Supernatural RSM Series – Part 2
Refton Student Ministry Series:
Supernatural Part 2: Spiritual Beings
What You Know May Not Be So!
Last week during RSM we talked about the reality of the spiritual realm. We were introduced to this topic through the english word “God” and the fact that this word can mean anything to anyone. If we’re talking about the “God” of the Bible, then we’re talking about Yahweh. He is but one of many spiritual beings [elohim], however, He is THE spiritual being. There is no question in the spiritual world that Yahweh is in charge; after all, He created everything and everyone, including all the other spiritual beings [gods]. And just so we’re clear, there really is no competition when one decides to go up against Yahweh. Despite the efforts of rebellious spiritual beings, Yahweh is infinitely superior to every other being. If you go up against Yahweh, you lose. It’s that simple.
So what and who are these other spiritual beings? Rather than beginning with a list, let’s take a look at one of the many examples of Yahweh and the spiritual beings that are loyal to Him (1 Kings 22):
One day the king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel. They were a divided kingdom, but they had a common enemy, the king of Aram. This was a land dispute. They had the rights to it, and yet they failed to obtain it. So the two kings got together to decide whether or not it was worth the effort to take back their land from the king of Aram. The king of Israel seems ready to go, locked and loaded, but the king of Judah wisely wants to seek Yahweh’s council on the matter.
The king of Israel agreed and he summoned 400 of his prophets and asked them, “Should we go to war against Aram, or should we just forget it?” The prophets were in agreement that they should march against Aram because their gods would give them the land. How do we know these were not prophets of Yahweh? Because of the very next verse where the king of Judah asks, “Isn’t there a prophet of Yahweh here anymore? Let’s ask him.” The king of Israel conceded that there was a prophet of Yahweh, but he didn’t like him because he didn’t have anything good to say about the king! This guys’ name was Micaiah.
Micaiah was urged to agree with the other 400 prophets, but he was no push-over. He said that he will only say what Yahweh tells him to say. When he arrived before the kings, they asked him if they should go to war. Micaiah said (I’m guessing in an arrogant tone) that they should go for it because Yahweh will give them the land. But the king of Israel saw through Micaiah’s slight chicanery and pressed him to tell the truth. So Micaiah complied by proclaiming disaster for the king. The king expected nothing less from Micaiah. But then Micaiah gives us something amazing – a glimpse of what goes on in the throne room of Yahweh:
19 Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand.
20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ So one was saying this and another was saying that.
21 “Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 “The Lord asked him, ‘How?’
“He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
“Then He said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’
23 “You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.”
Okay, so what do we know from verses 19-23? The Lord (Yahweh) was sitting on His throne. The act of sitting in the presence of others standing was a sign of power. It clearly asserts that Yahweh is in charge and the others around Him are His subordinates. Who was standing around Yahweh? The whole “heavenly host” (the NIV says “multitudes” – same idea). These are spiritual beings who are loyal to Yahweh. The term “host” is an old English remnant from the King James Version of the Bible. It’s a military term which means that these spiritual beings are part of Yahweh’s army.
But Yahweh’s army isn’t just all muscle. They help Him make decisions. Rather, Yahweh has it set up that He allows His created spiritual beings to take part in decision making. This is what Bible scholar nerds call: Yahweh’s Divine Council. Notice that these spiritual beings actually discussed options. “One was saying this and another was saying that.” In other words, these divine beings are not all-knowing. They have the capacity to be wrong (Job 4:17-18, 15:15). They are also not robots. They have free will to think on their own and come up with options. Does Yahweh need them to make decisions because He doesn’t know what to do? Nope. Yahweh doesn’t need anyone. Again, this is how He chooses to allow His created beings to participate in what He does. Sound familiar? It should, because Yahweh uses us to participate with Him as well!
Yahweh had already declared that He wanted a spiritual being to “entice Ahab.” This lone spiritual being agreed to do so and Yahweh asked him what his idea was for accomplishing this task. The spiritual being said that he would go and be a “lying spirit in the mouths of all his [Ahab’s] prophets.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa… somebody back up the truck! Did Yahweh just endorse lying?!
Not exactly. Let’s get this off the table first: The text in no way indicates that the evil spiritual being we call Satan is the one who came forward. Also, remember that the spiritual beings do not know everything, but Yahweh does. Yahweh allowed for this deceit to happen so that Micaiah would be given an audience with the kings. Micaiah’s vision was essentially Yahweh giving Ahab, the king of Israel, another chance to fall in line and worship Him alone. And yet Ahab still chose to listen and believe what the prophets of others gods said. Again, this event solidified the fact that Ahab and the king of Judah chose other gods rather than Yahweh. The kings went to war and Ahab died, just as Micaiah had said.
Here’s why I brought this story up:
Yahweh uses His divine council to accomplish His will
His divine council is made up of different types of spiritual beings. We might use the term “angels” to describe all of them, but my point is that there are in fact different types with different roles.
“Angels” are Yahweh’s messengers.
The term “angels” does not describe who the spiritual beings are, but rather, it describes their function. There’s a particular student [ahem… Jared… ahem] who likes to call me “Pastor.” Despite me telling him that he can call me Scott, he continues to address me as “Pastor.” Pastor is not my name. It also does not describe what type of living, thinking being I am. “Pastor” describes my job. It’s a function I took on with the purpose of helping to spread Yahweh’s kingdom. In the same way, “angel” is a job description, not a name or even type of a spiritual being.
Below is a table with the different job titles of spiritual beings. Notice that I did not include “demons” – we’ll get to that in a future lesson.
Spiritual Beings and their Jobs
Job Title
Job Description
Example
(with links)
angel
Messengers who are sent by Yahweh
Genesis 28:12
minister
They attend to Yahweh in service
(linked to priestly service)
watcher
The fallen sons of Yahweh in
Genesis 6:1-4
host or
mighty-ones
Designating a group of spiritual beings, usually
Yahweh’s heavenly army
Psalm 103:20, 148:2
mediator
One who can function as a witness
for humans to the divine council,
as well as explaining what Yahweh does
cherubim and
seraphim
Yahweh’s guardians.
Don’t mess with these guys.
Recommended Resource:
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Next Week: The 3-Part Rebellion
We weren’t the only ones to rebell against Yahweh…