The Spiritual Realm - Part 8
Notes
Transcript
Handout
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
We are part of a cosmic work that Jesus is doing from Heaven to Sheol. Yet it is so easy to forget and get wrapped up in our own little microcosm of reality, which often feels like it will never improve or change. We want victory now. Jesus, come now. Please fix it now.
“Now” is our time, our way. I pray that in studying the spiritual realm, we quickly realize that God’s redemptive work is so much greater than us. It's so much more than our “now”.
May we not forget that we are his ambassadors, bringing his message of reconciliation and his manifested presence into the world, trusting that our labor is not in vain, for we have victory in Jesus.
Last week, I referenced several Second Temple writings in my sermon. This disturbed some of you, since those writings are not part of Scripture, and we come from an Only Scripture tradition given to us by Martin Luther. I understand that perspective. After all, we are a Bible Church.
The reason I cited those writings is that the NT authors assume you know those sources. Why? Because they are the historical and cultural context for the NT, which was common knowledge to them.
In the rules for studying the Bible in context, we call this context “The World Behind the Text.”
Let me illustrate with a modern example. Who is the GOAT?
Those of you who know sports understand what I am asking, but if you don’t know sports, you’re scratching your head and trying to figure it out within the immediate context. Just so you don't stay ignorant, GOAT is an acronym for “Greatest of All Time”. So, in the context of my job, who is the GOAT?
Church context is king. When we think about context, we want to think about three worlds.
First is “The World Behind the Text” - What does the author assume I know?
Second is “The World Within the Text” - What does the passage say?
Third is ‘The World in Front of the Text” - What do the early church fathers say, or the creeds of the church, or systematic theology, or what does my pastor say?
It is through these contexts that we determine the meaning of Scripture.
Let’s review what we have covered so far.
The current realms are the third heaven, the earth, Sheol, Tartarus, and Hell.
The five terms of nature are: spirit (ruah) (pneuma), god, gods (el) (elohim) (theos) (theoi), heavenly ones (samayim), stars (kokab) (aster), holy ones (qedosim) (hagios).
The third seven of the 26 terms of status for Yahweh are: God, the God of Israel (El-Elohe-Israel), Holy Spirit (Qados Ruah), Spirit of God (Ruah Elohim; Pneuma Theos), Spirit of Christ (Pneuma Christos), I am the First and the Last (Ani Rison Ani Aharon; Ego ho Protos kai ho Eschatos), Cloud Rider (Hamehallek Abim), Word of the LORD (Debar Yahweh), Angel of the LORD (Malak Yahweh)
The seven terms that describe the status of Spiritual Beings who are mostly aligned with Yaweh are: Archangel (archangelos), Assembly (Edah), Congregation (Qahal), Council (Sod), and Court (Din), Sons of God (Bene Elohim), and Prince (Sar).
The nine terms that describe the status of Spiritual Beings who are not aligned with Yahweh. They are: Satan or the Devil, Belial, Nephilim, Rephaim (giants, shades, departed spirits, or the dead), Death (Mot, Thanatos), Azazel, Demons (shedim, daimon), evil spirits, and unclean spirits.
Today, we are going to cover two terms of status: demons (shedim, daimon) and Death(Mot, Thanatos).
Demon (shedim, daimon) is the seventh term of status in the list. Looking at the World of the Text, it is used twice in the OT as the Hebrew word “shedim” and translated in the LXX as “daimon.” It is used 63 times in the NT. In Classical Greek, it is morally ambiguous. However, the Bible and Jewish and Christian writings always use it to mean an evil spiritual being. Please turn to Deuteronomy 32:17-18, and then we will look at 1 Corinthians 10:18-22.
They sacrificed to demons that were not God,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
To discover the World Behind the Text, we ask, “Who are these demons that Israel sacrificed to?”
They sacrificed to the demons Baal and Asherah (Judges 3:7).
They sacrificed to the demons Chemosh and Molech (1 Kings 11:7).
Paul refers to this practice continuing in 1 Corinthians 10:18-22
Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
The World Behind the Text is that in Corinth, they sacrificed to a pantheon of demons, which included Apollo, Asclepius, Dionysus, Neptune, Pan, Artemis, Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Isis, Osiris, Hermes, Demeter, the Fates, Necessity, Hera, and the Elusinian mysteries. (Williams, Drake. “Corinthians, First Letter to the.” Edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016. )
We are part of a cosmic world that God is working to redeem. He is using us as his ambassadors to plead reconciliation to God through Jesus.
We address the World in Front of the Text by asking, “Is the worship of demons still happening today?”
With our scientific naturalistic lens, we hesitate to immediately answer that in the affirmative, yet the answer is yes. 1 Timothy 4:1 makes it abundantly clear.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons ...
Modern-day examples of demon worship would include Hinduism (1.2 billion), Buddhism (324-535 million), Islam (2 billion), Mormons (17.5 million), and Jehovah's Witnesses (9.2 million).
I could keep going, but you get the idea. We must be careful not to validate these religions or to compromise truth to gain acceptance by these religions.
A common compromise that happens with Islam, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses is that it is often thought that we worship the same God, but we just view him differently. May we not endorse this fallacy, for they are following the teaching of demons.
Church, may we be his ambassadors, pleading reconciliation to God through Christ's victory over all demonic foes.
“Death” (Mawet/Mot, Thanatos) is the fifth term of status. When we look at the World of the Text, we observe that it is used 152 times in the OT. 17 of those times, it is personified as a demonic being. It is used 120 times in the NT. 10 of those times, it is personified as a demonic being. Turn to Hosea 13:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 for our examples.
I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
I shall redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we look at the World Behind the Text, we gain insight into who Death (Mot, Thanatos) is in the OT and NT. In the OT culture, Mot is the consumer of gods and men, with his insatiable appetite swallowing all it encounters. Being consumed by the mouth of Mot is to descend into Sheol, the underworld. (Healey, J. F. “Mot.” Edited by Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999.)
Yahweh, as we know, is the counter to his consumption, for it is written in Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
In the Greek culture of the NT, Thanatos is the demon who snatches people away from life. He is the adversary of Apollo. He is depicted as a jealous, hard, bitter, and merciless demon, holding the power of death over humanity. Jesus, as we know, holds the keys of Death and Hades, for he said in Revelation 1:17-18
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
We have victory in Jesus' death and resurrection.
May we not forget that we are his ambassadors, bringing his message of reconciliation and his manifested presence into the world, trusting that our labor is not in vain, for we have victory in Jesus.
“O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever! He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood” (E.M. Bartlett)
