Psalm 82 we'll go to first. It's kind of where we ended Psalm 82 It's a It's kind of We're kind of jumping in the middle of story at Psalm 82, but it but it says it most plainly, the points that we want to kind of bring out that we're going to build from. And I plan on taking this slowly in that I want to build a good case, biblical case, not drawing on extra biblical references, but taking what the Bible says and just looking at what's there. Because a lot of it's just been that we've been trained to read past it. Some of it's obscure because it's in the King's English, especially if you have the King James Bible. Some of it, even reading the definition, it's kind of like, it can't mean what it says it means. It must mean this, even in the lexicon as you read the definition. So it's kind of been like, we don't understand this. And so it's kind of been hidden. And so looking at that afresh. And some of it makes sense to me because Daniel even says, in the last days, some of these things will be open to you. That's been kind of hidden a little bit. Keep me in check as we go through and as we try to look at this together. But Psalm 82 verse 1, like I said, is the clearest passage that we're going to use as a launch text. And then we'll come back to what this verse is addressing, because we're in the middle of the story at this point. But Psalm 82 verse 1 says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods. King James Version doesn't strike you quite as shocking, except for that last part, that he judges among the gods. I was always told there were no other gods that there was nothing it was just rocks. It was images It was carved wood. It was something there Paul I knew said that there was something behind that something that kind of the people thought Turns out there's more than that, but they knew you know they're not stupid, and I think that's part of it is maybe How we view things oh those dumb heathen you know they do silly things, but they're not silly and I They did see stuff and so we're gonna say who is this and what's going on? Judges among the gods, but I want to back up first. It says the congregation of the mighty in the King James Version Congregation means a a gathering a church right we call ourselves a congregation as we gather that means a group a Group of what a group of the mighty? The mighty there is the Hebrew word L means godlike ones. Oh God-like ones, what's this? Didn't know that was there. But it's an assembly of God-like beings, little g-gods. And so that's pretty shocking. And then it says these, that he judgeth among the gods. Again, little g-god, but he's among them, these judges, these gods. He rules over them. They're also called judges. They're also called rulers. They're also called divine ones. They're called angels. They're called little g gods. The ESV version, the English standard version. It's a pretty good translation. It's a newer translation. It speaks in plain English. If you read it, it takes a lot of the obscure things from the formal English and makes it to where you understand it a little better. It's a newer translation. It puts it this way. God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. And that's what's going on in this context. He is holding them accountable for something that they have done. Again, like I said, that's the middle of the story, so we're not going to go there yet. I just want to look at one. There is a group out there that he calls the divine council. That's shocking. That's the one that's shocking to me and the first time I heard it, I'm like, no. And so it took a lot of looking to it. So that's where I want to start with you tonight, looking into this, a divine council, a supernatural group of little g god-like beings. Again, like I said, we'll get what's going on here later, but we need to wrap our heads around the fact that this happens. That God has a council that he talks to. How does this work? What are they doing? Is this the only verse, Brian? No, we're going to look at others. So God has a group of beings, like I said, little g-gods, that he meets with as a group. Like I said, maybe This is just a weird verse because there is a rule that we should always apply, and that rule is never read a Bible verse. Read it in context. We want to read it. Like I said, I'm kind of cheating a little bit, saying we're not going to read the context of this. We're going to get to that later. It's put in the cart before the horse. But how about in the context of the Bible? Is this the only time we ever read this? You know, you're just some weird old pulling this out. That's what, Elaine, always harder on me than any of you. Oh, yeah, you do it on a Sunday night when I'm downstairs and I can't hold you in check. So you all are holding me in check because in case I go off on a tangent here, but this is some weird verse Okay, okay. Thank you, so we have to have in the context the context of the Bible as a whole I want to do that I don't want to be duped into thinking something that's strange I It's there. It's there in other places. But we just read past it. A lot of it's because we've been conditioned to. We've been told, oh it's nothing, read past that. God's the best, He's the best. And He is. God is not like anything else. God is not like anyone else. We could spend all night just going through verses where He says, I am the Lord, there's none like me. There is no other gods. I am a king of kings, lord of lords, god of gods. He makes those statements and I mentioned that last week. If he says he's a god of gods, that must mean there are other gods. He's not like I am a god of invisible creatures who do not exist. He doesn't say that. He relates himself to tangible, real things. Elsewhere in the Bible, here it's the Divine Council. Again, in the King James it's obscured. It's the Congregation of the Mighty. But in other places it's called the Assembly. Another time it's called the Council. One other time it's called the Court. And so it uses different formal terms of them getting together. Another one that's close by, we'll look at, it's just Psalm 89. Just turn over, for me it's just one page. Psalm 89. Again, we'll look at and break it down. But Psalm 89 verse 5 says, And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. So hopefully, just because we've taken the time of the last verse, you're starting to see, OK, congregation of the saints. OK, we're going to read forward. Verse 6. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. One, let's just look at the context that we can read from that, that there's a congregation around him, which makes sense, right? He's in heaven, we know he's not alone up there. I've pictured him, we know he has ten thousands of ten thousands and we always label them as angels, but we're going to look at that, that's just a generic term that we're using, probably wrong. It says there's this assembly here. Let's go back up to verse 5. The congregation of the saints is what the King James has. And so I would read that as, oh, those people who had believed in the Lord and died and gone together to be to heaven, to be with him, that's what he's talking about. He's in the congregation of the saints. It's assembly of the holy ones. Can they be in that? Yeah, they can. But it's saying here it's holy people who are gathered together, this assembly of holy ones. Verse six says, sons of the mighty. And that one, I already had underlined, because that's one of those key terms, the sons of Elohim, or the sons of God, sons of the mighty. ESV translates it among the heavenly beings, or sons of God. That one should sound familiar to us, because that's used in some clear passages in Job, say that the sons of God are called before God, and we'll look at that one later too. Verse seven says, the assembly of the saints. again council of the Holy Ones. So we just need to remember that some of us you know that when he is around surrounded by other beings these beings are he calls some of them his council. Some of them are the assembly that they get together and they are there and he rules over them but but they're in this group and there is a group that is out there that does exist that I didn't know that it was there that way, not in this context. I had my gut feeling, I know there's more, I know there's a hierarchy, but man, we must not be able to know that. It turns out we can know more than we thought we could, and that's what I'm wanting to point out. Part of this is we need to remember that I don't care what version we're reading, it's a translation. We're not reading it in original Hebrew. I don't know and understand original Hebrew. I understand some, you know, but just from years of being in it and going and looking at it, but I don't have that nuance of a language. I remember last week I gave you them, the morning has gold in its mouths. But I know that like the Dutch have one word, it's one super long word for a man standing in a newsstand reading a magazine. I have a whole sentence to say a man standing in a newsstand reading a magazine, the Dutch have one word for that. It's like that's just bizarre. Languages don't always fit right in. We have different sayings, different way of doing things. It was always kind of fun. Yeah, we had an exchange student from Netherlands that lived with us for a year And it was always kind of fun say what do you call this and what's that like and I remember the first time one of the most fun ones we had we're like Hey, well, we're going to a skating rink you want to go skating. He's like. No. Thank you right come on the dots You're known for skating y'all winner of the picture up another action eyes. What does well? I guess pretty cool We got to meet girls there. You know sometimes you have a couple skates, and you'll go around he's like girls skate, too Oh, yeah, I'm further boys. We're like yes I'm like, what does skating mean? He goes, that means passing gas. And I go, oh yeah, we have a big assembly, we all get together and we're all having a rootin' tootin' time. And so he was like, no thank you, I don't want to go there. I'm like, no, I'm skating. And so we lost something in translation there, so we had to make that up. So it was kind of fun when we had with him, you know, to ask him if he'd been skating. So some of these translations, it breaks down if you take it word for word how it is. I heard of one translator that had trouble, they were in an African tribe and they were trying to translate white as snow as meaning clean. To them if they became white they were dirty, they were getting ashes on them and they could see it. So they kind of had to think differently how they were saying being made clean. So there's a white bird there, they're like oh white like this bird. It's like, oh, OK, we can understand that. So it's different going from language to language. And that's some of the issues that we have, let alone it's a different culture. We're not raised and ingrained with everything that they were. And so some of that we lose as well, let alone we're influenced by things in our culture, things that we read, things that are going on that our culture stands for, and we interpret it differently. And we're going to look at that later in our lessons as we go. What else were they reading that influenced the way that they were reading things? And there is another book that is heavily involved with how the New Testament is put there. And when you read it in that context, you're like, oh, now I understand what they're saying. But that's a few weeks from now. But let's go look at Daniel 7. Daniel 7 is another one. Daniel 7 and verse 10. This is why I like this because it paints a very vivid picture of God's throne, but it gives us a little bit of time. I'm just going to pick the one verse in the middle and limit myself. So Daniel 7, verse 10. It says, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. So I can read that and I can say, okay, he's in the midst of a lot of people. Thousand thousands, that's a lot. He's in a larger group. I can get that. It sounds to me like he's getting ready to judge them. That's how, when I read it in the King James, how it's set. The judgment was set and the books were open. But other versions have it that he's... They stood before him, the court sat in judgment. Kind of like he is there presiding, but now he's going to watch the court procedures of these thousands or these others that are under him. That's how the ESV renders it. And so it puts it a little bit differently, like they are gathered together to hold court, and they are all part of this discussion, that there's a group there that he's going to use for this. And so a little bit of that is obscured in the King James version, but the ESV makes it a little clearer. So we are just used to thinking of the heavenly realms as just being God and the angels, two classes. I've even been challenged to think that we'd usually say, okay, and in the angel class you also have cherubims and seraphims and others. I think they're saying even now, the more I study it, that cherubims are different class than angels. They have a different role. If anything, they're a little more creaturely. As a matter of fact, when you read the description of them, they are kind of... You know, they're the ones with wings that we know about. They're the ones that have the multiple faces and they're kind of terrifying like a guard dog guarding God's throne. They're a little more creaturely. Angels are always described as people. Like you really can't tell the difference in them. They look like a man. They stood there and they looked like a man. I fell down, I was in the presence of one like a man that it always says. And we always called them angels. All these divine beings, we would call them angels. Angels is more of a job description. It means messenger. And we kind of knew that. But these are the ones we have interaction with. Why? Because they're the ones delivering the message. They're the ones that come down and talk to us. And that way, Gabriel, a messenger, hey, I have a message. Mary, you're going to have a baby. Talking to Daniel later, he comes with the message. And Gabriel, Michael, they all have these messages that they're delivering. But that's a job description. Michael's an archangel so apparently he has even more but at sometimes he's doing the job of a messenger And he's delivering a message, and so we are called messengers Malachi is called a messenger, and so we're delivering a message in that way It doesn't limit us as people, but we do have different roles when we are delivering a message So they do that Paul in Ephesians 6 you have to turn there because it's familiar to us It was a memory verse just this fall He breaks it down and he says that there are principalities, there are powers, that there are rulers of darkness in this present world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. We can get our head around that and the reason why I picked it in the fall is just to wrap our heads around there's dark sinister things going on and he doesn't mention a demon in one of these. He says that there are principalities, there are powers, rulers of darkness in this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. The thing we need to remember is that, okay, we read that and I can say there's a hierarchy, there's a job kind of description as it goes. Principalities must be above powers and rulers of darkness and so it's a hierarchy and it's orderly, which makes sense. God's a God of order, that he would have an order on how things were operated in heaven and that this group of individuals weren't always bad. They were good at one time because there was a time when the creation, when they all were good and everything was good and God said, it is good. And then they fell, right? And then Satan has pride entered in, and we'll look at all these things later, but they were all good, but then they fell. They started out as being good. And spirit beings, we need to remember, have free will just like you or I do. They can choose to obey or disobey. Kind of odd for us, but I think that some of this will help us clear up the verse that we'll read in the New Testament about things that the angels are desiring to look into. that we believe and we've not seen Him. There are some up there that have seen Him and know who He is and yet they've rejected Him. I think they are astonished by faith that we haven't seen and yet we believe. So they can obey and disobey. This group that Paul is talking about were not messengers. They were principalities. They were the ones who gave orders. They were powers. They were rulers of darkness who would tell others to go and do things. There was spiritual wickedness in high places that wouldn't make a decree that they might send a messenger. But they were not messengers. They were not these angels. This is a class above that. And really we can use this world as a way to picture it when we think of our government. We know we have president and we have congress and we have it all that step down. It's kind of the same deal. Only thing in the spirit realm, yeah, it's orderly. We would probably think Satan's over it and how it goes. We'll look into that more later. So it is a hierarchy, but they were. It's not necessarily something that we're seeing. It's going on. Yes, we have that world here, but it's something beyond that that's behind the scenes, that someone's pulling the strings, someone's calling the shots. Yeah, Tim. Great thing to kind of set the picture in your mind if you read books, read Frank Peretti. Yeah. He puts the imagery in a way that it seems real. And those are books that once you've read them, the next month you look at things differently. You're talking about this present darkness and piercing the darkness, right? Has he written any more along that line? It's called The Prophet. Okay, I think I've seen that one too. But yeah, if you've not looked at those, those are interesting. One of them, I mentioned it last night. I was watching a news account that they are teaching children in school to use spirit guides again. And the book two, The Piercing of Darkness, is about that. Them taking kindergartners, teaching them to zone out, call upon the spirit being to calm them and use them. It's being taught in public schools again, so we need to be on guard, watching out for that. They're using these Eastern techniques that put them in contact with these spiritual wickedness and high places to come down and giving them access so we need to be on guard but Yep, those are two good books that kind of let you realize there is Other going on around us whether we're aware of it or not it is there So these leaders they're all there they have subordinates, but they have power and None have the power like God. None are like Him. He'll say it time and time again, none are like me. They think they're going to try to overthrow Him, but it's not a fair fight. All of them together can't beat Him. He made them. He created them. But He's given them power. He's given them strength. Some of them have supernatural intelligence. You know, unless you think of an angel and they're made that way, they are smart. They've been around a long time. They've been observing more than we have. And they do have a lot of understanding. And we'll look at that later. Some of these things that they've decreed and how it came down and how that was a part of when we talked about the ancient world saw three things that corrupted mankind. The fall in the garden. The angel intrusion in Genesis 6 and the Tower of Babel and in those encounters some of that was the fallen angels teaching man technology that we weren't supposed to have or teaching it to us wrong and using it wrongly. And we'll look at those later. But they are his or they were his until they fell. And the Bible uses family terms to describe them, these creatures in the heavenly realm, and we should be used to that because that's how it works. I have sons and daughters, and we call them ours because we participated in their creation. And so God calls them his sons, you know, that he's made them, they're his children, they're his offspring. God is their father, but he's also their king. He is over them. And we need to, this is where I guess if you like any of the, what do they call that where you like, Anglophiles or you like how the English is set up where there's kings and queens and how that all plays out and all the Intrigue that goes along but it's a family business, you know Kings rule and so do their families and they begin to teach their kids. You're different. You don't think like this You know you you act like this and you're above and you've been you gave them Responsibilities that you know other kids would not know and understand you because they're going to rule and reign one day and it's been said that I guess Dominionism is a family business. You're having dominion. You're going to be over this. And so he is training them and teaching them, not like it's going to be a job offered, but opened up as in, you'll have my job, but he's given them positions of power. And so God is Lord of his creation. And his sons are the next highest rank by virtue of relationship with him because he's had them, you know, they are there then underneath him, you know, the sons of God that are under that. But some of these became disloyal. Now Jesus is God's Son, but in a different way. Jesus is part of the Trinity, the Tri-Unity. He is God. He is God, very God. He is not one of these created beings. He is not a created being. He is God. He is one who helps create all these things. And so Jesus is the Son. He is a physical representation of God the Father. And then there's also the Holy Spirit. So that is other. They're different. They're a different category. We're talking about the created beings here, so not Jesus. And so none can compare to Him. These are lesser, but they are his creation. So I hope that's clear that Jesus is not in that category. We're not saying, oh, one of these, because the one that comes close and perverts this thought is Mormonism. They want to say that Jesus Christ and Lucifer were on par, that they were They were all debating about, hey, how can we redeem mankind? And Jesus came up with this plan. Lucifer didn't like it, and they fought, and they're spirit brothers. No. Jesus is other. And so he is outside. He is God. And then there's these lesser beings. And so Mormonism is wrong on that account. And so he is God. But they are higher powers than we are used to thinking about. And I guess that's what I'm trying to do here, is just to get us to entertain the idea that there are these higher powers, and that they have to have a part, and they are sprinkled through scripture, and we've just overlooked them. Either pastors skip them, downplay it, or misinterpret it a little bit. It's usually just read past it and say, think of that on your own, and then go somewhere else. They have more power than us when we have our Holy Spirit. Probably not with the Holy Spirit within us now. He's given them some powers and abilities. I don't know what all. But within the Holy Spirit within us, I guess that's why he'd tell us, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. So yeah, we have victory in that. And when we are adopted as sons, we are on his family, on the good side, and the fallen are never going to win. So yeah, I guess we're stronger with that. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, it's one of the reasons why also, if you place it in the Scripture, we're told not to quench the Holy Spirit. Because He is our protector. Without Him, we're wasting our time. Yeah, we're open ourselves up and make ourselves vulnerable. I always heard it taught in the way that I always pictured in my mind is that we are under his umbrella of protection. As long as we stay under that umbrella of protection by being in his will, we're good. If you step outside of that, you're a target. So we want to make sure we're staying in concert with him. Now again, he'll use all these things for our good to bring us back, but we need to make sure that we're It kind of shows how special we are, since He died for a fallen man, which is His creation, and He didn't die for a fallen angel, which is also His creation. Yeah, it is, and I think we'll look into that more later. I think you probably know what I'm thinking about, too. Because they ask for redemption, and He tells them no. on multiple occasions. As a matter of fact, it will clear up a really weird text in Peter that we'll look at in future weeks. It's kind of like, oh, that's what he's doing there. Yeah, he died for us. What is man that he's thought of us? They talk about Jesus Christ made lower than the angels, made like a man. So there is a class system because just as sons of God are in the family, so is mankind. We're in the family, but we're just in a different realm. We were to Operate and be with him on earth until they fell and it's messed all this up and so all the plan is Keeps getting interrupted, but God will win out as well as we'll see To help clear this up a little bit I want to look at some examples of how the court or the divine assembly are working when they were all working correctly and Yes, there are Bible accounts of when this was working and so we're gonna look at one look at first Kings I'm gonna kind of give it a light version because we'll be in first Kings chapter 22 before too long on Wednesdays, but So first Kings 22, I think it's the last chapter of the book This is probably the clearest yeah Yeah Yeah, so we're Well, and even to take what Levi's saying and then ramp it up Paul says do you not know we will judge angels there will be a reversal Well, we are going to be holding them accountable because we were giving less information and if we've overcome through what Jesus Christ has done, that we are going to hold them accountable. He says, do you not know that you will judge angels? Yeah, that's a whole we'll take some time on thinking about that like what's going on with there We're judging angels for what and what's good what's happening and so that is a job that we will hold in eternity and Like I said, that's putting a little bit before the court, but we but he does we are well, I guess to say it clear is that Once we are adopted, we become sons of God. We are special creations. Just like an angel is a special creation, we become a special creation when we repent and trust in Him. He makes us new, gives us a heart transplant, takes out our heart of stone, gives us a heart that can love Him. He makes us a new creature. We become adopted, become sons of God. If not, they are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. We have to be adopted back into the family. That's what He wants. But we have to do that. It's not like a default. We're all sons of God. That's not true. You have to be adopted into the family by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Then once you do, that's when he says, don't you know you'll be kings and priests and you'll be judges and you'll have these positions of authority, how we're accountable now? They started out with positions of authority and lost them. We're trying to earn them or win them by how we react with people and him here and now. So it kind of makes it all, why does this matter? Because it does matter in eternity. This is going to affect how we're going to live in eternity. And he wants us to have our best life then, not our best life now. And so he wants us to live like it in light of eternity that we're going to be serving him. 1 Kings 22, probably the clearest account of the divine counsel and how it works. So first Kings 22 Verse 6 is where we start we have here the kingdom of Israel and the king of Judah And they're wanting to go up and they're wanting to fight Ramoth Gilead. They want to take this town or the city or This area they want it, but they want to make sure it's a worthy battle. Hey should we go up there? And so they're like tell you what let's ask our prophets and We'll ask our prophets, we'll ask them to look into the future and tell us, should we go up and do this? You know, as you would do, as they would do. And so they have these prophets, not God's prophets, but prophets that they had because these are corrupt kings. And they're like, let's ask them if we're gonna go up and win. Their magic eight ball, I guess. So verse six is them asking. It says, then the king of Israel gathered the people together, verse six of chapter 22, gathered the people together, about 400 men, And said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. So he asked 400 prophets, and they have a unanimous decision. Yes, you should go. He's going to deliver it into your hand. So you need to remember, that's what they asked these prophets, and that's what they tell, and they're all in agreement in it. Verse 7, and Jehoshaphat, he's normally jumping, this time he's sitting still. Come on, jumpin' Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? It's like, okay, we've asked these 400. Does God have a prophet here that we can ask him what he says? Verse 8, And the king of Israel, son of Jehoshaphat, who is Ahab, he said, Is there yet one man, or there is one guy, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord. He says, but I hate him. He doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. Let's ask him. So Ahab's like, whenever I ask him, he always says something bad, because he always tells the truth. He's a prophet of the Lord. He's like, I don't want to ask him. He gives me bad news. He tells me I'm not good. He tells me I need to repent and trust in the Lord. I don't like that guy. He's like, let's ask him. We've got 400. Let's get 401. So he tells them the same thing. Yeah, it's gonna be good. And they're like, tell us the truth. Don't tell us what we wanna hear. He's like, okay, I'll tell you the truth. And so that's where we get ahead at verse 19. So now he's gonna tell them straight instead of what they wanted to hear. Verse 19, he said, hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him at his right hand and on his left. Who do you think the host is on the right hand and on the left? That's the divine council that we're talking about, that they're on either side of him, just like the picture we saw in Daniel chapter seven, you know, they had thousands of thousands and who knows how many's on this council. But they are there. And look what God does. He has this council on either side, and so we're going back in time. We're seeing what has happened before we got to the events of 1 Kings 22 verse 6 there. We're going back in time, what has happened before that, before these 400 prophets spoke. And so we have God sitting on his throne. We have the host of heaven, these heavenly beings, the divine council standing by him on the right hand and on the left. Verse 20, and the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up to fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said on this manner and another said on that manner. So God says Ahab's going to die. I've determined that. So I'm telling you this is true. God says, Ahab's going to die. He also said, I also have determined where he's going to die. He's going to die at Ramoth Gilead. And so God has decided that. He does not ask their opinion. He does not ask for anything they want. What he does though, he says, I want you as a council to decide how we get him there. How are we going to get him to the place where I've decreed that he's going to die? And they hash it out. They round table it. They discuss it. They begin to talk about these different ideas on how they can get Ahab there. One's like, let's send him an invitation. Maybe he'll show up. And they're like, no, that's stupid. That's lame. Go back and sit down. And the other one's like, well, maybe we can have the birds fly on an arrow. And they're like, you always say that. No, we're not doing that. And the other one's like, well, maybe we'll just capture him. We'll drag him out there. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. And so it goes on for a while. And finally, verse 21 says, and there came forth a spirit. And he stood before the Lord, and he said, I will persuade him. So they're all pitching their ideas. Think of the shark tank. They're all giving their pitch. And so now this one's come forward. He goes, I think I'll just persuade him. God's like, hmm, interesting. Tell me more, verse 22. And when the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets. And he said, thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also, go forth and do so. So God says, oh, that's a good idea. You go, make all of his prophets lie to him. We saw that in verse six, right, 400 of them. You go, you will win, it'll be great. And so great, we're gonna march up to Randolph-Gilliat, and God said, great, you're gonna die here. But he uses the divine counsel to decide how this is gonna happen. He uses their free will. Apparently he rejected some ideas. I don't know if they were as lame as the ones I used, but apparently they pitched other ideas. He finally gets this one, he says, oh, I like that one. Why don't you do it verse 23 now therefore behold the Lord hath put this is the the prophet Micaiah speaking again The Lord had put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets and the Lord has spoken evil concerning thee like you're gonna die, you know and so and he does but um So there we get a little glimpse of it that God would use a council to decide this God's like I've determined He is going to die and I've determined where he's going to die Well, how should we get him there? So he uses the council to come up with a decision So that's um I mean, I've read this text before and I've had other people read it for me and tell me some demon comes forward and comes up with this plan and God allows it and I'm like, that's not necessarily how it is. It doesn't say if he's good or evil. He just says, I'll get him there. He likes to listen to these lying prophets. Let's use them against him. And God's like, yeah, I like that. Turnabout's fair play. So he uses that for him. But the question we should be asking is why? Why does God need a divine counsel? He shouldn't need any help in the spirit realm, right, to decide how things are going to go. Isn't He God who knows everything, and can determine everything, and can decree everything, even in the spirit realm? Yeah. But the answer is, He doesn't need it. He chooses to use it. He chooses to make one. He chooses and says, I want a divine counsel. I want to watch these guys think. I want to see them. I'm going to equip them with different abilities, and I'm going to use them. I choose to use a divine counsel. Do I need one? No. Do I want one? Yes. You know what? He doesn't need you or me either. He could speak out loud to everyone, repent and trust in me. And he said, nope, I'm going to use men. We're like, man, that's kind of a bad choice. We are going to let you down. We are going to fail. We're going to chicken out. We're going to be cowards. We're going to be like, I'm going to write you a note. I'm going to send you something in the mail and not sign it. And then maybe then I'll give you the gospel. We're a little backwards about it, Lord. He's like, no, I choose to use you. We're like, there's probably a better idea. He goes, there probably is, but this is what I choose to do. You're my hands and feet on earth, right? And then when we say as a church, you be my hands, you be my feet. You're going to go forth and take the gospel. He says, yeah, I want to do that. He's given us what? Different abilities, different talents. We all think differently. I present the gospel in different ways. And he's like, I put you where you are and when you are so that you can help present the gospel. Ephesians 2 says he's had to work determined in advance and beforehand how you would work. And he says, I chose you for this task. Go forth and do it. Go forth and tell the gospel. We ought to do right, right? We want to be a good council. We want to be the good one. And so he's used a divine council and he uses us. So we need to think of God as like the CEO of the divine company, I guess. And those who work for him are family. And they participate in his company and how the company runs. And we're a part of that. We're adopted in. We get to be a part of this where he's given us a decree and now are we good at going and telling it or not? We need to be. Let's look at one more. where we see the divine counsel making a decision. Daniel chapter four. We have another name here for these that will come into play later. It's only used in Daniel and the extra biblically endorsed text too. Daniel four. And this is one that, Yes, I am influenced by my culture and so I have a drawing of Gort in the side. If any of you know who Gort was? He is the day the earth stood still, the big robot that stood there and had the big eye in the middle of it. They had to get the special anukleptos whatever to him to get him to shut off before he blew up the world. Come on. It's a black and white classic movie. One of my dad's favorite science fiction movies that he talked about. So I have a picture of him there because he was there sent by the aliens as a watcher to determine if the earth was good or bad and he was going to blow them up. And they stole it from the God. They stole it from the Lord. Here's how it was. I still drew it in there because it helps me to think. So Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar is here. Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon. He's the head of gold. He's had a lot of other strange visions. So he has this dream and it's going to be interpreted for him. But he has this angel class here called Watchers. And we're going to see that there were a group of angels on the earth. I think they were all pre-flood, before the flood. They were called Watchers. And that's how we had them intermingling with with people because they were down here then they fell in love with women, but We're not ready for that yet. So Daniel 4 verse 13 says I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and Behold a watcher a holy one came down from heaven So well, he's at divine beings that doesn't call him an angel because he has a different class. He's a watcher He's one who watches the world and so he comes down and Verse 14, He cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree and cut off the branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit, let the beasts get away from under it and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with the band of iron and brass and tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew in heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let the beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. We're like, oh, that makes complete sense. He's speaking in a riddle, right? We're reading this, we're like, I don't much understand this. That's what Nebuchadnezzar's problem is. I don't know what's going on here. So Daniel's gonna interpret it for him. It's not good. It's not good for him, but here's what Daniel says, verse 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers. Well, who made this decision? the watchers, the divine counsel. They have come up with a decree. They're the ones who determine what is about to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. They said, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna warn him in advance, but we're gonna tell him about events in advance before they happen to guard and protect him. So hopefully he doesn't go down this path. And so they go and they tell him, and it's a decree of the watchers. God lets them determine this, and they come down and warn him. Did he have to? No. Could he use Daniel? Yeah. Could he use other prophets? Probably. But he lets the watchers do this. And so what this, well, we'll finish here. Verse 17, This matter was by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomever he will, and setteth it upon the basis of men. So God gets the glory, so that men don't glory in what God should have. And you probably all know the story, whether you know it or not. But he's saying, basically, he says, you're the tree, O king. And they're going to strip you of your branches. They're going to cut them down. Matter of fact, we're going to cut the tree off at the base. We're going to put an iron band around it so that it can spring forth again. He says, but we're going to take away your mind of a man. And we're going to give you the mind of a beast. And you're going to crawl around like a cow and not have any reason. You're going to eat grass. And your nails are going to grow like talons. And you're going to be crazy for a while. Because if you are proud. You know to warn you of your pride that you are not the one who created all this God gave it to you This is not your kingdom. You are not in control that you are subservient unto him God is the one who rules over heaven you are not God and so they tell him this and though he's warned and Time goes by so he gets this vision and that the decree of the watchers telling this and they knows what's going to happen But then one day he's up on the roof right and he's looking around. He's like oh look at Babylon Well, I've done who is like me is anyone like me is anyone as grand as me is there a king like me who's did all this And all of a sudden he turns into a cow and they keep him in a little stall outside. And do's on the back, they mention that on there. He's out there for seven years, he grows these talons, he eats grass and he's crazy. And then one day he's finally humbled enough. He says, God's done all this. And then his reason comes back to him, and his sanity comes to him, and he's humbled. He's like, there's no one like the Lord. You know, he is the one who's done this. And so, even verse 23 goes on and talks about, and whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and he gives him this, it's the watchers that told him this, but he finally wakes up to it, realizes it, and he says, there is no God among anything other than the God of heaven, Daniel's God. And so he understands what's happened, but, This was all a decree by the Watchers that God had given it to their hands to let them do and say this. It's there. Another account that we don't have to turn to, I've got five minutes that you can think of, but it's Job, right? We see two accounts where it's on occasion where they're there, where he has the sons of God come and give an account before him. He assembles his sons of gods, and they have to come give answer. And remember, he's asking them all about what they're doing. Are you fulfilling your task? Are you doing whatever? And we even have Lucifer there, one of the fallen ones. But he still was a created being of God who fell. And he asked him, where have you been? What have you been doing? Well, I've been to and fro over the face of the earth. Have you considered my servant Job? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you blessed me with everything, I would think it's great too. Take this away and take that away. So two different occasions we have the assembly of the sons of God come together and God's asking them and they're interacting together. Later in the book of Job, you have all of them at the creation and the sons of God sang and they rejoiced at what they saw. And I'm going to save the other ones for next week, but they're earlier in Genesis when we see that he is addressing them and we always thought it was something different. And I think that in the context of knowing what's going on, we can pull out the little nuances in Genesis 1 and say, who is he talking to when he says, let us. And so we'll go back and we'll look at that a little bit next week. I don't want to get in over my head and not be able to finish. So it's in there and it's littered through it and we're going to see where they were, we can look at where the watchers went bad, and then there's others there at Psalm 82 that he's yelling at, that he is castigating them for what they have done, and when that happened, and what that means to us, what's going on. And these events then help make some of the passages in Jude, some of the passages in Peter, all of a sudden make sense to us for what he's talking about. And again, there's a context of some more information we can look at too. But it's there and it's going on. Well, and another one we could mention, Elisha, right? Where he's there and they're afraid they're going to be killed. And his servant's like, oh, we're going to die. And he says, open his eyes and let him see. He doesn't show him angels. It just says there's all these warriors that are around them. So there's a warrior class that is there. And he gives him eyes and he sees. And God instantly opens it. He's like, oh, we are surrounded by this. Tim's right, if you haven't read This Present Darkness or Piercing the Darkness, it was probably set in the 90s I think, but it's still relevant. I have it on cassette if you're so technically advanced that you'd like to listen to it on cassette. I have it on cassette if you'd like to listen to it that way. But it is interesting, it does make you wonder what all is going on. On Wednesday we were talking about the temple being hallowed ground. And he says, where two or more are gathered together, the temple was set apart. And where we are all gathered together, it becomes a hallowed space. And to think of this being a refuge that even as we're here, that our guardian angels or whatever could come together as a chance of rest and a time of respite and to hear the words of his Lord spoken. And to take time to rest and bake in and bask in the prayers of the saints and to have all that and to think that we could be a part in what's going on and we're not even aware of it. After you go through those books, you will be more aware of it. And so thank you for reminding me of that too. So that's a good one. But think on these things, roll them over in your head, debate them amongst yourselves, and see what you're thinking. Because I'm trying to use just the biblical text here to kind of lay it out. We're just looking at it in a more direct way in how he says it. And we'll see that this is a battle of good and evil. He does lay a judgment on those in Psalm 82, and we'll see what that is. And it's even a fuller description than what we thought of what happens with Lucifer and Isaiah. And so I look forward to looking at those too, but that's later. So we'll get to that. Let's close in prayer.