A World of Spirits – Foundations of a Worldview

A World of Spirits
Foundations of a Worldview

Exodus 23:23, 24

“For My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them….”

The Angel of the Lord appears in the Law of God as a spiritual being sometimes identified with God and sometimes separate from Him. In addition to this good messenger, the Law mentions cherubim and seraphim as other spiritual beings which exist to serve the purposes of God.

The people of Israel were thus to understand that the unseen realm is populated by other creatures, spiritual in nature, which exist to further the work of God in carrying out His will on earth. Subsequent revelation provides more insight into the nature and work of these spiritual beings.

The Law does no more than to suggest the existence of unseen spiritual forces of wickedness in its many mentions of the gods of the various pagan nations. There is only one God, as we have seen; how then to account for the many false deities served in so many abominable ways by the various pagan peoples? No explanation is given. It seems clear that God does not want His people to be overly curious about possible spiritual forces or powers beyond those which He reveals to them, at least, not at this stage in the covenant.

Yet we suspect they are there, for false religion and the worship of terrible deities is ubiquitous among the pagan peoples of the day. The first and second commandments are designed, at least in part, to discourage peering into the unseen realm of wickedness on the part of God’s people. They must be aware of it, but not curious about it. And they must not indulge any of the practices of those peoples who sought contact with that aspect of the spiritual realm.

It was to be enough for God’s people then—and now—to know that these creatures exist, but to have nothing whatsoever to do with them. Think of Jesus’ typical response to demons: “Shut up, and get out!”

Good advice, that.

Act: Why do you think Christians become fascinated with spiritual forces of wickedness in high places? Talk with a church leader about this. What should our attitude toward such creatures be?

The book of Ecclesiastes is a crucial resource for understanding the Biblical worldview against the backdrop of our secular age. Follow T. M.’s studies in Ecclesiastes by downloading the free, weekly studies available in our Scriptorium Resources page at The Fellowship of Ailbe. Click here to see the weekly studies available thus far.

Want to learn ore about the unseen realm? Order a copy of The Landscape of Unseen Things, T. M.’s 24-lesson study of that realm which anchors our Christian worldview.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).