Sons of God

God, having a conversation with one of his servants in the Bible, asked him, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. … When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4 and 7)

God, of course, knew the answer to his question. He wanted his eminence and Job’s humanity to be clearly understood.The morning stars singing together and the sons of God shouting for joy are understood to be angels in many cases throughout the Bible.

Angels or sons of God, as they are referred to, and Adam are created beings. Created directly by God. Angels created before the creation of the earth and Adam created to dwell on it after it was brought into existence.

We, descendants of Adam, are referred to as sons of Adam or sons of the dust. Not direct creations of God.

Was there anyone else around before time began that could have been singing praises at the creation the world? “Sons of God” is used as a title for angels in particular places throughout Scripture.The Hebrew root of “sons of God” is Benei HaʼElōhīm.

The Old Testament was originally given through divine inspiration from God and written in Hebrew by Moses.

This same word, Benei HaʼElōhīm (angels), is used in Genesis 6:4. “There were nephilim on the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

This verse refers to angels leaving their original habitation because they, “found the daughters of men attractive and  took themselves wives of all whom they chose,” Genesis 6:2. These sons of God, according to 2 Peter 2, sinned/“cast off their first estate.” This estate/habitation was a heavenly hyperdimensional one.

The Greek word for habitation is Oiketerion. This word is only used in the Bible twice. One usage is by Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:2 where he describes Christians as longing to be clothed with our heavenly habitation (to be with God). This implies that our current bodies are merely a vessel for our souls and are awaiting transference to our hyperdimensional Oiketerion with God.

The second use of Oiketerion is later in the Bible, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day,” Jude 1:6.

The reason why Greek word translation is so important when understanding the Bible is because of the precision of the words. For example, there are two different words for “other” in ancient Greek. One means another exactly like the original, while the second implies a different type or kind of the same thing.

This precision influenced the accuracy  of the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. The Septuagint, meaning 70 in Greek, was commissioned during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus between 300 and 200 B.C. and was named after the 70 to 72 Jewish scholars who were charged to carry out its translation.

Another use of the term sons of God is found in John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.”

This means that if we, as sons of Adam or sons of the dust, choose, in faith, to believe in God’s name, we have been given the power to be transformed, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, into creations/sons of God. This transformation allows us an Oiketerion in heaven alongside God for eternity.

In 1 John 3:1 the Bible says, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”

What love the Creator has for us that he would allow sons of the dust to make a decision, through faith, transforming and giving us eternal habitation alongside Him. This verse is celebrating those who have already made their decision to accept God into their lives.

The verse directly after 1 John 3:1 continues the excitement for those who have made a decision of faith with God and reveals a bit about our future habitation.

1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

God enjoys a dimensionality outside our own. He is outside our time domain as proven through prophecy in His Word. Those that have chosen to become the sons of God, through a decision of faith, will be caught up to him upon his return. We too shall leave our earthly habitation, of this world, behind and share whatever dimensionality He possesses based on this verse. When He appears, we will see Him as He is because we will be like Him. We will share His Oiketerion. How exciting.

Make a decision of faith that will transform you and grant you an eternal habitation with the one who laid the foundations of the earth.