A Thanksgiving Newsletter
New Books, A Review of The Unseen Realms, and a Thanksgiving Devotional
In this newsletter, I reflect on the blessings of this season with three offerings: first, the announcement of second editions of several works now available through Wipf and Stock Publishers; second, a review of the late Dr. Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm, a book that explores profound biblical themes; and finally, an updated and special devotional from a Thanksgiving sermon I once preached, along with a prayer of gratitude for this season. My prayer is that these reflections serve to uplift and encourage you in your walk with Christ as you go deeper into His Word.
With thanksgiving for each of you,
Mike Milton Tryon, North Carolina
1: Second Edition Books Now Available
I am pleased to announce the publication of second editions of several of my works, now consolidated under Wipf and Stock Publishers in Eugene, Oregon. These editions have been updated and made available through major retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Many of you have inquired about these titles, and I am delighted to see them made accessible once again. I hope this helps answer your questions and allows you to enjoy these works in their updated form.
Here is the link at Wipf and Stock Publishers (with links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Independent Bookstore site, where you can order from bookstores in your local area).
2: Book Review – The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Lexham Press, 2015) by Dr. Michael S. Heiser (1963 – 2023).
The late Dr. Michael Heiser, a renowned scholar of ancient Near Eastern texts, made a significant contribution to biblical theology, particularly in his exploration of the unity of Scripture. His bestselling volume on the what Dr. Heiser saw as a convincingly central but overlooked vision in the Word of God—The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Lexham Press, 2015)—will surely be remembered as one of the most important works on the concept of the “divine council” of God. This idea, from numerous passages, asserts that there is an unseen realm of angelic creatures, including Lucifer, who held sway over the nations of the earth and contended with God (and continues to possess myriad unbelievers across the earth and vexate God’s people). The wicked portion of these spirit creatures opposed God but were defeated at the Cross. These dark forces are a vanquished lot, but they persist in their demonic activities until they are sentenced by God when Christ comes again. Demons are real, active, and are ambitious to oppose God by seeking out entrances into the human being individually and as a people group, i.e., ethnicities. Their time is limited, and the knowledge of their impending demise makes them increasingly perilous. What’s to stop them during this interim before their final destruction? Dr. Michael Heiser gives the answer succinctly and correctly: “The Great Commission.” Preach, reach, proclaim, or share the Good News: We are saved by grace, not by our own efforts alone, even though we are sinners and deserve eternal punishment. God’s love for us surpasses His hatred for our sins, and He sent His unique Son, our Savior, Jesus, to live a life that we could never live and die on a cross that should have been ours. Through repentance for all our sins and faith in the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Savior, we are saved—transformed and delivered from judgment to life and eternal life. This message, this Word from Another World, is a demon-killer.
While I am not certain that proving the unity of the Bible was Dr. Heiser’s primary motivation, his examination of key passages such as Genesis 1, Genesis 3, Genesis 6, Genesis 10, Numbers 11, Deuteronomy 32, and Psalm 82 offers profound insights into the New Testament’s references to Old Testament teaching on spirits, demons, principalities, and powers. On the other hand, I believe that Dr. Heiser ignores systemic theology (a view of the whole, not only the parts) and, thus—at times, and without an intent for wrong, I’m sure—comes too close to allowing “elohim” (which he prefers to translate as “gods,” viz., subordinate deities, which—no matter their rank or system of stratification—leads to polytheism) equal with Elohim, the one true God. Again, I stress that Heiser affirms the teaching of Nicene Christianity. However faithful he was to biblical Christianity (and I do not doubt that fidelity), I am concerned that so much talk of “gods” governing ethic groups could create confusion. On the other hand, the truth of an unseen realm of loyal and rebellious created spirits has never been doubted by the Church. It is a matter of pastoral wisdom in framing the teaching that concerns me.
Heiser rightly affirms that Genesis 10 describes the table of nations—seventy in total—as the genealogical and geographical divisions of humanity after the flood. While Genesis 10 itself does not mention spiritual entities, other Scriptures, such as Deuteronomy 32:8-9, suggest that God assigned divine beings (“sons of God”) to oversee the nations after the dispersion at Babel. As it says: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage” (Deuteronomy 32:8–9 ESV). Psalm 82 portrays these spiritual entities being held accountable for their governance: “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Psalm 82:1 ESV). Daniel 10 further illustrates this concept, referring to angelic princes representing specific nations, such as Persia and Greece (Daniel 10:13, 20).
Their fallen condition influenced these nations through idolatry, ultimately leading to a denial of God and reality itself, as Paul writes: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21 ESV). This rebellion culminated in humanity exchanging “the truth about God for a lie and worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25 ESV).
When Jesus sent out seventy disciples to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God, the number corresponded to these nations, signifying, Heiser urges, a direct challenge to the spiritual forces that held sway over them (Luke 10:1, 17). As they reported, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17 ESV), Jesus affirmed this cosmic confrontation by declaring, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18 ESV). Again, nothing in this extrapolation negates the one holy catholic Church. Yet, a PhD dissertation does not a sermon make (one can access Dr. Heiser’s dissertation at the Liberty University Digital Commons site). Thoughtful care
This “worldview” (Heiser’s ascription of his position; one might prefer to say, e.g., “this reading of Psalm 82) certainly sheds light on Paul’s mission to the Gentiles. His concern for reaching nations like Spain— identified with Tarshish in Isaiah 66:199—underscores the Bible’s consistent emphasis on the redemption of all people groups. Representatives of the Roman Empire were present on the day of Pentecost, “each hearing the gospel in their own language” (Acts 2:6 ESV), but Spain was not among them. Paul felt compelled to fulfill this gap, declaring, “Thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Romans 15:20 ESV). Dr. Heiser connects New Testament and Old Testament sources, along with first-century historical and political contexts, to demonstrate Paul’s desire to reach Spain as part of God’s redemptive plan. All the world must know, and all the people groups of the earth must be brought into the kingdom of God.
Though Heiser is not alone in his view that Spain was a special concern due to its absence at Pentecost, his presentation is thought-provoking and insightful (at times provocatively so).1 Similarly, the prophetic vision of the new heavens and the new earth in Revelation 21–22 ties together these threads into the ultimate restoration of all things under Christ’s reign. As it is written: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15 ESV).
Dr. Heiser’s work highlights how these passages help us understand the cosmic battle over the nations and God’s redemptive plan for Israel and the Gentiles. While I differ with Dr. Heiser on points of systematic theology (and the positive role of systematic theology itself) related to Calvinism—where I believe he addresses a caricature I do not recognize—I nevertheless find his work biblical, intellectually challenging, and, as he concludes with the triumph of Christ over these creatures, spiritually uplifting. Dr. Heiser’s insistence on reading the biblical text for the sake of the text, resisting any possible imposition of systems, is both commendable and corrupting (corrupting if one fails to compare text with text, and withstands the temptation to rely too heavily on extra-biblical material).
My primary concern with this book is, respectfully, Dr. Heiser’s inconsistency in equal application of his commendable standards: “To the law and to the testimony” (Isaiah 8:20 ESV)! Now, let me be clear: I am undoubtedly more inconsistent than this scholar now worshipping God in heaven, so my observations are not a critique without empathy. But here’s the deal: This remarkably competent and refreshingly accessible scholar can recognize the intellectual dangers inherent in, for example, a “divine council” of the Almighty with created spiritual beings, pitching his tent, as it were, on a precarious hillside of muddy mystery. Yet, he bravely follows the reading of the Bible. “Are you going to listen to the voice of your system of thought, or God’s Word, and let the chips fall?” However, Dr. Heiser seems logically uncomfortable with the absolute sovereignty of God coexisting with the divinely authorized free agency of man (as is admitted by Moses in Psalm 90:17), and he fashions extra-biblical syllogisms to reconcile this necessary tension. And this gets back to his disagreements with Calvin (and Augustune, Cranmer, and even Wesley). The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion article seventeen, “Of Predestination and Election” calls the doctrine “sweet” to those who will receive Christ. For those who seek to reconcile divine revelation by mortal knowledge, the Prayer Book warns:
“Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God.”
The prayer for the Second Sunday in Advent in the English Prayerbook of 1549 comes to mind:
“Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant us that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our savior Jesus Christ.”
Read. Mark. Learn. Inwardly digest. Wise counsel. That is how to receive doctrinal assertions in the Holy Bible that we can’t understand—like Creation, the Virgin Birth, and Resurrection.
Michael sought to be faithful to the Word and curious to the point of beneficial discovery. Thus, he was uniquely gifted in biblical interpretation. But all of us have hidden issues in our own “unseen realms”—wounds, losses, or slights that can prejudice us when we come to the Valley of Decision. Mike was a great ambassador for the Faith, but I do wonder if a Presbyterian, (Reformed) Baptist, or Anglican school kid jumped out of an azalea bush and took his Daredevil lunch box.
That aside, Heiser’s books deserve a reading and further reviews.
After reading The Unseen Realm, I believe you too will join me in saying, “There is simply nothing in the history of the earth like the Bible, the very Word of God.” Its cohesiveness across the ages and singular focus on Paradise lost and regained through the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, is undeniable. You will also, very likely, read the New Testament with new first-century Hebrew spectacles.
Dr. Heiser reminds us of Christ’s victory over the principalities and powers that hold people groups and individuals in bondage: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15 ESV). Jesus Christ, the resurrected and reigning Messiah, inaugurated His kingdom of light, liberating humanity from darkness.
Coming to terms with the biblical (especially Old Testament) declarations about the unseen realm will help us to better understand the many New Testament references to what C. S. Lewis called “the Deep Magic,” and “the Deeper Magic” (the Gospel).
I commend this book for your careful consideration.
3: A Thanksgiving Devotion (and a sermon, if you prefer)
This Thanksgiving Day Bible message was originally preached at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, TN, a number of years ago. I offer a devotional summary of that sermon now with gratitude for you, my readers, who have become my distant but very real parishioners in my heart (which, for you, cannot substitute for a true, parish-based Christian shepherd; but for retired preachers, it helps!). I also share a full Thanksgiving sermon here for any who want a fuller engagement with the biblical story of gratitude: “I Sall Not Want.”
“I Shall Not Want: How God Meets Our Deepest Needs” (A Sermon from Psalm 23) By Michael A. Milton at Preaching Journal.
A Thanksgiving Devotion for the Days of Our Lives
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
Introduction:
Thanksgiving is more than a holiday—it is a posture of the heart that leads us into the presence of God. The psalmist’s words remind us that gratitude is a key that unlocks the gates of heaven’s courts.
Most merciful Father, we humbly thank you for all your gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for life and health and safety, for strength to work and leisure to rest, for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life; but above all we thank you for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
— Book of Common Prayer, For Thanksgiving
1. God’s Goodness
The psalmist declares, “The Lord is good” (Psalm 100:5)! In every season of life, we see His goodness displayed—in creation, in His provision, and above all, in His saving work through Jesus Christ.
2. God’s Steadfast Love
The Hebrew word hesed speaks of God’s covenantal love—a love that never fails, even when we falter. This steadfast love gives us a firm foundation for thanksgiving.
3. God’s Faithfulness to All Generations
Thanksgiving invites us to look back and remember how God has been faithful in the past, giving us confidence for the future. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Closing Thought:
We can be thankful in all times for God is faithful in our worst times. We are carried from breath to breath by a love that will never let us go.
May this season of Thanksgiving find you rejoicing in the steadfast love and faithfulness of our Lord. And may we all, together, echo the psalmist: “Give thanks to Him; bless His name!”
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Prayer:
O Lord, the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we, Thy undeserving people, give Thee thanks for the innumerable blessings of life, including the gift of eternal life through repentance and faith in Thy Son, Jesus Christ. We ask that in this season, Thou wouldst receive our humble expressions of gratitude and send revival upon Thy people. Let our generation be remembered for turning to Thee, so that future generations may be blessed. With these and our private prayers, we humbly appeal in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
With heartfelt thanksgiving,
Mike
For further study on Pentecost, Paul, and Spain, see Richard Bauckham, “Mission to the Ends of the Earth in Luke-Acts,” in Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts, ed. I. Howard Marshall and David Peterson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 79–112. Bauckham explores the geographical and theological framework of mission in Luke-Acts, particularly the significance of Pentecost and its list of nations. He argues that Luke intentionally shaped this narrative to emphasize the universal scope of the gospel, which leaves room for considering Spain as a critical endpoint of Paul’s mission.
Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 836–840. Keener provides a comprehensive analysis of Acts 2:5-11, highlighting the cultural and geographical representation at Pentecost. He also notes the theological implications of the omissions in the list, such as Spain, which could inform Paul’s later missionary strategy.