His main research interests are Israelite religion (especially Israel’s divine council), biblical theology, ancient Near Eastern religion, biblical & ancient Semitic languages, and ancient Jewish binitarian monotheism. in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania (major fields: Ancient Israel and Egyptology). in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. He is the Academic Editor of Logos Bible Software. Mike Heiser is a scholar in the fields of biblical studies and the ancient Near East. Finally, the book reflects on common misconceptions about angels and addresses why the topic is still important and relevant for Christians today. With that important background established, the book focuses on what the New Testament tells us about God's holy ones. This literature from the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament influenced the New Testament writers in significant ways. The Bible's view on heavenly beings begins with Old Testament terms but then moves into literature from the Second Temple period-Jewish writings from around the fifth century BC to the first century AD. Heiser's study is grounded in the terms the Bible itself uses to describe members of God's heavenly host he examines the terms in their biblical context while drawing on insights from the wider context of the ancient Near Eastern world.

Most people presume all there is to know about angels is what has been passed on in Christian tradition, but in reality, that tradition is quite incomplete and often inaccurate.Īngels is not guided by traditions, stories, speculations, or myths about angels. Heiser focuses on loyal, holy heavenly beings because the Bible has a lot more to say about them than most people suspect. Heiser reveals what the Bible really says about God's supernatural servants. In The Unseen Realm Michael Heiser opened the eyes of thousands to seeing the Bible through the supernatural worldview of the ancient world it was written in.

It's a book about the loyal members of God's heavenly host, and while most people associate them with the word 'angel,' that's just one of many terms the Bible uses for supernatural beings.

This book was written to help change that. What the Bible really says about angels is overlooked or filtered through popular myths. If you read Luke 1:26–38 and imagine the angel Gabriel standing before Mary with neatly folded white wings, you're not getting that picture from anything the Bible itself says. What does the Bible really tell us about the heavenly host?Įveryone knows that angels have wings, usually carry harps, and that each of us has our own personal guardian angel, right? We all have some preconceptions about angels from movies, television shows, and other media, but you might be surprised to know that a lot of those notions aren't based on anything from the Bible.

Angels michael heiser