The Divine Council part 2

Last week we talked about Psalm 82 and the concept of the Divine Council. I’m going to dig further into that subject today, but before we move forward I need to recap for a couple minutes. Psalm 82 clearly illustrates that there are many lesser created gods that make up a Divine Council, but only one God Most High who rules over this council. Psalm 82:1-7 “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? Selah 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, and fall like any prince.” These verses present some very difficult questions. What is the divine council? Who are the gods? Who are the sons of the Most High? The problem is our understanding and use of the Hebrew word Elohim. Elohim is the Hebrew word that has been translated as God in English. The original Old Testament language did not use the word Elohim to mean God Most High. In Hebrew, Elohim is not a proper name, it is a description. The word Elohim just means spiritual being. So yes, God is an

Elohim, because He is a spiritual being...but so are angels, demons and other spiritual beings who don’t have a body. Psalm 82 is NOT saying there are multiple Gods. It is saying there is one Eternal Spiritual Being that rules over a council of other lesser spiritual beings that He created. There are Elohim in the spiritual realm with different ranks and job titles, but there is only One Creator God Most High. He is above everything and everyone He has created. Both human and spiritual. In Psalm 89 we see another reference to this divine council of Elohim. Psalm 89:5-7 “5 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, and awesome above all who are around him? But why does God need a council? The answer is simple...He doesn’t. Let me say it again. God doesn’t need a council. But He chooses to have one. He uses them to get His will done in the spirit realm. Just like He uses us to accomplish His will in the physical realm. God is ruler over all, but He has a council with Him. In different verses they are called different names...the divine council, the Holy Ones, the Host of heaven and the Sons of God. Some teachers will say that the term “Sons of God” is just an Old Testament reference to human Israelite judges, but here is

another bible reference to God’s council that does not agree with that. Job 1:6 “6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” Are human leaders in the presence of God along with satan? These are clearly spiritual beings in a spiritual location. Are you seeing the pattern of what is happening in the spiritual realm? One other name they are given, we actually discussed a couple of weeks ago. They are also called The Watchers. Do you remember who the Watchers were? They were Elohim, some of whom rebelled and disobeyed God’s command, back in Genesis 6. They left their proper domain in heaven and took human wives. The children they bore were giants called Nephilim. These Nephilim and Watchers completely corrupted mankind and caused God to send the flood of Noah’s time to destroy everything. After the flood God commanded Noah’s family to spread across the earth. Genesis 9:1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” This is not the first time God told mankind fill the earth. Genesis 1:28 has the exact same orders given to Adam and Eve. God’s plan has not changed. But that is not what Noah’s family did. Genesis 11:1-6 “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 make bricks, and burn them

thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “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.” Well, they got part of their instructions right. They multiplied, that’s for sure. But did you see what happened at the end of verse 4? They gathered in a single location to build a city so they could make a name for themselves. And why did they do that? So they wouldn’t be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. The problem is, that dispersing over the whole earth is exactly what God had told them to do. This is another act of rebellion. During this rebellious act they decide to build, not only a city, but a tower that will reach heaven. We normally assume or maybe we’ve been taught that they wanted to build a tower so that they could go up to heaven. They were not building a tower so they could go up to heaven. They wanted to build a tower so that the gods could come down to them and be worshipped. How do we know this? Here is where context comes into play. Remember, we always need historical context to interpret scripture in the context of the time it was written and through that lens. In the ancient world, it was common practice to build what was called a ziggurat. It was a structure meant to reach into heaven and allow travel back and forth for the gods. People had a desire to regain the presence of God that was lost back in Genesis 3 when God removed mankind from the garden of eden. These

ziggurat towers were built next to temples to allow easy access to the god of that temple. God is very displeased that man has once again refused to follow His instruction. This complete willful disobedience and idolatry is the catalyst for God’s next action. Genesis 11:7-9 “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.” OK, let’s back up a minute. Before this event, mankind was one nation of people. A nation of people that God wanted for Himself. But everyone was now gathered in one place working in unison to rebel against what He wanted. God addresses His divine council again, saying: “Come, let us go down.” It sounds just like when He said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” in Genesis 1:26. From Babel, He scatters humans across the earth and gives them different languages. God has had enough of man’s foolishness and gives them over to their idolatry. He, in effect, disinherits them from His family. Deuteronomy 32:7-9 “7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell 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.”

This has been described as God’s divorce from humanity. He disinherited the nations. God basically said to the people at babel, if you don’t want to follow Me, you can have it your way. I’ll turn you over to other gods. So who were these “gods” they worshiped? They were known as the sons of God. We see clearly that when God divided the people at Babel and spread them across the earth, He had allotted land to them according to the “sons of God.” This is a reference to the other Elohim who the people had wanted to serve at Babel. Again, some may argue that the Sons of God are a reference to the sons of Israel. The translation of the Bible you read may even say “sons of Israel.” This is a point of difference between some bible translations. Let’s take a second to consider this. When this event took place did Israel exist? No. This event at the tower of Babel is recorded in Genesis 11. The first mention of Jacob’s name being changed to Israel will not be until Genesis 32. How can the nations be divided according to the sons of Israel, if the sons of Israel don’t exist yet? God gave the disobedient nations over to other Elohim. But this was not meant to be permanent. In Genesis 12, the very next chapter we read about how God called Abraham. Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country 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.”

God immediately started a nation for Himself based on obedience to his word...and through this nation God would receive back all the other nations. Jesus was the seed of Abraham through which all nations would be brought back to God. Galatians 3:16 “ 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” Jesus came to the earth to reintroduce the kingdom of God and His original plan for all nations to be blessed as they do His will in the earth. In order to reintroduce God’s Kingdom back into the earth realm, Jesus went about destroying the work of the disobedient Elohim who led the nations astray away from God. The miracles Jesus did were directed at showing the disobedient Elohim who is really in charge. Matthew 16:13-18 “13 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.” This is a huge event in the spiritual battle plan. But we have to learn some geography and history to understand what’s really going on here.

The passage says Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi. We normally gloss over that part, because as modern readers, it doesn’t mean anything to us. But this was a major detail to the people who knew about the local geography and history of that area. The area of Caesarea Philippi is at the base of Mt. Hermon. Does anyone remember what else happened at Mt. Hermon a long time before that? We learned a couple of weeks ago that Mt. Hermon was where the disobedient Elohim, the Watchers, bound themselves together by an oath to disobey God and descend onto the earth to take human wives. This was their attempt to corrupt humanity. For this disobedience, God imprisoned them in Hades. Mt. Hermon was ground zero for the spiritual battle over mankind fulfilling God’s dominion mandate. It is at this location that Jesus says, On this rock (Mt. Hermon) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the place where disobedient Watchers are imprisoned) will not prevail against it. Jesus is making a direct threat against the powers of darkness and telling them this area now belongs to Him...and there is nothing they can do about it. He will build His church right on top of their prison. The very next event that happens takes it even farther. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain where He is transfigured before their eyes and they see Him appear radiant, dazzling white, and His face shining like the sun. Then Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus. A cloud of the glory of the Lord overshadows them and they hear a voice from God saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Why did Jesus meet with Moses and Elijah? What is the significance of this event? It was because He was being handed the baton. Moses was the one who God used to free His people Israel when He judged the gods of Egypt. Exodus 12:12 “12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.” Elijah was the one who God used to bring His people back from idolatry when king Ahab led them to worship Baal. 1 Kings 18:21 “21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Each of these events are major spiritual battles where God Almighty shows His dominance over the lesser Elohim who desire men to worship them. Moses who represents the law, began the fight. Elijah, who represents the prophets, continued it. And now Jesus, God in the flesh, would finish it. Moses and Elijah handed Jesus the baton and said the time has come to settle this. And where did this event take place? At the top of a mountain. But not just any mountain. It was at the top of Mt Hermon...the very spot the Watchers descended to earth to corrupt mankind. It is ground zero for spiritual warfare with these lesser gods. Yahweh’s enemies will now be completely defeated through the work of Jesus on the cross.

The resurrection of Jesus proves that He was the final piece of the battle plan to reconcile mankind back to God’s original dominion design for His earthly children...and defeat the powers of darkness. Colossians 2:13-15 “13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.“ God Himself set aside the legal demand of sin and death when He nailed it to the cross for us. And in doing this, He defeated His enemies and put them to open shame. And after Jesus ascended back to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 disciples and they began speaking in other tongues. Acts 2:5-6 “5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” This is the reversal of the Babel event. God had disinherited humanity and given them over to the disobedient Elohim. He scattered them over the earth and separated their languages. But on the day of Pentecost, God brings them together and the language barrier is broken. God Puts His Holy Spirit into them as the seal of their inheritance back into His family.