The Valley of Decision part 2
This is a follow up to my last post so if you haven’t read The Valley of Decision read that first. If you haven’t read anything yet you should Start Here.
This post is picking up where I left off discussing the existence of gods (little g) besides the Triune God ( The Most High) of Christianity.
To try and carry this on, I’ll go ahead and assume a couple questions on your part.
First question: Christianity is Monotheistic. We believe there is only one true God, where do I get this idea that other gods exist?
Answer: From the Word of God. This one is pretty hard to ignore once you allow for the Word to mean what it says. Why would God command His people to have no other gods before Him, if other gods were simply human vices and vanity?
“You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:3
”… and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. ‘Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘we are delivered’ - only to go on doing these abominations?” - Jeremiah 7:6
“Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them,” - Jeremiah 25:6
*Looking for a second opinion? Here’s a blogpost from Pastor John Piper talking about Psalm 82 where The Most High addresses these gods.
Second question: Okay, but who are they and why are they around? God wouldn’t have created His own competition just for fun, or a spiritual trap for people just to see how many would fall into it…right?
Answer: Right. God created all things, both spiritual and physical.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” – Colossians 1:16-17
God created these heavenly beings to reflect His glory just like he created humans to reflect His glory. We are similar, but different.
Just like we human beings have the choice to obey God or not, it is apparent that spiritual beings have been given the same free will (Jude 6). The significant difference would be that Humans were created specifically from the Earth, to dwell on the Earth, ignorant of the knowledge of heaven. And the spiritual beings were created in heaven for heaven, were present at the creation of earth (Job 38:7) and therefore have both the knowledge of heaven and of earth (as well as access to both realms).
*[If you’re intrigued but still not sure, check out this video series about Spiritual Beings from The Bible Project.]
*[If you’re tracking now and want even more details, check out The Naked Bible Podcast.]
These beings are “higher” than us both in nature and in knowledge. And yet there is something about us and our inheritance (Ephesians 1:3-14), that the spiritual beings were willing to despise their own position in order to try and thwart.
God did not create competition for Himself, but true to the image in which we were created, also have the ability to create, to operate, to manipulate (within the bounds of what has been made by Him.), and I believe that if we can do these things, so too can the heavenly beings that He created. He has, and He does, allow for manipulations within creation. At different times and in different ways He has dealt with it. In the Garden He dealt with the treason of the Serpent by promising Salvation to humanity.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15
Genesis 3:15 is not just a promise of a coming redemption, it is a declaration of war from the Most High to His enemies.
The enemy response?
Enter the gods.
“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man (contend with humans) forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” – Genesis 6:1-4
So, the sons of God decided that the best way to mess up the promised offspring of the woman was to literally involve themselves in the family tree. What resulted from this rebellion, (mentioned here in Genesis 6, also 2 Peter 2:4, and Jude 6), were the Nephilim. Half human half spiritual beings. Demi gods. Perhaps you’ve heard the names associated with some of them: Hercules, Achilles, Maui, etc… nearly every ancient culture has a “mythology” of Demi gods.
Consider, if you haven’t yet, that these fairytales might be taught to us as such so that we don’t uncover the truth. These beings, these “mighty men of old, the men of renown” as Genesis 6:4 describes them, were the “heroes” of the so called golden age. It makes sense right? If there were Heavenly beings who showed up on earth today and taught us new and wonderful things, those of us who did not already know the truth, would see them and perhaps their offspring as …well… superheroes right? What is the difference between the Greek gods and our Marvel Comic Superheroes? …not much besides their fashion and accessories. As glorious as these beings are portrayed in their respective mythologies, according to scripture, these “heroes” infiltrated and corrupted humanity so thoroughly that the Most High sent a flood to wipe them off the face of the earth.
Interestingly Genesis 6:4 lets us know that the Nephilim were on the earth in the days of Noah, and also afterward. Meaning, both before the flood and after.
So the Nephilim were on the earth even after the flood that God sent to destroy them. Maybe some of you would refuse to believe this narrative on the grounds that if God sent a flood to rid the earth of evil by destroying all creation except for Noah and his family then that’s exactly what happened and if there was any kind of carry over then God must have failed and that’s not an option. If this is you, I admire your faith in the inerrancy of the work of the Lord, but perhaps your assumptions about what the outworking of that looks like, are just that, assumptions. Genesis 6:4 states that these Nephilim were on earth in the days of Noah, and also afterward. Numbers 13:33, and Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 3:11, solidify that statement as fact and not metaphor. This was not a failure on Gods part, it was an allowance. Why ever for? Well, we can only assume, naturally. But, we can use His own word given to us to make educated assumptions.
The following is a conversation I shared with my 8yr old daughter after hearing the story of the flood talked about at church. I have conversations like this with my children because I want them to grow up in awe and wonder of the Lord and the world He created. I don’t leave out the tricky bits with them for the same reason I’m taking the time to write about them here for you to read. There is beauty and there is understanding to be found in the details. If we ignore the tricky bits we are left with gaps in our understanding that lead to “unanswerable” questions and or doubts that Christianity and the Bible just “can’t explain.” Basically…deconstruction is preventable. Anyway… our conversation went something like this:
Me: Why did God send the flood?
8yr old: Because men were bad.
Me: Ok, but what else was going on, why was it that men were so bad that God would send a flood?
8yr old: ummmm….
Me: Genesis 6 talks about the flood, but what does it talk about first? The Sons of God saw that the women were beautiful, then what happened?
8 yr old: they married them and had babies that grew to be giant and bad
Me: exactly, they were giants that dominated over humans. That’s right, but what else was happening at the same time? *The Sons of God/ Elohim/ Watchers (the aforementioned heavenly beings that left their proper dwelling) were also teaching men how to make weapons to kill and destroy each other, and they taught women to wear makeup and beautify themselves to seduce men (to trick them into leaving their wives to be with them instead – this is how I explained that in 8yr old terms). There was all kinds of evil being taught to humans.
[*These details are in the book of Enoch. It’s not canonized scripture, but it is useful as a historical text, as it gives detail to this same story found in Genesis, and in doing so gives context to countless other stories throughout scripture.]
8 yr old: why do we wear makeup then?
[brief rabbit trail on grief over makeup and the problem of relying on products to feel pretty/get attention.]
Me: But the MAIN problem was in the blood. When the Sons of God imposed themselves on humanity they corrupted them down to the blood. When a baby is born, they have the DNA of both their mother and their father. God creates each person, but each person is made with the blood of their parents. So, what happened was a slow and steady corruption of humanity from generation to generation, not only in their morality but in their very blood. God chose Noah out from all the people because Noah loved God, but it’s also likely that God chose Noah to re-populate the earth because his blood was not corrupted, in other words, his blood was fully human. Genesis 6:9 …Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. ESV …Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations…KJV …Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time…NIV
The Nephilim being on earth after the flood isn’t so much about beings surviving a flood that nothing survived (Genesis 7:21-24), but humanity being corrupted, even to their blood (making them something other than human), at some time after the flood.
Think about this. What did Jesus come to do?
8yr old: die for our sins
Me: yes. What does the Word say He does for us? How does He cover us?
8 yr old: with His blood!
Me: yes, exactly! Why do we sing about the Blood of Jesus? Why do we take communion, where we eat bread that represents Christ’s body and drink “wine” that represents His blood? It’s not because Christians are so weird and we just like blood. It’s because there is power in the blood of Jesus. More than we can even comprehend. :End:
“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” Hebrews 13:12
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
…and on and on and on how many verses in scripture talk about blood, in the Old Testament there are rules and regulations about the handling of blood and commands not to consume it (Deuteronomy 12:23-28 ), and then in the New Testament specifically the blood of Jesus?
It is by His blood that we claim our status as His children. We were not meant to be sons and daughters of the Sons of God, we were meant to be sons and daughters of the Most High.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:1-9
Next up I’ll begin talking on how these gods continue to strive to hold power and influence over us even today, but rest assured, God will not be mocked; He provided redemption for us from before creation:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
-Ephesians 1:3-14