The Divine Council

What is the Divine Council?In this episode we walk through the key biblical texts that establish it — Psalm 82, Deuteronomy 32, Job, 1 Kings 22, Isaiah 6, Daniel 7 & 10, and more. We look at how the nations were assigned spiritual rulers after Babel, how those rulers rebelled, and how the victory of Christ addresses the entire structure. Clear, text-driven, and no speculation beyond what the passages themselves support.

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Transcript

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Hey guys, this is a part one of two, well, part two within the spiritual realm series. Um, there will be more, but this one and the one right after will be connected. The next one that is connected to this will be like a narrative, like I like to do, uh, but it'll be a narrative of this episode here. This is this one here is like the technical sort of play, and the next one will be in a story form so that we can drive the details within within this one home. Okay, so let's do the text. So it's it like so the scriptures say that so that it goes, um, God stands in the assembly of God. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. And that right there is is what the text says. It's Psalm 82 and it's verse 1. And the sentence is very short, yet it sets a full scene here. It's God is present and assembly is gathered to him. Okay, and the ones around him are called gods. The purpose of the gathering is judgment. That's the scene that we're we're envisioning in our minds with what the words are saying. And this is this is not a vision, it's not a vision of a of a like a distant future or like a symbolic picture. It's a courtroom in the unseen realm where God takes his place among the other spiritual, among the other spiritual beings, and he holds them to account. Um, now this episode is the second, like I said, it's the second in this series. And the first episode that we did prior, it kind of looked at the present-day influence of spiritual powers. It looked at how those powers still affect nations and cultures, people, um, and and of course the systems that people live under. And that that material stayed close to what can be observed in the world around us, okay? So this episode, however, turns in the other direction. Um, it goes back to the beginning of the arrangement itself. I hope this mic is close enough because some of you complained or said that you couldn't really hear me. So hopefully this is better. Anyways, but like it, but this asks how the structure was set up, like who received authority, how that authority was supposed to like do things, and what took place when um when these assigned angelic rulers then turned against the one who gave them that rule, that which was against God. The reason uh the reason for me starting at the at this origin is pretty pretty easy to understand. Like the the present influence that we know um as humans only make sense once the original design is clear here. So, like what so without without the starting point, and of course, yeah, without the starting point, the later passages about principalities and powers, like in the previous episode, it it floats kind of like without a foundation. With with the starting point in place, those later passages um they settle, they settle into a coherent picture. It's really easy to see. And so by by the end of this episode, my hope is that you're gonna have a working category for the divine council. It's not gonna just be it's not gonna be fringe if for those of you haven't that haven't been with me up until this point. I mean, or at least there'll be a better, a better working category if you already have one. You're gonna be able to identify the main passage, the main passages that establish it. Um, you're gonna see how the nations were divided in, like after the events at the Tower of Babel, and why that division is still here. You're gonna also, my hope, right? You're gonna also see how the victory of Christ addresses that entire structure and how um and how the people of God fit into the larger story that began with the council itself. Um, I'm not gonna pile on extra ideas that the text itself does not support. So at least not now, right? At least not without disclosures and things like that. So, but my aim, my aim is clarity. It's like I want clearness here. And when the episode is finished, hopefully Psalm 82 will no longer stand alone as in like an unusual verse that just gets passed over, and you just read on to Psalm 83 or 84. My other hope is that it's gonna sit as kind of like an opening uh doorway into the larger scene of how God has governed the unseen realm from the beginning of time, um, or at least from the beginning of the council itself, and how how that government was messed up, like it got severely jacked up, and and what that history means for the world as it exists and as it goes on. So here's the text. Now I'm gonna be looking over here because I did not memorize a text, so forgive me. And I I've read this so much and I still can't for some reason. But so God stands in the assembly of God and in the midst of God, he holds judgment. He goes on to say, he says, How long, how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Um, he says, Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. And God goes on, he says, he says, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. He says, Rescue the weak and the needy, and deliver them from the hand of um of of the wicked. He he he's this is God's still talking here. He he goes on, he says, they have neither knowledge nor understanding, and they they walk about in darkness, and all the foundations of the earth are shaken. This is such a stark picture, but he he goes on. God says, I said, You are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, um, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince. And that's um, and and it finishes with Arise, O God, judge the earth, and uh, for you shall inherit the nations. And that, and that is the full psalm. Okay, end of end of passage. That's the full psalm. It it's it's somewhat short, but yet every line carries a particular significance, and it is particular. So, so that's the full scene. And now let's we're gonna walk through it. And so the the scene opens with God, he he takes his place in the assembly, right? Uh, the ones gathered around him are called they're called gods and sons of the most high. The the scriptures don't mince words. Uh, the the the purpose of the gathering is judgment here. That's that's the that's the whole scene that we're looking at in our minds. The whole it's judgment. And then the judgment is directed at these Elohim. And then it says that God stands. He's in the pres he's in the presence of the midst of the council, and he is the one who is speaking these charges. The this assembly that is here is not a place of like of like equal equal voices. It's a it's a court where where the the highest authority calls the lower authorities to confess what they have done. Um, even if they don't, he's still judging and accusing. Okay, so the the charges come next then. Um the charges come next. The the members of the council have judged unjustly, they've done wrong. Um, they have shown partiality to the wicked, meaning they favored the wicked. They've failed to give justice to the weak, meaning they didn't protect them. They they basically let them get run over by whoever. And they did not protect the fatherless either. They they've they've neglected the afflicted and the poor, and they have left the needy in the hand of the wicked. Now, these are not these are they're not minor, these are not minor wicked things that that these angelic beings did. This was like a prolonged offense. It wasn't just like a one-off thing. There was a pattern of corruption in the exercise of the authority that they were given. Okay, this man, this happens so much throughout the scriptures uh by man and by the angelic beings. So the ones who were assigned to rule have used that rule for the opposite of their purpose, of its purpose. And the psalm, the psalm then describes the condition of these rulers. They have, they have, it says that they have neither knowledge nor understanding. They walk about in darkness. It could be argued that they're talking about the people that were subjected to this. But anyways, for the sake of this, the result of their failure reaches beyond their own ranks here. The foundations of the earth are shaken. Okay, the the disorder in the heavenly assembly produces disorder in the world under their charge. Remember I took last episode, the spiritual and the physical were coalesced in the garden. So the the text links the two realms. And when the appointed rulers, the angelic beings, the Elohim here, when when they abandon justice, the earth itself feels the effect. It was widespread. And then comes the verdict given by God, and God speaks directly to them. He said, He said, Um, he said, You are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like he's saying, it doesn't even matter, it doesn't matter what you were. Nevertheless, like men, you're gonna die and you're gonna fall like any prince. And and my argument is immortality was gonna be stripped from them. But the first half of the statement confirms their status. They they're they're gods in the sense that the psalm has already used the word. They are they are sons of the most high. The um the the second half removes the illusion of like permanence. Okay, remember I said like their immortality is going to be stripped from them. Their rank does not protect them from the judgment received by the one who gave them the rank. They're gonna die like men and or like mankind and then fall like any prince would. And the final line of that of the psalm, it turns the focus upward again. It says, uh, it says, Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations. So the corrupted, so the corrupted council will not keep the nations forever. Okay. Um, it God Himself will take the inheritance eventually. He's going, He's going to take it back from what he gave. The authority that was misused by these fallen Elohim will eventually return to the one who gave it. Now, this is big, like capital B, capital I, capital G. Big in the sense of this psalm forces a decision about the meaning of the word Elohim. If the word, this is this is like the the argument, okay, that that everyone brings, not everyone, if the word Elohim itself can only ever refer to the one true God, then the psalm becomes completely incoherent. God would essentially be he would be standing in the assembly of himself and judging himself. It doesn't make any literal sense, any literary sense or like logical sense. The text does not read that way at all. It it places God in the midst of other beings who also receive the title, but not the characteristics of the true supreme Elohim. Okay, but it shows God condemning them for their wickedness. And the language, the language there only holds together when Elohim is allowed to describe the uh the spiritual class to which both the creator and the created members um of the council are uh belong. Okay, and and this is with the clear division that only that only one of them is the uncreated one and the supreme one, and that being God Himself, God Supreme, right? So the the same the same psalm then appears again in the Gospel of John in chapter 10, where where Jesus he's remember you hopefully you remember the text, but Jesus is accused of blasphemy because he made himself equal with God. And his in his reply can it includes like a quotation, like a quote from from this very passage. He he says, uh, he says, Is it not written in your law, I said you are gods? And so Jesus then argues that if if the scripture called those if the scripture called those to whom the word of God can came gods, the the charge against him cannot simply uh it cannot stand simply because he said he's the son of God. Jesus does not s soften the language of Psalm 82. Like he never softens anything. Like he treats the verse as an authoritative thing. Like he he accepts he accepts that the the text calls certain beings gods, like G-O-D-S. His his point, his point is that the scripture itself uses the term for those who receive a divine commission, like a military commission for an officer. If that if that language is allowed for the members of the council, uh then the the accusation against him collapses on its own terms, really. The the quotation does not it does not reduce Jesus to the to the level of the council members. It it uses the accepted wording of the psalm to expose the the inconsistent the inconsistency of the charge itself. So here's the here's the reasoning in plain in plain order, if I if I can if I can do this. In in John 10, the Jewish leaders are ready to stone Jesus, and their charge against him is is very clear. They didn't mince it. He says, like you being a man, you make yourself God. And so they treat they treat the claim as like it's pure blasphemy. And Jesus answered them by pointing straight to guess what? Psalm 82. He says, Is it not written in your law? I said you are gods. Jesus then adds the key line if if he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken, do you say, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blasphemy? Okay, Jesus goes on. He says, Because I said, Because I said, He said he's asking them, he said, because I said I am the Son of God. And so the logic runs like this. It runs like like like one scripture itself uses like Psalm 82, uses the term, the word, the term got gods for certain beings. Second one, those beings are the ones to whom the God, the word of God came, and they they receive a divine assignment and and the word that went with it. Okay. A third. I can't, I can't I can barely do the third on the fingers, but but uh script so scripture cannot be broken. If the text is allowed to call those beings gods, then the then the word itself is not forbidden. Fourth point there. So so the charge against Jesus, like I said earlier, it collapses on its own terms. The leaders, they cannot claim that using like an elevated language about a relationship with God is um is is like automatically blasphemy. Excuse me, is automatically blasphemy when their own scriptures already use that language and um and especially use that language for lesser beings. Oh, does that make sense? So Jesus he's not is not not saying that he is the only one, he's only one more member of the council. He's not lowering himself to their level, he's using the accept, he's using the accepted wording, the accepted template of the psalm to expose the inconsistency of the accusation that was brought against him. He's always throwing the Pharisees and Sadducees on their heads. If if if scripture can call the members of the council gods, right, and sons of the most high, then it cannot be blasphemy for the all for the one the Father set apart and sent into the world to say he is the son, he is the son of God. You see, that's that's the entire argument. Jesus, he treats um Psalm 82 as an author, as absolutely authoritative. It and it accepts that the psalm calls certain being gods and turns that act, uh, turns, I mean, it turns that that charge of blasphemy, turns it on its head. So the psalm, therefore, it stand, it's it's a complete court courtroom scene. Like I said, God is present there, that the counsel is gathered here, and the charges are read, and the verdict is announced. And then the the final claim is made that the nations will return to the one who who rightfully, rightfully inherits them. Okay, and that will be later. But the text doesn't does not leave an abstract idea. Um it's a it's a judgment that's already spoken over the the corrupted rulers of the nations. And and the compromise that that their authority is temporary, and and they know that. They know that the the court the courtroom scene in Psalm 82 does not it, like I said, it does not stand by itself, and it does absolutely without a doubt, it presupposes an earlier decision, earlier decisions. So like the judgment only make the judgment that Jesus is giving, that God is giving to these fallen Elohim makes only makes sense if we know how these beings um got their authority in the first place. And that is going to take us back to to guess what, Deuteronomy 32. Moses, he's speaking to Israel near the end. I mean, he is, he's he's pretty much near the end of his life. He recounts the the history of the nations and then and the place of Israel among them, and the lines that uh and the lines that we read, he says, like when when the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, uh, like when he divided the nations, or when he divided mankind, excuse me, um, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to, guess what, right? According to the number of the sons of God, meaning these Elohim, these these other gods. But the but it goes on, the text goes on, and it says, and it says, but the Lord's the Lord's portion is his people, and Jacob is his allotted heritage. And so, and so God divided mankind. He he fixed the borders of the peoples, and the division was made, the division was made according to the number of the sons of God. I have to keep up watching that, watching that button because sometimes I accidentally hit it, but the and it stops recording. But anyways, the nations received assigned spiritual rulers. Israel alone was kept as God's uh personal portion, and then this reading is not the only one that appears in the manuscripts. Okay, this is this is a big deal. This this is something to put in your toolbox when you're arguing with people about this. The traditional Hebrew text that most English Bibles follow say uh they say this it says according to the number of the sons of Israel. And that that wording creates like a huge difficulty, it's and it's an immediate difficulty. So at the time, um at the time the nations were divided, Israel did not yet exist as a people. That is big, right? So the the table of nations in Genesis 10, yeah, Genesis 10, it lists how many nations? 70. Okay, Israel is not among them. Like the the decision takes place at Babel, and long and this is long before Abraham is called. And so, like a reference to the sons of Israel at that point does not fit the chronology, it does not fit the timeline. Two other ancient witnesses uh preserve a different reading. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts that we have, they read sons of God, and then you have the Septuagint, and which is the this is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Um yeah, and this, yeah, and that Septuagint was completed centuries before the New Testament. Um and that also reads it also reads son sons of God, or or it can read angels of God, and these two like independent lines of evidence agree. The older form of the text speaks of the sons of God, not the sons of Israel. The difference is not a minor detail here because it changes the entire meaning of the passage. Well, who was the text written to, right? It if if the text speaks of the sons of Israel. The verse simply says God divided, it simply says that God divided the nations in a way that somehow matched the later size of Israel. Okay, that that reading leaves the spiritual realm completely out of the picture, which it ain't that that that dog does not hunt. If this if the text speaks of the sons of God, then then the division of the nations is just merely an administrative act in the unseen realm. Spiritual beings, they receive, they receive territorial assignments, like like physical land areas. Okay, that the later language of principalities and powers, like the last episode within the series, it has a concrete starting point. The connection to Babel is very is like super clear once the reading, once the reading is settled. Genesis 11 records that um the the rebellion at the tower, and the people that were there, they refused the command to fill the earth, and that's what God told them to do. So they instead they gathered into one place, they sought one language and and and aim to make a nation for themselves. And so God comes down, and God comes down, he confuses their speech, and and and he subsequently scatters them across the earth. And then we we just keep on going to the next text. But Deuteronomy 32 looks back on that event and then explains what the scattering involved. It was way more than just moving on to the next chapter. The nations were not merely dispersed, like they were placed under the administration of the sons of God, for them to administer over them righteously. They didn't. We gotta stick to what we're doing right now. So the language, the language of disinheritance follows naturally from here, though. Um, so after Babel, so after Babel, God no longer deals with the nations as a um as a as a human family under his direct oversight. Okay, he he hands them over to the spiritual rulers that he has assigned, assigned. The nations become the allotted territories of of those rulers. Okay. Now at the same time, at the same like God keeps one people for himself. Israel is not given to any other Elohim, to any other God or spirit. And you might be saying that, you can say that too. Israel is God's own portion, that's his personal inheritance. Um, there is a parallel statement that appears a few chapters earlier, and I think it was Deuteronomy 4. Correct me if I'm wrong. Um, but Moses is warning the people. He he basically says, he says, um, yeah, he says, and beware, beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you I think and when you see the sun and the moon, and like basically all the skars and and the host of heaven, uh, you you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them. Um and these were things that the Lord your God has allotted to to the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord, this is still the text, but the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace. Um, the Lord has has brought you out of Egypt, and he is he uh and you are to be a people of his own inheritance as you are this day. That's that's the text. So the the structure, the same structure is very is present here. God has he's allotted the the host of heaven like to the other nations, and those heavenly beings are the ones, they are the ones that the nations tempted, um, that the nations are tempted to worship. And Israel is again identified as the people that God has taken for his own inheritance, they belong to him. The rest of those lands belong to the other Elohim. So, like this, so the two passages reinforce each other. I mean, I think they do. So you have Deuteronomy 32, and it just and it describes the original assignment, okay? And then as I remember, please correct me if I'm wrong. Deuteronomy 4, it warns Israel not to follow the pattern of the nations by by turning to the spiritual powers that rule those nations or rule those lands. This is huge. This is like you can call this a load-bearing text, like for the entire framework. Without like without that, the later references to like territorial spirits, um, the princes over kingdoms, um, rulers of the of the of the present darkness kind of they cut they sort of float, like I said in the beginning, like they float without a foundation. And with with it, though, those later passages settle into place, I think. Um, and you tell me in the comments if you don't think so, because I I need to know. So the spiritual beings who appear in Daniel 10 as the prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece, they are literally operating inside the situation that's first described here. Okay, the the principalities and powers that um that Paul names in Ephesians and I think Colossians, they're the same exact class of beings who received um, yeah, who received their territories after Babel and then who later rebelled against, well, guess who? Against the well, against what really is the question, against the purpose of their assignment given to them by God. They went through so much to accomplish this. It's uh it staggers me. Like I like I think the text also explains why the nations remained under spiritual influence long after the events of Genesis. And uh, like I said in the previous episode of this series, I talked about that at length. So the original assignment, it was it was not it's not a temporary, it's it was not temporary in the sense of a of a short sort of like experiment. It it's a a it's a division of administrative responsibility. So like when when the when the assigned rulers turned corrupt, as Psalm 82 said, that that very corruption did not erase the structure, though. Okay, the structure, the bones were still there. It owned, but it what it did do, it did corrupt the way that the structure did things. Okay. Um the the nations continued under the authority of beings who no longer ruled as they were meant to rule. Um remember, remember, I like I I I say this, I beat this horse so much. Like there's a functional authority. Remember, I always talk about that. There's another example. So, like the promise at the end of Psalm 82, therefore becomes very, very clear. It says um that God will inherit all nations, and the authority that was spread out or distributed after Babel will then it will one day return, it will return to the one who's who passed it out, who distributed it. And the the temporary admin will end, the temporary administration will end. That right there is a logical conclusion of an arrangement of like first set in place in Deuteronomy 32. And this is why that the passage, it's it literally sits at the at the center of the biblical account of the unseen realm. And to me, it tells me, I hope it tells you, when the nations received their spiritual rulers, and it and it tells us how, like, tells us who those those rulers were. It doesn't, it's not just blind, it tells us that Israel was deliberately kept outside that arrangement on purpose. Think of God's love here, and it and it prepares the way for every later text that speaks of spiritual powers over territories, cultures, systems. Okay, the the rest the rest of the story builds on this foundation. Now we we we're like we're progressing big time here, so stay buckled in. The arrangement in Deuteronomy 32 does not is not alone. It's not alone in the text. There are other passages that stand alongside of it and it and it shows the same counsel at work. These scenes, these seen, I'm glad that was still on. These scenes are not like a distant future. They heavenly government already in operation. Okay, remember that structure is still there. Let's do this. Let's go to the book of Job. We we always come back to this one. In the opening chapter, the sons of God, they come to, yeah, they they come to present themselves before before the Lord, before the before God Supreme. And the text is very, very straightforward. And there is a day when the sons of God appear, and then Satan, he, you know, he's there, he's there with them. And God has to, he asks them, he says, Where's he, where are you, where have you been? And then the conversation that follows, it's not, I mean, we know the text very, very well, the it's not a private exchange between God and one rebel. The entire heavenly host is there, whoever that is, and however many of them it is, but it takes place in the presence of the assembled sons of God, whoever had that privilege or had that rank. The same the same gathering appears again in chapter two. And the sons of God, the sons of God, they they present themselves like a second time, and and then and again Satan is there. So the chapters give us a like a very explicit working picture. The the sons of God have an ability uh to be there. They report, they bring news, they bring events, and they stand in the presence of God. And decisions that affect the earthly realm are also discussed in that setting. Okay, job's job's suffering, as we we've talked about in that one in that in those episodes in the Satan's Little Season series, it's not random. It it unfolds inside of a conversation that begins in the council itself. Um, there is a second scene in um, I want to say it's in 1 Kings, and I I think it's chapter 20 or verse 20 or 22, where the prophet Micaiah is he's brought before the kings of Israel and Judah, and they want him, they want him to confirm their plan to go to war. And so I think it's Micaiah, Micah, I don't know, but he refuses that he refuses the easy answer and he describes what he has seen essentially. He he says, I saw, he says, I saw the I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all of the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left. Like he was encompassed by the host of heaven. Like God, he then asks, who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Raymouth Gilead? And so you have different spirits are offering different suggestions. And you had the one spirit who steps forward and he says, He's his suggestion was he's gonna go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets. Well, guess what happens? God grants permission to the spirit being. So, like, so the scene that but all that to say is that the scene is a is a count, it's a council meeting. Um, God's seated there, and the host of heaven stands around him. Option, different options are presented to him, and a decision is reached. God is doing a partnership thing, not he they're not superior to him, but the decision is then carried out on the earth. And so the the false prophets they speak because a spirit from the divine council has been allowed uh to influence them essentially. And we saw how it began. But the text does not hide the process, it shows it and it records it. We'll do another one. How about um Isaiah 6? So you're you're give you we're being given another look at the same setting that where the prophet he he sees the Lord seated on the high throne, and that the the train of his robe fills the temple. That that's that's super big picture there. But like but Seraphim, uh a type, a class of angels, stand above him and call out, and the the foundations shake at the sound, and Isaiah is undone by the vision and is then commissioned, um, given his instructions. It it's an amazing and and also terrifying picture. But the this passage is is often read only as like a call narrative, I think. But the setting is the throne room itself, like the heavenly court is present. Like all kinds of imagery like comes into my mind. Like the the holiness of God is is proclaimed in the presence of the of the attending spiritual beings, the high-ranking Elohim, and Isaiah's lips are even touched like by hot cold, and and his his assignment is is given inside of that assembly. And so the pattern matches what we've already seen. So God rules from the midst of a gathered host, and then you have a day like in Daniel, I think it's Daniel 7, but I'll just say the book of Daniel, it adds a judge, a judgment scene. This so Daniel watches as thrones are set in place and the ancient, what a name, the ancient of days takes a seat. So the court sits, right, and and and the books are opened, and and it says the beast is is judged and its dominion is taken away. And then and then one like the Son of Man comes with the clouds of heaven and is given authority. That is a crazy beautiful picture. But I'm sorry, but he he's given authority, glory, and a kingdom that will not pass away. And the language is absolutely 100% deliberate here. Um the thrones are placed, the court is seated. You can see, I mean, the judgment is rendered. Like, think of all the things in between those those punctuations, those periods and commas. The same structure that that appears in Psalm 82 is present here on a larger scale. Okay, this is like the council participates in the judgment of rebellious powers, and the final authority is given to the given to the one like a son of man. We know who that is, right? So two, but two earlier passages also sit more clearly once the council is in view here. Remember, we're building we're building the structure. Stay with me, please. In Genesis 1, God says, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. It's not just God and the word and the Holy Spirit. The plural is the language of the of the heavenly court. God announces this decision in the presence of the assembled sons of God. The creation of humanity is presented as an act carried out with the whole council in view. There it is a majestic, majestic picture. Genesis 6 speaks of the sons of God who saw that the daughters of men were attractive and took them as wives. We did another episode on this. The later judgment in the in the flood follows that same violation. And the sons of God are not ordinary humans in that account, they belong to the same class that's already seen in the other council scenes. Okay? Excuse me. If you take these passages to like to put them together, they're not inventing a new idea. They show the same government from different angles, okay? But the um the sons of God they present themselves. The host of heaven stands around the throne, decisions are discussed, assignments are are given and distributed, um, judgment is is rendered from the high judge, and uh rebellion is recorded. And the the structure that's there, that's that's set in place after Babel, it continues across the history of Israel. And so these these scenes, they prepare the way for the later language of the New Testament. Okay. And within when when Paul when Paul speaks of principalities and powers and thrones and uh, I think dominions, he's not introducing foreign concepts. These are not like new ideas, they're not novel novelties. Like he he's he's he's naming the same class of beings whose activity is already on display in the book of Job. Um, in the also in the vision of Micaiah, and he's also in Isaiah's vision or Isaiah's call and in um Daniel's night visions. And the council there is part of the the regular uh the regular furniture of the biblical world, um, the machinery, if you want to say it that way. Um God stands alone at the top. We have that's being stated again. He's uncreated, no, no other being shares that position or could. And everything else in the heavenly assembly is created, and therefore, subsequent like subsequent under him, they rank lower. The text never, ever, ever, ever places any other figure on the same level. People argue that against the divine council worldview, but that's not what it's saying. God is the most high, the rest of the of the council answers to him. But below are the below him, below God are the high tier members. They're the ones that are called sons of God and the Elohim who appear in the assembly of Psalm 82. They're the ones, they're the ones who present themselves in Job. You cannot get away from this. I don't know how people don't how they argue against this view, but they do. But they're the ones who receive territorial assignments after Babel. And they are not they're not um messengers that are running errands, like they're not passing out newspapers. They hold a delegated authority, they they rule things, they rule things, they they judge things, they report things, they're doing things. In the scenes that we have already looked at, they they participate in the decisions that affect the whole entire earth. When God asks for a plan in 1 Kings, he um he he the members of the host offer suggestions to him. Like we said, one is chosen and sent, others are not chosen and sent. That's not a picture of beings who only stand and wait. They're not floating around like in a mosaic. Like it's the it is the absolute it is, man, it's crazy. It's the absolute picture of of the heavenly government in which the higher members take part in. There is also a lower tier. These are the messengers. They're this is what we would call an angel. They're the messengers, but we the the ones who carry specific words or perform like specific tasks within that rank. They move between the heavenly court and the earthly realm. Um, they also deliver a mess, like I said, they deliver messages, they execute judgments, and they um and they appear in the narratives as as ones who kind of like go out to do what has been decided. Uh guardian angels, if you if if you hold that position, can that that that is that is part of that. The text, I do believe that too, but like this the text separates them from the higher sons of God who sit in the in the council and hold long longer-term authority over the territories and nations, okay? The structure allows participation. Can't I cannot stress that enough? That does not mean that they're above God. The sons of God come and present themselves, they speak, they do things. Like God's not afraid of that. Plans are discussed, God's not afraid of that. Reports are given, He's not God's not afraid of that. The council is an assembly in which the members they have roles, they have voices. That doesn't threaten the Lord. Like at the same time, the final word always belongs to God, always has and always will. He asks the questions, he grants or hold withholds permission. Like he pronounces the verdicts. There, he's on the throne and there are angelic beings floating above him. He's not threatened by that. He he gave them permission to do that. They're serving him, right? But these beings also possess a capacity to choose. They can turn against the purpose for which they were made. All of them have that capacity. Look at what Satan did, the highest of all of God's creation. That is, but that's exactly what the record shows. Like some of the sons, sons of God, they they um they crossed the boundary in Genesis 6, obviously, but the and the the rulers that are assigned to the nations after Babel corrupted at yeah, after Babel corrupted their rule and and became the Subjects of indictment in Psalm 82. That Psalm 82 is about them. But the text treats their disobedient like they're being disloyal as a genuine thing. Like they are they're literally held responsible for it. And then it says that they're going to die like men and they'll fall like any prince. And that's that's the shape of the government that God established in the heavenly realm. But it the earthly realm is mirrored that way. Okay. And then high tier sons of God who receive authority that participate in those decisions and they are created. God is uncreated, they are created. And then there's lower messengers who carry out those tasks. And the freedom, even among the spiritual beings, to like remain faithful, they can remain faithful or rebel. And the the much later language of principalities and powers, thrones, and uh dominions, they it simply names the members of this same structure after many of them have chosen uh the path of corruption and rebellion. Um the most common objection, it it comes pretty quickly once the council is described. So people hear that scripture speaks of other Elohim and of sons of God who hold this authority, right? And they ask whether they ask whether this is simply polytheism under another name. Okay, this is this is always argument. And the short answer is no. So biblical monotheism does not mean that, does not mean the denial of every other spiritual being. Okay. Excuse me, it does mean that God alone is uncreated, supreme, and without equal bar none. He is the most high. Now everything else, no matter how powerful, is created and answerable to him. Okay, you see the distinction? It's an easy thing, it's an easy argument to be. The biblical writers use the word for use the word Elohim for more than one kind of being. Okay, the the context, the context decides the meaning. The context in which this was written decides the meaning. When the Psalm says that uh God stands in the assembly of gods and judges the gods, like the the the distinction is that the distinction is already built into the sentence. So one is the judge, and then the others stand under the judgment. Okay, now true ancient polytheism worked differently, completely different. Uh in in the religions that surrounded Israel, the gods were the same basic order, okay. Um, you want to think of Greek mythology and things like that, that's an easy example. But they competed with one another, right? They formed alliances, they they overthrew each other. There was so much drama in their in their anyway, it's like it's like Jersey Shore, but it was it was awful. But uh, but they they um how can I say the the biblical picture of them is the is the opposite. Um, God creates, God assigns, and and God jud God judges. And God, he can revoke the authority that he gave. Like he could do that at any time, but like from what we've seen, he lets things play out. Uh the the other Elohim never rise to his level, and the and and the text never treats them as rivals of of equal standing. Okay. The distinction here matters for the rest of the story, though. If if other, how can I say this, if the other spiritual beings do not exist, then large sections of scripture become difficult to explain, right? And that's what a lot of us have experienced in church. So if those beings are treated as gods in the same sense that God is God, right, then the uniqueness of the God of Israel is like lost, it's defunct. If the biblical writers hold both truth, hold both truths at once. They so they speak freely of other Elohim while yet still insisting with the capital I insist that only one is the most high who made the heavens and the earth and who will inherit all of the nations. Okay. Um I I share the same frustration that many of you have had in that experience, but the council language, therefore, it like it does, I hate saying therefore, it but it does not throw shade on monotheism. It it does fill out the picture of how God has chosen to govern the unseen realm. Um, so like so he remains, he's completely alone in that category. I don't know how he does it, but he does like so like the rest of the assembly, even even the highest members remained under his authority and and then subject to his judgment. And it's it's funny to me how not, I mean, funny, but not that. So, anyways, it's funny to me how world structures seem to operate in the same way. And so, like the structure that we have described did not stay whole at all. The the structure um it didn't hold together. Uh, the there's let's see, there's three clear moments of moments of rebellion that run through the story and explain how we got from the original assignment, then then and then to the corrupted situation that we see later. Um, and that first one, that first one appears in Genesis 3. And so you have where the serpent enters the garden and he speaks, he speaks against the word that God has given. And we covered this before. Like um, so the conversation leads to the human pair, uh, Adam and Eve taking the the fruit and um the entrance of of death into the into the human story. And the text, the the Bible does not treat the serpent as a mere animal, because it's not later on scripture identifies the same figure as the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan. So spiritual rebellion, the rebellion begins with a spiritual being who refuses the order that God has set and then draws humanity into that snare or into that same refusal. Uh, from that point forward, that adversary works against the purposes of God, um, and he also works against the purposes of God among the nations. And the second, you have a second rebellion that's recorded in Genesis 6. The the sons of God see that the daughters of man are attractive, and you know, they're they're about it, and um, and they take them as wives. And the the text uses the same, the same exact title that we have already met in Job and in uh the book of Deuteronomy. I'm out of water. Um they're not they're not ordinary beings, they they they belong to the heavenly class, and and their action, their action crosses the boundary that God has placed between the spiritual realm and and the human realms. If you want to think of a spiritual realm, spiritual realm being draped over the physical, that's a good way to think about it. But the result is that is that the corruption fills the earth and it brings judgment of the judgment of the flood. And so that story treats the it treats the transgression as a genuine thing and and the and the judgment as a deserved thing as well, along with that. And so the the sons of God are held responsible for what they've done. And then so lastly, you have the third rebellion, and that follow the division of the nations at Babel. So after Babel, the sons of God, they receive, they remember, they we talked about it, they receive territorial assignments, and they're given authority over the peoples. And yet that authority was meant to be exercised with with justice, with um uh doing right things, being righteous, and and but instead the rulers turn the assignment to their own ends and they manipulate it for their own worship and but they and they judge unjustly. They like they show partiality to the wicked, and they leave the weak and the needy unprotected, the things that God, the the lower ones that God loves more than anything, right? Psalm 82 is the formal indictment of that failure. And then so God stands in the assembly, he names the charges, and then he pronounces the sentence. And the ones, the ones who were called gods and sons of the most high, they will die like men and fall like any prince. I hope that this doesn't get screened by the this platform for me even saying D I E. We'll see. But their their authority is temporary, okay, and um, and God Himself will inherit the nations. And so these three rebellions form a single one storyline. Um, a spiritual adversary opposes God from the beginning, and then members of the heavenly host cross the boundary in Genesis 6, okay. I hope that this is painting a picture or at least at least getting you getting your feet wet in this in this topic. But after so after Babel, the they corrupt the authority that they were given, right? Okay, but by the time we reach the later books of the old testament and then the new testament, the language has uh shifted to match the reality of that corruption that we keep we keep talking about. Um the same beings are now called principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, um, the rulers of this present darkness. Okay. That's that's what Paul was saying. And and they are rebellious members of the original council, still holding the territories that they that that they were once assigned, okay? They're still influencing the nations under their charge. That has not changed. The judgment has been given, but it has not been carried out yet. So the consequences continue, and then and the nations remain under spiritual pressure. We've this we we've talked about this uh ad nauseum, but cultures and systems carry the mark of those of the rulers who stand behind them. And I've mentioned um I've mentioned several times in previous episodes that um in Daniel, uh I think yeah, Daniel 10 shows, yeah, yeah, Daniel 10, sorry, print the prince of Persia, he's resisting a messenger from from God for 20 like 21 days. And Paul writes of wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of of the spiritual realm. And the the I added spiritual realm, those are my words, but but the New Testament, the New Testament names the the same rebellious Elohim, whose story began in the early in the early chapters of Genesis, and whose judgment was all um yeah, whose judgment was already pronounced in Psalm 82. Okay, so like that's that's why the final claim of Psalm 82 is like Thor's hammer on a table, kind of a thing. Like the the corrupted rulers will will not keep the nations forever. God is going to take the inheritance back, and the rest of the biblical story then moves toward that end, and it moves toward that recovering of things. Umce the rebellion of the council is in view, you have lar you have large parts of the rest of the Bible that settle it set settled right into place. Um, there's you know passages that once felt strange begin to fit into the larger story because we're talking about the gray areas, right? We're explaining the gray areas, the things that get skipped over. Daniel 10 is a clear example. Daniel's been praying, he's been mourning for these three weeks, and then a messenger finally reaches him. Like that messenger was going through some stuff in order to get to Daniel. This isn't it's it's not hard to figure out, but we we we get scared because we don't want to be wrong. That's okay. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood him for 21 days. It said that Michael had to come and rescue him, right? He he had to rescue him so that so that so that that that messenger could complete his mission. And uh the messenger then he says he must return to fight against the prince of Persia, and then that prince of Greece is still yet to be dealt with, right? It is still yet to come. So without without the earlier framework, um these verses would be hard to place. They're hard, they would it would be hard to stitch together, but that's not the case. So with the framework, they are very straightforward. And the nations received territorial rulers after Babel, and those rulers did not disappear, they continued to operate. And so the prince of Persia is one of those, it's one of them, and he he resists the purposes of God and he and can absolutely delay a messenger sent from the heavenly court. There is war in the spiritual realm going on all the time, and Daniel 10 is not an odd vision, it's a window into what's what I just said, it's a window into what's going on. There's a huge conflict going on there, and it's inside the structure first described in Deuteronomy 32. Paul's language works the same exact way. In in several letters, he speaks of um he speaks of principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, all that stuff, like all the things, and the rulers of this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, in the heavenly realm. So, like these are these are the rebellious members of the council who still hold influence over these nations and territories and systems. And and Paul, he's assuming that his audience that he's writing to already knows this. That's why he writes the way he does. He he's assuming his readers know the background. He he does not stop to redefine the terms because it's just an understood thing. So like he simply names the powers that stand behind the visible world and he tells the churches like how to stand against that, like like how what like what to do. He doesn't leave them empty-handed. He's not, he doesn't like, okay, this is what you do. Here's here's the recipe, kind of thing. Like the the Great Commission also sits differently once the story's clear. So like Jesus, he tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. And um the nations are the very ones that were handed over to the sons of God after Babel. The commission was was not and is not only a call to like personal evangelism, but it is the it is an announcement that the time of of the temporary administration is ending. Um the authority that was being like passed out is being re like distributed, is is being reclaimed. The gospel goes out to the peoples who had been sitting under the rule of the rebellious powers. Um, and those peoples are brought back under the umbrella of God Supreme, uh under the umbrella, under the under the rule of God through Christ. Okay, you have um yeah, Colossians 2, it states the victory in in very plain terms, where Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame um by triumphing over them at the cross. Um it's it's a beautiful thing. So, but the cross is not only the place where human sin is dealt is dealt with, really. Like it it's it's a place where the I mean uh rebellious powers they lose their claim and their authority is then broken, and the public spectacles made. Like Christ humiliated them by by defeating them by dying. You see, like the the powers that once held the nations are stripped of the right that they had abused. And and but there's one there's one further peace that belongs here. So the people of God are not left as like a as like as like permanent subjects under the old like arrangement, under the old government system type, you know, thing, like the the various Elohim. Scripture points forward to a future in which the faithfuls they sh we we share in the rule that the rebellious council members forfeited. This is this is this is big time stuff. So like believers are we're described as those who we're gonna be those who judge angels, we're gonna be those who's gonna who are going to reign with Christ as uh will be like a kingdom of priests. Um so like the failed sons of God are are are not replaced by a vacuum, they're replaced by a redeemed, a bought-back people of God who inherit the role the original original rulers, rulers were meant to fill. It's amazing. Dirt creatures are then going to judge those who are not dirt. Isn't that something? So taking together these texts, they they it's a single, uh, a single line. Like the territorial powers, they're still active, and they were active in Daniel's day. They were, I mean, they're Jesus He sends the church, they're they've been active ever since day one, and he sends the church into the nations to reclaim what was lost by using the gospel. So then the cross disarms those powers, and then the final future belongs to those who belong to Christ. And so that that victory at the cross is is is not an argument, like it, it's it's it's just decisive, and the system is not going to simply vanish. Like the the powers were were disarmed, their claim was broken, yada yada yada. And the but the public spectacle of the demonic realm was made there. It and the New Testament continues to speak of them as an active um an active element. And and Paul he tells the churches that they wrestle against principalities and powers, and he warns that the rulers of this present age or um or the rulers of this present darkness remain at work. And so we have to remain at work as well. So that disarming took place, but the activity has not ended. Does that make sense? The um and and that continued activity helps explain the spiritual nature of nations and cultures. That stuff is real, and there's there's there's a spiritual impetus behind it, and you have different peoples that carry different patterns of like that pressure, deception, resistance, that kind of thing. But the but the biblical story, it already showed territorial rulers influencing the course of kingdoms. Um the and that same dynamic, that same dynamic has has not disappeared, and it will continue on until that day. It's not gonna stop. But the gospel does go out into a world that's marked by the old arrangement, even while that arrangement is being dismantled, and it's being dismantled as we speak. We're doing it, right? We're doing it by being obedient and doing what God commanded. Um, when people first hear this material, they usually fall into one of two ditches, and it is one of two ditches, um, the whole like divine counsel thing. It's like, and both are easy to spot once you know what to look for. Okay, so we're gonna finish up, but we're gonna finish up with this. Um one ditch is denial. So many people treat the unseen realm as if it no longer operates, and they read the language of principalities and powers as like a like a poetry or as like references to human governments only. And that that that that reading, reading it that way, it leaves large parts of scripture without like a clear place and leaves the church unprepared for the conflict that the New Testament pushes, that the New Testament describes or prepares us for. I that that's what that's the ditch that I was in prior to all of this. And but then the other side is like the other ditch is an unhealthy obsession. So some become, and I'm I'm subject to this, become so focused on mapping like spiritual hierarchies and naming every influence that the the simple call to follow Christ is crowded out. And the the text never excuse me, it never asks for that kind of preoccupation. It it asks for clear recognition that the powers exist, right? That that they remain active, right? And that the church attends it's Stands against them by um by the means that God has already given. Like like you have truth, faith, the gospel, and and and then of course the presence of the Holy Spirit. And then holding the middle, right, that balance is where we need to be. Right? The powers are neither they're not gone, and but they're not ultimate either. But they and they are defeated. They and they but that and that will be realized one day. And but they're still allowed a limited season of activity, especially being in the little season right now. And that but the church is not helpless, nor and we're not called to chase shadows either, but like but we are called to walk in the authority already secured by Christ while that final um the final inheritance of the nations is still being gathered and realized, right? But we still need to seek it, we still need still need to expose darkness, right? We just don't need to be obsessed with it. But we and and we're we are helping to gather the church as well, but and that's our calling. And that's why um the present episode, this present episode sits where we are or at in the series. So, like the first episode um that we looked at the ongoing influence of spiritual powers in the world that we can observe, and then and then this episode that we just did, like this one right here, has gone back to the origin of the whole arrangement. Um so that that so that influence has a foundation. Okay. Probably should have done this one first, but I didn't. Um, but later episodes we'll we'll build on both of these, and they'll examine we're gonna examine like how the recovery of the nations continue and like how the church participates in that recovery, and then like how um the final judgment of the rebellious powers will unfold. And then the nations and then and the foundation had yeah, the foundation had to be laid out first, and but without it, the later, the later pieces are gonna float, and but they're gonna lock into place as as we proceed. Um so um the next one, I I don't know if it'll be like the next episode, but the next episode in this series, right? I'm gonna attempt doing a narrative of everything that we just talked about because some of the stuff is kind of heady, and but I but I I just I I like doing the narrative part because you can remember it better. At least and I know I can remember it better because it's um because you can follow a story and you can see the mental imagery that that that that I that I give. So anyways, with that, if you have questions, you know, put it on oh yeah, if for those of you that don't know me and you just started with this episode, we have a telegram group. Um, it'll be in the description. Just hit the link and uh and just join the group. But um with that, if you have any questions or whatever, ask me on the comments or telegram. So um I will always try to answer you. That may not be immediately, but I always try to answer you. So um I hope them I hope you're doing well. And I know some of you are going through some stuff uh as you you've stated, and I want to know that once you know that God loves you and He's with you every step of the way. So may the Lord bless you, may the Lord keep you, may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, may the Lord lift up his countenance to you in peace.