The Michael Heiser Mysteries

Have you noticed there is a strong attraction to secret knowledge? It has been part of the human condition almost since the beginning days of creation.

We do not deny that there are mysteries in the Bible – passages difficult to understand. Mysteries intrigue us, and as human beings, we want to resolve them. We want to unveil any and all “hidden” secrets. It’s perfectly ok to wonder about things, but we should not build our understanding of scripture around obscure passages with vague wording. All through the Old and New Testament, we find false teachers and false prophets offering new revelational insights about God. It often did not work out well for those who believed and followed them.

Every book in the New Testament, with the exception of Philemon, was written to address false teaching, expose false teachers, and correct false doctrine and bad behavior. Believers were misled by those who claimed to possess “secret knowledge” about confusing issues like “How could a holy God incarnate into a body of flesh?” Docetism rose up to solve that mystery. In their view, since sin indwells the flesh and God is holy, He could not incarnate without becoming sinful and no longer holy. To fix the problem, they claimed to possess secret knowledge – that Jesus was a phantasm that only appeared to have a physical body. Voila, the problem was fixed. The Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John were written in part to expose this particular secret knowledge that was gaining followers in the church, which was contradicted by Scripture and history. In the first eighteen verses of his gospel John builds his case. In the first three verses, he points back to Genesis and the creation and writes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John:1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
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Down through the centuries, Bible scholars have tried to unravel what they see as Bible mysteries. When the Scriptures do not give enough – or perhaps any – additional information on an unclear passage, they may offer up previously unrevealed explanations to “clarify” the issue. These clarifications may be harmless or may lead people to a heretical conclusion.

More recently, the late Dr. Michael S. Heiser has developed quite a following in the church. Again, it is our understanding that, in the main, Heiser is a solid scholar, and according to Doreen Virtue, who knew him well, he was a genuinely nice person. His popularity grew as he revealed biblical secrets that have been mysteries, at least to him, until now. He freely admitted that virtually everyone down through history had missed the main one he uncovered, which is the key he used to unlock others. He did claim some scholarly backing, but that was from liberal theologians. The starting point of his “discovery” is Psalm:82:1(A Psalm of Asaph.) God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
See All.... Pastor Gary E. Gilley wrote in “The Unseen Realm A Critique”:

“It all began when Heiser was examining Psalm:82:1(A Psalm of Asaph.) God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
See All..., which reads in the NASB “God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers." Michael Heiser, currently Executive Director of the School of Ministry at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, came to believe that he had discovered the key to understanding God and Scripture which had long been buried by the western world and the evangelical community. That key was: “The God of the Old Testament was part of an assembly – a pantheon – of other gods” (p. 11). This view is reinforced by Heiser’s personal translation of the verse as found in his book, The Unseen Realm, Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible:² “God [elohim] stands in the divine assembly; he administers judgment in the midst of the gods [elohim]” (p. 11).  As Heiser attempted to interpret the meaning of this verse, his emerging view apparently received virtually no support from conservative theologians (and rightly so), and he found it necessary to look beyond evangelical scholarship which had, he believed, ignored his newly discovered key (p. 12). In the process, Heiser scrapped his former reliance on systematic theology along with creeds, confessions and denominational preferences, which had filtered out and rejected his new discovery (pp. 14-16, 60-61), and went about putting the pieces together himself (p. 12). He writes, “We need to lay our theological systems aside, answer these questions like an ancient Israelite would have, and embrace the results…It is time to peel these layers away” (pp. 60, 61).

By beginning where Hieser began, we can determine if his basis for all that follows his newly minted revelation of this mystery is sound or not.

The context of the Psalm itself rules out the idea that YHWH is standing in a counsel of angels or gods He created. The word Elohim can be used for both but also for human judges. In this case, YHWH is judging the council that is judging in the congregation (Israel), and they are unjust in their judgments. Like Adam, they are sons of the Most High:

Unconverted men are called “sons of God” as well, although, in some places, the exact phrasing is not used. For example, the idea of “sons of God” appears in Malachi 2:10, speaking of the unfaithful Jews of the prophet’s time: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” We can find a similar meaning in Psalm 82:6-7: “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men . . ..’” In the New Testament, the evangelist Luke calls Adam “the son of God” in Luke 3:38.

The Psalm ends with the Psalmist calling on God who just judged the unjust judges who were judging in the congregation of Israel to arise and “judge the earth.” That day will come.

David Stern points out that Jesus did not appeal to this passage to affirm to his questioners that there was a council of gods to whom “the word of God came.” His point was that if unjust human judges are “‘are sons of the Most High,’ how much more does the description ‘Son of God’ apply to Yeshua”?

We could also ask, hypothetically, two other questions about these “gods.” If these “gods” are not merely unjust human judges, which fits the context best, would God have known these gods existed? Would they be true or false Gods?  To answer the first, we could simply read Isaiah 43-49. For example, Isaiah:43:10Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
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“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.”

The answer to the second question is equally clear:

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians:8:1-6 [1] Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. [2] And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. [3] But if any man love God, the same is known of him. [4] As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. [5] For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) [6] But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
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There is one True God. All others are, by definition, false.

[TBC: For the full text and footnotes, see:]

https://midwestoutreach.org/2024/02/29/the-michael-heiser-mysteries/