Ephesians 3 - The (New) Sons of God

In Ephesians 3, Paul encourages believers to reflect on the amazing gift that Jesus bestowed on them - adoption into The Father's family as the (new) sons & daughters of God.

New??? Who are the old ones? And what does this have to do with believers judging the nations (1 Cor 6:2) and even angels (1 Cor 6:3)?

Take an introductory-level trip back through Old Testament passages that reveal the Divine Council Worldview (DCW) as covered in depth by the work of Dr Michael Heiser.

NOTE: I neglected to mention Matthew 12:28​ / Luke 11:20​ where casting out demons is a sign that the Kingdom of God has come! I would have slotted it in sometime after 23:55​ of the video.

0:26​ Introduction: Ephesians 1-3
7:30​ Eden
8:20​ Babel & Ziggurat Etemenanki
11:07​ Deuteronomy 32:8 - The Sons of God
12:45​ Psalm 82 - Gods, Sons of the Most High
13:42​ Plato's Critias and the Greek view of gods over the nations
15:27​ The gods of Egypt punished
17:43​ Daniel and the Princes of Persia & Greece
20:40​ Acts 17 - Paul on Mars Hill cites the DCW back to the Greeks
22:44​ John Piper's intepretation of Psalm 82
23:55​ Demons in the New Testament and what they know
27:56​ The spiritual powers did not realize God's plan
30:00​ The cross defeats and conquers the spiritual powers
36:05​ The Great Commission - all authority in heaven & earth
36:28​ The divided nations post-Babel and the reunited nations at Pentecost
38:01​ Practical application - WE are the new sons (and daughters) of God, and will have authority over the nations
46:26​ A warning to acts like sons of God (vocational sonship) - or suffer the same fate as in Psalm 82

Originally presented on 23-Feb-2020