Supernatural

A Study Guide

Ronn Johnson

• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781577996859
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World--and Why it Matters, Michael S. Heiser uses his expertise and 15 years of research to tackle questions about what the Bible really says about the unseen world.

Ronn Johnson's Supernatural: A Study Guide will help you further explore the ancient worldview of the Bible. Johnson walks through main themes and big picture ideas from Supernatural, while connecting each with practical applications. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter are designed for individual study or discussion with a small group.

Chapter 1: One Small Change, One Big Difference

Read Supernatural, chapters 1–2. Read and prepare to discuss 1 Kings 22:19–23; Psalm 82; Daniel 4:13–27; 7:9–10.

The Big Picture

Surveys taken within the past decade show that three-fourths of Americans believe in the supernatural world of God and angels. Christians heartily embrace the concept of the supernatural, presuming that the Bible’s description of spirits, demons, and miracles must be true in order for Scripture to have any consistent meaning.

However, we do face a challenge. Our modern, Western Christian culture seems content with an approach to the Bible which tends to tame or quiet its supernatural element. Think of the story of Noah and the ark, with its pairs of animals streaming to the boat. Every child can picture this. But it’s not so easy to recall the odd event which led up to it. Preachers are tempted to skip over the sons of God marrying the daughters of men (Gen 6:1–4)—whatever that means—hoping to get to the more sensible story of the flood. As a result, what the writer wanted to accomplish may be lost because we’re uncomfortable with what appears to be a super-natural moment in the story. We can only imagine how this harms the meaning of the Bible on a larger scale.

Supernatural and this study guide will challenge your thinking concerning the supernatural world of the Bible. At the heart of this challenge is a simple question, which sets in motion all that is to follow: Are the “gods” of the first commandment (“You shall have no other gods before me”) real, personal beings? For whatever reason, most readers of the Bible have not given this question serious consideration. You may have never thought it to be a question at all. Regardless, consider this book as your unique opportunity to experience the Bible with the view that gods actively live in the heavens and function as gods do. This challenge will be as fascinating as it is enjoyable, and it will result in a deep appreciation for the full story of Scripture.

A quick illustration may help get us going. Imagine a wife overhearing her husband talking on the phone. She first gets suspicious, then jealous, as she hears him share intimate conversation. Finally, she has had enough and grabs the phone to confront the caller. To her surprise, no one is there. He had been speaking to a dial tone.

In this light, consider what God meant in Deuteronomy 6:14–15: “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you—for the LORD your God is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth” (NKJV adapted). Would the Israelites have been tempted to worship what only amounted to a dial tone? Or would they have faced temptation to worship real gods in Canaan?

The Main Idea

The challenge in accepting the reality of “gods” begins by demystifying the concept. We must immediately appeal to Hebrew and Greek, the original languages of the Bible. English simply will not do. Let’s review what we read in the opening chapter of Supernatural: The most common word in the Old Testament for “God” is elohim, appearing about 6,200 times. We come upon this word immediately in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning elohim created the heavens and the earth.” The Bible opens with a clear and certain claim that one elohim created the entire universe. But more work remains to be done.

Who or what is an elohim? It’s actually a broad title (not a name) which can be translated as “God,” “god,” “godhead,” “spirit,” “deity,” “divine being,” or “strong one”—with each option carrying its own theological agenda. Variants of this word appear in languages throughout the ancient Near East, suggesting that elohim and its meaning was borrowed from secular societies which predated Israel and Moses. Other nations talked about their elohim all the time, often in very loving and appreciative tones. Like our word “Dad,” which we use as a title for the man we know and honor, people in the Bible and other pagan cultures speak about “their elohim” or “the elohim of my fathers/land” with regularity.

So how do you know where the word elohim appears in an English Bible? Generally, you can follow this rule: Wherever you see the word “God” or “god” or “gods” in your Old Testament, you can be confident that the original reads elohim. Easy enough. The challenge begins in trying to decide whether “God” or “god” or “gods” should be used when translating elohim. More details will follow later. For now, just remember that when we speak of “God” or “gods” in the Old Testament, we’re actually talking about the single Hebrew word elohim. (In the New Testament, the Greek word for “God” or “god” is theos.)

Does this prove that the gods of the first commandment are real? No, we have more work to do. But the very fact that “God” and “god” are the same word in Hebrew or Greek should lead us to presume in the reality of each elohim/theos until we discover evidence otherwise.

Digging Deeper

Jesus encouraged us to pray, “May your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” This sounds as if God’s will is already being accomplished in a heavenly or spiritual world before being accomplished in our own. Could it be that Jesus knew that a society of spirits existed above us, actively engaged in doing God’s will? It certainly seems so, and it is just this kind of text that we will be looking at throughout our study—texts which give us reason to appreciate the reality of the spirit world and the society they likely enjoy. As you read the references included in this guide, notice that some of the quietest narratives in the Bible depend on spirits functioning as a society among themselves before affecting human beings on earth.

It would be helpful to confront a common question before we get further into our study: What is an angel, especially in relation to a god? Most people believe these words refer to very different things, causing them to say, “I can believe in angels, but not in gods.” It is here that a large-scale change needs to be made with regard to how we think of angels.

For example, Psalm 97:7 says, “Worship him, all you elohim,” demanding that the gods worship their creator, the God of Israel. When the New Testament quotes this verse in Hebrews 1:6, the writer says it this way: “Let all the angels [Greek, angeloi] of God worship him.” Where elohim, or “gods,” appear in Psalm 97, “angels” appear in Hebrews 1. Very simply, we will find that angels are gods, and that gods can sometimes function as angels. Again, more on this later.

Knowledge in Action

Henry Ford was famous for his automobile assembly line, but behind the scenes he depended heavily on the mechanical engineering skills of his friend Charles Steinmetz. On one occasion, Ford’s assembly line ground to a halt for reasons no one could understand. In a panic, Ford asked Steinmetz to see if he could make the necessary repairs.

Steinmetz was happy to help his friend, and it wasn’t long before the assembly line was up and running. Ford was pleased, of course, until he looked at the bill—Steinmetz wanted $10,000.

“Charles, you can’t be serious,” Ford complained. “You tinkered in there for about ten minutes.”

“You’re right,” Steinmetz admitted, “I made a mistake.” He took the bill and changed it to Tinkering: $10. Knowing where to tinker: $9,990.

This story reminds us of the challenge in understanding the Bible. We make an adjustment here, an interpretive move there. Sometimes the changes we make are large, but more often they’re small. As we make adjustments to our interpretations, we try to keep track of how the Bible reads differently, and hopefully more clearly, when applying one change and possibly dispensing with another. It’s like test-driving a car. We read the Bible hoping that someday, with time and care in the process of making trial runs with its multiple dead ends and periodic successes, we will experience a smooth running story of Scripture that hugs every curve and climbs every hill with ease.

Think about the challenge that awaits you. This study and Supernatural propose what is actually a very small change—a small tinkering with the text, if you will—but one which will likely have far-reaching results: Do other gods exist? And what would the Bible sound like if they did?

Discussion Questions

•To date, what effort have you given to considering the question, “Are the gods of the first commandment real?” What are the reasons behind your answer?

•The story of 1 Kings 22 was discussed in chapter 1 of Supernatural. Did you read this story before? If so, how did you interpret what was going on?

•We will be discussing the concept of idols in coming sections of our study. But what are your initial thoughts about them? Why do you think idols have played such a major role in religion, and how are they related to the concept of a god?

•On the front end—before getting into the meat of our study—what do you predict will change in your interpretation of the Bible if small-g gods do exist?

Chapter 2: Rebellion of the Gods

Read Supernatural, chapters 3–4. Read and prepare to discuss Genesis 1–3; 6:1–8.

The Big Picture

In chapters 3–4 of Supernatural, we learned about God’s original home, the garden of Eden. The garden was a place of God’s physical presence, a locatable spot on the earth where the Creator could meet with humankind and commune with them in perfect fellowship. When Adam and Eve disobeyed and were kicked out of the garden, our attention is drawn to both what they lost and what they gained.

What they had lost, of course, was the immediate favor of God. Several curses were to follow them through life. But what they had gained is important as well, as noted at the conclusion of the story: “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil’ ” (Gen 3:22 NKJV). Adam’s sin led him to be awakened to knowledge that he had not had before. Adam now had the “knowledge of good and evil,” and God was not pleased. It was time for Adam and Eve to leave the garden and to have the door bolted behind them. Estrangement from God came along with estrangement from his garde...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1: One Small Change, One Big Difference
• Chapter 2: Rebellion of the Gods
• Chapter 3: Cosmic Geography
• Chapter 4: Keeping to the Same Storyline
• Chapter 5: Jesus and the Love of God
• Chapter 6: Believing in Jesus’ Authority
• Chapter 7: The Church as God’s Presence
• Chapter 8: Becoming Divine
• Conclusion: Knowing Where to Tinker