Chapter 1: What Does God Want?

God Wanted a Family | Meditation on a Book | What Does God Want? Series | Jesus Christ | Christianity

Image credit: Inside Weddings

Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Summary and Preview | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

God Wanted a Family

Let’s dive into Chapter 1. God wanted a family. Author Dr. Michael S. Heiser states this up front and expounds upon it. Some key points in the chapter are that God:

• Enjoys a supernatural family, the “sons of God” who He created before creating humans (Job 38:4-7)

• Created humanity, His earthly family, because He wants to enjoy relationship with us, with you

• Made us His image bearers on Earth to partner with Him in His earthly work and to represent Him on Earth

• Seeks you out; He created you in His image and you matter to Him—a lot

Meditations on Chapter 1

I’ll be honest. There’s a lot going on in the world, in the lives of people I know, and in our lives that weigh down my heart at times. I’ll guess, dear reader, you may have similar experiences. And yet, the Lord kept encouraging me this week to press into the truth of His goodness and His heart toward His family. The bullet point above where I reference Job 38:4-7 prompted powerful visuals in my imagination. Before I quote the verse, who are these “sons of God”? Typically, we simply state they are angels.

SONS OF GOD (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים, beney ha'elohim; υἱοὶ θεοῦ, huioi theou). Angels or members of a heavenly host of beings (Gen 6; Job 1:6; 2:1; Deut 32:8; see also Job 38:7; Pss 29:1; 89:6; Dan 3:25). The “sons of God” may be members of the divine council (Pss 82:1; 89:5–7) and may be related to the Nephilim and the Rephaim. In the New Testament, this relationship to the divine comes by adoption (Rom 8:15). Jesus calls peacemakers “sons of God” (Matt 5:9; Luke 6:35), and children of God become so through faith in the Son of God (Rom 8; Gal 3:26).

Matthew James Hamilton, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016.
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Bible commentaries state that the Hebrew word elohim refers to Yahweh, Almighty God, the one-and-only, Creator. And the word, combined with beney (or benei) meaning sons, refers to the supernatural family members God created, who we typically call angels:

Job 1:6 The Hebrew phrase used here, bene elohim, which may be literally rendered as “sons of God,” refers to spiritual beings who (in this instance) are part of God’s council—the divine council. For this reason, some translations render the phrase bene elohim here and elsewhere as “angels.”

John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), on Job 1:6.

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Did you catch the words: God’s divine council? We’ll go deeper in future meditations. For chapter 1, I want to focus on this: God has a spiritual family in the unseen realm (heaven). And yet, He wanted a human family on Earth, created to be His image bearers, and here we are. What happened at creation?

Job 38:4-7 (ESV)

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

    Tell me, if you have understanding.

5  Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

    Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk,

    or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together

    and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [ Emphasis mine]

All of heaven, all of the intelligent spiritual beings, celebrated!

Powerful images filled my imagination. I imagined a huge wedding reception party in the largest ballroom heaven could hold. Heaven was filled with food, beverages, music, laughter, love…and family. In my imagination, they all had a huge party! They sang and shouted for joy, God and His supernatural family, when He created His human family, His image bearers. Us.

Imagers of God

 Heiser continues near the end of the chapter to bring home this important point; one we need to “own” in the very depths of our being:

Genesis 1:27 (NET)

27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”

We are different from the other, nonhuman creatures God created, in heaven and on Earth. We are unique, and this truth goes against what paganism teaches and believes: Oneness, all are god and god is all.

Nope.

This is what’s true:

• We were created to image God, to represent Him

• God wants us to participate with Him, to work with Him, in managing His earthly creation

• He shares His attributes with us—intelligence and creativity

• We have a profound identity as God’s image bearers, and we need to see others through this lens

• God gave us a job, a purpose; to care for His creation and care for fellow image bearers, our human family members

God created me, created you, in His image. Therefore you and I matter to Him—a great deal. He seeks us out, a shepherd concerned about one lost sheep out of a flock of 99 (Luke 15).

All of this is why I answered my opening question the way I did. What does God want? He wants you. He wants a family. He wants co-workers. He wants you to know who you are and why your life has value to him.

Dr. Michael S. Heiser, page 12, “What Does God Want?”

Your Turn

Meditate (read slowly, prayerfully) on the above with an open heart, as if you’re reading God’s creation plan for the first time. What is God asking you to embrace and embed in your heart?

If you’re a new believer, or a not-yet-believer, pray and ask God to reveal His heart to you, how He thinks of you, and what His purpose is for you.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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