The Divine Council
Part 2 of 7
View the companion video here.
The second truth which I present here is connected to the first truth of reigning with Christ: the divine council. Some may not be familiar with this notion of a divine council.[1] However, the Bible says that God has a council of divine beings who carry out His decisions. It is referred to as God’s assembly, council, or court. Let’s look at three passages:.
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?[2]
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.[3]
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment[4]… I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”[5]
This council is made of spiritual beings that are less than God but greater than men. These passages do not make sense if they refer to men or idols – these gods are real.
For purposes unknown to us, God chooses to administrate His rule of the cosmos through other divine beings.
In Psalm 82.6, they are referred to “sons of the Most High” (see also Job 1.6; 2.1). In Job 38.7, we are told they were with God before He created the earth and humanity. This is God asking Job a series of questions.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [6]
The Sons of God were with Him when He created the world. In His council, they are decision-makers (1 Kings 22.13-28 and Daniel 4.17-24) and participate in God’s rule. They are not angels—they are above the angels.[7] But they form His council and help Him conduct His purposes.[8]
Now, does God need their help or ours? Of course not. But He has chosen to use His council and His believers to carry out His will. Therefore, God gave man dominion over the earth—to rule it and steward it. He wanted mankind to share in His rule of the earth and His presence:[9]
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.[10]
God’s intent was to live with us and let us participate with Him in making the entire world like Eden.
Unfortunately, we chose to sin against God. Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent who “freely chose to reject God’s authority.”[11] Not only was he expelled from God’s home (Ezekiel 28.14-16), he was banished to earth and became the lord over death. This resulted in him having a claim over all humans since our sin in Eden meant the loss of earthly immortality. “Humanity would now need to be redeemed to have eternal life with God in a new Eden.”[12]
So, God offers redemption to humanity in Genesis 3-10. But man rejected God. Because of man’s wickedness, at the tower of Babel[13] in Genesis 11, God divided the people into multiple nations, scatters them across the earth, and gave them over to rebellious members of His divine council. This explains why other nations came to worship other gods[14]—the council members themselves had rebelled against God (2 Peter 2.4-6, Jude 5-6) and inserted themselves into the position of god for the nation assigned to them by the true God. Since the people of the earth had also rebelled, God decided to let the rebellious people be ruled by rebellious council members. This is seen in Deuteronomy 32.8-9.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.[15] [16]
However, once divided, God still intended to bring the nations back to Himself. It is within this context that God—still intent on reconciling humanity to Himself—calls Abraham to be the father of His own people. Because man is so unfaithful, God understands that He will need to take the first step toward mankind and commit to being faithful to them.
It is important to understand that when we reign with Christ, we’ll be made part of His divine council. While we are a little lower than the angels now (Psalm 8.5, Hebrew 2.7), we will one day judge them (1 Corinthians 6.3). And we’ll work with God to fulfill His original Edenic vision. His call on our lives today, to be leaders—to run businesses—to create profit and employ people—all of this is preparation for reigning with Him as members of His divine council.
But this isn’t our only preparation. Learning perseverance while living with God’s presence is part of our preparation too. Moreover, recasting our roles from owners to stewards will be essential to being faithful to and present with Him. And seeing our role as stewards within the context of God’s redemption larger plan of redemption is needed too.
[1] I learned about the divine council from Dr. Heiser at the Naked Bible Podcast and his books. I highly encourage the reader to consume his work. For this section, I’m standing on his shoulders.
[2] ESV Psalm 89.5–7
[3] ESV Daniel 7.10-12
[4] ESV Psalm 82.1
[5] ESV Psalm 82.6–7
[6] ESV Job 38.4–7
[7] https://youtu.be/pKPid4i4SmI
[8] Quoting Dr. Heiser from his web site (www.nakedbiblepodcast.com): “It’s important to note that while God works with His council, He is alone in His attributes and sovereignty. He is above these council members in every way.” Consider Deuteronomy 4.35, 39. “To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him… know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” God is so completely other that He is incomprehensible to us unless He makes accommodations for us as He discloses Himself to us, such as becoming a man who walked on this earth. Even though God rules through His divine council, He is clearly incomparable and far above any spiritual being (which he created) in His council.
[9] There is considerable debate among scholars as to what “image” means. To my way of thinking, at a minimum, 2 Peter 1.4 illuminates at least some of what this means when he writes “…he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Somehow, we participate in the divine nature. Nowhere are animals said to have this participation, only humans.
[11] Heiser, Michael S. Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters (p. 38). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.
[12] Ibid. page 39.
[13] The sin at Babel was the people wanting to bring God down to them at one point. They wanted to meet God on their terms. They were in charge, God was not. They were not scattering to spread His rule and influence around the world, as God had commanded. So God confused their language and forced them to scatter.
[14] This also explains why the other nations – even to this day – are so conflicted with Israel – who is “God’s portion”. The council members continue to rule these nations even today and live out their own rebellion against God vicariously through these nations.
[15] ESV Deuteronomy 32.8
[16] The Hebrew is בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל “sons of Israel. NIV, NASB: sons of Israel; ESV, RSV: sons of God; ASV: children of Israel. Heiser writes: “Some Bible translations have “sons of Israel” instead of “sons of God” in that first sentence. But Israel didn’t exist at the time of the Tower of Babel. God only called Abraham after Babel (Gen. 12). “Sons of Israel” can’t be right. “Sons of God” is the terminology found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest manuscripts of the Bible. The ESV has it right. (Heiser, Michael S. Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters (p. 48). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.)
