember Matthew 16:18 above:

…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We’re ready for the final two gems I got from Dr. Heiser. First, the idea that people have today, whether Catholic or Protestant, about interpreting this is, Satan would be attacking the church, but “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church” (“it” is the church, they say).  But this made no sense to Dr. Heiser, who couldn’t visualize gates attacking the Christian church. Gates are defensive, not offensive. Their purpose is to hold the attackers back. There is a simple explanation for this conundrum, and that is:  a proper translation.  From the Pure Word, the most accurate translation of koine Greek around, Matthew 16:18b: 

…upon this huge Rock I will build My Assembly (ed. note: the church), and the gateways of hell shall definitely not triumph against Me.  

This translation definitely implies that Jesus, in this quote, while He is standing on Ground Zero of hell on earth, is prophetically saying He will be attacking the gateways of hell, and the gateways will not be able to hold Him back (praise God!).  Christ, with the help of His church, will blow through those gateways in complete and utter triumph! Hell will not triumph against His attack!

How does this happen? Because, though Satan would assume he triumphed by killing Jesus, in reality, Jesus won the battle.  First, by dying, He accomplishes great things:  He thus pays for our sins.  Not only that, He was resurrected from the dead; thus He defeated death. We believers will, with the help of the Holy Spirit, attack Satan ourselves by living godly lives, sacrificing life’s pleasures for Him, and by bold witness.  By following God’s desires, our lives will be a total triumph of good against evil.  We will someday also be resurrected and join Him in heaven, and there will be no more death.    

This gem I got from Dr. Heiser, that further explains his “cosmic meaning” of the “who is the rock” conundrum.  Dr. Heiser has climbed Mt. Hermon himself and discovered a huge rock jutting up from the earth at the peak, so that is the best vantage point that Jesus made His speech.  That jutting-up rock was the rock Jesus was pointing out.  Jesus was saying, “from where you are standing, even at this rock and the gates of hell, we shall attack Satan and shall have victory.” That was the double entendre of the word-play. “You are Peter (stone).  I will build my church even on the gates of hell, represented by this rock.”

So the big picture is this:  Jesus is near the final week of His life. He has reasoned with the evil Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes; He has admonished and warned them that their lack of belief will send them to hell (John 8).  But they still plan to kill Him. He knows that when He enters Jerusalem for Passover, they will make their move to kill.  (What’s ironic is, they were playing into God’s hands—He wanted them to do it on Passover, to prove who the real Lamb of Sacrifice is).  But now it’s gloves off. Jesus wants to taunt Satan into making his final move to kill Him. Jesus is deliberately standing on Mt.Hermon, ground zero for hell, and giving Satan the middle finger, as it were.  He is telling Satan—come on!  Bring it on!  Go ahead!  Prove you are powerful enough to kill me!  (Ironic, as I say, since that’s what God wanted to happen to save His faithful people.  Satan did not know about God’s plan of redemption and resurrection).  Jesus knew how to pick a spot for throwing down the gauntlet.

Jesus picked another spot and did it again, on the Mt. of Olives. That’s the place where in the Old Testament, the Israelites worshipped the idol Molech, which included the ritual of child sacrifice.  It’s hard to believe, but Molech idol-worship started with Solomon in I Kings 11:7:

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem…

The mountain east of Jerusalem has been definitely identified as the Mt. of Olives.  As is too typical, what starts out as a favor Solomon does for his foreign wives to give incense to their gods turned out, particularly in the days of King Manasseh later, to devolve into something abhorrent, namely the murder of innocent children.  Manasseh sacrificed his own children to the god Molech, and encouraged his people to do the same (the crux of the sad story is contained in II Kings 21:9-14). As a result of this horrible slaying of the innocents, God promised to wipe Judah off the map like you would take a dish towel and wipe it clean. And He did. Judah was in fact conquered and put into captivity by the Babylonians because of their most grisly of idol-worship that ever was.  (How do you think God feels about our abortions?)

So Jesus picked the very same spot to pronounce judgment on Israel again. Why?  Because this time they would be killing another innocent--Him, the God-man. The worst of all possible crimes—trying to kill God.  The Jews were doing their usual thing, sacrificing innocent lambs on Passover, judging people when they would break a Scriptural law, and judging them again if they went against the pile of rules and traditions they added to Scripture (they had piles of rules on how far you could travel on Sabbath, and exceptions thereto).  They felt confident that they had righteously obeyed the Law (the Torah).  But they were still wicked in heart; they had killed many prophets in the past (who pronounced judgment on them), and now they were going to be in a blood-lust, screaming to Pilate to send Jesus to the Cross. So before Jesus gave His life, He announced, on the mountain that had seen so much innocent little children’s blood—and judgment--in the past, that within a generation, judgment will come again and blood will be shed.  The blood of the people will run again—because they were going to kill The Innocent Lamb of God.  In Matthew 24:34, on the Mt. of Olives, Jesus makes this important promise:

 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

If the hermeneutic rule is, take it literally if at all possible, here is the place to take it literally.  Despite our dogged belief that Matthew 24 is future, only the fact that He is prophesying to that present group of Jews can be certain:  A generation in that time was 40 years.  Let’s say Jesus was crucified and rose again somewhere in A.D. 30 or 33.  As it so happens, in 40 years or under, the Roman general Titus came in, in exactly 70 AD, and burned everything down, including the Temple, killed a million or more Jews—and fulfilled this prophecy. The Jews paid the price for their murder. 

So what I’m saying here is, Jesus knew how to pick His spot when it came to make an announcement. And His spot is based on history. Note how much we learned in this paper in the New Testament by studying the past, in the Old Testament.  We need to read more of the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular.  I’ve got a question for you:  Would you be able to tell the story of Jesus, using only the Old Testament? If you ever talk with a Jew, that might be the only way you would get his (or her) attention.

You know, you never stop learning enough from the Scripture.  There are always deeper treasures to find.  I don’t think we could ever, in this post-Christian age, get people to submit to Christ by “the Romans Road” anymore.  People are different these days; the majority don’t know anything about Scripture anymore.  You have to start where their weakness is; many of them can’t think of a good reason for living these days.  The whole Bible presents the entire love and judgment of God.  Good vs. Evil.  Since seminarians aren’t respecting the inspiration of Scripture enough, especially regarding the Old Testament, pastors are graduating from seminary not knowing the Gospel as it has to often be presented today—cover to cover, the spiritual battle of good vs. evil. How God has triumphed over evil in so many places, and how we must avoid evil to follow God.  And there is frequently a supernatural element attached in His plans—but that gets dismissed in this demythologizing day, so our future pastors only get part of the picture. Ask God for guidance when you read His Word. Respect its infallibly for every word said, and be hungry for righteousness.  How to get to heaven is seldom taught properly these days, I mean it.  His Word will lead you to the way to salvation and to happiness.     

Exact Month of Jesus' Birth Predicted by Stars and Scripture--and What Happened on Dec 25

People tend to scoff at this Biblical record of the star of Bethlehem, saying

“this star is doing things a star cannot do.” They’re  questioning Matthew 2:9:

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

“How does a star “stand over,”or stop, people say. So they assume this story is a fable. Well, science has a surprising answer to that question. Of course,if we can "prove" it, they would ask “Why do you think you can introduce some new facts now, when we haven’t heard anything convincing in all of history?” Science has a reason for that too.

A little background: The author of the CD I'm summarizing is Professor Larson--a lawyer, not a reputed scientist. But he has been a lifelong fan of astronomy—movements of stars and planets and constellations. (Not the same as astrology, which is often abused as predictive, telling you how to run your life). Scripture praises astronomy: it insists the stars tell us things from God. But Scripture condemns astrology. Note Job 9:9:

He (God) made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south.

And note Psalm 19:1-2:

The heavens declare the glory of God…2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.

Thus, the stars communicate. God wants us to study the heavens to see what He might announce or tell us. Prof. Larson found Biblical proof that will surprise you (see also his website, bethlehemstar.net)  Now you’ll surely ask, “Why isn’t he supported by reputable scientists?” Well, why do most of our scientific minds believe in evolution instead of creationism? And what happens to scientists who believe in creationism?  The fact is: To the world, their basic “truths” are anti-God. Hey, If those who have the media, those in power, are rational, why did they kill Jesus?

Final background: Johannes Kepler in 1619 discovered the math behind the movements of the solar system. With hundreds of hours of effort, he could map how the sky appeared on any date, past or future, since all movements of everything in the sky are predictable. But the effort required was ponderous for math and science geniuses of his generation. Now we have the advent of computers; so these movements have been incorporated into software programs. How the sky will appear from any location on the planet for any given date can now be found in seconds—in fact, the computer can even animate their movements through a period of time. So we are only now able to answer the big question: “Which of them is the star of Bethlehem—if any?” There are, it is estimated, 100 billion galaxies, and 100 billion stars in each—how can you find the Bethlehem star in such a crowd?

Here is the relevant Bible passage, Matthew 2:1-9, from which we will draw necessary characteristics for the Bethlehem star:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

From these verses, the Star of Bethlehem has to fulfill 9 qualifications:
a. The star has to indicate birth (2:2)
b. It has to indicate Kingship ( 2:2)
c. Has to point to Jewish Scripture (2:1)
d. Rising in east (2:2)
e. Appears at an exact time
f. Herod didn’t know when it appeared ( 2:3)
g. Endured over a considerable period of time (2:2, 9)
h. Went ahead of magi as they traveled south to Bethlehem ( 2:9)
i. The star has to Stop! Over Bethlehem ( 2:9).  This is the strange one.

So here is what Larson concluded:  It couldn’t be a meteor, which doesn’t rise in the east, and it isn’t long-lasting. It couldn’t be a comet because comet omens are perceived as foretelling doom. But Jesus’ birth is good news. Also, there were no comets in 3-2 BC (those were the conception/ birthdate, see below). It couldn’t be a nova—a spectacular exploding star--Herod wouldn’t ask “when,” because his scientific advisors (also astronomers, though I suspect not as smart as the magi) would’ve told him—along with their “interpretation.” Also, there were no novas for 3-2BC,the estimated time of Jesus' birth.

Based on what we just excluded, and from (f) above, the “right star” wasn’t spectacular—but it must have been moderately bright. It so happens, a conjunction of planets, or planet/star, would fulfill that. Larson decided, why not look at Jupiter, the King Planet (as it is so-called—and, it is the largest in the planet system). If Jupiter is involved, it would help us meet requirement (b) above as well. As it so happens, Jupiter, the King planet, was conjoined to Regulus (the King Star, how “coincidental”) in September of 3 BC. Since a magus had likely seen this 2-3 times before (this conjunction happens every 12 years), that by itself is not a big enough deal to get the Magi excited enough to pack up their camels and travel to see what's happening. Nor is it a big enough deal for Herod to hear from his scientific advisors.  But later, as we shall see, that is the date of the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit into Mary.

A scientific note here: planets sometimes reverse (“retrograde”) motion (like passing a car slowly on the freeway, it seems to move backward, so when earth swings past a planet, that planet seems to move backward). It so happens, Jupiter is in retrograde in 3-2BC in a very peculiar path—it passes Regulus, then reverses course, passes again, then reverses course, passes a 3rd time! This would have been exciting by itself, but additionally, if you draw this movement, it forms a halo above Regulus. Thus we have a triple-proof coronation of a king! (King planet, king star, and halo). Item “b” above is definitely solved, and we have a base "star" for further study.

Now, what about Jewishness--(c) above? A little Scriptural background will get us toward the answer: Gen 49:9 says, in summary, (1) out of tribe of Judah would come a King of all kings. (2) Judah is compared to a lion. Well, why not look and see if anything is happening in the constellation Leo the Lion? (By the way, good astronomers in those days knew many faiths' Scriptures.)  

Now let's talk about Jesus' birth.  Is it also confirmed by the stars?  Begin with Revelation 12:1-5, a prophecy of Jesus' birth.  A “great sign appeared in heaven;” a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” who was pregnant and due to bear a child “to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” She is threatened by a dragon wanting to kill her child. This has long been interpreted to be about Jesus and the Virgin Mary—and opposed by a dragon--Satan working through Herod. Compare these verses with how the stars told us all about it:  It So Happens that as Jupiter begins to crown Regulus, an interesting event happens in the constellation Leo—and behind Leo is—guess what—the constellation Virgo (Virgin). Virgo is rising, clothed in the sun. The moon at the time (within September, 3 BC, see below) is new, so it was under her (Virgo’s) feet! Note the Scriptures above.  An amazing prophecy come true in many "coincidental" points! You must see the DVD to appreciate this amazing point!

As it turns out, the stars tie together the Conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and the Birth. How do we know? Because 9 months after the event in the last paragraph, Jupiter is finished crowning Regulus; and has moved to conjoin with Venus, making the brightest conjunction in the world (planetariums love to show this conjunction). This was the only time in those magi’s lifetime for this conjunction. If the magi were thinking about all the activity just noted from September, this bright combo practically screamed out, “Mount Up!”

The bright planet conjunction happened in June, 2 BC.  Thus, Jesus was born in June, 2 BC.Yes, it "should" have been 0 BC/AD. Medieval dating experts were good, but not that good.

And the magi began planning a trip.

The next several months after June 2 BC are speculative, as opposed to the Keplerian rock-hard scientific facts above. Let’s assume the magi were, within a few months, starting their trip. We’re assuming the magi, from the East, were located at Babylon, a home base for the best astronomers of those days. After a couple more months, they would arrive at Jerusalem asking “where?” They tell Herod the details about September, 3 BC and June, 2 BC, then get sent south to Bethlehem—only 5 miles away, please note that.

It So Happens that in December of 2 BC (thus allowing 6 months from Christ’s birth to their arrival at Jerusalem), Jupiter is in the sky south of them from Jerusalem-- thus it continues leading them toward Bethlehem.

This means 8 of 9 requirements above are fulfilled:
a.The first conjunction signified birth by its association with Virgo “birthing” the new moon at her feet (in the tradition of the day, a woman typically gave birth downward).
b.The Planet of King’s halo-coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.
c.The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo the Lion, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).
d.Jupiter rises in the east.
e.The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.
f.Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.
g.The planet/star events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.
h.Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem

But Jupiter somehow stopped, since it stayed over Bethlehem for the time they traveled there. (This is what brings the scoffers out). There is a simple explanation for the scoffers.  As it so happens, when a planet (or star) goes to the end of an arc and begins to retrograde, it has to “stop” briefly. (Picture an elliptical arc, say the outline of the end of an egg, say the egg is standing up—as you draw the edge of the egg in your mind, from the left, the arc, or egg outline, is moving down. At the right, it moves upward. But for a brief period, at the bottom, it isn’t moving up or moving down—so it seems to stop). It So Happens that Jupiter was “at the bottom”—just before retrograde, it “stopped”—and that day was December 25, BC 2! That must’ve been the date of their arrival to the toddler Jesus, in the house. That’s a Significant date—not for the birth (by which we mistakenly celebrate it), but for the celebration of worship and presenting gifts to Our Lord.

Thank You, God, that your planets, stars, and constellations speak of Your great Immanuel! With perfect prediction. Jews knew the night sky well (they had no light pollution, no real air pollution, they slept on their roofs a lot—knew the constellations).

Divine Rebellions

This is another great sermon by Dr. Michael Heiser, on the Unseen Realms.  Read with enjoyment.

If you ask the average Christian, ‘Why is the world so depraved?’  They’ll say, ‘It was the Fall in Genesis 3.’ But if you asked the first century Jews the same question, you would get ‘There are three reasons.  The first was the Fall, because the sin of Adam and Eve was the entrance of rebellion into God’s good Creation, which broke mankind from close fellowship with God; and death for all of us arose because of it (Romans 5:12).  The second was the rebellion in Genesis 6:1-4 with the sons of God; and the third reason was what happened at Babel.’  Our question for study is, How did these other two sources of depravity factor in, and why did their consideration disappear in current theology? 

The first source of depravity was the Fall.  Dr. Heiser’s sermon portion on that issue will not be summarized here.  By excluding it, I am definitely not saying it is a lesser cause for depravity.  The reason for my exclusion is, he talks about the serpent, about the Garden of Eden, and many others, as metaphors.  A bit of Origen here, for the astute.  He’s saying that it might not have been a snake, it might not have been Eden.  Those terms have mystical, broader meanings instead.  My problem with this is, you’re moving away from a strict interpretation of Scripture, which I don’t want to see happen.  Keep in mind, we don’t know the appearance of the snake before it was cursed, and for all we know a snake could talk (elsewhere in Scripture a donkey talked, so anything’s possible in our supernatural world).  And, we don’t know the appearance of the Garden. I am certainly not suggesting Dr. Heiser is spreading lies; I am not demeaning his Christian spirit.  He is extremely knowledgeable on Scripture and he opened up new ways to look at verses that cleared up their meanings; and what he says makes sense.  My blog last week proves that. 

So let’s move on to his second reason for the causes of depravity in the world. We’ll start with Genesis 6:1-5, per ESV:

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. ⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

This was a supernatural event.  Unfortunately the real explanation of these verses is ignored or demythologized today.  Most churches will never preach a sermon on what really happened.  Even the commentaries usually fail us, typically explaining that it’s not supernatural. The sons of God, or they would say, godly sons of Seth, cohabited with pagan daughters of men, thus compromising the witness of God.  But there is no Scriptural proof for any of that.  (How is it that the women are all pagan?  And, why would humans bring forth aberrant children who grew up giants (Nephilim) who became ‘renowned’?)

In reality, this Genesis 6 episode, in its real meaning, is of huge importance. For one thing, its story is continued in New Testament writing.  For another, it explains much of why depravity proliferates just before the Flood, as verse 5 above imply. 

What really happened was, ‘sons of God’ were fallen angels (see last week’s blog), who crossed the forbidden boundary of heaven and earth, and cohabited with women on earth. This merger of immortal fallen angels, and mortal women, produced aberrant children called Nephilim—they were tall, huge, and powerful; so they were rock gods of the age.  But coming from fallen angels, they were wicked and violent. They were brilliant, but they taught the men and women of the time how we can destroy ourselves, as we shall prove—and mankind took to it gleefully, and evil behavior spread much faster and farther than before. (I have another blog on ‘altered DNA’ on this subject too).

For those who don’t believe this strange story, it gets confirmed in II Peter 2:4-6a:

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes…

Note the chronology of extremely gross sin here:  first, angels who sinned, then people are so evil that God wipes them out with Noah and the flood, then the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It so happens that the sons of God are early in Genesis 6, Noah is in chapters 6-9a, and Sodom and Gomorrah are in chapter 19.  The same chronological order, as you can see in the ascending chapter numbers.  But if you acknowledge my assertion that they speak of the same events, you have to accept that the ‘sons of God’ are the same as the ‘angels who sinned.’

Jude 6-7 confirms this idea again:

 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

With the double reference of ‘chains under darkness,’ these Jude verses cover the same event as II Peter.  And notice the great sin of the fallen angels—they did not keep their proper domain (heaven), but ‘left their own abode’—i.e., came to earth.  Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned again, to emphasize the sexual problem of ‘going after strange flesh’ (in their case, homosexuality).  The fallen angels also went after strange flesh (human women). Keep in mind that angels become men several times elsewhere in Scripture, so the concept that fallen angels would do this is not impossible. 

The wicked Nephilim helped to proliferate sin in man by teaching men (1) skills and technologies for warfare—how to make swords and knives and spears; (2) about plants and herbs to intoxicate themselves—drugs, in other words, to produce altered states; (3) about astrology (not astronomy), which in effect made them turn into idolatry—worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, trying to control their future; and (4) arts of seduction which led to sexual immorality.  The result of all this was broken homes, bloodshed, worship of demons, some of that through altered consciousness.  These were all horrors, all accelerating men’s skill in destroying themselves as individuals and as society. This was the proliferation of sin that left God frustrated enough to declare an end to mankind in Genesis 6:5. 

The third major reason for man’s depravity was the tower of Babel. Genesis 11:1-9:

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ And they said to one another…“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” ⁸ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth

To understand the significance of this, it’s necessary to get a backstory. It starts with Deuteronomy 32:1b, 4b-6, 8-9, ESV:

…hear, O earth, the words of my mouth…

4…A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
⁵ They have dealt corruptly with him;
    they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
    they are a crooked and twisted generation. ⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord,
    you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you…
    ⁸ When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of God ⁹ But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Note:  In case your version translates v. 8 differently, keep this in mind:  the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that the correct phrase in v. 8 is “sons of God;” it even uses the word Elohim (see last week’s blog).  It’s not sons of Israel (which wasn’t even a nation yet!), nor sons of Adam, as other translations say.

What happened was, after the flood, God urged these 8 survivors (Noah’s family) to multiply over the face of the earth, as He had said to Adam and Eve at Eden (Genesis 1:28: 'And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over... )  After the flood, they again multiplied, as Genesis 10 shows; but instead of dispersing over the earth, as God wanted, they rebelled, refused to disperse, congregated in Babel (Genesis 11:4) and decided to build a tower to make themselves a great name. God probably thought, “This is the opposite of what I commanded.  I want a human family, I want the Edenic mandate to be fulfilled. I love you, I want the best for your lives, so please obey my commands, and you’ll get your best life. And your response?  ‘No, we’d like to build a tower.’  Unacceptable.”  (The reader needs to know that the tower was a ziggurat, built to offer sacrifice and barter with God. It was tall so they could bring their god to them to fulfill their desires. Unacceptable again, since our God did not work that way.)  So God probably thought, ‘You refuse to be loyal to me, so you want another god; so I will give you what you really want:  a divorce’ (Deuteronomy 32:5).  I will disinherit you. I’m still going to disperse you, divide you up (Deut. 32:8), and assign to each of your nations one of the sons of God (Deut. 32:8). These fallen angels, these demons who wish to be worshipped as gods, can be your new rulers.  You can be under their corrupt command, since you want to worship other gods. Let’s put you under their thumb.’ This is the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 1:18-25, wherein God “gave (humankind) over” to their persistent rebellion.  God thought, ‘Hopefully you will change your mind about Me leading you. I’m hoping you will flee to Me.’

But God still wanted a loyal, witness nation, a society who loves Him, to show what His leadership could do to bless a loyal nation.  He had His eyes on one man of great faith and godliness, Abram, and his wife Sarai (their grandson was Jacob, in Deut.32:9).  They became renamed Abraham and Sarah, but they couldn’t have kids, they were too old--so they were perfect to start a godly nation with.  You say, how is that?  Because God wanted them to see His power and love when He performs a miracle and they have a child together. Then they will teach of His power and love to their children. God then hoped they would continue a loyal family descending from that.  And every nation around them will hear of this power of God, too.  Besides the Biblical proof I’ve bolded and alluded to in Deuteronomy, why do I think this was the order of God’s thinking?  Because right after God’s language curse, Babel began dispersing people (as God wanted in the first place) in Genesis 11, and immediately God covenants with Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 to form a nation!  Here it is:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country (Note: Ur) and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

“All the families” meant God was thinking of the lineage of Abram eventually going through David, then eventually to Jesus, Christ the Redeemer. (Galatians 3:16).

The chosen nation Israel was supposed to finally be Yahweh’s family, starting from the godly Abraham.  They’re even called a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6).  Since a priest is a mediator between God and men, Israel was, through its godliness and witness, supposed to be a mediator between Yahweh and all the nations.  A witness having a testimony.

The sons of God that were to rule over the other nations, of course, failed God’s command to be just—they were corrupt (Psalm 82:2-7—from last week).  Their people were blind about our God; so now they were lost in the ugly power of sin in their lives.

There was a solution, beautifully hinted in Psalm 82:8, where God gives hope through all our failures—through His Son, Jesus:

Arise, O God, judge the earth;
    for you shall inherit all the nations!

The word for ‘arise’ is the same as the word for ‘resurrection.’  Sin’s death cannot defeat us, if we turn in faith to Jesus, who showed us that resurrection will defeat sin and have a new life in heaven when we die. 

I hope you’ve appreciated these nuggets from Scripture from Dr. Heiser, as much as I have.

God and gods

Dr. Michael Heiser’s Youtube on this subject are just too good to pass up.  Here’s the Cliff Notes version of one session.  Let’s begin with Psalm 82:1-7, using the English Standard version:

God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
² “How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked? 
³ Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
    they walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶ I said, “You are gods,
    sons of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ nevertheless, like men you shall die,
    
The first word of the Psalm, God, is Elohim in Hebrew; this is the standard word for God.  But Elohim is also used for “midst of the gods” in verse 1, and “you are gods” in verse 6.  Interestingly, they are also called “sons of the Most High” in verse 6 as well.  The thing that disturbs us is, in the second and third use of Elohim, the surrounding Hebrew words definitely say it is plural.  So now it looks like a pantheon, Greek and Roman mythology stuff, doesn’t it? So let’s allow for the possibility that the Apostle writers, being from a different culture than ours, knew what that verse implies, yet they weren’t deterred from their doctrine of One God who rules over all.  So let’s continue to explore and keep an open mind. 

In this Psalm, who is God talking to?  Who are these ‘gods?’  They seem to be in a ‘divine council’ with our God—and they are His sons!  (Before you get carried away, the word “sons” here simply means “direct creation by God.”  Adam was a son of God.  Angels were too.)  To reconcile the use of Elohim in all this, some have suggested, ‘It’s the Trinity.’ But God is not talking to the other members of the Trinity, because He is chastising them for corruption; nor are any of the Trinity sentenced to death! So God is rebuking them and predicts His judgment upon them, yet they are also called ‘sons of the Most High.’  Hmmm.  Could these be angels?  It's true, after all, that some angels are corrupt--those led by Satan, who was once an angel.   

Modern commentaries suggest that God is talking to people, either Jewish elders or members of the Sanhedrin. But that can't be; He calls them 'gods.'  We're not Mormons.  Jesus, as God, never says or implies that men are actually ‘gods,’ that we’re the same as Jesus (as some apostate religions teach today).  So, the verses are not men either.
Look at Psalm 89:5-6, to learn more:

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
⁷ a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,

The “assembly of the holy ones” or “heavenly beings,” or the “council of the holy ones,” or our “divine council” in Psalm 82 earlier—they are all “sons of God,” or “sons of the Most High.”   And they’re also “gods;” and “gods” are all translations of Elohim plural in Hebrew, which we might think only applies to our good God.  And they are counseling along with God Most High, singular, in the heavenlies, “in the skies.” So, we're back to thinking, are these angels? But there is evil among them; so some of them, at least, must have fallen (see Isaiah 14 for proof); but why are they still in heaven?  And why in His presence--and how do they get a position in council with Him?

Now for those who argue against this plurality of Elohim, you might argue by saying, “What about the Bible verse like Deuteronomy 4:35 where God says, “there is none besides me.”’  Well, in context, that is saying “There is no one who compares to Me.”  (So, our God is bragging; I don’t have any problem with God bragging.)  And for those who ask, why does God need a council? He’s omniscient.  In our response to that one, we might ask, why did God create Man?  He didn’t need us either; He’s not deficient.  The best guess is:  He must like our company; maybe He liked the angels’ company--even after they became corrupt. He has love for us--and we're corrupted in sin.  

I Kings 22:19-25 adds to this subject, but first a little background:  The Jews kingdom is divided—Israel in the north, under Ahab, and Judah in the south, under Jehoshaphat.  Ahab is trying to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in conquering Ramoth-gilead.  Ahab asks of his own prophets about the battle, but these are an ungodly Baal-worshiping bunch that, of course, predict his victory (whatever he wants to hear--just like many of our pastors today).  But Jehoshaphat persuades Ahab to bring forth a godly prophet, Micaiah. So let’s pick it up at verse 19:

And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; ²⁰ and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’… ²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ ²² And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ ²³ Now therefore behold, (Micaiah said), the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; (but) the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

God is again partnering with this same council in the heavens, this time called “the host of heaven.”   But people, be sure to understand that this group is not to be confused with the ones that serenaded the shepherds in Bethlehem.  In this case, they are deciding how Ahab is going to die, to be judged for his life of evil.  And, we see again that not all of the angels, or "gods," are good; “a spirit” is among them, a wicked one. (They are all spirits, being in the heavenlies.) Anyway, this spirit is ready to deceive Ahab (now let’s not get too sympathetic for Ahab—after all, he has drawn the people to worship Baal, a demon-god, and God made sure he had a last chance to hear Micaiah, a godly prophet, who does a good job of warning him. To no avail.)

Dr. Heiser concludes, after all this, that God has a heavenly council of spirits, made up of His first creation, which were called ‘angels.’  But since some of them are evil here, these verses must be after some angels fell.  Yet they are allowed to participate with Him, and they are strangely (and correctly translated) “gods” (direct creation by God) and “sons of God,” using Elohim. But clearly, we can determine by things that are said, who the real God (also Elohim) is; He is Higher than they are, and judges them as well. So clearly everyone in council knows that there is not an equality in the council.  There are several verses that confirm that Yahweh, our God, is “God of all gods” (Psa 86:8, 95:3). 

So evil gods—some of which, at least, used to be angels before they fell—also existed in the Old Testament. And they are all called Elohim, like our good God. We, as Westerners, like to associate unique, and good, attributes with the term Elohim—like omniscience and omnipresence, terms of a God who loves us--and ignore any other possibilities. We also want to make Elohim singular. We’re “used” to having only one God; and we get creeped out when the word is plural.  And we wonder why God would allow His enemies to be present in heaven, even participate, in divine counsel. But, as we can see with Scripture (if we use an open mind), these thoughts are invalid. The Biblical writers were evidently unfazed by these gods, this expansion of the definition of the Hebrew Elohim—we have to believe they simply knew their Scriptures better than we do. Don’t forget, God is the ultimate writer of all Scripture, so we cannot doubt its truthfulness. 

Elohim, as it turns out, is used for likely three different things that are not our God of the Bible:  (1) The mysterious “council” in heaven, as we have already seen; (2) gods of the nations, called Elohim in I Kings 11:33--they are named Asherah, Ashtaroth, Chemosh, and Milcom—each of which really was a powerful demon worshipped and ruled in a nation surrounding Israel. While we're on that, it seems to me, given the terrorism, that the fallen angels still have a role as powerful demons over nations; (3) A relative word, “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17, has the same meaning; and (4) disembodied human dead, I Samuel 28:13. 
Let's explain the last two: “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17. This Hebrew word is translated “demon” in the ESV, as I've indicated in bold below—but note that it is synonymous to "gods," Elohim.  

They (Ed. note: Israel) sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

This proves that evil angels are actually demons. So the use of a different Hebrew word (shedim, which literally means ‘territorial entity’), compared to “the gods of the nations (Elohim), in ” #2 above, indicates that these demons in #3 above are ruling on a different level. This suggests a hierarchy of demons.
The #4 example for Heiser’s sermon is in I Samuel 28:13, which is the story of Saul needing a medium (or witch) to prophesy the winner of his upcoming battle with the Philistines. When he approached her, she says, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” (speaking of a physical appearance of the dead. But she doesn't really believe it will happen).  He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” (Samuel had died). She was totally surprised when Samuel actually appeared and spoke. (It could be an artifice of a body, too). She was afraid.  Saul said, “Do not be afraid.  What did you see?” She said, “I saw a spirit…”  The Hebrew word for spirit is Elohim. Thus, Elohim is also used to describe disembodied human dead, as well.  By the way, all the stories about ghosts and haunted houses are still not real.  (Not all, but maybe some of them are).

Thus we conclude that Elohim is not simply used only for our God, with all His good attributes.  There are lots of Elohim because there are lots of spirit beings. All are called Elohim.  But no other Elohim is like Yahweh—simply by reading the text, you can deduce that. He is the Creator, He is sovereign over all. There is a judgment day coming for the other Elohim.   

Let’s give another Scripture.  In Daniel 4:13-24 we read of a vision of Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel interprets it. Our relevant part of it is below.  He tells the king that his vision was predicting God’s decree of temporary insanity upon him (for pride), such that he would be wandering in fields eating grass for food.  These verses start with Nebuchadnezzar’s words. Daniel speaks starting at verse 24:

“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. ¹⁴ He cried aloud and said…”And let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.
¹⁶ Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven (years) pass over him.
¹⁷ ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…

²⁴  this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king...

The Bible is, as always, consistent.  This decree came down from the ‘holy ones,’ here also given a new synonym, the ‘watchers.’  Yet the real decision was made by the Most High (our God).  But this is still participation … again allowed by God.  He evidently likes to do that.  We surmise that when He created spirits, He wanted children who were part of the family.  He feels that way toward us Christians, only stronger.  He gives us the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) to have us participate in giving Him more children. 

This has given me another possibility for explaining another strange Bible verse that had left me puzzled.  I'm talking about God creating Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26-27:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea... and over the livestock over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  27 So God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

How does your Study Bible explain the plural?  Mine says it's like a single king sovereignly using the plural to explain himself.  It says, "God was taking counsel with Himself." That sounds a little queasy. It could be that God was speaking with the other members of the Trinity.  But could it be, He was speaking to His heavenly council?  If you take that view, note that when He creates us in His "image," it's our God doing it, nobody else--we're created in His image.  The same wording is also in Genesis 11:7 at the tower of Babel, by the way.

And we can't avoid Job 1:6 and 2:1, which start out with "the sons of God."  Following our definition, one of them, Satan, formerly an angel, is a "son of God."  Satan was there to accuse Job, but note that God still invites all of these beings into His presence, and gave him permission to speak his accusation:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.... 

So, Satan had access to the heavenlies. This further proves our point about the Elohim council. Thank God, someday He will no longer listen to his accusations, banish him from His presence, and throw him down to hell.

Now another question about "sons of God."  You may have asked this: How is Jesus the ‘only begotten’ Son of God (John 3:16, KJV) if other sons of God exist, as we have seen?  Some also say Jesus can’t be eternal if He is ‘begotten,’ a different question altogether.  The answer to both questions is this: The phrase ‘only begotten,’  is based on a past study of ancient manuscripts.  The Greek word was 'monogenes.'  It was originally guessed (there are about 50 Greek words in Scripture that we still don't know the real meaning) that it was made up of two words, monos, or 'only,' and 'gennao,' or 'beget, bear.'  But according to more accurate koine Greek (found by recent archaeological digs), it should be 'monos,' or 'only,' and 'genos,' which means 'class or kind.'  Thus, the 'only begotten' translation was wrong--it should be ‘one of a kind,' or 'unique.’  Jesus was unique--the Immanuel, God with us.  The interesting verse that’s a sideline proof is Hebrews 11:17:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son (ed. note: that's KJV.  ESV uses "only son")   

But 'only begotten' or 'only' can’t be an accurate translation, since Isaac was preceded in birth by Ishmael.  But it is correct if we substitute the correct words, “his unique son.”  And Isaac was unique; born from a freewoman, Sarah, born when his parents were 100 and 90 years old, an impossibility, a child of promise, instead of a child of a slave woman (Hagar). In the same way, Jesus is ‘unique’ in John 3:16: Yes, because Jesus is God!  Philippians 2:6 (NIV):

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage…

Dr. Heiser finishes this session by clearing up another difficult phrase, in John 10:33-36, when the Jews were ready to stone Jesus because He claimed to be God:

“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? (Ed. Note: He is quoting Psalm 82:6, at the beginning of this paper) ³⁵ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— ³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  ³⁷ If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ³⁸ but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”

Jesus, to defend His claim of deity, is saying, “Look, doesn’t Scripture have God speaking to other gods?  So, they are asserting there are other gods, and sons of god, who are real. So, since our own Scripture says that category exists; therefore when I say that I’m more than a man, it’s possible. So you can’t just assume I’m blaspheming if I make such a claim. If you want to condemn me, you can’t have as your ‘proof’ that I’m a mere man, and committing blasphemy.  Your real proof of what I am can only be by my works. Do I do works of God?

Let nobody say that Jesus did not claim to be God.  He did! 


I hope you enjoyed this paper and Dr. Heiser. I’ve got more from this knowledgeable man later.