Angels & Origin of Christmas
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The Origin of Christmas
The Origin of Christmas
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
The message to Pergamos is spoken of as “Satan’s Throne”
During the Chaldean Hierarchy of the Priest-King, Attalus III, he fled from the Persians to Pergamos and when he settled there, Satan shifted his capital from Babylon to Pergamos. At first he persecuted Christians with Antipas being one of the martyrs. But he changed up his tactic and began exalting the Church and through Constantine, united the Church and State. With this union it offered all kinds of wordiness to enter into the church and Constantine cared more about politics than he did religion
Because of this union, 2 false doctrines entered the church
Doctrine of Balaam
Found in Numbers 22-25
To summarize, Balaam suggested to King Balak that he invited the Israelites to the licentious/promiscuous feasts of “Baal-Peor” causing Israel to fall into a snare of idolatry. Because of their sin, it kindled God’s anger towards them and He sent a plague that destroyed 42,000 of them
Doctrine of Nicolaitanes
A sect in the church trying to establish a “Priestly Order” they were trying to model the OT order of priests, Levites, and common people.
“Niko” to conquer,, to overthrow
“Laos” the people
The object was to establish a “Holy Order of Men” and place them over the common people and instead of calling them pastors, they referred to themselves as clergy, bishops, archbishops, cardinal, and popes.
The word “Pergamos” means “Marriage” and when the Church entered into a union with the State it was guilty of “Spiritual Fornication” or “Balaamism”
During this time, a sensuous form of worship was introduced, the preaching changed, and the great “Pagan Festivals” were adopted.
The Winter Solstice, the shortest day in the year, falls on Dec. 21st and it’s not until the 25th that the day begins to lengthen. This day (the 25th) was regarded in the pagan world as the “birthday of the Sun-god (Mithra)” and was a high festival celebrated at Rome.
Because of this, it was found advisable to change the birthday of the Son of God, from April, to December 25th, because as He was the “Sun of Righteousness,” what more appropriate birthday could He have than the birthday of the pagan “sun-god”?
This church period was during the time of Constantine in A.D. 312 to A.D. 606, when Boniface III was crowned “Universal Bishop”
The Book of Revelation. Clarence Larkin p. 22-23
Also in December, in which the darkest day of the year falls, the pagan cultures lit bonfires and candles to keep the darkness at bay. The Romans also incorporated this tradition into their own celebrations.
As part of the solstice celebrations, the pagan cultures decorated their homes with greens in anticipation of the spring to come. Evergreen trees remained green during the coldest and darkest days, so they were thought to hold special powers. The Romans also decorated their temples with fir trees during Saturnalia and decorated them with bits of metal. There are even records of the Greeks decorating trees in honor of their gods. Interestingly, the first trees brought into the pagan homes were hung from the ceiling, upside down.
The tree tradition we are accustomed to today hails from Northern Europe, where Germanic pagan tribes decorated evergreen trees in worship of the god Woden with candles and dried fruit. The tradition was incorporated into the Christian faith in Germany during the 1500’s. They decorated trees in their homes with sweets, lights, and toys.
Christmas in early America was a mixed bag. Many with Puritan beliefs banned Christmas because of its pagan origins and the raucous nature of the celebrations. Other immigrants arriving from Europe continued with the customs of their homelands. The Dutch brought Sinter Klaas with them to New York in the 1600’s. The Germans brought their tree traditions in the 1700’s. Each celebrated their own way within their own communities.
It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that the American Christmas began to take shape. Washington Irving wrote a series of stories of a wealthy English landowner who invites his workers to have dinner with him. Irving liked the idea of people of all backgrounds and social status coming together for a festive holiday. So, he told a tale that reminisced about old Christmas traditions that had been lost but were restored by this wealthy landowner. Through Irving’s story, the idea began to take hold in the hearts of the American public. In 1822, Clement Clark Moore wrote An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas for his daughters. It’s now famously known as The Night Before Christmas. In it, the modern idea of Santa Claus as a jolly man flying through the sky on a sleigh took hold. Later, in 1881, the artist Thomas Nast was hired to draw a depiction of Santa for a Coke-a-Cola advertisement. He created a rotund Santa with a wife named Mrs. Claus, surrounded by worker elves. After this, the image of Santa as a cheerful, fat, white-bearded man in a red suit became embedded in American culture.
https://voiceandvisioninc.org/blog/entry/a-brief-history-of-christmas/#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20Christmas%20stem,of%20Mithra%2C%20their%20sun%20god.
Angels
Angels
A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Reference: The Unseen Realm. Michael Heiser
God [elohim] stands in the divine council; in the midst of the gods [elohim] he holds judgment:
In verse 1, the word elohim clearly is seen twice in the first verse. The first use of the word is singular, this is Yahweh speaking. The second time you see it, it’s translated as plural. Clearly it stating here that The God of the OT was part of an assembly - a pantheon - of other gods.
There’s 2 theories that could be presented here: It’s referring to the Trinity or a diving Jewish counsel
Neither of these theories can be correct because because if you keep reading the chapter, it goes on to say how the gods were being condemned because they were corrupt. The Bible nowhere teaches that God appointed a council of Jewish elders to rule over the other nations and I can’t see how God would rebuke the rest of the Trinity for being corrupt
So how is this possible?
Well let’s ask another question. What was there before God made the world?
Obviously God was there, but He also had company. This can be found in
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The “sons of God” were there when God was laying the foundations of the earth. This word in Hebrew is beney elohim this is used to identify divine beings with higher-level responsibilities of jurisdiction. The term angel is mal’ak in Hebrew and describes an important but still lesser task like delivering messages.
In the Hebrew Bible, the sons of God were not called angels. Later, the Septuagint, the Greek translation, rendered beney elohim as angeloi (angels)
The word elohim simply establishes a place of residency aka refers to heavenly beings to simplify. But our God is the only Yahweh elohim
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Plural Elohim Does Not Mean Polytheism
Since elohim is so often translated God, we look at the Hebrew word the same way we look at capitalized G-o-d. When we see the word God, we instinctively think of a divine being with a unique set of attributes—omnipresence, omnipotence, sovereignty, and so on. But this is not how a biblical writer thought about the term. Biblical authors did not assign a specific set of attributes to the word elohim. That is evident when we observe how they used the word.
The biblical writers refer to a half-dozen different entities with the word elohim. By any religious accounting, the attributes of those entities are not equal.
• Yahweh, the God of Israel (thousands of times—e.g., Gen 2:4–5; Deut 4:35)
• The members of Yahweh’s council (Psa 82:1, 6)
• Gods and goddesses of other nations (Judg 11:24; 1 Kgs 11:33)
• Demons (Hebrew: shedim—Deut 32:17)
• The deceased Samuel (1 Sam 28:13)
• Angels or the Angel of Yahweh (Gen 35:7)
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Plural Elohim Does Not Mean Polytheism
Biblical writers also assign unique qualities to Yahweh. Yahweh is all-powerful (Jer 32:17, 27; Pss 72:18; 115:3), the sovereign king over the other elohim (Psa 95:3; Dan 4:35; 1 Kgs 22:19), the creator of the other members of his host-council (Psa 148:1–5; Neh 9:6; cf. Job 38:7; Deut 4:19–20; 17:3; 29:25–26; 32:17; Jas 1:17) and the lone elohim who deserves worship from the other elohim (Psa 29:1). In fact, Nehemiah 9:6 explicitly declares that Yahweh is unique—there is only one Yahweh (“You alone are Yahweh”).
The Role of Angels
The Role of Angels
Angels are there to guard and prepare the way for you
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
Acts 12:7-11, Acts 8:26
Angels are there to sometimes send us messages
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Matt 28:5-7, Mark 16:5-7, Acts 1:10-11, Zech 1:12-21.
Angels are there to minister to us
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
Angels should never be worshipped
In fact in every instance in the Bible where someone worshipped an angel, the angel rebuked them
Rev 19:9-10 “And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Rev 22:8-9 “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.””
Matt 4:9-10 “And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ””
Angels will only do the will of the Lord
Angels are sent out to fulfill the judgement of the Lord
The instance of Sodom and Gomorrah
Gen 19:1 “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth” Gen 19:10-13 “But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.””
Angels Named in the Bible
Angels Named in the Bible
There are only 3 angels named in the Bible
Michael
Michael is the only angel referred to as an archangel in the Bible. The word means “chief angel” Jude 9 “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.””
This verse also notes that Michael is in direct opposition against Satan. No other information is given on what the argument was about
he’s described as “one of the chief princes” Dan 10:13 “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,”
Michael’s role is to stand guard over Israel Dan 12:1 ““At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” Dan 10:21 “But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.”
Gabriel
Gabriel means “God is my strength”
He first appears in Daniel. Dan 8:16 “And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”” He’s found again in chapter 9, pointing ahead to the “Anointed One” Dan 9:21-22 “while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.”
Gabriel then doesn’t appear again until the gospels in Luke announcing both the birth of John and Jesus
Luke 1:11 “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.” Luke 1:19 “And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”
Lucifer
Lucifer means “morning star”
You can find a description of Lucifer in Ezekiel 28:11-19
Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”
He was then known as Satan/Devil
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
He was first introduced in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 when he deceived Eve
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
He is later seen in revelation and now referred to as the ancient serpent
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Classes of “Angels”/Heavenly Beings
Classes of “Angels”/Heavenly Beings
Cherubim
A description of them can be found in both Ezekiel and Revelation
As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
The Bible also gives us this sneak peak of the throne of heaven with the Ark of the Covenant
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
The role of the cherubim was to guard and watch over the throne. They were the closest heavenly beings to the throne.
Lucifer was a cherubim
You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
Seraphim
A description of them is found in Isaiah
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
The description in revelation is also 6 wings so those could possibly be the seraphim as well, but the faces match the description in Ezekiel
Angels (messengers)
One of the first stories is found in Genesis with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
These angels most like just appeared like men
The Bible tells us that we may unknowingly entertain angels
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Angel of the Lord
Angel of the Lord
Usually whenever you see the words “the Angel of the LORD” in your Bible, this is a theophany or a preincarnate Jesus in the OT
Let’s first look at the story of Jacob
The first encounter is popularly known as Jacob’s ladder
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The second encounter happen after Jacob runs from Laban
Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’ ”
The next encounter is famous because Jacob wrestles with God
The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
Hosea actually confirms this encounter that it is really God
In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—
Another famous encounter is with Moses and the burning bush
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Other instances can be found in Judges 2:1-2, Zechariah 3:1-2, Genesis 16:7-8, Judges 6:11-12 (Gideon), Numbers 22:22-41 (Balaam and his donkey)
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible The Joy of Abraham
We first encounter God’s covenant promises to Abraham in Genesis 12. But that chapter isn’t the beginning of God’s dealing with Abraham. In Genesis 12, Abraham is not in Mesopotamia; he’s in a place north of Canaan called Haran (Gen 12:4). To understand the real beginning of God’s contact with Abraham, let’s back up.
After the Babel episode, the remainder of Genesis 11 is devoted to a genealogy—the genealogy of Abram (Abraham) back to Noah’s son Shem. Genealogies often contain something important or interesting, and this one is no exception. Compare the last two verses of Abraham’s genealogical roots (Gen 11:31–32) with Acts 7:2–4, and you’ll discover that Yahweh first contacted Abraham before he got to Haran—and it was more than a conversation in his head. In Acts 7:2–4, Stephen says:
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, “Go out from your land and from your relatives and come to the land that I will show you.” 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he caused him to move to this land in which you now live.
The important element to catch here is in the first line: Yahweh appeared to Abraham. Abraham’s first divine encounter in Mesopotamia involved a visible appearance of Yahweh. Genesis 12 is a follow-up. Abraham and Yahweh had talked before—face to face.
That’s also what happened in Genesis 12. We’re most familiar with the first three verses:
1 And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. 3 And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you” (Gen 12:1–3).
But verses 6–7 deserve closer attention:
6 And Abram traveled through the land up to the place of Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7 And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him (vv. 6–7).
Twice in these two verses we read that Yahweh appeared to Abraham. A close reading of Genesis chapters 12 through 50 tells us that visible manifestation is the normal choice of Yahweh with respect to Abraham and his descendants, the patriarchs.
This brings us to Genesis 15:1–6, where the covenant of Genesis 12:1–3 is repeated and ratified by a covenantal ceremony. The description of the person speaking to Abraham here is even more startling. Note the emphasis in bold:
1 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.” 2 Then Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus.” 3 And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, a member of my household is my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not be your heir, but your own son will be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:1–6).
This is a fascinating text. Notice right from the start that it is the “Word of Yahweh” who comes to Abraham in a vision. As before, the encounter was a visible manifestation of Yahweh. The Word here is something that can be seen—why else call it a vision? In verse 4 we read that the Word “brought him [Abraham] outside” to continue the conversation. This isn’t the kind of language one would expect if Abraham was hearing only a sound.
These appearances of the Word of Yahweh are the conceptual backdrop to the apostle John’s language in his gospel that Jesus was the Word. The most familiar instance is John 1:1 (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”) and John 1:14 (“And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth”). But John says some equally dramatic things in connection with this idea that are less familiar.
In John 8:56, Jesus, the incarnate Word, informs his Jewish antagonists that he appeared to Abraham prior to his incarnation: “Abraham your father rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” The Jews object vehemently to this claim, whereupon Jesus utters his famous statement, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Only Genesis 12 and 15 provide the coherent backdrop to this claim.
I hope you grasp the significance of the interchange. Since the Word is clearly equated with and identified as Yahweh in Genesis 12 and 15, when the New Testament has Jesus saying “that was me,” he is claiming to be the Word of the Old Testament, who was the visible Yahweh.
Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels
We are first introduced to fallen angels in Genesis 6.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
More about this is mentioned in the book of Enoch
Disclaimer: While the book of Enoch is not canon, it can still be used as a historical reference because it is quoted in the book of Jude in the NT. So the Israelites were fully aware of everything in the book
Who is Enoch?
A descendant of Seth
When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
1 Enoch 1:9 “9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
A glimpse of it is also seen in 2 Peter
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,
Who are the “angels in chains kept until judgment”
They reappear in Revelation as the 4 angels that will be released for the judgment of mankind
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
These are some of the same angels that appeared in Gen 6.
These fallen angels produced hybrid beings called the Nephilim or “The fallen ones”