Did you ever wonder why God said "Let us create man in our own image?" Why does the Psalmist quote the LORD as upbraiding lesser gods and telling them that they will die like men? (Psalm 82) What is God's purpose in creating humanity in the first place? Why does Jesus call himself the son of man, when we call him the son of God? Why do angels have fixed positions and proper dwellings as described in Jude 6?
For the longest time, I had questions like those above, and never found the standard answers of my church to be satisfactory. Neither did Michael S. Heiser, whose book Supernatural:What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World - and Why It Matters, goes after an all encompassing explanation of God's heavenly realm and how it is revealed in the Bible. Supernatural isn't a scholarly tome; it is only 167 pages. But make no mistake, Heiser is a first rate Biblical scholar. Supernatural is a shorter and more readable version of the ideas put forth in The Unseen Realm, which has the research and footnotes to back his assertions.
Starting with the Garden of Eden, proceeding to the Flood, the Tower of Babel, through Jesus' life, then all the way to Revelations, Heiser lays out how God's plan to make humankind rulers over an Eden on Earth has played itself out over time. He explains how the lesser gods of the heavenly council betrayed the charge God gave them and came to be in opposition to his plans. If that sounds blasphemous, I submit that you have been shielded from the difficult passages of the Bible that support this view.
Most importantly, his conclusion is not mere theology. He argues convincingly that our role as Christians is to be restoring Eden to earth, RIGHT NOW! This is done by our obedience to God and by taking our future role as rulers over angels seriously on this earth. There are powers and principalities of this dark world that will overcome to help God establish his kingdom. When we Christians think of our lives in this light, it changes everything.
Here is a lecture from the similar material, but I must say that Heiser is a much better writer than lecturer.
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