THE DIVINE COUNCIL 

DIVINE COUNCIL REVISED EDITION 08JAN25

THE DIVINE COUNCIL

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. Psalm 82:1

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints, 6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Psalm 89:5–7

Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Nehemiah 9:6

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. Job 1:6

And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 1 Kings 22:19

This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Daniel 4:17             

The Divine Council is also referred to as The Sons of Elohim

In English - The sons of God  

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Genesis  6:2, 4

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. Job 1:6, 

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2:1

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:7

The word Elohim in the Hebrew Bible is used for — not just God Almighty, but is also used for other Eternal Beings—

Like Principalities, angels (messenger), the gods of the nations, heavenly hosts, divine council etc. 

However, “angel” really would not describe the class of beings that these entities are. Angel in the Hebrew means “messenger” These eternal beings that are described as “Sons of Elohim” are not messengers, they rank much higher on the pecking order than an angel-messenger. What would better describe them is “Chief Princes”— Daniel 10, 12 and 21. Paul describes them in Ephesians 6:12 this way:

 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" Ephesians 6:12

Therefore, traditionally what we refer to in general terms as  “angels” — isn’t a type of eternal being or “species” but a type of job description of ministering spirits. Hebrews 1:14 reveals that angels ARE ministering spirits. Sons of Elohim are eternal beings, better described as Chief Princes or principalities (a prince without a king). 

However, the Lord God Jehovah also called —  ʼĒl ʻElyōn (Hebrew) 'God Most High' created all things and He, as revealed through the Scriptures, created a ruling class of eternal beings that are self conscious, have free will choice and their own personality traits. Religious tradition lumps them all together as angels or demons but a simple Hebrew study reveals otherwise. As far as we know these entities cannot create as Jehovah, God Most High. 

They have been esteemed by “the disinherited nations as gods because Jehovah gave them to the nations and to those nations they ARE gods but in reality they are NOT the One True God Most High (ʼĒl ʻElyōn). 

8 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. [Compare Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text sons of Israel] 9 But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage —Deuteronomy 32:8-9. 

Here at some point in history The Lord God Jehovah Judges them For not ruling right over their assigned nation.

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 —Psalm 82 1-2. 

RELIGIOUS TRADITION 

Religious traditions have always tried to make decisions for us and man almost always messes things up. For example during the Babylonian Exile, In their religious zeal, Rabbis stop writing the Name of Jehovah so, no one could take the Lord’s Name in vain. Religious Tradition lumped all spirits together into angels or demons. There are hundreds of examples over the two millennia of the Church where zeal without knowledge is not good - Proverbs 19:2.

The One God doctrine which is in fact CANON, but uneducated people who press into the original language and start to see the same word for a spiritual entity that isn’t God but still called an “Elohim” the plural form of God in Hebrew will be confused and draw conclusions that are NOT CANON because they do not take in consideration all scriptures with the passage at hand. This takes years of study with revelation knowledge of God’s character— the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning—James 1:17. 

Over the centuries many have failed to be true to the revelation of Jesus Christ and that God only does good.  As they study the Scriptures and draw wrong conclusions and ratify error into doctrine. Some, in Christendom believe in multiple gods. The theological word for a believer in multiple gods is "polytheist" this of course is error. There is only One True God and He is The Lord God Jehovah.

There are Demon worshiped as a gods — lower case “g” gods— in Hebrew this is the singular form of god "Eloah" (אֱלֹהַ). The Torah (what we Christians often refer to as The Old Testament) uses this form for a “god” other than The Lord God Jehovah.  

The word Elohim is in fact the plural form of God and uneducated people might mistakenly think that the Bible is saying their is more than one deity. Elohim is much like the word “sheep”— there is no singular form for it. We know if one is talking about a singular sheep or a flock of sheep by the other words in the sentence— this is called “context”. If you take Scripture out of its context, a devil will con you with the text. Therefore it is important to understand the context of the text. The Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible will never contradict Himself. This is how we can establish the context of what is being ratified as CANON. 

The Bible, emphasizes that the Being we refer to as God, is the one true God and there is no other Elohim like Him— 

and said, 

“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart —1 Kings 8:23. 

There is no one like the Lord God Jehovah. He is One, Father Son Holy Spirit - The Great I AM.

THE DIVINE COUNCIL’S MODUS OPERANDI 

Apparently God “workshop” things out with these chief princes. We see this in 1 Kings 22:19–23. Now be mindful of the fact that this is after The Fall of Mankind and all three Great Eternal Rebellions—So, not all beings are righteous at this point in history. But we can see how the divine council works:

Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23 Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.” 

—1 Kings 22:19–23 NKJV

At this point I don’t want to go into schematics here but let me emphasize that God was NOT participating with a lie but ALLOWING this entity to lie because this king “broke covenant” with Jehovah. Even though in verse 23, the English translation says that “the Lord “PUT” a lying spirit in the mouths of the false prophets — quickly and simply, “the Lord ALLOWED it”— ALLOWING wouldn’t contradict the CANON of the Word of God —God CANNOT lie. No— never! God does not lie. Nor, does He participate with a lie. In simple contemporary terms — a fallen spirit, commonly referred to as a demon was allowed by God, because this fallen spirit had spiritual legal rights to deceive this ungodly Ahab. Often people think and say: “Why is God doing this to me?” He didn’t. People wander off into the demonic territory and give the kingdom of darkness permission to deceive and violate them. 

Even many Hebrew scholars like Robert Young 10SEP1822 — 14OCT1888 discuss that what is translated or better yet interpreted in the original Hebrew as COMMISSION-VOICE should be as PASSIVE-VOICE. Therefore, it is NOT the willful commission or judgment from God but in reality is a permissive declaration— as if God is saying: “This is what your actions have created.” God did not create sin, the curse or death nor did He want it to happen —  The willful rebellion of these eternal beings created it. God only creates good. 

Job 15 addresses the fall of these entities:

Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes. Job 15:15 YLT

Do not let the Word “Holy” throw you here. When we think of “holy” it means good and set apart from evil but holy, in this context can also imply POSITIONED not a divine condition. God positioned these eternal beings and they didn’t stay put. Some of them, as we will discuss, did some pretty horrible things to us. From the Father’s stand point— child molestation would better describe it. What that serpent of old did in the Garden was a type of spiritual child molestation. 

Some scholars say that Eden was the headquarters of God, and He wanted His heavenly beings as well as His human beings to express His image in the Earth. One family in heaven and earth blended together, expressing God‘s glorious attributes.

Unfortunately, not all family members liked that idea; one of them was Lucifer — now referred to by the New Testament as the god of this world—2 Corinthians 4:4. 

Three Eternal Rebellions

Now, what happened in Eden was just one of the reasons why there’s so much hurt and evil in this fallen world; according to the Bible, there’s at least two more catastrophic rebellious events. 

Rebellion 1

LUCIFER 

hêlēl הֵילֵל, (Hebrew) meaning “Shining One” or Morning Star or Light Bearer. God created Lucifer, He did not create Ha’Satan — "the accuser" or through the Greek "the devil", which is another religious tradition that the word devil is his personal name when in fact it is his chosen profession— like the word angel, devil is not Lucifer’s personal name or type of species but it is his self appointed job description. Devil (from the Greek) or Ha’Satan (from the Hebrew) means accuser, opposer or slanderer— amongst other definitions. 

It’s seems through the Scriptures that this Morning Star began to sing a new tune for himself:

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

— Isaiah 14:13-14 KJV

Ezekiel reveals an element of Lucifer’s pre fallen condition:

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

— Ezekiel 28:14 KJV

Lucifer is his name, and his profession is satan/devil, adversary, one who strikes until he breaks through— and the list goes on and on what he does— he steals, kills and destroys — John 10:10. 

According to the Scriptures, Lucifer sparked the first of three catastrophic eternal rebellions. 

Rebellion 2

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

—Genesis 6:1–5 KJV

Peter Addresses The Second Rebellion

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

—2 Peter 2:4-5 KJV

Jude, one of Jesus younger brothers addressed this historical moment:

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. — Jude 6 KJV 

The Nephilim were the descendants of this horrible violation. The Bible can be pretty blunt in its wording and other places it has some politeness through euphemisms. Since this is my blog where I’m sharing my study and thoughts, I have to say that when the Bible says “they took them wives of all which they chose” This is just my feelings on it— I cannot prove it— so I won’t argue over it but these entities raped these human women. It wasn’t a spiritual romantic courtship that produced these superhuman beings. 

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. — Genesis 6:4

They are also called “Rephaim” and several Bible passages describe the Rephaim in the realm of the dead— what we call hell. 

An extra biblical writing discovered at the Dead Sea called “The Book Of The Giants” make the point that the spirits of the giants are what we call demons. 

These giants are also called Anakim:

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath —Amos 2:9.  

Much of what we call the Old Testament is spiritual warfare to preserve the  Messianic family line from Abraham through David to Jesus. 

They are also called “Rephaim” and several Bible passages describe the Rephaim in the realm of the dead— what we call hell. 

An extra biblical writing discovered at the Dead Sea called “The Book Of The Giants” make the point that the spirits of the giants are what we call demons. 

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath —Amos 2:9.  

Much of what we call the Old Testament is spiritual warfare to preserve the  Messianic family line from Abraham through David to Jesus. 

But before we get to this spiritual revelation, let’s talk about the tower of Babel.

REBELLION 3

The Tower, the 3rd great rebellion:

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth…

…And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech…

…9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. — Genesis 11:4,6-7,9.

This is also at this point in earthly history we see the Most High God dividing the nations to these eternal beans that have rebelled against Him. These nations are also referred to as the disinherited nations – at least until Jesus comes. 

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance— Deuteronomy 32:8–9. 

The Dead Sea scrolls manuscripts do NOT say “according to the number of the children of Israel” but they say — “the sons of God”. Some updated versions even say— “heavenly court” (NLT) the Contemporary English Version says— that God Most High gave land to every nation. He assigned a guardian angel to each of them. I would have word it “a chief prince” because angel is not a ranking position in the heavenly court. 

Remember that these princes are now lacking a King, therefore, they are called principalities. A principality is a kingless domain but still has a prince in charge. 

Psalm 82 addresses these Principalities for failing their responsibilities

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. 7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations— Psalm 82:1-2 KJV. 

This is The Divine Council now ruling unjustly their portion and God Judges them. This also reinforced in Isaiah

For wrath [is] to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their HOST, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter.

3 And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood. 4 And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree. Isaiah 34:2,4 YLT

In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. Isaiah 24:21

Daniel refers to these heavenly hosts, more commonly referred to as angelic beings or entities— Princes. 

20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince —Daniel 10:20-21 KJV.

All the underlined are heavenly hosts as well as the angel (messenger) speaking to Daniel— Michael is loyal to the Most High, therefore he is NOT a principality put still a Prince for he serves the King of Kings and the Lord of lords.

This also reflects the spiritual warfare that is going on to this day and the separation of humankind from Almighty God. 

Everything is governed by spiritual laws

God seeded the earth with Adam and Eve. His trusted divine court rebelled against Him and took Mankind with them into spiritual Death. From the very beginning He set a master plan to redeem us back from the powers of darkness and replace this Council with His born-again children. 

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. —Genesis 3:15 KJV

Many scholars call this the Protoevangelium — the first inkling of The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was hidden from “the eternal rebels” from the beginning and sprinkled throughout the Old Covenant. 

Jacob wrestled with one of these eternal beings who referred to himself as the God of Bethel — See GENESIS 31:13 and GENESIS 32 for the wrestling match. Some say this is an angel representing God others say this pre incarnated Jesus. 

Jacob refers to this event as an elder about to bless his grandchildren. 

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth — Genesis 48:15–16 KJV. 

Now the concept that this entity was not The Lord Jesus Christ but still an angel still holds merit. 

My Name Is In Him

20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him — Exodus 23:20–21 KJV. 

When God says He put His Name in the angel He is basically saying that He put His personal essence into the angel. 

There is something about a name— it represents our character— or at least what our parents hope we live up to. In western civilization name don’t mean much but spiritually speaking— it does. What you call yourself matter and who you identify yourself matters. This is why a lot of Hebrew names have “EL” in them it represents Elohim —God and when you are in Covenant with God you want to declare it. You want heaven, earth and hell to understand who you are spiritually affiliated with that’s COVENANT PRINCIPLES. 

Scripture Sources Of The Divine Council:

Psalm 82: Describes God taking his place in the divine council and holding judgment among the gods.

1 Kings 22:19–23: The prophet Micaiah has a vision of Yahweh seated among the "whole host of heaven. 

Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7: The "Sons of God" assemble in the presence of Yahweh.

Isaiah 6: The prophet takes on the role of a messenger of the assembly.

Amos 3:7: Describes the Lord's "sod" (Hebrew for council) as being revealed to his prophets.

Job 15:8: Eliphaz insists that Job has not sat in the "sod" and therefore cannot understand God's will.

IMAGE OF GOD

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. —Genesis 1:26-27 KJV

Many feel that God was addressing the other members of the Trinity. Well, they didn’t need to communicate to each other like we do, only when Jesus emptied Himself of His Godhead do we hear this type of dialogue. Before this they were One in Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omnipotence — they thought together and now that Jesus has returned to the Father, they are that way again. They are One God, Most High manifested in three Persons. God in Genesis chapter 1 was addressing the divine counsel when He made Adam and Eve in the Image of God.

We humans were created to “Image God” to this world but the great fall of mankind forfeited that plan and made Lucifer the god of this world:

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them — 2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV 

Essentially God made mankind as god over this world

Were we equal to Lord God Jehovah? — NO. But we were to be god to this planet. 

To image God is a position that we have in the Earth —to be human is to “image God” and God also shares His attributes with us. We ARE god to this world. In fact within the ministry I often declare we are “reflecting the heart of the Father to a dying world” and when we minister to the lost we are the image of God in Christ Jesus to them in that moment. Of course an elder in the Body of Christ will quickly root that newly born again child in the Word of God in the who and what they are in Christ Jesus so they are no longer looking to us but only as ambassadors of Christ and as brothers in Christ who worship the living God in spirit and in Truth— John 4:23.

In the beginning, God wanted the whole Earth to be like the garden of Eden and God assigned humankind to make it that way— the way; He created the universe with the words of His mouth; we were AND ARE to rule in this life— in Christ Jesus. With this revelation that all humans are made in the image of God, reveals that our fellow humans and human life possess a type of sacred status, thus leaving no no room for murder, racism, sexism or abuse into subjugating someone else into shadow slavery. The abuse of power in the home, at work or in government is unacceptable. 

When God created humankind in His image, He gave humankind free-wills therefore, we could choose to love Him or not, obey His design for us or not. In fact, all of God‘s free-will beings from one extreme to another, have rebelled against Him. Fortunately not all have rebelled.