Day 1592 – Ruling Over Angels – Worldview Wednesday

Published: Feb. 24, 2021, 7 a.m.

Welcome to Day 1592 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomRuling Over Angels – Worldview WednesdayWelcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! Wisdom is the final frontier in gaining true knowledge. Our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, seek out discernment and insights, and boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; this is Gramps; thanks for coming along on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Today is Day 1592 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. This week, we will continue reviewing the book from Dr. Michael S Heiser titled “Supernatural.” The book is an abbreviated version of his more comprehensive book, “The Unseen Realm.” I highly recommend both of these books. Creating a Biblical Worldview based on how the Old and New Testaments connect with God’s overall plan for humanity is essential. This book review will help us understand what the Bible teaches about the unseen world, and why it matters. Ruling Over Angels It’s crucial to our faith that we understand who we are as Christians. We are the sons and daughters of God, a re-fashioned divine council that already participates in our Father’s kingdom. But there’s more to it than that. Yes, we are God’s family council—but to what end? While we are already in the kingdom (Colossians 1:13), we have not yet seen the full unveiling of that kingdom—we have not seen the world become Eden. This “already, but not yet” paradox runs throughout the Bible in many ways. In this chapter, I want to give you a glimpse of the “not yet” that answers the question “To what end?” Kingdom Participation NowOur participation in God’s kingdom isn’t predetermined, in this sense: We are not mere robots performing functions programmed for us. That violates the whole idea of being God’s imager, his representative. We were created to be like him. He is free. If we do not have genuine freedom, we cannot be like him—by definition, we would not be like him. We are free to obey and worship, or rebel and indulge ourselves. We will reap what we sow. Our sowing is not programmed. But God is greater than we are. He had a plan, and it will come to pass. Its success neither depends on nor is forced to adapt to human freedom. We cannot undermine it—nor can the divine beings who are also free to choose. Think about the heavenly council meeting we reviewed in chapter 1 covering “Believing the Bible.” I asked whether you believed the things the Bible says, and then took you to a meeting of God and his heavenly council in 1 Kings 22. God had decreed (and so it must happen) that it was time for wicked Ahab to die. But God then let the spirit beings in his council decide how to accomplish that (1 Kings 22:19–23). Predestination and freedom work hand-in-hand in God’s kingdom rule. His purposes will never be overturned or halted. He is able to take sin and rebellion and still accomplish—through other free representatives—what he desires. As C. S. Lewis once said of God (in the book Perelandra), “Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed him.” To what end, here and now, are we God’s family council? To participate with God in liberating people from darkness. To show people how to live justly and with mercy—imitating God for those who need the illustration. To defend and spread truth about the true God in a hostile world under the dominion of envious divine intelligences. To enjoy life as God intended it. All these callings are training for the kingdom to come. As Paul asked the Corinthians, who had lost a divine perspective while bickering about the affairs of this world in...