The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible

by Michael S. Heiser

Fire in the Old Testament was an identifier of the presence of God, a visible manifestation of Yahweh’s glory and essence.3 It was also a way of describing divine beings in God’s service (Judg 13:20; Psa 104:4).4 The wind and fire in Acts 2 signified to readers informed by divine council scenes that the gathered followers of Jesus were being commissioned by divine encounter. They were being chosen to preach the good news of Jesus’ work. The fire connects them to the throne room. The tongues are emblematic of their speaking ministry.

Babel’s disinheritance was going to be rectified by the message of Jesus, the second Yahweh incarnate, and his Spirit. The nations would again be his.

Three thousand Jews came to believe in Jesus as a result of the events at Pentecost (Acts 2:41), and those three thousand Jewish converts went back to their homelands after the Pentecost pilgrimage. These new disciples were the seeds of the gospel, Yahweh’s plan to reclaim the nations.

Paul was conscious that his mission for Jesus actually involved spreading the gospel to the westernmost part of the known world—Tarshish—so that the disinheritance at Babel would be reversed.

And so it was that a room full of Jews, commissioned directly by the Spirit, went out and began the process by which the disinherited nations would be brought back into Yahweh’s family. Pentecost marked the beginning of an unstoppable march across the known world—and our world, a world they didn’t know—that would culminate in a global Eden.

Let’s review: Yahweh’s original intention was that all humankind would be his earthly family, ruling in cooperation with him and his heavenly family. The Old Testament describes the ruin of Yahweh’s desire through a series of primeval rebellions. But the original objective was not defeated, only delayed. After the rebellion at Babel, Yahweh set aside the nations and called Abraham to begin anew.

Even as Yahweh started his kingdom plan with this one man and his wife, there were hints that the nations were not forgotten—in fact, God said that through Abraham all nations would be blessed (Gen 12:3). The focal point of that blessing was to be the ultimate son of Abraham, the messiah. After his resurrection, the Spirit promised by Jesus—and by the prophets of old—came at Pentecost and began the great reversal. The gospel was carried to all the nations of the known world, transforming men and women held hostage to other gods into sons and daughters of Yahweh.

In Christ, believers are “the sons of God.” The language of inheritance is crystal clear. It derives from and advances the Old Testament idea that humans were meant to be in the family of God all along. It’s no coincidence that the New Testament writers repeatedly describe salvation into Yahweh’s family with words like “adoption,” “heir,” and “inheritance” to describe what the Church really is—the reconstituted divine-human family of God. The believer’s destiny is to become what Adam and Eve originally were: immortal, glorified imagers of God, living in God’s presence as his children.2

It is Christ who fuses the chosen sons of God from Abraham’s line to the sons of God called from the nations. His work on the cross is where the exiled and the disinherited meet, forming one new entity. But that’s only one aspect of who we are.

We are not only heirs and children in God’s divine family, but we inherit the right to rule and reign with Jesus.

The “morning star” phrase takes us back once more to the Old Testament, which at times uses astral terminology to describe divine beings. Job 38:7 is the best example (“the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy”).5 Stars were bright and, in the worldview of the ancients, living divine beings since they moved in the sky and were beyond the human realm.

literate readers of John’s writing would have known the morning star reference was not about literal brightness. It was about the dawning of the returned kingdom of God under its messiah. Later in the book of Revelation, Jesus himself refers to his messianic standing with the morning star language: “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev 22:16).

Not only does Jesus say that he is the messianic morning star in Revelation 22:16, but when he says “I will give him [who overcomes] the morning star” (Rev 2:28), he grants us the authority to rule with him.

WE ARE THE children of God, destined to displace the defeated, disloyal sons of God who now rule the nations. Believing followers of Jesus Christ are the fulfillment of God’s plan to have humanity join the divine family-council and restore Eden.

It is best to understand the term as “brought forth” in the sense of revealed in a unique way—in this instance, the full incarnation of Yahweh. Jesus is the lone divine son who deserves worship, because he is the uncreated essence of Yahweh in a human body, now resurrected from death.

Did you catch the distinctions? Jesus inherits rulership and dominion, angels do not. Angels are “ministering spirits” who serve the human believers who inherit salvation and are adopted into Yahweh’s family.

We are the ones united to Christ, not angels. We are the ones given the morning star, the credential for rule, by Jesus himself. We are the ones who will be put over the nations. To echo Paul once more: Don’t you realize that you will judge angels? (1 Cor 6:3). The writer of Hebrews did.

The Old Testament text quoted in Hebrews 2:6–8 is Psalm 8:4–6. The Hebrew reads that humankind was created “a little lower than the elohim.” And this is how it was in Eden. Humans were lesser than elohim—but God’s plan was to elevate humanity to be included in his family, and take charge of God’s new earthly domain.4

And since he became man, we are his siblings. Someday, Jesus will introduce us to the council—unashamed at our humanity. He became as we are so that we might become as he is.

For both the one who sanctifies and the ones who are sanctified are all from one, for which reason he [Jesus] is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will sing in praise of you.”

14 Therefore, since the children share in blood and flesh, he also in like manner shared in these same things, in order that through death he could destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and could set free these who through fear of death were subject to slavery throughout all their lives (Heb 2:10–15).

Verse 10 speaks of Jesus as God’s cocreator, yet he became human. This same Jesus brought many sons into the divine family. Far from being embarrassed before the elohim of his own council at becoming human—becoming lesser for a short time—Jesus revels in it. Standing in the council (“in the midst of the assembly”) he presents us: Behold—look at me, and the children Yahweh has given me. We are all together now—forever. And that was the plan from the beginning: 16 For surely he is not concerned with angels, but he is concerned with the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he was obligated to be made like his brothers in all respects, in order that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things relating to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For in that which he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Heb 2:16–18).

The concept of “theosis” has strong biblical roots, and extends from the divine council worldview, specifically the aspect of the original Edenic goal of having humans join the divine family.

The message of “theosis” is that, in Christ, we are being transformed into his likeness—the perfect imager of God.

Though originally given their dominions by Yahweh, the lesser elohim had governed corruptly and had not maintained loyalty to the Most High. Instead, they embraced the worship that should have gone only to Yahweh (Deut 17:3; 29:25).

Although Yahweh told these elohim that they would die like men (Psa 82:6–8)—that he would strip them of their immortality—there is no indication that the threat tempered opposition to Yahweh. The New Testament makes it clear that, once the powers of darkness understood that they had been duped by the crucifixion and resurrection, there was a sense that the timetable of their judgment had been set in motion (Rev 12:12).

There are roughly 175 references to angels in the New Testament (aggelos/angelos). Like the Hebrew counterpart (malʾak), the term means “messenger.” Fundamentally, the term describes a task performed by a divine being, not what a divine being is.

The two Greek terms translated “demon” in the New Testament are daimōn and daimonion. Our word “demon” is actually a transliteration of the Greek, not a translation. In classical Greek literature, which preceded the time of the New Testament, the term daimōn describes any divine being without regard to its nature (good or evil). A daimōn can be a god or goddesss, some lesser divine power, or the spirit of the departed human dead.5 As such, it is akin to Hebrew elohim in its generic meaning.

The New Testament is silent on the origin of demons.6 There is no passage that describes a primeval rebellion before Eden where angels fell from grace and became demons. The origin of demons in Jewish texts outside the Bible (such as 1 Enoch) is attributed to the events of Genesis 6:1–4. When a Nephilim was killed in these texts, its disembodied spirit was considered a demon. These demons then roamed the earth to harass humans. The New Testament does not explicitly embrace this belief, though there are traces of the notion, such as demon possession of humans (implying the effort to be re-embodied).

The Septuagint translators use daimōn once (Isa 65:11) of a foreign god.9 Daimonion occurs nine times to refer to idols (e.g., Psa 96:5 [Septuagint: 95:5]) and foreign gods of the nations whom Israel was not to worship (e.g., Psa 91:6 [Septuagint: 90:6]).

Oddly enough, only one verse in the Bible mentions Satan and demons together: “So if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I expel demons by Beelzebul” (Luke 11:18). The verse strongly implies that Satan has authority over demons, but does not make it clear that all demons are under his authority or how this authority emerged. The Old Testament is silent on the matter since the noun saṭan was not a proper name and was not used of the enemy in the garden.11

Ephesians 2:2 speaks of “the prince of the power of the air” (ESV), another verse associated with Satan—and which, upon closer examination, does not include any reference to the name or the devil. It is difficult to know precisely what Paul was thinking here.

However, if Paul was thinking more in terms of Graeco-Roman cosmology, this explanation fails since the air was “the region below the moon and above the earth.”15 The idea of Paul’s using a Graeco-Roman backdrop for this phrase may get support from Paul’s use of another term elsewhere: stoicheia.

The apostle’s vocabulary elsewhere makes it clear that he understood and presumed the Deuteronomy 32 worldview:22 •“rulers” (archontōn or archōn) •“principalities” (archē) •“powers”/“authorities” (exousia) •“powers” (dynamis) •“dominions”/“lords” (kyrios) •“thrones” (thronos)23 •“world rulers” (kosmokratōr) These lemmas have something in common—they were used both in the New Testament and other Greek literature to denote geographical domain authority. At times these terms are used of humans, but several instances demonstrate that Paul had spiritual beings in mind.

Ephesians 6:12 includes a number of the lemmas listed above: “Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers [archē], against the authorities [exousia], against the world rulers [kosmokratōr] of this darkness, against the spiritual forces [pneumatikos] of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Had those “rulers” [archōntōn] known that the death of the messiah was necessary for God’s plan to succeed, they never would have crucified Jesus (1 Cor 2:8).26

The reference to “dominion” in Ephesians 1:21 (kyrios; plural: kuriotēs) is related to the word Paul uses to describe how unbelievers have many gods (theoi) and “lords” (kurioi), but for the believer there is only one God, Yahweh, and one Lord, Jesus (1 Cor 8:5). These gods and lords are considered real by Paul and are a threat to believers (1 Cor 10:20–21).

It is clear that Satan is leader of at least some of the powers of darkness. As the original rebel, he likely ranked first (or worst) in terms of example in the minds of ancient readers. The fact that he is the one who confronted Jesus in the desert, an account we considered earlier, and offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world suggests as much.

The lack of a clearly delineated hierarchy leaves the possibility that there are competing agendas in the unseen world, even where there exists the common goal of opposition to Yahweh and his people.28

Paul compares the believer’s body—which he had called God’s temple in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:19)—to a tent.

The overall theme of 1 Peter is that Christians must withstand persecution and persevere in their faith. That much is clear in this passage. But what’s with baptism, the ark, Noah, and spirits in prison? And does this text say that baptism saves us?

Specifically, he assumes that the great flood in Genesis 6–8, especially the sons of God event in Genesis 6:1–4, typified or foreshadowed the gospel and the resurrection. For Peter, these events were commemorated during baptism.

We discovered that 2 Peter and Jude communicated something about the flood and the sons of God that wasn’t found in Genesis, but which came from the Second Temple book of 1 Enoch. Specifically, 1 Enoch 6–15 describes how the sons of God (called “Watchers” in that ancient book) who committed the offense of Genesis 6:1–4 were imprisoned under the earth for what they had done.

Recall that the prison to which the offending divine beings were sent was referred to as Tartarus in 2 Peter 2:4–5. The Greek behind the terms is often translated “hell” or “Hades” in English, but those renderings are a bit misleading. Tartarus of course has no literal geography. This is the language of the spiritual realm. Tartarus was part of the underworld (biblical Sheol), a place conceived as being inside the earth because, in ancient experience, that is where the dead go—they were buried. Broadly speaking, the underworld is not hell; it is the afterlife, the place or realm where the dead go. That “place” has its own “geography.” Some experience eternal life with God in the spiritual realm; others do not.3

As was the case with 2 Peter 2:4 and its mention of being imprisoned in Tartarus, this story from 1 Enoch was on Peter’s mind in 1 Peter 3. It is the key to understanding what he says.

Just as Jesus was the second Adam for Paul, Jesus is the second Enoch for Peter. Enoch descended to the imprisoned fallen angels to announce their doom. First Peter 3:14–22 has Jesus descending to these same “spirits in prison” to tell them they were still defeated, despite his crucifixion.

Baptism, then, is not what produces salvation. It “saves” in that it reflects a heart decision: a pledge of loyalty to the risen Savior. In effect, baptism in New Testament theology is a loyalty oath, a public avowal of who is on the Lord’s side in the cosmic war between good and evil.

Every baptism is a reiteration of their doom in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Early Christians understood the typology of this passage and its link back to the fallen angels of Genesis 6. Early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels for this very reason.7 Baptism was—and still is—spiritual warfare.

For even if after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet to us there is one God, the Father,

Although Paul bases his decision on the fact that idols are nothing, his comments in verses 4–6 tell us that he knew the entities behind them were real. He knew his Old Testament.