Dr. Michael S. Heiser - Supernatural : what the bible teaches about the unseen world--and why it matters

What the Bible teaches about the unseen worldand why it matters

SUPER NATURAL

Michael S. Heiser

Supernatural

Copyright 2015 by Michael S. Heiser

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version , copyright 2001 by Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked LEB are from the Lexham English Bible ( LEB ), copyright 2013 by Lexham Press. Lexham is a registered trademark of Faithlife Corporation. Typographical formatting used in the Lexham English Bible, such as italics, has been removed.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are from the Good News Translation in Todays English Version Second Edition. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation , copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-57-799558-6

Editor: David Lambert

Cover Design: Andy Meyer

To my mom and dad,

Ed and Jan Speraw.

Who would have seen this coming?

I think we know.

Contents

Since Supernatural is based on my book The Unseen Realm , the thoughts expressed in the acknowledgments to that book are fitting here, albeit in abbreviated form.

Thanks are due to the online discussion group created soon after I decided that the divine council and the unseen world of biblical theology would be the focal points of my academic career. Not surprisingly, I called it the Divine Council Study Group. The DCSG disbanded in 2004 after I graduated from my doctoral program and started work at Logos Bible Software, but the exercise helped prepare me for writing both books.

The Unseen Realm began as a manuscript entitled The Myth That Is True that I produced for interested followers of website content and my novel, The Faade. Much of that material appeared first in a newsletter and later a blog, the idea being to make myself accountable to produce something each month. The first full draft of the Myth book, as it came to be called, was finished in 2012. The manuscript improved in the wake of reader feedback. Specific contributors are listed in the acknowledgments to The Unseen Realm .

The major forces behind the publication of The Unseen Realm and, therefore, Supernatural were three executives at Faithlife Corporation/Logos Bible Software: Bob Pritchett, Dale Pritchett, and Bill Nienhuis. Not only did they succeed in taking my manuscript to the next level, but they foresaw the need for a distilled version of its content. Supernatural is therefore a product of their vision.

Dave Lambert, my editor for The Unseen Realm , also edited Supernatural. The benefit of his expertise and experience can be found on every page. He kept the person in the pew in my head.

Finally, Im grateful to my wife, Drenna. She makes everything I do possible.

D o you really believe what the Bible says?

To some, that may seem like an odd question to ask in a book likely to be read mostly by Christians. But I dont think its so odd. The Bible has some pretty strange things in itthings that are hard to believe, especially in the modern world.

Im not talking about the big stuff, such as whether Jesus was God come to earth, who then died on the cross and rose from the dead. Im not even thinking of miracle stories like the exodus, when God rescued Israel from Egypt by making a way for them through the Red Sea. Most Christians would say they believe those things. After all, if you dont believe in God and Jesus, or that they could do miraculous things, whats the point of saying youre a Christian?

Im talking about the little-known supernatural stuff you run into occasionally when reading the Bible but rarely hear about in church.

Heres an example. In 1 Kings 22, theres a story about a wicked king of Israel, Ahab. He wants to join forces with the king of Judah to attack an enemy at a place called Ramoth-gilead. Judahs king wants a glimpse into the futurehe wants to know whats going to happen if they attack. So the two kings ask Ahabs prophets and get thumbs up all around. But those prophets are just telling Ahab what he wants to hear, and both kings know it. So they decide to ask Gods prophet, a fellow named Micaiah. What he says isnt good news for Ahab:

Therefore hear the word of the L ORD : I saw the L ORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the L ORD said, Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the L ORD , saying, I will entice him. And the L ORD 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. Now therefore behold, the L ORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the L ORD has declared disaster for you. ()

Did you catch what the Bibles asking you to believe? That God meets with a group of spirit beings to decide what happens on earth? Is that for real?

Heres another example, courtesy of Jude:

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. ()

God sent a bunch of angels to an underground prison? Really?

As I said, the Bible has a lot of strange things in it, especially about the unseen, spiritual world. Ive met many Christians who have no trouble with the Bibles less controversial (at least among Christians) teachings about the supernatural, such as who Jesus was and what he did, but passages like this tend to make them more than a little uneasy, so they ignore them. Ive seen that tendency up close. My wife and I once visited a church where the pastor was preaching a series based on 1 Peter. The morning he hit , the first thing he said after getting behind the pulpit was, Were going to skip these verses. Theyre just too weird. What he meant by weird was that those verses contained supernatural elements that just didnt fit into his theology. Such as:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spiritsto those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. ( NIV )

Whoand wherewere these imprisoned spirits? That pastor either didnt know or didnt like the answer, so he simply chose to ignore these verses.

As a Bible scholar, Ive learned that strange passages (and lots of other little-known and little-understood parts of Scripture) are actually very important. They teach specific ideas about God, the unseen world, and our own lives. Believe it or not, if we were aware of them and understood what they meant, as difficult and puzzling as they are, it would change the way we think about God, each other, why were here, and our ultimate destiny.

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