announcement: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace podcast, where we celebrate and explore the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tune in to the Waking Up to Grace podcast on every major platform. You can also listen to our episodes and read our full transcripts at wakinguptogracecom. And now here's Lenny.

Lenny: 0:22

Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. And now here's Lenny. Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. And here we begin the next chapter in our epic story of the retaliation against Yahweh the serpent, a member of God's divine council, opposed Yahweh and deceived man in the garden, getting them kicked out of Eden. As humanity increased in number, sons of God, also known as watchers, found their women to be very attractive. Against the will of Yahweh, they had sex with the women, and the result was Nephilim. Their offspring were giants, hybrid angel men. Genesis 6.4 says these were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Mankind became increasingly corrupt and wicked. As a result, these Nephilim were likely the source of their worship, not Yahweh. The rebellious members of the divine council of God did it again, knowing that a seed would come from Eve that would save mankind and do away with the problem initiated by Satan. The Watchers corrupted mankind with wickedness through their breeding of Nephilim with their women. If this were to continue without stopping, what would be the outcome? Mankind would either not exist or be enslaved to the Nephilim. It was a perfect plan, except for one small problem it wasn't Yahweh's plan for them to succeed. The flood was the first move that our Lord made to reduce their efforts. This was the second time God started over with mankind due to their defiance, and it wouldn't be the last. The third major rebellion against Yahweh is recorded at the Tower of Babel in Genesis.

Lenny: 1:59

Before we dig into the rest of our storyline, let's see the context, beginning with our Romans passage that laid this topic before us in the first place. Romans David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically, I'd like to focus on concerning his son, who is descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power and the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. In Paul's intro we read that Christ Yeshua was descended from David, but if we take it back a bit, he was from Abraham's seed and even further.

Lenny: 3:15

We traced back the promise of Christ to Genesis in our last episode. Christ would be the seed that came from Eve to restore mankind. The restoration of mankind from the event in the garden does not come until Christ comes, but the coming of Christ would also restore the heavenly realms. As we learn, mankind is not the only creation that needed to be restored. We had watchers called sons of God rebelling against Yahweh in our Old Testament scriptures. Called sons of God rebelling against Yahweh in our Old Testament scriptures. But all the while, our Lord has promised to fix the problems that his creation is causing in heaven and on earth.

Lenny: 3:51

His plan involved a different kind of son than we see as the sons of God. In the case of Yeshua, most translations change the lowercase s in son to capital S. He is the son of God. What makes him so special? Because he is born directly of Yahweh and was also born fully human on earth. Not only that, his human lineage fulfilled prophecy. Part of this was being a descendant of David. As Paul points out here in Romans, yeshua dodged a spiritually dead birth by being born of heaven, but became fully man through his physical birth, through Mary, who was a virgin. Christ was a seed that came from Eve that would destroy Satan and his corruption and, once and for all, restore mankind back into his fellowship.

Lenny: 4:40

The question is, what does this restoration of fellowship look like? I think there are a lot of thoughts that come to mind when we hear these words, but we need to let scripture determine what is really meant by this, not our imagination. We'll look at this before the end of our episode, but not yet. When scripture tells us Christ was God's one and only son. The original language would tell us he was God's unique son. This son, christ Yeshua, was Yahweh in the flesh. This son was fully human and fully God. This son would ultimately allow all who believe in him to become sons of Yahweh. This is an incredible notion, being that sons of God prior to Christ were not human but rather divine beings.

Lenny: 5:25

In his letter to Corinth, paul writes Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life? Then Yeshua says For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. It would seem based on this that Christians represent Yahweh on earth in our human bodies and go on to represent Yahweh in his restored divine council, in the heavenly realm when we receive our new bodies that are fit for heaven and we will be above the angels. That's pretty cool. So we should never make light of our divine purpose here on earth. We have purpose now and we'll have purpose in heaven. Death isn't retirement for us. Can you imagine serving Yahweh directly in his counsel? But getting back to our storyline, yahweh leading the rebellious gods and watchers into his trap is where we learn a lesson in his sovereignty. No matter how bad things get, our Lord is always going to win. But let's see how Yahweh makes a beautiful ending out of what seems to be a complete and utter mess.

Lenny: 6:31

Continuing our story from last week and going into the scene of the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11 we read language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there, and they said to one another Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Any way you look at this, you see mankind rebelling against God. After the flood, yahweh promised not to flood the earth again and told Noah in Genesis 9, and you be fruitful and multiply, team on the earth and multiply in it. But what did they do instead? They wanted to all stick together and build a tower that reached the heavens. They didn't trust God and they didn't follow his commands. It was a total rebellion.

Lenny: 7:34

We know that the Nephilim were still around at that time, according to Genesis. Does it not seem suspicious that the Nephilim would have been a major part of this project? I think so, and if we look at the Hebrew word used for name in our Genesis 11 passage, we will find an interesting connection with the Nephilim. In Genesis 11, about the Tower of Babel, we read Then they said Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves. Name here is the Hebrew word shem, so let us make a shem for ourselves.

Lenny: 8:11

Then, back in Genesis 6, about the Nephilim, we read those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown, which would also say men of Shem. The definition of Shem according to Strong's is a primitive word through the idea of definite and conspicuous position. Compare in appellation as a mark or memorial of individuality, by implication, honor, authority, character. Then, according to blue letter bible, an outlined biblical usage of the word shem would be one name, two reputation, fame, glory. Three, the name as designation of God. 4. Memorial or monument. If we seek the best fit for the Nephilim, in my opinion men of renown is pretty good. If we look at synonyms of renown in Webster's we find celebrity, fame, notoriety. If we simply apply a simple synonym in the Babel passage, it could read Then they said Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make fame for ourselves. Except the fame the Nephilim were seeking would have been above the fame or name of Yahweh.

Lenny: 9:30

According to scholars, the Tower of Babel's story describes one of Mesopotamia's famous man-made sacred mountains, also known as Ziggurat. Ziggurats were dwelling places of divine deities, places where Mesopotamians believed heaven and earth intersected. What was being done here was not to honor Yahweh. Having that knowledge, we can fill in the blanks pretty well, I would say, as to what might have been on their minds. You feel like saying are you kidding me? You're going to defeat God? Come on, here we go again with that free will thought process. But what did Yahweh do?

Lenny: 10:07

In Genesis 11, we read Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So Yahweh dispersed them from there over the face of the earth. The Lord seems to be communicating with his divine counsel here, and then Yahweh himself spread them over the face of all the earth. So this is where nations become established, all across the horizon. This is where people were given different languages. But things get even more interesting if they haven't already.

Lenny: 10:37

Earlier in Genesis, it is recorded in the genealogy that there were 70 clans of Noah and, as we are about to read, these 70 clans become 70 nations and are appointed a god. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord's portion is his people, jacob, his allotted heritage Deuteronomy 32. Now some Bible translations read that he fixed the borders according to the sons of Israel. This is just simply a bad translation, because Israel was not one of these nations. They didn't exist. Yet this passage is describing the results of the one of these nations. They didn't exist yet.

Lenny: 11:21

This passage is describing the results of the Tower of Babel. Under the leadership of the Nephilim, mankind was rebelling against Yahweh, and Yahweh is basically saying I'm done with you. You will worship these lesser gods. Then at the end of the passage we read that Yahweh's portion is his people, israel, who were not there yet at the time of Babel. But in Genesis 12, 1-3, in Yahweh's covenant with Abram, he said all of the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram, through his descendants. Abraham's son, isaac, had a son, jacob. This Jacob was named Israel by Yahweh. Jacob was not only a Christ type but also the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, who were all of his sons. The Lord had a plan of redemption in mind from the beginning. He promised it to the serpent in Eden, then he promised it to Abraham. Jacob's sons would be the 12 tribes of Israel, but first they had to get led out of Egypt and get into that promised land, and the Nephilim who survived the flood were still around after the scattering of the nations at Babel.

Lenny: 12:21

In scripture we read of Yahweh instructing Joshua to destroy entire populations in the land of Canaan. Many see this as shockingly brutal. I mean, you're talking babies, and all, every one of them, had to go. Why would this be so necessary? When we understand the supernatural forces at hand, it makes a lot more sense. It's actually a whole lot more clear. When you study the conquest closely, you find that there are places where God told Joshua only to drive them out, not to kill them. The Lord did not need all the people killed. He needed all the giants killed.

Lenny: 12:56

The conquest begins with giants. The giants need to be wiped out. To me, this indicates that although the sons of God who began this mess had been put in chains in Tartarus or Sheol, the Nephilim were still increasing. They must have been breeding with humans themselves. At the beginning of the conquest, moses sent 12 spies into the land. They reported about the places they had visited and where they saw the giant Anakim. Ten of the 12 spies convinced the rest of the people they could not win against the Anakim. Yahweh then judged Israel with 40 years of wandering. At the end of the 40 years, the Lord took Israel through the east side of the Jordan and told them not to bother the people of Moab and Ammon, since the giant clans in those lands had already been removed by the people of Esau, who were relatives of the Israelites. Yahweh then sends Moses and Joshua to Bashan, the realm of Og, king of the Amorites. Og was the last of the Rephaim, as described by the prophet Amos. He was a giant. Once all the giants from the other side of the Jordan were removed, joshua could take the people into Canaan, and Joshua did. When Joshua defined victory in the conquest, he said there are no more Anakim in the land. The only ones left went to the Philistine cities. One of those cities was the home of Goliath and his brothers, the city of Gath.

Lenny: 14:22

We all know the story of David and Goliath, and David and his armies, equipped with what we read as mighty men of valor, wiped out the remaining giants. The stories are awesome. These men were spiritual warriors. David would declare we would have never won these battles without Yahweh. He knew that the Lord was with him. He was a man of faith. Do we actually believe? An average guy who raised sheep felt so powerful in and of himself that he could take on a giant in one-on-one combat. Not a chance, unless he was suicidal. He believed God. God said he would deliver Israel from their enemies. He knew that God didn't lie. He trusted Yahweh. So after Yahweh took care of business through David and his armies, the fallen angels who produced giants were locked up. The remaining giants were completely wiped out. They're not going to be reproducing any longer.

Lenny: 15:16

It would seem that the problem produced by the sons of God was finished. But what about demons? Where did these things come from? According to Michael Heiser's documentary film the Unseen Realm, the answer lies in the offspring produced by the forbidden union between the sons of God and the women in Genesis 6. It goes on to say extra-biblical Jewish writers believe the demons, like those described in the Gospels, were disembodied spirits of the giants. They base this on the Bible's mention of dead Raphaim in the underworld. Jewish books like 1 Enoch and the Book of the Giants from the Dead Sea Scrolls make that point explicitly. And then about extra-biblical writings, heiser writes the biblical text was produced by men who lived in the Near East and Mediterranean between the 2nd millennium BC and the 1st century AD. To understand how biblical writers thought, we need to tap into the intellectual output of that world. A vast amount of that material is available to us thanks to modern technology. So, basically, if we go by what ancient Hebrews wrote about and believed about demons, this is what we find. That's what we have.

Lenny: 16:28

And if you follow the logic, the Nephilim were hybrids. They were angel humans. Angels were created as eternal beings. Man was created mortal man could have only stayed alive with access to the tree of life that was in Eden. So you mix a mortal man with an angel. What happens when it dies? The spirit lives on and the giant body dies. The spirit would seem to be looking for a place to dwell and make its home. It wanted a new body. How does this apply to the finished work of Christ, you might ask? You say you're focused on the finished work of Christ. To the finished work of Christ, you might ask. You say you're focused on the finished work of Christ. I thought you'd never ask.

Lenny: 17:07

Regarding the 70 lesser gods placed over each nation, Yahweh says how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked, in Psalm 82,. He then declares a coming judgment. In Psalm 82 as well, I said you are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you. Nevertheless, like men. You shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, o God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations. We read here that the lesser gods would face a judgment. They would fall like any prince and die. This included Satan. Keep this in mind. These are beings created with eternal life that would die like men. Hold that thought. We'll be coming back to this point. But Yahweh would inherit all of the nations. He would bring back all of mankind under his rule again. This was part of his promise to Abraham In Genesis 17,. Behold, later we read in Genesis 17,. This promise contains the same promise that God made to the serpent or Satan in Eden. The promise was Christ.

Lenny: 18:29

During the ministry of Yeshua, the twelve disciples were sent out to declare the kingdom of God. They were instructed not to go to Gentile nations, but later Yeshua sent out seventy disciples into Gentile nations to declare that the kingdom of God was upon them. These disciples were given the power to cast out demons. They demonstrated the power of Yahweh in these nations that were under the rule of lesser gods. These lesser gods would be facing a judgment for ruling unjustly.

Lenny: 18:59

As it is written, they had clearly not been faithful to Yahweh. Stephen even says of these gods in Acts, chapter 7,. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets Did you bring me slain beasts and sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness O house? Did you bring me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness O house of Israel? So he handed them over to the host of heaven. Who's that? That's the other gods. These gods were certainly enticing even Yahweh's portion of the people. Throughout history, they wanted to keep mankind from worshiping Yahweh. When Yeshua began his ministry, these gods would have known that the anointed one had come and he just displayed his power among all of their nations.

Lenny: 19:50

Now, if you're Satan and leading the charge of these lesser gods to be judged, what would you be thinking right now? We have to stop Christ, and it seems that they decided we have to kill Christ. But then something interesting happens that they didn't catch. I think a lot of Christians might miss this too. We all know the story, but it's important to realize that they didn't capture Christ and begin to torture him. He handed himself over to them. He said here I am. It was for these reasons that Paul wrote. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2, 6-8.

Lenny: 20:46

This passage doesn't simply refer to the Jewish leaders. Just like in Eden, just like at the flood, just like at Babel, there were spiritual forces influencing mankind in rebelling against Yahweh in the unseen realms, and they must have realized their mistake soon after they had Christ killed at Pentecost. It just so happened that they were celebrating Pentecost on that day when Yeshua told the disciples to go into that room. In that room where the Spirit of God came upon them, all of the nations came together that day and the Spirit of Christ Yeshua caused the disciples to speak and be heard in each of their native languages. All of the nations were hearing the gospel being preached in their own language. Yahweh was reversing what happened at Babel. The Messiah had a ministry to the lost sheep of Israel. The twelve were devoted to preaching Christ among their Jewish brothers.

Lenny: 21:40

It was eventually revealed to Peter that Gentiles were going to receive the same spirit that the Jewish believers had received at Pentecost. Not only were the Jews scattered among the nations to be part of the body of Christ, but Gentiles who never knew the law would also be part of these good tidings. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3 16. Yahweh was bringing salvation to the whole world, not just Israel, and only here is defined by Strong's as single of its kind. In other words, yeshua was the unique son of God. He was not like the rest. He was Yahweh in the flesh and he was in power. Yahweh was power and he was in Yahweh. As we read in Romans concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power, and Paul, who was chosen directly by Yahweh to preach the gospel of grace to the Gentiles for the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name among all the nations.

Lenny: 22:46

There's no doubt that he was facing off against all of the rebellious members of Yahweh's divine council. This must be what he writes about to his church in Ephesus Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places Ephesians 6. So the question is did the apostles complete their mission? I say they absolutely did. I think most would agree with that. But the next question is one that tends to get people upset Did Christ Yeshua finish his work?

Lenny: 23:29

Many will say yes, at the cross and resurrection, and I agree. That was certainly some finished work going on there. But there's this commonplace view that Satan was defanged and declawed at the cross. Christ finished him in that way, we're told by some. But that's not the finished work that we read about in the prophets, psalm 82. I said you are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you. Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince Arise, o God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit. All the nations.

Lenny: 24:03

Then, about Satan, ezekiel wrote by the multitude of your iniquities. In the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries, so I brought fire out from your midst, it consumed you and I turned you to ashes on the earth and in the sight of all who saw you, all who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more so. When does this happen? When will Christ finish this work?

Lenny: 24:33

Well, most scholars agree that the apostles believed the second coming of Christ. Yeshua would be in their generation. Everyone they preached to they told he was coming very soon. Where did they get such an idea? Were they just confused? Actually, they received the information from Christ himself, who is not only Yahweh in human form but also a prophet.

Lenny: 24:55

If Yeshua says something is going to happen, we have to believe it. Right, yeshua told his disciples. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written Luke 21, 20, and then in Luke 21, 32. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Matthew 16, 27. For the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 24,.

Lenny: 25:47

Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them. You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. So what are we to do with this? People will proof text passages about not knowing the exact time and the days, like a thousand years, etc. Etc.

Lenny: 26:11

But a prophet is the mouthpiece of God and Christ was God. If what he reported was not 100% true, wouldn't he be a false prophet? This is going to trigger a lot of people, I know, but when push comes to shove I have to hold to what Yeshua taught. Yahweh knew how to tell time. There's not a single instance in our scripture where a prophecy was coming soon that did not occur. For another 2,000 years that would be called far off. When it comes to understanding prophecy, as Christians, we should start by believing Christ, not our pastor who says Jesus is coming soon. Start with Christ and work out the details from there. Yeshua was telling the truth.

Lenny: 27:02

The second coming, the destruction of the temple, the final judgment, the resurrection of the dead, happened in AD 70. It fulfilled all prophecy and was the final work of Christ Yeshua, bringing in the new heaven and the new earth, the new covenant age. I talk about this in other episodes. This was also when the divine council was reformed. The rebel gods and watchers, the demons all of it was thrown into the lake of fire Revelation, chapter 20, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown in the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. Then after that, in verse 14, death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And then don't forget what the prophets wrote about Satan and these rebellious gods.

Lenny: 27:55

Ezekiel 28, you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. Psalm 82, you are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince. Yahweh took life away from these eternal beings who were being judged. Mortal beings do not survive burning in a lake of fire. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake. Think about that a minute. Christ defeated death for the believer. And even more shocking, hades or Sheol. It's gone. You know that place called Abraham's bosom that many refer to as Yeshua, describing eternal torture. Most in error believe that this Hades was hell there actually is no hell in scripture but that Hades and Sheol, they're ashes. Now it's finished. No matter what you believe about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the whole scenario of our souls living on in Sheol, it's finished. All that has been burned to the ground, along with the temple of Jerusalem. There's only life eternally and death eternally. Life can only be found in Christ.

Lenny: 29:09

Yahweh divorced the unfaithful people of Israel and the law is over the temple. Worship has ended forever. National Israel is no longer God's holy people. It's no longer his holy land. We'll end up studying true Israel later. In Romans I've also covered it in a past episode Yahweh replaced that man-made temple with the body of Christ. We are the temple. We are the new Israel, which was the true Israel all along.

Lenny: 29:36

Though all of the prophesied work of Christ Yeshua is finished, he is still alive and well, living in and through each of us as Christians. A spiritual battle continues today, just in a different way. We are sons of God. We are also told in scripture. We will be like the angels God. We are also told in scripture. We will be like the angels and even above the angels. We will be in the divine council of heavenly hosts, and in a sense we already are.

Lenny: 30:01

Yahweh has restored fellowship to mankind. Yahweh has restored the fellowship to mankind that was lost in Eden. Those in Christ now represent him. We again bear his image and do his work on earth, and we are helped along in our ways by an uncorrupt host of heaven and, of course, the spirit of God living in us. We have been reconciled to God by the blood of Yeshua. My friends, we can now serve him in truth and in spirit. Mankind is still as corrupt as it was before, but those who believe in the Anointed One have been made perfect now and forever and rest in his love and grace. Nothing is better than serving the Lord freely from the heart, knowing that we are in a perfect fellowship with him 24-7. We don't need rules to love our Savior, do we?

Lenny: 30:49

All this really makes you wonder what things will be like in heaven. We certainly won't be lollygagging around and living the life of retirement. God's divine counsel has purpose. We'll have work to do for our Lord. Can you imagine how great that will be, how gratifying that will be? We will certainly be enjoying rest in his love as well. I don't think we have to worry about being overworked. That feeling is for here on earth. It makes you think of the scenario of that old TV show Highway to Heaven. Could there be saints sent to be our guardian angels and to guide us in our ways? I think that's very possible. Let's end with some wisdom from our Lord Christ, yeshua, john 20. Have you believed? Because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. You guys, have a great day out there, and may the Lord bless your week until we meet again.

announcement: 31:43

Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to Grace podcast brought to you by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you enjoyed today's episode, we would love to hear from you. You can send encouragement our way right from our episodes and transcripts page or reach Lenny privately from the contact form.