Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

6 May 2024

Reading From Psalm 89, 96, 100-101, 105, 132

“The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
    your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
    Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
    he is more awesome than all who surround him.
Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
    You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.”

–Psalm 89:5-8

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.”

–Psalm 96:4-9

     Human beings worship millions of gods and goddesses, but a distinguishing mark of the three major religions associated with Abraham, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the belief that there is only One true God.  This belief is called monotheism.  For Christians, we believe that God is triune which means three in one, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are One God.  While the specific word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture, the idea is found throughout. 

     These passages from the Psalms echo I Chronicles 16 and provide us with insight into other heavenly beings and their nature must be placed in the proper perspective of all other Scripture.  There is harmony in the Word of God and the Bible ought to be interpreted with itself.  We know from one of the most important fundamentals of Judeo-Christian thought found in Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  Therefore, all other gods and goddesses are false idols, many of them with real demonic forces at work behind them.  This is why worshippers of other religions find themselves in heartbreaking spiritual bondage that only the blood of Jesus can deliver them from.

     Angels are created beings, not deceased men and women who have somehow progressed to become them.  We know this from Job 38:4-7 which speaks of angels rejoicing over the creation of the Earth and from I Peter 1:2 that angels long to know about the process of our redemption through the Gospel of grace.  Therefore, if they “long to look into these things” we know that their nature is distinct from humanity.  As we have studied previously on May 3, a third of the thousands of angels created fell from Heaven with Satan and are now demons.  These demonic forces are at work in the world we live in today and can only be overcome by the victory provided by Jesus on the cross and from the empty tomb.

     “Council of holy ones” and “heavenly beings” could refer to the hosts of angels, the four living creatures, or the twenty-four elders we see revealed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter four.  We know from the rest of Scripture that there are no other genuine gods other than Yahweh, the Triune, Most High God, so we know that this council is not some governing body of gods.  God’s omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent nature means that He has no need to ask the opinions of others in making His judgments.  When we reign with Him, we will not be somehow adding to His intelligence.  We will function in His authority as we are united perfectly with Him, partaking of His divine nature. 

“Lord, grant us proper perspective of our place in the universe.  You are mighty and holy and powerful!  Thank You for Your love and for revealing more and more about Your awesome nature and character.  We praise and glorify Your matchless Name!  Amen.”

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

–I Timothy 2:5-6

I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
    though you have not acknowledged me,
so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.

–Isaiah 45:5-6

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

–I Corinthians 8:4-6