The Fight (Spiritual Battle) Part 2
In the first part of our series on spiritual battle we introduced the ideas of cosmology, cosmic temple, imagers, and elohim. This week we are going a little deeper on who the elohim are and we will also begin the discussion on why there is evil in the world.
More on the elohim
The word elohim is used to refer to any inhabitant of the heavenly realm. It is used of God in Genesis 1:1:
Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
It is also used of demons in Deuteronomy 32:17:
Deuteronomy 32:17 (NIV)
17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not God– gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear.
It is important to note that God is not like any other elohim. He is their creator and King. No one compares to God.
Psalm 89:6-7 (NIV)
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? 7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.
God has no equal, but this “council of the holy ones” is a real thing.
What is the council of the holy ones?
The Bible says God has a family of elohim (divine beings) who exist in the heavenly realm. This group is often referred to as God’s assembly, council, or court.
Psalm 82:1 (NIV)
1 God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the “gods”:
Throughout the Bible we will see that God partners with lesser beings to get things done. He doesn’t need a divine council but He chooses to work with one.
In much the same way, He doesn’t need us, His human family to make things happen, but He chooses to partner with us. Which leads us to an extremely important question that almost everyone has:
Why is there evil in the world?
Evil exists in the world because God desires family. He didn’t need a family. He is complete in Himself. He desired family to be with Him, to partner with, to enjoy and be enjoyed. He wants a family who is in His likeness. And in doing this He gave us free will.
Without free will, without the opportunity to make our own decisions we cannot truly love God or obey God. Decisions like love and obedience must be made against an actual possible alternative in order to be authentic. God didn’t want pre-programmed robots. He wants to be in relationship with beings who choose to be in relationship with Him.
We will see in the weeks ahead that evil exists because both His human family and parts of His divine family choose to use God’s gift of free will for selfish reasons. This abuse begins in the garden of Eden and we will be heading back there next week for more on the story.
Steve Lawes is a church encourager and the lead pastor of Keys Vineyard Church.