In Psalm 82 we read a most unusual statement providing a most uncomfortable
idea. Giving credence to such ideas as Adam-god theology adopted by
the Mormons, the statement found in Psalm 82 - “I said, ‘You are gods’”
- finds little expression or place in Christian teachings.
Yahshua cited this specific statement when responding to the Jew’s objection
to His claim - “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Upon taking
up stones to stone Him, He asked - “I showed you many good works from the
Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” “For a good work we
do not stone You,” they replied, “but for blasphemy; and because You, being
a man, make Yourself out to be God.” “Has it not been written in your
Law,” responded Yahshua, “‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them
gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You
are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
Of all the isolated statements in the Scriptures, it is interesting that
Yahshua cited this verse and that this event and His response were recorded
for us in the New Testament. We cannot so much address here the idea
specifically identified in this statement, but rather will look at its relationship
within Psalm 82, examining that which, in context, is associated with this
matter of being gods.
The entire statement found in Psalm 82:6 reads - “I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.’” Christians, of course,
are much more comfortable with the second part of that statement - “all of
you are sons of the Most High.” Being “sons of God” through faith in
Yahshua is pleasingly acceptable. Paul makes several references to
this specific relationship with God, including Galatians 3:26 where he plainly
states - “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
So, exactly who in Psalm 82 could be referred to or addressed here?
When the passage stated - “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are sons
of the Most High,’” as Paul clearly identified, obviously it is talking
about those who through faith are in Yahshua, i.e., of course Christians.
Through faith in Yahshua one becomes a son of the Most High. But this
passage in Psalm 82 relates some distressing information concerning the
sons of the Most High, and this is what we want to consider in this writing.
Like anyone today, we do not like to hear news or information about our
family which is not in the best light. We love to hear praises and accolades
concerning the good things about the family, but on the other hand wish to
avoid or skirt those things which do not fair so well, especially if the
reports are in an area in which our family claims to excel. But, in
order to have lasting truth, it is entirely best if one looks at the family
honestly. It is far better in the long run to walk in truth than to
make claims that simply cannot be the case. As Paul stated - “For we
can do nothing against the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8) - and thus it is best
to seek truth, even when truth is not so flattering or when it comes into
conflict with our favored ideologies.
These passages in Psalm 82 afford one of those honest looks at the sons
of the Most High. By taking an honest look at it, we can learn some
very important information concerning Christianity and the kingdom of God.
Following is the verse we have just considered; but we will also include
each verse both preceding it and following it in order to see its entire
honest message.
They do not know nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
I said, “You are gods,
And all of you are sons of the Most High.
Nevertheless you will die like men,
And fall like any one of the princes.”
The last verse of this passage is the statement we want to deal with in
this writing, but it is the preceding verse that would rub many Christians
the wrong way. Christianity likes to think that they are the bearers
of truth, and in fact they are on the right track of truth; but even so, they
as the sons of the Most High are in fact still blind. Even a blind
man can tell you truth concerning his surroundings, but he has his limits;
likewise, so does Christianity. As the sons of God still in this cursed
flesh, as it is written here in Psalm 82, they do not know nor do they understand;
they walk about in darkness!
If the church were not blind, then one must ask the obvious question -
Why can’t it agree within its own borders as to what is truth? 22,000
divisions within Christianity, each passionately and confidently claiming
to have the truth, are clear evidence of its blindness. If Christians
were not blind, seeing all things clearly, then they would agree upon those
things relating to the King and the kingdom with which they make claim to
represent. Their failure to be able to do so is sure evidence that
they as sons of the Most High are in fact blind; they do not know nor do
they understand, even as written here in the Psalm. (2,000 years of
flawed, corrupt, and often brutal church history equally supports the reality
of this darkness.)
It is to the advantage of Christians that they acknowledge their blindness.
Yahshua told the religious men who refuted their own blind state with the
question, “We are not blind too, are we?” - “If you were blind, you would
have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see’; your sin remains” (John 9:40-41).
The church has continued to remain in its sins of division and Phariseeism
for 2,000 years.
But this is not the point of this writing, nor is this observation being
made as a malicious or critical attack. We must understand that this
2,000 year long period of the church is a highly flawed and often corrupt
period of the kingdom of God (declared beforehand by Yahshua in Matthew
13:24-33 and, once again, obviously confirmed in 2,000 years of church history,
including an honest look at the church today). This corruption and
shortfall of the church leads us to the point of this writing: to consider
the other half of this statement concerning the sons of the Most High - “Nevertheless
you will die like men, and fall like any one of the princes.”
As was just stated, this 2,000 year period of the church, including today,
is a shortfall. It is imperfect, it is corrupt, and it is marked by
the curse. What was the curse on man? That in the day in which
man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die.
Adam man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 6,000 years
ago and died; church man has eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil kingdom of God for 2,000 years, and Christian man has died (see
Two Trees In The Garden.). Even though prophesied in the Scriptures,
it should be noted that for men to continue dying while possessing the kingdom
of God, evidences that something is afoul in the kingdom. Psalm 82
says - “all of you are sons of the Most High.
Nevertheless you
will die like men.” Why is the word “nevertheless“ in that statement?
Because the question must arise -
Why are the sons of the Most High dying
like men? The sons of the Most High, the sons of God, should not
be dying. Death is reserved for those under the curse. Death
is a consequence of the enemy of God getting the upper hand (1 Corinthians
15:26). Death is a part of a kingdom that has been conquered by Satan
(lit. of Hebrews 2:14 - Satan “has the power of death”).
But all three of these associations with death are evidenced within the
kingdom of God. First, Christians still die as under the curse.
Second, the enemy, the prince of this world (Ephesians 2:2, 1 John 5:19),
has the upper hand, even in the kingdom of God, attested to by the discord
and division within the kingdom, by the corruption of the teachings and the
actions of those within the kingdom, and finally, bringing us to the third
point, evidenced by the fact that the sons of the kingdom in the end are conquered
by the enemy in death. Yes, Christians are sons of the Most High, nevertheless
they die like all other cursed, deceived, and carnal men.
This should not be this way! The sons of the Most High should not
be overcome by the curse, by the enemy! The sons of the Most High should
have everlasting life. Yahshua said - “Truly, truly, I say to you,
if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death” (John 8:51). Where
are those who will never see death as promised by Yahshua? All men
in total thus far in the kingdom of God have in fact in the end seen death!
Where are those who will fulfill this promise, lest Yahshua never would have
made it?
It should be obvious that sickness and death within the kingdom of God
are contradictory to the kingdom, as well as to the King of the kingdom
(who delivered everyone who came to Him from sickness and death). The
“nevertheless” in the statement in Psalm 82 is a statement identifying that
something is contrary. You are sons of the Most High,
nevertheless
you die like men. Dying like men is not an appropriate end for the
sons of the Most High. Something is wrong when the sons of the Most
High, the sons of God, are dying like mere men. The death of the sons
of God in the kingdom of God, though foreknown by God, is in fact contradictory
and inferior to what should be occurring in the kingdom. Why do the
sons of God still die? Moses provided an answer to this question, relating
particularly to death in general.
Not found in Genesis or in one of the books of the law, but found in the
Psalms we read a prayer of Moses which relates why men die. Beginning
in verse 3 of Psalm 90 we read:
You turn man back into dust,
And dost say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes, and sprouts anew;
Towards evening it fades, and withers away.
Men have been swept away by death like a flood for 6,000 years; nonetheless,
He continually replenishes man - sprouting forth in the morning, yet withering
away in the evening. And beginning in verse 7 we read why Yahweh continues
to bring man to death.
For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger,
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
We read here that man has been consumed by death because of the anger of
Yahweh. Our iniquities are placed before Him and He continues to afflict
man with the pain of death, even the sons of the Most High. One would
think that when Yahshua brought forgiveness of sins, Yahweh’s anger would
be satisfied and men would no longer die because of His wrath. This
should have been the case; but, men continue to transgress, even the sons
of God. Yahshua promised that those who keep His word would never
see death.
Obviously there has not been anyone yet to keep His
word, since all men up to now have in fact died.
Psalm 99 provides some answer as to how Yahweh provides forgiveness through
Yahshua, yet still holds us accountable for our actions. In verse
8 we read:
You were a forgiving God to them,
And yet an avenger of their deeds.
As the sons of God, Christians neither order their personal lives nor the
affairs of the kingdom as representatives of their Father. Rather,
they are a mix of both the good of the Father as well as the evil of both
their flesh and Satan. This mix of good and evil requires an avenging
of their deeds, even when forgiveness is provided through Yahshua.
And one must keep in mind here that the forgiveness and mercy of God will
prevail. There may be discipline for the moment, but the sacrifice
of Yahshua will in time bring us all to a perfect state and relationship
with the Father.
But for today, and the way it has been in the kingdom for 2,000 years,
the sons of God die when in fact it is a curse for them to do so, even a
testimony of their failure to keep the words of Yahshua, and is evidence
that our iniquities remain before Him leading to His wrath. Someone
can quote Psalm 103:10-14 all day long (our transgressions are removed from
us “as far as the east is from the west”),
but so long as the sons of
God die, so long as death is the end of every man, then without question
Psalm 90 prevails - “we have been consumed by Your anger,” an anger that
has not ceased for 6,000 years, despite the kingdom period initiated by Yahshua
some 2,000 years ago.
Considering this, the question that demands to be resolved should not be
the inappropriateness of death in the kingdom of God, a rather obvious conflict
when one honestly ponders this lingering curse in the kingdom, but rather
- How long must this “nevertheless” fate continue, and what will bring its
end? We will consider these important questions in the remainder of
this writing.
John the Baptist and Yahshua came into this world precisely 2,000 years
ago as of the year of the writing of this piece, 1999. Can there be
any hope, any significance to this point in time? Depending on where
Yahweh marks time, of course; but as we will see, the completion of a period
of 2,000 years is exceptionally important!