chapter one<\/p>\n
Believing the Bible<\/p>\n
Do you really believe what the Bible says?<\/p>\n
To some, that may seem like an odd question to ask in a book likely to be read mostly by Christians. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s s<\/span>o odd. The Bible has some pretty strange things in it\u2014things that are hard to believe, especially in the modern world.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not talking about the big stuff, such as whether Jesus was God come to earth,<\/span> who then died on the cross and rose from the dead. I\u2019m not even thinking of miracle stories like the exodus, when God rescued Israel from Egypt by making a way for them through the Red Sea. Most Christians would say they believe those things. After all, if you don\u2019t believe in Go<\/span>d and Jesus, or that they could do miraculous things, what\u2019s the point of saying you\u2019re a Christian?<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking about <\/span>the little-known supernatural stuff you run into occasionally when reading the Bible but rarely hear about in church.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example. In 1 Kings 22<\/a>, there\u2019s a story about a wicked king of Israel, A<\/span>hab. He wants to join forces with the king of Judah to attack an enemy at a place called Ramoth-gilead. Judah\u2019s king wants a glimpse into the future\u2014he wants to know what\u2019s going to happen if they attack. So the two kings ask Ahab\u2019s<\/span> prophets and get thumbs up all around. But those prophets are just telling Ahab what he wants to hear, and both kings know it. So they decide to ask God\u2019s prophet, a fellow named Micaiah. What he says isn\u2019t good news for Ahab:<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand <\/span>and on his left; and the Lord said, \u201cWho will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?\u201d And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before t<\/span>he Lord, saying, \u201cI will entice him.\u201d And the Lord said to him, \u201cBy what means?\u201d And he said, \u201cI will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.\u201d And he said, \u201cYou are to ent<\/span>ice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.\u201d Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you. (1 Kings 22:19<\/span>\u201323<\/a>)<\/p>\n Did you catch what the Bible\u2019s asking you to believe? That God meets with a group of spirit beings to decide what happens on earth? Is that for real?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another example, courtesy of Jude:<\/p>\n And<\/span> the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n God sent a bunch of angels to an underground prison? Really?<\/p>\n As I said, the Bible has a lot of strange things in it, especially about the unseen, spiritual world. I\u2019ve met many Christians who have no<\/span> trouble with the Bible\u2019s less controversial (at least among Christians) teachings about the supernatural, such as who Jesus was and what he did, but passages like this tend to make them more than a little uneasy, so they ignore them. I\u2019ve seen that tendency up close. My wife and I once visited a church where the pastor was preaching a <\/span>series based on 1 Peter. The morning he hit 1 Peter 3:18\u201322<\/a>, t<\/span>he first thing he said after getting behind the pulpit was, \u201cWe\u2019re going to skip these verses. They\u2019re just too weird.\u201d What he meant by weird<\/em> was that those verses contained supernatural elements tha<\/span>t just didn\u2019t fit into his theology. Such as:<\/p>\n For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spir<\/span>it. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits\u2014to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. <\/span>(1 Pet. 3:18\u201320<\/a> niv<\/a>)<\/p>\n Who\u2014and where\u2014were these imprisoned spirits? That pastor either didn\u2019t know or didn\u2019t like the answer, so he simply chose to ignore these verses.<\/p>\n As a Bible scholar, I\u2019ve learned <\/span>that strange passages (and lots of other little-known and little-understood parts of Scripture) are actually very important. They teach specific ideas about God, the unseen world, and our own lives. Believe it or not, if we were awar<\/span>e of them and understood what they meant, as difficult and puzzling as they are, it would change the way we think about God, each other, why we\u2019re here, and our ultimate destiny.<\/span><\/p>\n In the first letter the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Paul got upset at how believers in that church were taking each other to court to settle disputes. It was a waste of time and<\/span> emotional energy, he felt, as well as a negative reflection on the faith. He gasped, \u201cDon\u2019t you people know you\u2019re going to judge the world? Don\u2019t you know you\u2019re going to rule over angels!\u201d (1 Cor. <\/span>6:3<\/a>, my paraphrase).<\/p>\n Judge the world? Rule over angels<\/em>?<\/p>\n What Paul\u2019s talking about in that puzzling verse is both mind-blowing and life-changing. The Bible connects the activities of supernatural being<\/span>s with our lives and destinies. We will<\/em> someday judge the world. We will<\/em> rule over angels, just as Paul said. More about that later.<\/p>\n The reason Paul can say what he said to the Corinthians\u2014and to us\u2014i<\/span>s that the story of the Bible is about how God created us and desires that we be part of his heavenly family. It\u2019s no accident that the Bible uses terms drawn from family relationships\u2014such as sharing a home and working together\u2014to collectively describe God, Jesus, t<\/span>he beings of the unseen world, and believers, you and me<\/em>. God wants humanity to be part of his family and of his rule over creation.<\/p>\n <\/span>We all know the concept as in heaven, so on earth.<\/em> It\u2019s drawn from ideas and even phrasing found in the Lord\u2019s Prayer (Matt. 6:10<\/a>). From the very beginning, God wanted his human family to live with hi<\/span>m in a perfect world\u2014along with the family he already had in the unseen world, his heavenly host. That story\u200b\u2014\u200bGod\u2019s goal, its opposition by the powers of darkness, its failure, and its ultimate future success\u200b\u2014\u200bis what this book is about, just as it\u2019s what the Bible is <\/span>about. And we can\u2019t appreciate the drama of the Bible\u2019s story if we don\u2019t include all<\/em> the actors\u2014including the supernatural chara<\/span>cters who are part of the epic but who are ignored by many Bible teachers.<\/p>\n The members of God\u2019s heavenly host are not peripheral or insignificant or unrelated to our story, the human story, in the Bib<\/span>le. They play a central role. But modern Bible readers too often read right past, without grasping them, the fascinating ways the supernatural world is present in dozens of the most familiar episodes in the Bible. It <\/span>took me decades to see what I now see in the Bible\u2014and I want to share with you the fruit of those years of study.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s not lose track of the question I asked at the beginning. D<\/em><\/span>o you really believe what the Bible says?<\/em> That\u2019s where the rubber meets the road. It won\u2019t do you any good to learn what the Bible really says about the unseen world and how it intersects with your li<\/span>fe if you don\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n In 2 Kings 6:8\u201323<\/a>, the prophet Elisha is in trouble (again). An angry king sends troops to surround his house. When his servant panics, Elisha tells him, \u201cDo not be afraid,<\/span> for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.\u201d Before the servant can object, Elisha prays, \u201cO Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.\u201d God answers on the spot: \u201cSo the Lord op<\/span>ened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.\u201d<\/p>\n Elisha\u2019s prayer is my prayer for you. May God open your eyes to see, so<\/span> that you\u2019ll never be able to think about the Bible the same way again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n chapter two<\/p>\n The Unseen Realm: God and the Gods<\/p>\n People are fascinated by the supernatural and the superhuman. Just think about the entertainment industry in recent years. Thousands of books, television<\/span> shows, and movies in the past decade have been about angels, aliens, monsters, demons, ghosts, witches, magic, vampires, werewolves, and superheroes. Many of Hollywood\u2019s blockbuster franchises feature the supernatural: the <\/span>X-Men<\/em>, the Avengers<\/em>, the Harry Potter series, Superman<\/em>, and the Twilight<\/em> saga. Television shows like Fringe<\/em> and, of course, Supernatural<\/em> and X-Files<\/em> have dedicated followings e<\/span>ven long after filming new episodes ends. And really, haven\u2019t these things always<\/em> been popular\u2014in tales, in books, in art?<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n One answer is that they\u2019re an escape from the ordinary. They offer us a <\/span>world that\u2019s more interesting and exciting than our own. There\u2019s something about good versus evil, magnified on a cosmic scale, that thrills us. The epic struggle by the heroes of Middle Earth (Gandalf, <\/span>Frodo, and company) against the Dark Lord Sauron in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> trilogy has captivated readers (and now movie-goers) for over a half-century now. The more otherworldly the villain, the mo<\/span>re spectacular the triumph.<\/p>\n On another level, people are drawn to other worlds because, as the book of Ecclesiastes puts it, God has \u201cput eternity into [our] hearts\u201d (Eccl. 3:11<\/a>). There\u2019s something ab<\/span>out the human condition that longs for something beyond human experience\u2014something divine. The apostle Paul wrote about this yearning too. He taught that it comes from just being alive in the world God has made. The creatio<\/span>n bears witness to a creator, and therefore to a realm beyond our own (Rom. 1:18\u201323<\/a>). In fact, Paul said this impulse was so powerful that it had to be willfully suppressed (v. <\/span>18<\/a>).<\/p>\n And yet we don\u2019t seem to think of the epic story of the Bible in the same way we think of our own tales of the supernatural in books, movies, and legend. There are reasons for that, and they go b<\/span>eyond the lack of special effects. For some, the Bible\u2019s characters are too ordinary or grandfatherly. They don\u2019t feel dynamic or heroic. After all, these are the same people and the same stories we\u2019ve been hearing since Sunday school as kids. Then there\u2019s the cultural barrier. It\u2019s hard for us to identify with what seems like an endless parade of ancient shepherds and men wearing robes, like<\/span> so many actors in your church\u2019s nativity play.<\/span><\/p>\n But I think an even bigger factor in why science fiction or supernatural fantasy captures our imagination more easily is how we\u2019ve been taught to think about<\/span> the unseen world of the Bible. What I\u2019ve heard in church over the years doesn\u2019t just miss the boat\u2014it makes the supernatural boring. And even worse, the church\u2019s teaching emasculates the unseen, supernatural world, rendering it powerless.<\/span><\/p>\n A lot of what Christians imagine to be true about the unseen world isn\u2019t. Angels don\u2019t have wings. (Cherubim don\u2019t count because they are never called angels an<\/span>d are creaturely. Angels are always in human form.) Demons don\u2019t sport horns and a tail, and they aren\u2019t here to make us sin (we do that just fine on our own). And while the Bible describes demonic possession in rightfully awful ways, intelligent evil has more sinister things to do than make sock puppets out of people. And on top of that, angels and demons a<\/span>re minor players. Church never seems to get to the big boys and their agenda.<\/p>\n The Gods Are Real<\/p>\n I asked you in the first chapter if you really<\/em> believe what the Bible says. Consider this a pop quiz.<\/p>\n The Bible says God has a task force of divine beings who carry out his decisions<\/span>. It\u2019s referred to as God\u2019s assembly, council, or court (Ps. 89:5\u20137<\/a>; Dan. 7:10<\/a>). One of the clearest verses about it is Psalm 82:1<\/a>. The Good News Translation puts it well: \u201cGod presides in the heavenl<\/span>y council; in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n If you think about it, that\u2019s a startling verse! It rattled me the first time I really looked at it. But what the verse means is what it <\/span>plainly and simply says. Like any verse, Psalm 82:1<\/a> has to be understood in the context of what else the Bible says\u2014in this case, what it says about the gods<\/em> and how that term should be defined.<\/p>\n The o<\/span>riginal Hebrew word translated \u201cgods\u201d is elohim<\/span>. Many of us have thought of elohim<\/span> for so long in just one single sense\u2014as one of the names of God the Father\u2014that it may be hard for us to think of it <\/span>in its wider meaning. But the word refers to any<\/em> inhabitant of the unseen spiritual world. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll find it used of God himself (Gen. 1:1<\/a>), demons (Deut. 32:17<\/a>), and the human dead in the aft<\/span>erlife (1 Sam. 28:13<\/a>). For the Bible, any disembodied being whose home address is the spirit world is an elohim<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Hebrew term doesn\u2019t refer to a specific set of abilities only God has. The Bible di<\/span>stinguishes God from all other gods in other ways, not by using the word elohim<\/span>. For instance, the Bible commands the gods to worship the God of the Bible (Ps. 29:1<\/a>). He is their creator and king (Ps.<\/span> 95:3<\/a>; 148:1\u20135<\/a>). Psalm 89:6\u20137<\/a> (gnt<\/a>) says, \u201cNo one in heaven is like you, Lord; none of the heavenly beings is your equal [1 Kings 8:23<\/a>; Ps. 97:9<\/a>]. You are feared in the council of the holy ones.\u201d The <\/span>Bible writers are pretty blunt about the God of Israel having no equal\u2014he is the \u201cGod of gods\u201d (Deut. 10:17<\/a>; Ps. 136:2<\/a>).<\/p>\n These beings in the \u201ccouncil of the holy ones\u201d are real. In the first chapter o<\/span>f this book, I quoted a passage in which God met with his heavenly host to decide how to get rid of King Ahab. In that passage, the members of this heavenly group were called spirits. If we believe the spirit world is real and is inhabited by God and by spiritual beings he has c<\/span>reated (such as angels), we have to admit that God\u2019s supernatural task force, described in the verses I\u2019ve quoted above and many others, is also real. Otherwise, we pay mere lip service to spiritual reality.<\/span><\/p>\n And since the Bible identifies these divine council members as spirits, we know the gods aren\u2019t just idols of sto<\/span>ne or wood. Statues don\u2019t work for God in a heavenly council. It\u2019s true that people in the ancient world who worshipped the rival gods did make idols. But they knew the idols they made with their own hands weren\u2019t the real powers. Those handcrafted idols were just objects their gods could inhabit to receive sacr<\/span>ifices and dispense knowledge to their followers, who performed rituals to solicit the gods to come to them and take up residence in the idol.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Council Structure and Business<\/p>\n The gods of Psalm 82:1<\/a> are called \u201csons of the Most High [God]\u201d later in the psalm (v. 6<\/a>). The \u201csons of God\u201d appear several times in the Bible, usually in God\u2019s presence (as in Job 1:6<\/a>; 2:1<\/a>). Job 38:7<\/a> tells us they were around before God began to fashion the earth and create humanity.<\/p>\n And that is very interesting. God calls these spiritual beings his sons. Since he created them, the \u201cfamily\u201d language makes sense, in the same way you refer to your offspring as your son or daughter because you participated in their creation. But besides being their Father, God is also their king. In the ancient world, kings often ruled through their extended families. Kingship was passed on to heirs. Dominion was a family business. God is Lord of his council. And his sons have the next highest rank by virtue of their relationship with him. But as we\u2019ll discuss throughout this book, something happened\u2014some of them became disloyal.<\/p>\n The sons of God are also decision makers. We know from 1 Kings 22<\/a> (and many other passages) that God\u2019s business involved interacting with human history. When God decided it was time for wicked Ahab to die, he left it up to his council to decide how that would happen.<\/p>\n The divine council meetings in Psalm 82<\/a> and 1 Kings 22<\/a> are not the only ones related to us in the Bible. A couple of them determined the fate of empires.<\/p>\n In Daniel 4<\/a>, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was punished by God with temporary insanity. That sentence was handed down by \u201cthe decree of the Most High\u201d (Dan. 4:24<\/a>) and \u201cthe decree of the watchers\u201d (Dan. 4:17<\/a>). Watche<\/em>rs<\/em> was a term used for divine beings of God\u2019s council. It referred to how they were ever watchful over the affairs of humanity; they never slept.<\/p>\n These biblical scenes of divine council sessions tell us God\u2019s council members participate<\/em> in God\u2019s rule. In at least some cases, God decrees what he wants done but gives his supernatural agents freedom to decide the means.<\/p>\n Angels participate in God\u2019s council as well. In the original languages of the Bible, the terms translated angel<\/em> in the Old and New Testaments actually mean messenger<\/em>. The word angel<\/em> is basically a job description. Angels deliver messages to people. We\u2019ll learn more about angels and their duties\u2014\u200bas well as the other duties of God\u2019s council members\u200b\u2014\u200blater in the book.<\/p>\n Why This Matters<\/p>\n Your reaction to everything you\u2019ve read in this book up to this point may be something like, \u201cFascinating stuff\u2014I\u2019ve never seen that in the Bible before. But what implications does all this information have, if any at all, for my daily life and the way my church functions?\u201d And the answer is, the truths presented in this book have everything<\/em> to do with our understanding of who God is, and how we relate to him, and what our purpose is on earth. To help clarify that, I\u2019ll conclude each chapter with a section like this one that unpacks the practical implications of that chapter\u2019s truths.<\/p>\n In this chapter, we\u2019ve discussed how the Bible describes God\u2019s cosmic administration and what insights those descriptions give us into God and, ultimately, how God relates to us.<\/p>\n First, God\u2019s heavenly family business is a template for how he relates to his earthly family. We\u2019ll discuss that further in the next chapter, but here\u2019s an example: You might have been wondering why God needs a council anyway. God shouldn\u2019t need<\/em> help doing anything, even in the spiritual world. He\u2019s God! But the Bible is clear that he uses lesser beings to get things done.<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t need<\/em> a divine council, but he chooses to make use of one. And he doesn\u2019t need us either. If he chose, God could just speak out loud to all the people who need the gospel, give everyone all the encouragement they need to turn to him, and call it good. He could persuade people to love others by putting his voice into their heads. But he doesn\u2019t. Instead, he uses people\u2014you and me\u2014to get the job done.<\/p>\n Second, God could just predetermine events to make everything turn out the way he wants. But he doesn\u2019t. In the story of King Ahab, God let his heavenly assistants decide how to carry out his will. In other words, he let them use their free will. That tells us that not everything is predetermined. And that\u2019s true not only in the unseen world\u2014it\u2019s also true in our world.<\/p>\n In the Bible, the unseen world has structure. God is CEO. Those who work for him are his family. They share dominion. They participate in how the company runs.<\/p>\n Amazingly enough, the Bible talks the same way about humanity. From the very beginning in Eden, God created humanity to rule the earth with him. God told Adam and Eve, \u201cHave many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control\u201d (Gen. 1:28<\/a>gnt<\/a>). Adam and Eve were the children of God\u2014God\u2019s earthly family. God wanted to live with them and let them participate in making the whole world like Eden.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a familiar concept to most readers. What isn\u2019t so apparent is that Adam and Eve weren\u2019t the only members of God\u2019s family in Eden. His divine family was also there. Eden was where God lived\u2014and where God lives, so does his family. We think of heaven as a place where we\u2019ll live with God and his angels\u2014his divine family. That\u2019s the way it was originally intended to be, and the way it will<\/em> be. It\u2019s no coincidence that the Bible ends with heaven come back to earth in a new, global Eden (Rev. 21\u201322<\/a>).<\/p>\n To understand our destiny, we need to go back to the time when God\u2019s two families occupied the same space. We need to go back to the garden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n chapter three<\/p>\n Once and Future Kings<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had a brief introduction to God\u2019s heavenly council\u2014his unseen family and task force. There\u2019s a lot more to all that\u2014we need to look, especially, at how major <\/span>players like Jesus and Satan fit into the picture. But before we return to what goes on in the unseen world, we need to think in a fresh way about ourselves. God\u2019s rule in the unseen spiritual world through his council is a template for his rule on earth\u2014what theologians call the kingdom of God. All of that began in Genesis, in the garden of Eden.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/span>Eden\u2014God\u2019s Home Office<\/p>\n What\u2019s the first thing you think of when you hear \u201cgarden of Eden\u201d? Most people I\u2019ve talked to think of Adam and Eve. Eden was their home. That\u2019s where God put them (Gen. 2:15\u20132<\/span>5<\/a>).<\/p>\n But Eden was also God\u2019s home<\/em>. Ezekiel refers to Eden as \u201cthe garden of God\u201d (Ezek. 28:13<\/a>; 31:8\u20139<\/a>). No surprise, really. What might be surprising is that, right after calling Eden \u201cthe garden of Go<\/span>d,\u201d Ezekiel calls it \u201cthe holy mountain of God\u201d (v. 28:14<\/a>). In many ancient religions, luxurious gardens and inaccessible mountains were considered the home of the gods. The Bible uses both descriptio<\/span>ns for Eden. Eden was God\u2019s home and, therefore, where he conducted business. It was his headquarters, or home office.<\/p>\n And where God is, his council is with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n God\u2019s Imagers<\/p>\n One of the most important verses in the Bible tips us off that both God and<\/em> his council were in Eden. In Genesis 1:26<\/a> God says, \u201cLet us<\/em> make humankind in our<\/em> image\u201d (leb<\/a>, emphasis added). God announces his intention to a group. Who\u2019s he talking to? His heavenly host\u2014his council. He\u2019s not talking to the other members of the Trinity, because God can\u2019t know something they don\u2019t! And here the group he\u2019s addressing learns what God has decided to do.<\/p>\n The announcement is easy to understand. It would be like me saying to some friends, \u201cLet\u2019s get pizza!\u201d Let\u2019s do this!<\/em> Clear enough. But there\u2019s something else we don\u2019t want to miss. God actually doesn\u2019t include the group in bringing about his decision.<\/p>\n Unlike other divine council sessions we\u2019ve seen, the members of God\u2019s council don\u2019t participate in this decision. When humankind is created in the next verse (Gen. 1:27<\/a>), God is the only one creating. The creation of humanity is something God handled himself. Going back to my pizza analogy, if I followed my announcement by driving everyone to the pizza place and insisted on paying, I would be the one doing all the work. That\u2019s what we see going on here.<\/p>\n It makes sense that God would be the only one creating humans. The divine beings of his council don\u2019t have that kind of power. But that produces another oddity. In Genesis 1:27<\/a>, humans are created in God\u2019s<\/em> image (\u201cGod created humankind in his<\/em> image,\u201d leb<\/a>, emphasis added). What happened to \u201cour<\/em> image\u201d from verse 26<\/a>?<\/p>\n Actually, nothing. The exchange between \u201cour image\u201d and \u201chis image\u201d in Genesis 1:26\u201327<\/a> reveals something fascinating. God\u2019s statement\u2014\u201cLet us make humankind in our image\u201d\u2014means that he and the ones he\u2019s speaking to share something in common. Whatever that is, humans will also share it once God creates them. Not only are we like God in some way, but we are also like the divine beings of his council.<\/p>\n That \u201csomething\u201d is communicated by the phrase \u201cimage of God.\u201d A better translation of Genesis 1:26<\/a> would be that God created humans as<\/em> his image. To be human is to be<\/em> God\u2019s imager. We are God\u2019s representatives, so to speak.<\/p>\n The image of God isn\u2019t an ability given to us by God, like intelligence. We can lose abilities, but we cannot lose the status of being God\u2019s imager. That would require not being human! Every human, from conception to death, will always be human and always be God\u2019s imager. This is why human life is sacred.<\/p>\n How do we represent God? We saw in the previous chapter that God shares his authority with the divine beings of his unseen task force. He does the same thing with humans on earth. God is the high king of all things visible and invisible. He rules. He shares that rule with his family in the spiritual world and the human world. We\u2019re here to participate in God\u2019s plan to make the world all he wants it to be and enjoy it with him.<\/p>\n Eventually God showed us how we should do that. Jesus is the ultimate example of representing God. He\u2019s called the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15<\/a>) and the exact imprint of God (Heb. 1:3<\/a>). We are to imitate Jesus for that reason (Rom. 8:29<\/a>; 2 Cor. 3:18<\/a>).<\/p>\n Two Councils, One Destiny<\/p>\n There\u2019s a drift in all this I hope you\u2019re catching. Humans are basically God\u2019s administration\u2014his council\u2014on earth<\/em>. We were made to live in God\u2019s presence, with his heavenly family. We were made to enjoy him and serve him forever. Originally, that was meant to also happen on earth. Eden was where heaven and earth intersected. God and his council members occupied the same space as humanity.<\/p>\n But to what end?<\/p>\n God told Adam and Eve, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion \u2026 over every living thing that moves on the earth\u201d (Gen. 1:28<\/a>). This was the task for God\u2019s imagers. They would serve God as steward-kings over creation. Humanity\u2019s job was to overspread the earth and extend Eden to the entire planet\u2014to grow the kingdom of God. That job was too big for two people, so God wanted Adam and Eve to produce children.<\/p>\n As we know, Adam and Eve and their progeny failed. Humanity sinned. Had that not occurred, the earth would have been gradually transformed to a global Eden. We would have had everlasting life on a perfected planet, living with God and his spiritual family.<\/p>\n God loved humanity, so he forgave Adam and Eve. But the rest of humanity from that point on was destined to follow in Adam and Eve\u2019s footsteps. We all sin and deserve death without God\u2019s intervention (Rom. 6:23<\/a>). We are mortal and, therefore, sinners. We need salvation.<\/p>\n The idea of God wanting us to join his divine family, to be part of his council and live in his presence, helps us understand some amazing things the Bible says.<\/p>\n It explains why the Bible refers to believers as \u201csons of God\u201d or \u201cchildren of God\u201d (John 1:12<\/a>; 11:52<\/a>; Gal. 3:26<\/a>; 1 John 3:1\u20133<\/a>). It explains why believers are described as being \u201cadopted\u201d into God\u2019s family (Gal. 4:5\u20136<\/a>; Rom. <\/a>8:14\u20136<\/a>). It explains why we are said to be \u201cheirs\u201d of God and his kingdom (Gal. 4:7<\/a>; Titus 3:7<\/a>; James 2:5<\/a>) and \u201cpartakers of the divine nature\u201d (2 Pet. 1:4<\/a>; see also 1 John 3:2<\/a>). It explains why, after Jesus returns, he says he will grant believers \u201cto eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God\u201d (Rev. 2:7<\/a>). It explains why he\u2019s promised to share the rule of the nations with us (Rev. 2:26\u201328<\/a>), even his own throne (Rev. 3:21<\/a>). We move forward<\/em> through this life back<\/em> to Eden. Heaven will return to earth<\/em>.<\/p>\n That<\/em> is what we\u2019ll be doing in the afterlife\u2014ruling in the new global Eden. We\u2019ll be enjoying what Adam and Eve were originally intended to help produce. Everlasting life is not about playing harps and singing 24\/7. It\u2019s about discovering and relishing the unblemished creation in all its unimaginable fullness alongside God himself, the risen Jesus, and our fellow imagers, human and<\/em> supernatural.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Why This Matters<\/p>\n It may not seem like it, but a lot of life-changing ideas extend from all this. Living consciously as though our lives represent God and further his plans\u2014even if we don\u2019t yet see tha<\/span>t plan\u2014would change the way we approach each day.<\/p>\n God\u2019s original plan was to make the whole earth like Eden. God wanted humans to participate in expanding his good rule over all the earth, as it was i<\/span>n Eden. He told Adam and Eve to have children and become lords and stewards of creation (Gen. 1:26\u201328<\/a>). That command wasn\u2019t forgotten after the fall. In fact, it was repeated after the awful events of<\/span> the flood (Gen. 8:17<\/a>; 9:1<\/a>). Though Eden was lost, God intends that it be restored. Ultimately, his rule\u2014his kingdom\u2014will return in its full scope when Jesus comes back and God creates a new heaven an<\/span>d earth (one that, in Revelation 21<\/a> and 22<\/a>, looks a lot like Eden). In the meantime, we can spread the truth of God and the gospel of Jesus everywhere. We can also represent God to everyone we meet an<\/span>d in every place. We are God\u2019s agents to restore Eden in the here and now, looking forward to the day when Jesus brings that plan to a climax.<\/p>\n Consciously thinking of ourselves as God\u2019s agents\u2014his ima<\/span>gers\u2014means the decisions we make matter<\/em>. Christians, no longer lost in sin, can fulfill God\u2019s plan with the help of the Holy Spirit. We are here to spread the goodness of life with God and tell people<\/span> who need the gospel how they can enjoy that too. Our lives intersect with many people. Their memory of those encounters ripples through their lives and through all the people whose lives they touch. We are a glimpse either of life with God or of a life without God. There\u2019s no middle ground.<\/span><\/p>\n The knowledge that all humans are God\u2019s imagers should also prompt us to see human life for the sacred thin<\/span>g that it is. This extends beyond momentous ethical decisions that deal with life and death. What we\u2019ve learned has an impact on so much of how we see each other and relate to each other. Racism has no place in God\u2019s world. Injustice is incompatible with repr<\/span>esenting God. The abuse of power\u2014at home, at work, or in government\u200b\u2014\u200bis ungodly. It is not how God dealt with his children in Eden, so it has no place in how we deal with fellow imagers.<\/span><\/p>\n
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