Troublesome Topic: WILL HUMANITY BECOME DIVINE?

Heiser posits that, in the end, God and Jesus will finally defeat all the rebellious and quasi divine figures and make his faithful human followers divine.

On pg 353 MH writes “Humanity will become divine and displace the lesser Elohim over the nations under the authority of the unique divine son, the resurrected Jesus.”

Heiser’s view of how things end had more to do with the wicked gods and quasi-divine figures than it does humans for whom Jesus died.

Of course he makes every use of “holy ones” to be the divine council, and not angels or human saints.

The Bible never says we will become divine or become gods. In fact, religions that believe in demigods and a pantheon of gods were condemned by the God of the Bible.

Heiser’s refuses to accept any interpretation of verses that talk about us ruling with God in any way other than his view of the council of gods. This comes primarily from his assumption that all of God’s imagers are going to end up in that council. This is nothing more than wishful thinking and the incorporation of other belief systems into the Bible.

God the Father is the true judge, and He will execute judgement through His Son Jesus. Our role in anything that can be called “ruling” will be small, and will be characterized by submission to God. It will look very different than the picture Heiser has painted of the council of gods where they can challenge the Creator God and even rebel against Him and get away with it.

We will always be His children and He will always be God.

There is something to the idea of faithful believers given some type of “rule” in the life after this one, but it does not necessitate us becoming divine, nor the existence of other gods and a council of them. “We will judge angels” can, and probably does mean that the testimony of our lives will be used by God to show that it is possible for weak beings to be faithful to God. It does not have to mean that we will become divine just like the spirits of the Nephilim.

On pages 368-373 Heiser makes the case that Armageddon is not located at Meggido, but at Jerusalem. In the great battle of Armageddon, the rebellious powers will make one last attempt to defeat God, Jesus and His followers, but they will be defeated.

He may be right about Armageddon being Jerusalem instead of Meggido; I need to study that one some more. But even if he is right about the location and about the purpose of the battle, it does not prove that other gods exist or that there is a council of the gods that gave God council regarding major decisions. The imagery fits just fine without including other divine beings such as lesser gods and quasi divine beings (demi-gods). Those are pagan ideas and have no place in the Bible!

The next lesson is WERE HEROES OF THE BIBLE QUASI-DIVINE?