Welcome to Day 1597 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomConclusion to Supernatural – 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 1597 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 conclude reviewing the book by 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.
Conclusion To Supernatural
We’ve come to the end of our journey. But it’s probably better to say that we’ve only just begun. We’ve considered some fundamental questions: Do other gods exist? If they do, does that make much difference in how we understand the Bible? What does it mean for our faith if we presume the unseen world described in the Bible is real—not just the familiar and accepted parts, but the unusual and often-ignored parts? Once I started catching the drift of the supernatural plotline of Scripture, I realized I needed to think differently about all sorts of things. But I can sum them up in two words: identity and purpose. I hope you have been challenged in both of those areas as we have reviewed this book. First, let’s review:
Our Identity—We Have a Home in the Family of God
What this book has discussed has significant implications for how we perceive what it means to be a Christian‌—to be “in Christ,” as the New Testament so often puts it. Once we realize the gods of the Old Testament are genuine, then the meaning of God’s command to have no other god before Yahweh, the God of Israel, comes into focus. The command isn’t about not giving attention to money or boats or cars. It’s about God’s jealous love for his people. In other words, the command actually means what it says. The insanity of loyalty to any god other than the God of all gods is hard to miss.
The awfulness of living with the consequences of how God judged the gods and their people (the “nations”) is also pretty obvious. We were once disinherited, enslaved to the corruption and exploitation of other gods. We were, as Paul says, alienated from God and outsiders to his covenant love (Ephesians 2:12). We were lost, enslaved to darkness, enemies of God in the service to unseen overlords (Ephesians 4:18; Colossians 1:21).
Having a grasp of that situation makes doctrinal concepts like adoption and inheritance more meaningful. It gives them context. God was unwilling to void the plan of living on earth with his family, enjoying the created world that came from his own hand. Yes, at Babel, he turned his back on humanity, but in the next moment, he called Abraham to raise up a new family—and to be the conduit through which those disinherited could find their way back to him (Acts 10:26–27).
Embracing the supernatural reality of the spiritual world of the Bible is essential for understanding the Bible. It explains why, as the Old Testament moves forward, the sin of idolatry will not just be like any other sin. It will be the sin. Israel was created to be loyal to God; when she turned to other gods instead, she was sent into exile, cast off like the other nations. This is a central reason why salvation in the Bible is always described in terms of...