Whenever people (believers as well, sadly) speak of any portion of Scripture as being poetical, you know that it is a prelude to the dumbing-down of God's written word. We read into Scripture this poetical notion because of our 'teachers', and it becomes very hard to shake-off deeply entrenched beliefs. Take for example Job 38.7; "When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" what does this mean? Do stars sing? apparently so-the world is absolutely cluttered with popular (pop) music 'stars', we all know this! To someone (even highly 'educated') that has a low view of the Bible, it is not too difficult to see why they attribute the verse under discussion to be poetical, for obviously they have never studied it. But who exactly are the morning stars? we know that Ps. 19. 1-4 speaks of the heavens as having a voice, and as the stars are high in the heavens, then how natural it is to ascribe this voice to them!
As believers we should ever be on our guard before dismissing Bible verses as poetry, for these verses are inspired by God's Holy Spirit Himself! Should we not therefore tremble at the thought of ascribing a poet's imagination to His word? We should remember that as well as the 42 chapters in the book of Job which give much information on the creation, and God's almighty power, God's Book confirms the veracity of the life of this saint and his conversation with the Almighty; Ez. 14. 14-20, and Jam. 5.11. In the Ezekiel Scriptures, Job is twice named alongside Noah and Daniel, and James speaks of the patience of Job, and in the context it is abundantly clear that James was very familiar with the sublime teachings contained within this awesome book.
When people (believers and unbelievers alike) talk of heaven, they know intuitively that heaven is an eternal state, that it is outside of the mortal realm in which we currently exist; in an ethereal parallel existence. They also know that heaven is very high above us, that it cannot be penetrated as the tower builders in Genesis 11 found out, and indeed our modern day space explorers are also finding out! Indeed, there is no new thing under the sun, Ecc. 1.9! The methods are different, but the results are the same.
The Lord Jesus is known as "the bright morning star" Rev.22.16, does He speak? what of the Adversary, Lucifer the day star, Is. 14.12, who is the heavenly musician of Ez. 28.13? stars then, are not inanimate objects; Scripture should ever interpret Scripture! I might be able to make the case for the morning stars being the elect in Christ chosen in eternity past, this would fit in with my supralapsarian theology. But, it is said that the morning stars sang together at the time when God "laid the foundations of the earth" Job 38.4, and we would be 'baffled' as to how they can possibly be in song at the same time as the sons of God (the angelic host) are shouting for joy before they have died and been resurrected in Christ. But, remember, heaven is eternity (where the holy angels are, for they are currently immortal) it is outside of time: When we are looking at the starry host on a cloudless night, it may be that we are looking at Christ's elect, even possibly seeing ourselves! Sounds barmy? well consider that evolutionary (and 'Christian') scientists would have us believe that when we look at the stars, we are not seeing them real time, but as they were aeons ago! in fact they tell us they might have extinguished long ago, because of the time light takes to travel! Scripture delineates the seed of Abraham as the stars of heaven, Gen. 22.17! (is there not more to this verse, than just comparison?) One thing I do know is that the stars are not gigantic balls of burning gas, or whatever, millions or billions of light years away from us, as our heliocentric inspired evolutionary scientists would have us believe! No, they are intimately close to us, we have a relationship to them that we presently do not fully understand, though study we must, and from whence do we learn? There is only one Book!
If we believe that the Bible is truth, the inspired word of God (in the original tongues), then we know that angels and men had much interaction together in the OT and NT alike, and for the last near two millennia we haven't seen or heard of angels, unless of course we believe the 'experiences' of persons that have had so-called angelic encounters. I dismiss all of these claims, for the vast majority of it contradicts what is plainly taught in Scripture. Besides which, why would we need extra biblical revelation? what need is there for angels to reveal themselves to us in the present day? we have all we need pertaining to godliness and salvation; Hebrews 1.2 tells us that God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, and we have the Revelation which reveals precisely how the end of the age, the broad panorama thereof, will terminate. Granted, though I say precisely, that doesn't mean we understand everything! there is much we can be dogmatic about, and much we can't be, though this ultimate book of the Book confers a blessing to those that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein Rev. 1.3 (my emphasis). In the last chapter there is a severe warning to those who would add unto these things or take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Rev. 22.18-19.
The sons of God in Job 1.6 & 2.1, the angels that is, came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. Theologians are in general agreement that the sons of God in Job 1.6 & 2.1 are the sons of God who shouted for joy in Job 38.7, but if they are also the morning stars in the self same verse, why the distinction? Does Genesis 32.1 throw any light on this difficulty? here we read of Mahanaim (two hosts, RV margin) where the angels of God met him, why was the place called such by the Patriarch? was it because the heavenly host met the earthly host from whom the seed would arise from the woman, Gen. 3.15?
A work in progress....
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