Chronicles of the Apocalypse

Psalm 82: Part Three – The Judgment of the Watchers

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These posts are all excerpted from my newest booklet, Psalm 82: The Divine Council of the Gods, the Judgment of the Watchers and the Inheritance of the Nations. You can buy the booklet here.

In my past two posts (1 and 2), I examined Psalm 82 to discover that it talks about God having a heavenly host of divine beings around his throne that counsel with him and carry out his judgments or decisions. They are called “holy ones” (Deut 33:2-3; Jude 14), heavenly host (1King 22:19) the divine council (Psa 82:1), and the Sons of God (Job 5:1; 15:15).

Then I showed how God had separated the seventy Gentile nations at Babel, placing them under the authority of fallen Sons of God, now also called Watchers (Dan 4:13, 17), who were supposed to rule with justice, but instead ruled unjustly and in darkness. This resulted in their punishment.

It is that punishment that I would like to now try to understand from the text.

Like Men You Shall Die

I believe the Watcher’s punishment is loss of both their immortality and their inheritance of nations at Babel. And I will argue that this was accomplished in the first century complex of events of Messiah’s death, resurrection, ascension and arrival of God’s kingdom. Let’s take another look at Psalm 82 to get a good reminder of the narrative.

Psalm 82:1–8
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;

7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!

The first aspect of God’s judgment upon the gods of the nations is in verses 6 and 7. Apparently, their punishment is the loss of immortality, resulting in death like mortal humans. Though they were gods with divine immortality, they will now die like men.

The question is, what is this death? Is it literal or metaphorical? If it is literal, then the text indicates that the immortal Watchers would lose their immortality and die just like earthly princes. It seems to be a humiliation of the heavenly princes who would otherwise survive their earthly princes’ demise. But in this case, the gods are being stripped of their immortality and thus, their divinity. Death does not become divine beings. So death would be a most serious punishment for such a creature.

But what does this death consist of? Do they die and go to Hades? Do they simply cease to exist? It is at this point that the silence of the biblical text tempts us to speculate. But there is a place to find legitimate information that is better than mere speculation. Keep reading to see what that is… Continue reading →

Psalm 82: Part Two – The Allotment of the Nations to the Watchers

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These posts are all excerpted from my newest booklet, Psalm 82: The Divine Council of the Gods, the Judgment of the Watchers and the Inheritance of the Nations. You can buy the booklet here.

In part one, I defined the biblical motif of Christus Victor as Christ’s victory over the spiritual powers who ruled sinful mankind. I defined the divine council biblically as an assembly of gods, called “Sons of God,” “holy ones,” and “heavenly host” who surround Yahweh, engage in legal counsel with him and carry out his decisions.

But the next question is, how did man come under the rule and authority of these gods, these divine beings from Yahweh’s heavenly host?

I am using Psalm 82 as a portal into this fascinating storyline of the Bible. So let’s take a look again at what it says.

Psalm 82:1–8
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

So we see that for some reason, God has given some of these members from his divine council a responsibility to rule over mankind on earth. Where did this come from? Why would God do such a thing? Isn’t God alone the judge of all the earth? And why is he blaming failure to rule on divine beings? Does that make them fallen angels?

To answer those questions, we need to go back to the beginning. Not Genesis 1, but rather, the beginning of the allotment of the nations to the gods. Back to the Tower of Babel. But rather than going straight to Genesis 11, that tells the story of Babel, we need to read what Moses reveals about Babel in Deuteronomy 32… Continue reading →

Psalm 82: Part One – The Divine Council of the Gods

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By Brian Godawa

I am going to post a series of five posts over the next month or so about Psalm 82. As I have been writing my novels, I realized that this is a key Scripture in dealing with the activity and fate of the Watchers over the nations. Since these Watchers are my main villains in my novel series, I need to lay out my Scriptural interpretation to justify why my narrative follows the course it does.

These posts are all excerpted from my newest booklet, Psalm 82: The Divine Council of the Gods, the Judgment of the Watchers and the Inheritance of the Nations. You can buy the booklet here.

Introduction: The Divine Council

One of the most intriguing storylines of the Bible is that of Christ’s victory over the powers. When I discovered it, it changed my life. It inspired me to write a series of twelve biblical novels that incarnate that story unlike anything done before (Chronicles of the Nephilim and Chronicles of the Apocalypse).

A Definition

But what exactly is this messianic cosmic battle and how does it affect us? It is sometimes named Christus Victor, and consists of the idea that mankind’s Fall in the Garden resulted in a sinfulness of humanity that was so entrenched against God, that it led to universal idolatry as embodied in the tower of Babel story (Gen 11). As a result of man’s incorrigible evil, God placed all of the nations and their lands under the authority of other spiritual powers, but kept one people and their land for his own: Israel. Those Gentile nations and their gods would be at war with the promised messianic seed of Israel. But in the fullness of time, Messiah would arrive, overcome those spiritual powers of the nations and take back rule of the earth in the kingdom of God.

Gods or Men?

Psalm 82 is a doorway into the Christus Victor narrative because it summarizes the three-act structure of that messianic story of allotment, judgment and inheritance. Here is the full text of the Psalm in all its simple and concise glory:

Psalm 82:1–8
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;

7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!

Much scholarly debate has occurred over the identity of these “gods” of the divine council. Are they human judges who merely represent divine justice or are they actual divine beings? I am convinced that they are Yahweh’s heavenly host of divine beings surrounding his throne, referred to with the technical term, “Sons of God.” Here’s why… Continue reading →

Eschaton Podcast: How the Watchers Were Judged in the Last Days of the First Century

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I had a great interview with Joshua Wisely on Eschaton podcast. Here is what he wrote:

Brian Godawa returns to the show to continue a fascinating discussion we had earlier this year about Preterism and the likelihood that the majority of “end times” prophecies mentioned in the Book of Revelation, which millions of people around the world expect to be fulfilled in the future, have already been realized in the past. And if that’s not enough to pique your interest, there’s more!

We also talk about the mysterious entities known as “The Watchers” or “The Sons of God”, who are mentioned in mythological texts throughout the ancient Middle East and Mesopotamia. We try to gain a better understanding of the role they played in ancient cosmology and whether or not they have any influence in the world today.

Additionally, we get Brian’s perspective on whether or not prophecies can have a “double fulfillment” or if history shows us that they’re always one and done. Then, to round out the episode, he shares his thoughts on the identity of the “two witnesses” mentioned in chapter 11 of the Book of Revelation. It’s an interpretation that I had never heard before and one that you’ll want to chew on for a while!

Listen here online

 

Church & Other Drugs Podcast: Why Revelation Is NOT About A Future Antichrist

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I was interviewed on Church and Other Drugs podcast.

We talked about how the Book of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century and my how my Chronicles of the Nephilim fit in with my new Chronicles of the Apocalypse.

Revelation is about how Messiah wins back the territories given at Babel, and judges first century Israel for rejecting him.

Listen on iTunes here.

Listen on Soundcloud here.

My interview starts around 14:00 in.

 

Conspirinormal Podcast: Hollywood’s Rape Culture. End Times Prophecy.

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I was on the Conspirinormal podcast to talk about Hollywood and my new novel Remnant.

Here is what Adam Sayne of Conspirinormal writes about the interview:

We speak to Brian about his new book “Remnant” the second installment of his “Chronicles of the Apocalypse” series. Brian gets a little deeper into the Preterist view of End Times Prophecy and how it has influenced his work. We also discuss some of what is going on in Hollywood right now.

My interview starts at the 1 hour 15 minute mark.

Listen to it here.

Remnant: Rescuing the Proper Interpretation of Revelation

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I was on the Clear Lens podcast with Nate Sala.

A great time talking about my journey out of Dispensationalism and Left Behindism.

And talking about my new novel, Remnant: Rescue of the Elect.

The Remnant 144,000 in Revelation are the Jewish Christians who fled Jerusalem in the first century to avoid the wrath of God that was coming upon the city.

Check it out here.