Lavender & Lace

I figured, what’s the harm in writing a follow up to my last post?

I’m a big fan of the late Michael Heiser who was a theologian best known for his controversial teaching about the supernatural. Many have criticized him, specifically, over his interpretations of Psalm 91 where he argues the reveal of “powers and principalities.”

^{Deuteronomy 23:8} “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
    according to the number of the sons if God.”

This is the exact translation we get from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of our modern Bibles do not follow the translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls (hence the controversy) and will instead say, Sons of Israel…but that is a discussion for another time.

But for context, this scripture is in relation to what happened at the Tower of Babel. There was a flood, because of both human rebellion and supernatural rebellion, it is a cosmic reset button. So humanity that follows the family of Noah, get together and decide to build a tower (or a ziggurat) why? As a temple complex. Why did ancient people build temple complex’s? To do rituals and bring the deity to them. Essentially the exact opposite of what God had told the people to do.

So he confuses their languages and divides them as the text says, according to the number of the Sons of God. He basically divorces humanity. He disinherits them. With the idea that the supernatural is meant to be place holders, to keep them on the right track. He assigns them other gods… and in the mean time, seeks a man named Abraham to have a direct relationship with again. Essentially to start over. Not because he doesn’t care about all the people, because when God makes a covenant with Abraham he says; “all nations will be blessed through you”. (Genesis 12:3)

Israel is Yahwehs portion.

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
    for all the nations are your inheritance.

Psalm 82:8

This event frames the entirety of the rest of the Old Testament. Because from this point on it is Israel is against “the nations” and Yahweh is against other gods.

So why are we taking about this?

Aside from there being no better topic to talk about during Christmas, it’s important to recognize that Jesus coming into the earth and hailed “King of the Jews” wasn’t just threatening to the earthly rulers of that day, but to the unseen forces who according to scriptures like Psalm 91, “rule” our world.

It is not a big leap, if we as believers, believe in a disembodied being called “God” to also believe in other disembodied beings. 

The reason I believe in disembodied beings called angels and demons is because Jesus did. And one of the most significant ways that he looked at the world is by it being under the influence of someone he calls The Adversary. Three times in the Book of John, he calls him the “archon of the world”; the supreme ruler (of a kingdom) that exists on a certain real estate. Jesus is rebuking storms, healing diseases, raising people from the dead, casting out demons…he never once attributes these things to the sins of people. The image that you get is that Jesus is compassionate and sees the work of his adversary at work in the world and is doing everything he can to reverse the effects of evil and suffering. 

Satan is called the “god of this age”. He’s called the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”. The picture that is painted of him is of a lion roaming around the earth, looking for someone to devour. He’s only job description is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10)

Evil is real. It really does exist. And as Christians we don’t do service to anyone pretending that it doesn’t. Because sometimes what happens to you is a result of what you’ve brought upon yourself, but sometimes it’s just evil.

And if you read the Old Testament, as someone like Michael Heiser, you realize there was a transaction that took place during the building of the Tower of Babel where God gave people over to other supernatural beings, other gods. Now this seems ludacris at first, but remember Gods redemptive plan for humanity has already been established before anything else takes place. It’s just not something that was known by other beings.

Why do I say this?

Look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4) and how the adversary uses Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus. You realize, he knows exactly who Jesus is, he has some idea about what going on…but he’s clearly fishing for information.

Jesus appears on the scene and no one, even the demons who recognize him, have no idea what his plan is.

So as you can imagine. The Christmas story takes on an entirely different meaning when you realize that this “Oh Holy Night” was really an invasion into enemy territory. God coming down and being born as a human was the equivalent of him storming Normandy Beach.

This utterly shocked and terrified all ruling elite. And for good reason!

Jesus going to the cross is the outworking of the unconditional promise of Genesis 12. This was the unmistakable promise. This is how good wins. This is how the story ends. The world will be blessed through Israel; here comes Jesus of Nazareth. God became a man who died for you and took back the authority of the rulers and principalities on earth. They no longer have any control or any real power through the redemptive work of Jesus who overcame death by rising from the dead.

And so of course it comes as no shock that Jesus’ life is immediately threatened and his parents must take him and flee to an entirely different country.

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. ⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan,who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Revelation 12:1-9

It’s important to remember that the Bible tells one, complete, story. It is made up of many books, characters, literary themes, etc. But from beginning to end, it tells a redemption story. The Christmas story doesn’t start in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John…it starts in Genesis. When humanity fell, God made a promise. A rescued mission for a people who could not rescue themselves.

All throughout this Bible, people fail. But God remains faithful. With a constant foreshadowing of a hope that was to come. And I talked about this in my last post, but the Messiah was someone people were expecting. They meditated on it, prayed for it, sacrificed for it…but no one knew exactly how the story would end.

Satan tried to find a way to kill him, without realizing that he would die. People rejected him, hated him, and murdered him, without realizing that he came to die.

Messiahs weren’t supposed to die. They were supposed to rule, take up swords and fight, sit at the highest seat of honor.

The Christmas story is beautiful but it’s also hugely revolutionary for anyone who reads it without a Hallmark lens. And don’t get me wrong, I love the Hallmark sentimentalities of Christmas…but it just isn’t a reflection of the real story. And I find the real story so much more compelling.

Jesus was Gods handcrafted answer to the problem of evil.

He accomplished what we could never have accomplished on our own.

And He is still doing it in individual lives, every. single. day.

Satan will not have the last word. Death will not have the last word. Pain, suffering, abuse, neglect…none of those things will have the last word.

The reason we celebrate this season is to be reminded that there really is one King, one kingdom, one way, and one redemptive story. That trumps every other.

Merry Christmas my friends, I will talk to you later.