"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One [Hebrew Mashiach].
"Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." (Psalm 2)
This passage predicts that the kings and rulers of the world will one day violently resist God and His Messiah, but they will fail miserably. The end result is that the nations of the world which are presently the possession of the fallen angelic "world powers" will become the possession and "inheritance" of God's Son, the Messiah. These verses are commented upon within the Kabbalist's bible, the Zohar:
Volume 9 Beshalach, Section 22, verse 309:
"Rabbi Yitzchak said: This verse refers to the time when The Holy One, blessed be He, will attire Himself with majesty over the nations that shall gather against Him, as it is written: "And the princes take counsel together, against Hashem, and against His anointed" (Tehilim 2:2).
As we have learned seventy generals of armies shall gather from every side at that time with the hosts of the entire world to wage war against Jerusalem, the Holy City, and to plan against the Holy One, blessed be He. What do they say? 'Let us rise against the protector first, and then against His people and His sanctuary'."
A. E. Waite was an occult historian, high level Freemason and former member of the Golden Dawn who was also a very serious scholar of the Kabbalah. A brief passage in his book The Holy Kabbalah shows that he understood these apocalyptic themes and predictions which found their way into Kabbalistic teaching from the Old Testament:
"A great king will rise up and will conquer the world. There will be war against Israel, but the chosen people shall be delivered. According to one account, the seventy celestial chiefs who rule the seventy nations of the earth will marshal all the legions of the world to make war on the sacred city of Jerusalem, but they will be exterminated by the power of the Holy One."
Kabbalistic teaching has many Gnostic, Pagan, and Occult overtones, especially when it comes to communicating with the spirit world as a shortcut to determining the will of God. However, these Torah-forbidden Pagan influences are not enough to overshadow the influence of the Old Testament, which predicts the eventual downfall of the very spirits that the Kabbalist places his faith in as guides of his spiritual quest.
So the question that must be addressed is the final fate of the Kosmokrator "gods." These "gods" are portrayed by many sources as holy angels, as spiritually evolved "Ascended Masters," or as benevolent extra-terrestrials, and they are credited as being humanity's ancient teachers, our future saviors, and even as our original creators. Occult sources including Pagan mythology, Hermetic literature, Aleister Crowley, Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, and channeled messages from UFO cults and New Age mystics, all predict that the "New Age" of peace and enlightenment will come with the appearance of these "gods" to accepted and outward positions in human society. With their guidance it is believed that mankind will spiritually evolve, realize our inherent inner divinity, and finally become the gods that we have always been, just as the Serpent promised in the Garden of Eden.
The Judeo-Christian tradition speaks of a different fate for these "gods" and for the human beings who are deceived into following them. We have already looked at Psalm 82, in which God sits in the Divine Council and judges against the "gods" because they have abused their positions of authority. God says that their final end will be "death" and that the nations will become God's "inheritance." Psalm 2, above, similarly explains that the "rulers" of the earth will be destroyed when they resist God and the nations will then become the inheritance of the Messiah.
Daniel 7 is the description of an apocalyptic dream that was given to the Hebrew prophet Daniel who was living in exile in Babylon. In this dream the Gentile nations of the world are represented as four great Beasts and the final Beast represents a kingdom that will conquer the entire world. God is predicted to destroy this Beast, and following that Daniel witnesses the transition of global authority into the hands of a figure who is referred to as a "Son of Man":
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14)
In the New Testament Jesus of Nazareth claimed that He was this very "Son of Man" mentioned enigmatically by the prophet Daniel, who would "inherit" all the nations of the world. Before His crucifixion Jesus was put on trial by the chief priests of the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas the High Priest demanded of Jesus, "Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." In response Jesus said,
"Yes, it is as you say... But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:64)
Because of this statement the High Priest accused Jesus of blasphemy, Jesus was sentenced to death, and the trial was immediately ended. There was absolutely no question that Jesus was claiming to be the Jewish Messiah who was predicted to one day rule as King over the nations of the world. Afterwards Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler in charge of Palestine. Pilate repeated the question that had prompted the death sentence given by the High Priest: "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus replied by saying,
"You are right in saying I am a king. In fact for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth." (John 18:37)
However, Jesus prefaced this remark by saying, "My kingdom is not of this world."What Jesus meant was that His kingdom would first be a spiritual kingdom before becoming a physical earthly kingdom, which will only begin after the defeat, judgment, and destruction of the unholy "world powers." Foreshadows of this "spiritual kingdom" can be seen in an episode near the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, which reveals that Jesus knew He was dealing with a "world order" ruled by spiritual beings under the authority of Satan.
The Gospel of Luke explains that Jesus appointed seventy disciples to travel ahead of Jesus throughout Israel "to every city and every place." When they entered a house they were instructed to say "Peace be to this house," and then to give the message that "The kingdom of God is near you." Jesus even told these seventy messengers that if they entered a city and were not accepted into any homes then they were to proclaim their message in the streets.
Some of the Greek manuscripts that record this event say that Jesus appointed "seventy-two" disciples for this mission, but whether the actual number was seventy or seventy-two the symbolic intent behind the mission was clear: Jesus was serving notice to the spiritual powers behind the scenes that the Pagan World Order was coming to a close. The era of the "gods" was ending and the "Kingdom of God" would take its place. When the seventy disciples returned to Jesus they joyfully announced to him, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."Jesus responded to them by saying (Luke 10:18),
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."
The spiritual "Kingdom of God" had just been established on earth, at the expense of Satan and the fallen angels. Jesus then went on to explain what this meant to His disciples (Luke 10:19-20, 23-24),
"Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven...
Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them."
The fallen angels exist as two distinct groups. One group is already chained up in the Abyss and awaits the final judgment. Jude 6-7 connects the fallen angels of this group with the angels that had sexual relations with human women in Genesis 6 which states, "...the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." The Apostle Peter also refers to this group of angels bound in the Abyss: "...God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment" (2 Peter 2:4). Throughout the Gospels, when people were cured of demon possession, the demons would often be cast into the Abyss to await their judgment and punishment.
The other group of fallen angels is the group that the Apostle Paul refers to as the "powers of this dark world, and as the "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). They exist in the heavens from where they attempt to manipulate the affairs of humanity as much as they are able, against the Church which has been given "all power" through the name and authority of Jesus Christ. For the last two thousand years, this has been the spiritual struggle that Paul referred to in his letter to the Ephesians.
The book of Revelation explains that one day Satan and his fallen angels will be forcefully evicted from heaven and thrown down to earth, where they will be in control for only a short time before their judgment comes:
"And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down; that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (Revelation 12:7-9)
The judgment upon the "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" is predicted by Isaiah the prophet as one of the results of the apocalyptic "Day of the Lord":
"The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls--never to rise again. In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously." (Isaiah 24:19-23)
The prophet Jeremiah simply states:
"These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens." (Jeremiah 10:11)
The book of Revelation is a detailed account of the final confrontation between God and the "gods" before the Messianic Kingdom is established. Central to this conflict is a document held by God that is described as a Scroll sealed with seven Seals, which many scholars of Bible prophecy believe to be something like a Title Deed to the earth. In the aftermath of the Tower of Babel and the death of Nimrod, this Deed became the property of the seventy angelic princes and Satan their leader. That is why Satan was able to tempt Jesus by offering to give Him authority over the kingdoms of the world in Matthew 4. Satan could offer it because it was Satan's possession to give. That is also why the Kingdom of God is only a spiritual kingdom for now, and "not of this world."
But one day this world will be taken away from the "gods" and given into the hands of the Son of God. The precise moment that this occurs is shown in Revelation, after the blowing of the seventh Trumpet, which is the final Trumpet released by the breaking of the seventh Seal of the Scroll:
"The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed One, and he will reign forever and ever.' And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great; and for destroying those who destroy the earth.'" (Revelation 11:15-18)
Until that moment, the earth will still be the physical property of Satan and the fallen angels. Within this system human beings are also the possession of Satan, as harsh as that may sound. Redemption from this terrible situation can only be achieved through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus the Anointed One. The book of Revelation explains that it was this divine sacrifice, of the life of the Son of God given on behalf of human beings everywhere that "purchased men for God":
"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders... He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb... And they sang a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.' " (Revelation 5:6-10)
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ will put an end to the strange situation that presently exists in our little corner of the universe, of fallen angelic spirits ruling over a fallen earth that is inhabited by fallen human beings. The fallen angels will be cast into the Abyss, judged, and finally destroyed, along with the human beings that they were able to deceive. On the other hand, those who reject the lies and deception of the "world powers," who embrace the Creator and Jesus the Anointed One as their Savior, will be raised up from their fallen condition and given an eternal life with infinite rewards.
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