Guest AuthorGiven that only two angels are explicitly named in Scripture (Michael and Gabriel), it is unsurprising that they have garnered a lot of attention, speculation, and reverence throughout the centuries—in both religious tradition and popular media.
Michael S. HeiserDr. Michael S. Heiser is the author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible and has taught many Mobile Ed courses, including Problems in Biblical Interpretation: Difficult Passages I. In the excerpt from his book...
This excerpt on circumcision in the Bible is adapted from Dr. Heiser’s book I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible (see all Dr. Heiser’s books). *** Circumcision is a topic mentioned nearly 100 times in the Bible. It is a central focus for...
We are prone to make assumptions about God and his favor when life has us down due to sin, mistakes, or incomprehensible circumstances. Of all the Scripture passages we might turn to during these times, the bizarre vision that opens the book of...
Most children who’ve attended Sunday school classes can tell you what happened at the Tower of Babel. King Nimrod wanted to be famous, so he convinced the people of Babylon to build a great tower that would reach heaven. God could see that the...
Faithlife StaffHe’s the universe’s public enemy number one, the chief opponent of God and his people, and the leader of uncounted demonic forces. Jesus says he’s been a murderer from the beginning, and he’s engaged in an all-out war against the forces of good in...
Who are the Elohim? Is it God? Multiple gods? Read Dr. Michael Heiser’s explanation of the origin of the Elohim from The Unseen Realm.
Who are the Nephilim? In the sixth chapter of Genesis, we’re confronted with a curious reference to the Nephilim. Who are they? Were they a race who came to be through the mingling of divine beings and the daughters of men? Were the Nephilim...
Elisha’s healing of Naaman in the Bible (the leper [and] commander of the army of the king of Syria) is a familiar story to many (2 Kgs 5:1–27). Naaman hears that Elisha, the prophet of Israel, can heal him, so he makes the trip. When the two meet...
Who are Gog and Magog, and where are they located? Explore various geographical and spiritual interpretations.
Most of us have probably gone through a period in our Christian lives (or are still there) when we thought about little else than what the Bible says about end times prophecy. In this post, Dr. Michael Heiser offers his thoughts on why there is so...
Everyone familiar with the Bible knows it talks about angels and demons. But most would be surprised to learn that there’s no verse in the Bible that explains where demons came from. Christians typically assume that demons are fallen angels, cast...
Are demons fallen angels? Is the Satan figure as the archnemesis of God foreign to the Old Testament? Did a third of the angels fall from heaven before humanity’s fall? The following excerpt from Demons by Michael S. Heiser is adapted from the...
This post is excerpted from The Bible Unfiltered by Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 has been spectacularly depicted several times for television and movies. But anyone who retraces the steps of Moses and the...
Most of us have read John 5:1–9—the story of the blind, paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda—many times. But I’ll bet there’s something that escaped your attention. Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is...
Many people can recite John 3:16, but how many know what John 3:14–15 says? Jesus’ words in these two verses have generated confusion and controversy: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that...
In one of the more enigmatic verses in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The question isn’t about the “what” of Jesus’ statement. It’s clear that Satan is under judgment...
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!… I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:17–18). The “gates of hell”? Why did Jesus respond to Peter’s confession, “You are...
In Exodus 3, God famously appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him to rescue the Israelites. Fearing nobody will believe him, Moses says, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they...
As finite beings in a finite universe, it’s almost impossible for us to imagine what God was doing before time and matter as we know it was created. Was God alone? Was he adrift in a vast nothingness? Does the Bible give us any indication what life...
When we think of creation, we think of everything beginning with God’s spoken word—as Genesis 1 tells us. But some Old Testament writers concentrate on another aspect of creation—and a weird one at that. In Psalm 74, in the middle of God’s ordering...
In modern stories people destined for greatness rarely start off privileged. They are dropped off at the doorstep of an orphanage or abandoned in the rain. This literary motif goes back to ancient stories, where writers use the abandoned child theme...
Lexicons are commonly used for studying biblical languages. It may shock you, then, that I discourage beginning Hebrew and Greek students from using them. I’m not kidding. I’d be happy if beginning students never used them. I don’t diminish lexicons...
Judaism and Christianity disagree in a number of ways. The most fundamental impasse is obviously Jesus. Christians embrace Jesus as the God of Israel incarnate, the messiah who came to earth to offer himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of...