Michael S. Heiser. The Unseen Realm. Lexham P, 2015.
The Unseen Realm’s subtitle reads Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. However, it is not about angelology or demonology per se. It is no Pigs in the Parlor or Wonders of the Unseen World. The author drops hints that he probably believes in such things, but that is not the overall thesis of the book.
The main idea is very simple. God ruled heaven. In heaven he had and still has a group of heavenly advisors or a council. The Bible does not really explain such things but notes that they exist. For example, we see such a council meeting in the beginning of the Book of Job. The prophet Micaiah, when prophesying before King Ahab, describes a council headed by God (Heiser prefers to use His name, Yahweh). Psalm 82 describes a similar council of “gods.” Heiser notes that sometimes the Hebrew word translated “angels” in most translations as actually elohim, i.e., “gods.” Psalm 8:5 is one instance of this.
He posits that when the Lord created the earth, he set up a similar kind of council on the earth. Adam was to oversee it, but God would be in charge. Genesis 3:8 suggests Adam and Eve knew what God sounded like and had met with Him, but in sinning, Adam changed the nature of the council. The serpent in some form was probably also related in some way to the council—if nothing else that might explain why Eve carried on a perfectly normal conversation with it.
Of course, things got so bad that the Lord decided to send a worldwide flood. That turned out to be only a temporary fix. The tower at Babel was a human-driven attempt to duplicate God’s council. After that, according to Heiser’s interpretation, the Lord changed the language and dispersed the people into seventy nations (see Genesis 10-11:9). The gods of the nations were, therefore, rebellious spirits. The Bible notes in a few places in both testaments that the idols or gods of the gentile nations are demons. See, for example, I Corinthians 10:20 or Deuteronomy 32:17.
Eventually, God called Abraham into a covenant relationship with Him. This was the beginning of the earthly council that has continued since. The Bible in places calls angels sons of God. It also in a few places calls human followers of God sons of God. They are to make up His council on earth when all things are restored. In the meantime, there is a spiritual battle between fallen spirits and the Holy Spirit with the human soul being the main battleground.
Loyalty to God and His Covenant is key. Heiser notes that David was called “a man after God’s own heart” even though he committed some egregious sins that are impossible to bring restoration for. Why? Because David was loyal to God. “Personal failure, even of the worst kind, did not bring the nation into exile. Choosing other gods did” (170). Just as in the best human relationships, faithfulness is key.
While that is a brief and oversimplified summary, there is a lot more. Heiser notes that a number of times God Himself appears in human form in the Old Testament. Indeed, until the second century A.D., many rabbis taught that Yahweh had at least two persons, one “like the son of man.” See, for example, Daniel 7:13-14 or Proverbs 30:4. Jesus claimed He was that person. Matthew 26:63-65 shows us that the High Priest understood this to mean that.
As God seemed to yield the earth to the evil ones in the council especially after the Flood and Babel, that was not His final plan. After all, He promised Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. If Jesus’ death and resurrection is a type of the Flood (see I Peter 3:18-22), then Pentecost is the beginning of the reversal of Babel. God’s plan will continue until all the world has heard about the salvation offered by him through Jesus, “and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
From this perspective, Heiser sees some real significance in the story of the Nephilim and Rephaim (or giants) in Genesis 6:1-4 and elsewhere or in the promise of I Corinthians 6:3 that believers in God through Jesus will judge angels. It also perhaps takes on some significance to other end times prophecies.
Heiser notes that most of the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures about Jesus are somewhat obscure. Yes, they make sense with 20-20 hindsight, but he notes that rather than being linear, they are more like a mosaic. If they were too explicit, as I Corinthians 2:8 notes, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” God’s opponents would have tried to avoid Jesus’ sacrifice instead of promoting it.
Heiser suspects that Biblical prophecy about the future is not that different. Yes, the Book of Revelation does have a certain order in laying out the seals, vials, and trumpets, but there is still much mystery.
He notes, for example, that Revelation 16:16 says that gentile armies that attack Jerusalem in the last days will assemble “at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” Many people see this as Megiddo, now an archaeological site north of Jerusalem. The problem is that the Hebrew prefix ʽar or har means “mountain” and Megiddo is in a valley and a plain (see, for example, Zechariah 12:11).
Heiser has another explanation which makes more sense if we accept his thesis about the gentile gods and lords. If nothing else, he gives us insight into what typical Jewish beliefs about the unseen world were at the time the New Testament was being written—and what believers can look forward to as the story of the last days is being written.
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all.…
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:14-15, 24-25)