Course Outcomes 

Upon successful completion you should be able to: 

• Understand how the Bible frames the fallen state of the world as not only the result of human rebellion, but supernatural rebellion 

• Describe the distinction between Satan and other groups of evil spirits 

• Discuss ways in which biblical writers interpret Scripture and connect ideas 

• Understand the worldview of Paul and other New Testament writers 

• Summarize how Jesus the Messiah resolves all three rebellions that led to human depravity and estrangement from God 

Recommended Books 

Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First Edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015. Heiser, Michael S. Reversing Hermon: Enoch, The Watchers & The Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017. Heiser, Michael S. Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World—And Why It Matters. Edited by David Lambert. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015. 

Course Outline 

Introduction Introducing the Speaker and the Course 

1. Overview of the Three Rebellions 

Unit 1: First Rebellion: Genesis 3 

2. The Problem in Genesis 3
3. Controversy 1
4. Controversy 1 (Job)
5. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 1
6. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 2
7. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 3
8. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 4 

Unit 2: Second Rebellion: Genesis 6:1–4 

9. Genesis 6:1–4: Introduction
10. Sethite View
11. Original Context
12. Original Context: Mesopotamian Material
13. Original Context: Apkallu
14. Original Context: Mesopotamian Texts
15. Original Context: Implications 

Unit 3: Third Rebellion: Babel

16. Babel: Introduction
17. Babel: Part 1
18. Babel: Part 2
19. Babel: Implications 

Unit 4: Transition to the New Testament 

20. Transition: Preview of New Testament Application
21. Jesus Confronts Satan in Other Ways
22. Timing of the Birth of the Messiah
23. Romans 10
24. The Context of Revelation 12:1–7
25. Nisan and the Jewish Calendar
26. Pleiades and Orion
27. Messiah vs. All Three Rebellions
28. Messiah vs. Third Rebellion (Babel): Paul’s Vocabulary
29. Messiah vs. Third Rebellion (Babel): Colossians 2:13–15
30. Messiah vs. Third Rebellion (Babel): 1 Corinthians 15:20–24 Conclusion
31. Conclusion to the Course

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Identify the three divine rebellions

Introduction 

I want to open our course with a question. If you ask the average Christian, “Why is the world so messed up? From whence comes this thing we call ‘depravity’? Why is the world in this condition?” the traditional answer that you would typically get would be: “The fall—what happened in Gen 3 in the garden of Eden.” You may not realize though that this is not going to be the answer of your typical Second Temple Jew—someone living in the first century, say, at the time of Jesus, or even some early church fathers. What you would get from them is a three-fold answer; there are three reasons, not just one, as to why the world is the way it is: depravity.

The Three Rebellions 

First, there are the events in Eden; that is the one that sort of starts the ball rolling in terms of divine rebellion (of course the events in Gen 3), but then that’s followed by the transgression of Gen 6:1–4 with the sons of God. And then the third event is going to be the rebellion, the situation, at the tower of Babel described in Gen 11 and also in a key text, Deut 32:8–9.

Focus of the Course 

In this course, we’re going to talk about all three. These are the three divine rebellions that are going to make up really the core content of this course. And we’re going to look at how the New Testament takes those three reasons for why the world is the way it is and how Jesus as the Messiah sort of responds to, or fixes, or at least offers, the solution to all three. 

So the Messiah in Jewish expectation was not just here to rectify what happened in the garden of Eden. In a more full or biblical theology—and this is what you would hear from an ancient person living at the time of Jesus—the Messiah was supposed to address all three of these things. So we’re going to go through all three rebellions, and then we are going to look at how the cross telegraphs how Jesus was the solution—how what happened that day on the cross and then the resurrection and the ascension addressed not just one problem, not just one rebellion, but all three.

2. The Problem in Genesis 3
3. Controversy 1
4. Controversy 1 (Job)
5. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 1
6. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 2
7. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 3
8. Controversy 2 (Ezekiel/Isaiah): Part 4

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Explain why the identification of the serpent in Gen 3 with the devil raises some questions

Connection Points between the Testaments 

Now, there are common connection points between the Testaments that identify these two things with each other that when you get to the New Testament, the New Testament writers will take advantage of. The intertestamental literature will take certain parts of the Old Testament and amplify on them, speculate about them, or draw certain things out of Old Testament passages that will begin to identify the serpent figure of Gen 3 with sort of a more cosmic enemy—the devil figure that we find later in the New Testament. So we’re going to be exploring a little bit of that as well—how the intertestamental period will sort of help the New Testament writers make these connections. The key idea here though is the explicit nature of how the New Testament identifies the serpent figure as the devil.

We’re going to take a look at some language in the Old Testament that really helps us sort of go beyond what we see in Gen 3. There is a divine rebel in Gen 3, and believe it or not, even though we don’t explicitly read about it in Gen 3, that figure in Gen 3 does get connected with the realm of the dead and humanity’s estrangement from God in ways that, again, will help New Testament writers say what they say—that will sort of add support to that. A lot of this stuff gets lost in Hebrew wordplay though. So we want to take a look at a few other passages outside of Gen 3 that will help us sort of create this profile, create this picture, of a specific divine rebel in Gen 3 that most know as the serpent but is actually more than that—again, more than a member of the animal kingdom.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

Trouble in Paradise UR:RSWB 

Divine Rebellions: Trouble in Paradise S:WBTUWWIM 

Genesis 3 in Context UR:RSWB

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Identify and describe three apparent “disconnections” between the Old Testament’s and New Testament’s view of Satan

Internal Consistency of the New Testament 

Our goal, at this point, is to establish the fact that when the New Testament writers identify the serpent of Gen 3 with the devil figure, that that is actually consistent with certain things in the Old Testament, even though you can’t get that explicitly in Gen 3 because, again, there’s no reference to hell, at least ostensibly. We don’t get in the Old Testament a hell that is ruled by the serpent figure of Gen 3, again, ostensibly. We have these points of disconnect in the Old Testament to the New. We want to establish that what the New Testament does say does have internal consistency; it makes sense when you start to take a look at other things in other passages of the Old Testament.

No Explicit Connection between Satan and Serpent 

We want to start, though, with the fact that this is controversial among Old Testament scholars. Old Testament scholars know, of course, that there is no explicit connection between the serpent of Gen 3 and some of the ideas that are associated with the devil later on in the Second Temple Jewish literature and, of course, in the New Testament. In Gen 3, we just have a serpent. The word satan from which our word Satan (our proper personal noun Satan) comes from is never used in Gen 3. It’s actually not used in Genesis. You don’t have any specific connection anywhere in the Old Testament where you have the term satan attached to the word nachash (“serpent”). And so, scholars are well aware of this, and so this raises the question, we don’t have this direct connection in the Old Testament. And critical scholars, of course, want to use this and say, “Well, the New Testament writers are just making something up,” but that is quite an exaggeration, and frankly, it’s untrue.

Satan Absent from Old Testament Underworld Passages 

Another issue is you don’t have the word satan ever used in underworld passages in the Old Testament. The Old Testament spends a lot of time, for instance, talking about Sheol (sheol in Hebrew), the realm of the dead, the place where the dead go. You never see satan or a satan figure, a figure that is actually called by that term in the Old Testament in the underworld. Now, this might sound a little bit strange, and that’s because we’re sort of accustomed to these ideas and we kind of assume that they’re in other parts of the Bible, including the Old Testament, as opposed to the New Testament. English-only readers tend to base these kind of connections on, you know, tradition, just the way we’re taught about the devil, and of course, you know, thinking specifically of the New Testament—New Testament and Old Testament being equal parts of the Bible.

View of Satan in Job 1–2 

English-only readers also tend to think of Job 1–2 as being evidence for some of these things, but as we’ll see, satan in Job 1–2 is something a little bit different than you would think because of Hebrew grammar. You also never get the word for serpent in Job 1–2. The satan figure of Job 1–2 is never associated with the underworld.

Addressing the Controversy 

So you have a number of these points of disconnection, which is why we need to address the controversy, as we want to start here with the first rebellion in the Bible, first divine rebellion, because it really matters. It has obviously a direct connection to what the Messiah is supposed to do. So as we proceed, try to be paying attention to the text. We’re going to go into the text. We’re going to see what’s not there, and we’re also going to see some things that are in different passages that helped make what the New Testament writers say make sense. They’re not just making ideas up out of whole cloth; they are tracking on certain things. There is a picture to be seen here, but it’s sort of lying beneath the surface of your English translation.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

The Question of Satan’s Origins in the Old Testament FSB 

Satan in the Old Testament and the Serpent of Genesis 3 FSB

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Explain why the satan figure in Job 1–2 should not be identified with the devil
• Describe the job of the satan figure in the divine council and in Job 1–2

Introduction 

Now, I made the comment a few moments ago that there is an issue of Hebrew grammar in Job 1–2 that really gets in the way of seeing the Satan figure, the satan figure in Job 1–2, as the devil. You might be wondering, “Well, what in the world is he talking about?”

Never a Reference to Gen 3 

Now, even on those occasions where satan is used without the article, you might think, “Well, what about when the article is not there? Do we have a capital s Satan in some other Old Testament passage?” But even in the cases where the article is not there, the referent point, the figure being referred to, is never the rebel, is never the serpent of Gen 3. In Num 22:22, in fact, the satan figure is actually the angel of the Lord, who I would suggest is Yahweh Himself. You don’t have a single instance in the entire Old Testament where satan is used of an evil supernatural being. There just aren’t any.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

Satan in Job 1–2 UR:RSWB 

See Also 

Assisting in God’s Governance of the Human World A:WBRSGHH

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Describe the possible connection between Isa 14:12–15; Ezek 28:11–19, and Gen 3
• Explain how Isa 14:12–15 draws on the idea of an ancient divine rebellion against a spiritual authority

Introduction 

We’re talking about how it is that the New Testament is able to very freely associate the serpent, the divine rebel of Gen 3, with the devil in its own corpus, in the New Testament writings. And we’ve talked about the various reasons why scholars are hesitant to do that. We got into Job a little bit and explained why Job 1–2 doesn’t really help make that identification, and I mentioned there’s a second controversy. This second area of controversy concerns two passages that scholars all recognize are related to each other, and I’m speaking here of Isa 14:12–15 and Ezek 28:11–19. Now, the first one of those in Isa 14 is an oracle directed against the king of Babylon, and the second one in Ezek 28 is an oracle against the king of Tyre.

Oracles Drawing on Gen 3 

Now, neither of these passages are specifically about Eden and the events of Gen 3 with the serpent. They’re not specifically about that; they are oracles against these respective kings. But this is my view, and this is a view shared by many scholars (but certainly not all); my view is that the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel are using the story of a divine rebellion, an ancient divine rebellion, to cast the king of Babylon and the king of Tyre as having just ridiculous amounts of hubris and arrogance, wanting to be sort of in a God role and transgressing certain boundaries that they have to be judged. So I’m thinking that both of these oracles are drawing on the story of Gen 3, even though these passages themselves are not about what happens in Gen 3.

Isaiah 14:12–15 

Now, that’s actually controversial, believe it or not, and to sort of get into why there is a controversy, let’s just read the passages. We will start with Isa 14, beginning in verse 12: 

How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How are you cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit. 

That’s the end of verse 15.

Conclusion 

But now we need to take a look at Ezekiel. Does Ezekiel jive with this? Does it say the same thing? Is it consistent? We’re going to see that, yes, it is consistent with what we’ve been looking at here.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

Isaiah 14 UR:RSWB

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Identify and discuss points of congruence between Ezek 28:11–14 and Isa 14:12–15

Introduction 

Let’s take a look at Ezek 28:11–19. You’re going to see clear similarities between parts of Ezek 28 and Isa 14, and scholars know these well. There’s really no disagreement that these two passages, in terms of the way they’re written, are related. What they’re hesitant to affirm is that these passages are consistent with a New Testament idea of a devil, and that’s sort of what we’re angling for. My argument is that these passages do deserve consideration of the divine rebellion in Gen 3.

Ezekiel 28:11–14 

But let’s read Ezek 28, beginning in verse 11: 

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.’ ” 

Then verse 13 is going to continue with a description of those gems. We get to verse 14, and we read: 

“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.”

Congruence with Isaiah 14

Cosmic Mountain 

But let’s summarize some things before moving on. We have here the king of Tyre being cast as a figure in the garden of Eden. Of course, Eden is where God lived; it was the cosmic mountain; it’s the realm of the divine council. In fact, it is referred to here also not just as a garden, but as the mountain of God. This is without question the divine abode, and again, if we’re consistent with biblical imagery, ancient Near Eastern imagery, about the place where the gods or God lives as being this cosmic mountain idea—this sort of idea where God has taken residence on earth and is planning to live among humans and rule the earth with them, that whole idea (and again, we’ve devoted a whole course to this)—there’s no question about the place that we’re talking about here.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

Ezekiel 28 UR:RSWB

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Identify and discuss additional parallels between Isa 14 and Ezek 28
• Explain why Old Testament scholars are hesitant to speak of a connection between Gen 3 and Ezek 28

Ezekiel 28:16–17 

We’re going to continue with our reading of this Ezek 28, and we’re going to pick up in verse 16. We read: 

“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.”

Further Parallels with Isaiah 14

Stars

Now, let’s think about some additional parallels between these verses and what we’ve already read before in Isa 14. Here we have this anointed cherub kicked out of the divine abode, kicked out or off of the mountain of God, no longer among the stones of fire. What are “stones of fire”? Well, in the ancient world, “stones of fire” is a phrase that was used of stars, celestial objects. Think about that. In Isa 14, we have the reference to the stars of God—the shining one wanting to be above the stars of God, wanting to be in charge of the divine abode, wanting to be in charge of the divine council.

Erets 

Well, here we have Ezek 28; this divine rebel is in the same place—divine council, stones of fire, mountain of God, garden of God—and is kicked out because of his arrogance. He is cast down to the ground. If you remember that phrase in Isa 14, we commented on the word “ground” there being the Hebrew term erets. We have the same Hebrew term here. Erets, of course, is just a normal word for ground and land and earth, but it is also one of the terms used of the underworld, the realm of the dead.

Arrogance and Pride 

The sin of arrogance and pride is pretty palpable here, just like it was in Isa 14. Now, you would think after looking at this that an identification with the serpent figure in Gen 3 back in the garden of Eden would be pretty clear. We have Eden, the mountain of God, the garden of God, specifically mentioned in Ezek 28, and the way that’s described, that place is described in Ezek 28, matches up with what’s described in Isa 14 both in terms of the environment, the situation, the pride, and of course, the result.

Drawing on Genesis 3 

But Old Testament scholars are actually skittish (many of them) with these identifications. They would point out, “Hey, the word satan never shows up in any of these passages,” and they’re correct; it doesn’t show up in these passages. They would also say, “Well, the objects of Isa 14 and Ezek 28 are human kings. The chapters, the passages, aren’t about a divine rebel in Eden.” I would agree with that too, but my argument is that Isa 14 and Ezek 28 draw on the story of divine rebellion back in Gen 3—that that event, that situation, that episode, forms essentially the palette by which, and through which, that Isaiah and Ezekiel will paint the villains of their own respective passages.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

The Hubris of Adam? UR:RSWB

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Describe the difference between Ezek 28 in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint
• Explain why the Masoretic version of Ezek 28 should be preferred
• Summarize the main points of the first rebellion

Introduction 

Now, we’re getting into some fairly technical material here: controversies between the traditional Hebrew text of Ezek 28 and the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), which in some respects was apparently created using a different Hebrew text than the one we have in the traditional Masoretic Text. Again, that’s technical material. I’ve spent a good deal of space in Unseen Realm, specifically chapters 10 and 11, discussing the details of this. And some of you may know I also have a podcast. We devoted an entire episode, episode 143, to this issue. So if you want more detail, those are two resources where you can get it.

Two More Rebellions 

Now, all of these things are important. They can all be found in Gen 3; Isa 14, and Ezek 28. And for our purposes, it’s just sufficient to state things that way. The key here is that this is just the first of three divine rebellions, and the Messiah in ancient Jewish expectation will be expected to address this rebellion. He will be expected to fix the death problem. He will be expected to fix the problem of our estrangement from God. And to be honest with you, typically the way we’re taught about these things in churches, just Christianity in general, that’s the end of the story, but that is not the end of the story. This is the first of three divine rebellions. There are other problems that the Messiah in the Jewish mind, the ancient mind, was expected to fix that directly extend from the other two rebellions. And so, we need to take a look at the full picture as we proceed.

Explore 

Suggested Reading 

Another Approach UR:RSWB
Divine Judgment UR:RSWB 

See Also 

The Nachash of Genesis 3 UR:RSWB

9. Genesis 6:1–4: Introduction
10. Sethite View
11. Original Context
12. Original Context: Mesopotamian Material
13. Original Context: Apkallu
14. Original Context: Mesopotamian Texts
15. Original Context: Implications

SEGMENT 9 

Genesis 6:1–4: Introduction

Learning Objectives 

After this section, you should be able to: 

• Explain why people are afraid of taking Gen 6:1–4 at face value
• Describe the Sethite view of Gen 6:1–4

The Cosmic Mountain: Intersection of Heaven and Earth

• Instructor: Michael S. Heiser

• Publication Date: 2018

• Video Hours: 2

The cosmic mountain is an important metaphor in the Old Testament. People in the ancient Near East thought of mountains as the home of the gods and the place from which the gods issued decrees. The biblical writers shared this worldview but had the cosmos run by the lone, incomparable God of Israel and had human beings, the terrestrial children of God, involved in that activity. Learn how Eden, Sinai, the Tabernacle, the Temple, Zion, and the Church are interconnected by conceptual threads that derive from the cosmic mountain idea.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how ancient Near Eastern thought is important for interpreting the Old Testament

• Summarize the elements of the cosmic mountain metaphor

• Describe ways in which Eden, Sinai, the Tabernacle, the Temple, Zion, and the Church are conceptually connected

• Discuss ways in which biblical writers interpret Scripture and connect ideas

Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny

• Instructor: Michael S. Heiser

• Publication Date: 2018

• Video Hours: 2.5

Believers are children of God—a phrase that presumes family. The “children of God” are also called “holy ones” (“saints” in most translations). But these familiar New Testament terms have an Old Testament context that is largely overlooked—the spiritual world of God and his supernatural children. In the Old Testament, “sons of God” and “holy ones” refers to supernatural beings whose Father is God and who work with God to carry out his will. Learn where the metaphor of being in God’s family comes from in the Old Testament and how that informs our sense of identity and mission as believers.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how New Testament theology derives from the Old Testament

• Summarize the rationale and supernatural context for the family metaphor in the Bible

• Describe ways in which the image of God informs our identity as children of God and our mission on earth as believers

• Discuss ways in which biblical writers interpret Scripture and connect ideas

Divine Rebellions

• Instructor: Michael S. Heiser

• Publication Date: 2018

• Video Hours: 3

Most Bible students presume that the evil and depravity of our world is to be explained exclusively by the Fall in Genesis 3. An Old Testament Israelite or Jew of Jesus’ day would not share that perspective. They would affirm the Fall as one of three reasons why the world is permeated by evil and sin. Learn about the three divine rebellions of the Old Testament and how a person from the ancient biblical world would understand their impact on the human condition, the work of the messiah, and the struggle of the kingdom of God against the powers of darkness.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how the Bible frames the fallen state of the world as not only the result of human rebellion, but supernatural rebellion

• Summarize how Jesus the messiah resolves all three rebellions that led to estrangement from God and depravity

• Describe the distinction between Satan and other groups of evil spirits

• Discuss ways in which biblical writers interpret Scripture and connect ideas