If you pick up the Bible, you do not have to read very far before you meet the main character, God. Yeah, he appears in the Bible's first sentence. Then, later on page 1 you meet the humans. And there you have it. The two main players in the Bible, God and humans, on the stage of our world. Well, not quite. In the Bible, there's actually a way bigger cast of characters than just humans and God. Like who? I mean, the figures called the "Elohim" in the Hebrew scriptures. Angels, the Satan, demons, they are all over the story. Oh, right. Spiritual beings. To be honest, I have never really known what to do with them. It is all kind of weird. Unfortunately, almost all of our modern conceptions about these beings are based on serious misunderstandings. Alright, so let us talk about spiritual beings in the story of the Bible. So, the first thing we have to do is re-orient ourselves to how ancient biblical authors saw the world. On pages 1 and 2 of Genesis, God brings order to a watery wilderness, separating the skies above from the land below. Right. This is earth, where we live. Then, there are the heavens, high above, which they saw as God's domain. But, in the Bible, these spaces are not separate. They overlap. In fact, the Garden of Eden is described throughout the Bible as a high mountain garden where heaven and earth are one. Cool. So, that is the world. Now, it needs some creatures. God first creates and appoints sun, moon and stars to rule the day and night. You mean the giant, flaming gas balls in the sky. Well, that is how you think about them. But the biblical authors, like all ancient people, saw them as heavenly creatures that are glorious, shining bright and high above. Which is strange. I do not think of stars as "creatures". Well, you don't, but for the biblical authors, the stars formed their categories for thinking and talking about a spiritual reality that exists alongside ours. It is a different kind of reality, just like the sky is different from the land. And, it is populated with creatures that have different kinds of bodies: shiny, spiritual bodies. Okay, so almost all ancient cultures thought of the stars as divine beings, including the ancient Israelites. But, the biblical authors make clear that these beings are not God. Rather, they are images of God. Their glory and high status is a reflection of the Creator's glory and status. And they exist to serve his purposes. So, the stars symbolize beings who are like God's heavenly staff team. Right. Now, let us go back. Because, after God appointed the heavenly host, he also appointed another type of creature. The humans. Yeah, in Hebrew they are called, "Adam", which sounds like the Hebrew word for "dirt" because that is what they are made of. So, glorious rulers above... and lowly sapiens below. But then comes the great twist. God tells the lowly humans that they are to rule all of creation. He invites them to rise above their dirty origins and share in God's glory as his partners. So, God wants to rule the world through humans and not the spiritual beings. Exactly. This is how the poet of Psalm 8 understood the stories of Genesis. He looked up at the stars and says, "What is humanity that you consider him?" "You made him lower than spiritual beings but crowned him with glory and divine majesty." This is humanity's high calling: to rule creation in the love and power of God. Very cool. But, not everyone's happy. We are introduced to a spiritual being who doesn't want humans to rule. So he tricks them into thinking that they can get divine power on their own terms. They are deceived and they take the opportunity. So, they are banished from the Eden mountain, exiled to wander the earth and return to the dust. This snake is bad news. Yeah, and as you read on you discover that he is part of a spiritual rebellion that follows the humans outside of Eden and things get worse from here. The humans still desire to rule so they start a new project. Yes, in the Bible this is called "Babylon". It is the anti-Eden where human and spiritual rebels join together to elevate themselves back to their former glory. So, with all that in mind, we can now appreciate the full cast of characters that we meet in the biblical story. God, humans and all of the spiritual beings. Exactly. So, here is a preview of what we are going to explore. We will learn more about God's heavenly staff team called the "Divine Council". Then, we will talk about angels and cherubim, key figures in the spiritual realm. Then, one particular angel called the "Angel of the Lord". We will also look at the spiritual rebels in the Bible connected with the Satan and demons. Finally, we will see how this whole story leads to Jesus, the one who overcomes evil, reunites heaven and earth so that a new humanity can partner with God.
