On the Old Testament 'Watchers.' Are They Still Watching?

It's a spooky claim of the Bible. There are celestial beings in the skies, watching us like a bunch of Peeping Tom Looky-Loos. Are they still there?

Recently, I opined on the Nephilim, the hybrid-race of “mighty men of renown” who the Scripture pretty clearly says were the offspring of fallen angels and human women. Not only does Genesis 6 seem pretty clear, but the New Testament writers also referred to the angels who stepped out of their rightful place and, in lust, took earthly women as their prize, producing children.

If this seems far-fetched, I laid out the case here. The Church Fathers all laid out similar cases for this interpretation. And honestly, the interpretation doesn’t seem that difficult, because the Bible appears to be clear on the subject.

There are, of course, a dozen different ways one could try to wrestle out of the most literal interpretation of the Scripture on this point. But as I explained in the above post, most of that postulating is done because we have a natural, post-modern bias against supernaturalism. We, as modern evangelicals, are uncomfortable with the weird. But also as I laid out, we had better get used to the weird, because the world’s about to get a whole lot weirder.

I beat this drum regularly at Insight to Incite, because Polemics Manifesto #1 says, “Polemics must cease to to focus on personalities, and instead focus on principalities.”

And #2 says, “Polemics must be unashamed of the influences of Fundamentalism on the left, and unconcerned about accusations of Charismaticism on the right, and embrace the Supernaturality of God.”

The topic of the demonic, including the Nephilim and the Watchers (and many more topics) are at the intersection of these two convictions I laid out in the manifesto. Chiefly put, if we as evangelical Christians believe that the Sacred Text is true from cover to cover, then we need to put our money where our mouth is and confess that the weird stuff is true, too.

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PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, AND RULERS OF THE HEAVENS

Three verses in the Bible refer to the “Watchers” explicitly, but quite a few more verses refer to them implicitly. And by “implicitly,” I mean nothing else fits the description besides the Watchers.

Before I discuss the explicit references, let me discuss a few of the implicit references, so you can ascertain my point which very much applies to your post-modern, comfortable, science-driven, hoity-toity life that you don’t think contains flying monsters (but you’re wrong).

And please read this carefully, because I’m going to exposit the verse like I would if I were preaching it, without any artistic liberty to make a point. I’m engaging in classical exegesis, here.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(Ephesians 6:12).

Paul says quite explicitly that there are forces of evil in high places. Some have extrapolated this to refer to the “high places” of false worship, but the context doesn’t reveal the Papacy or gurus on mountain tops (although both are wicked).

Rather, the Text tells us the topic of conversation; someone who is spiritual, and not flesh and blood. And they are principalities (ἀρχάς), or rulers. That means this is not a inanimate force. It is not a what; it is a who. And that who, has power. They don’t fake power or pretend power. They do not have all power. But they have some power, and it’s real power.

The “high places” do not refer to the mountain tops, as some suggest. The term is “ἐπουρανίοις” or heavenly realms. They are spiritual beings in a physical place. The heavens are not metaphoric, because the third heaven is the abode of God, and on his right hand is Christ Jesus, who still has his resurrected body. In short, Christ has a physical body, and he is in the upper layer of the heavens. Ergo, the heavens are physical places. But, these powers are not flesh and blood (physical beings).

Now, I’m no James White, but I graduated high school (and a few schools after that). You tell me, friends, what kind of spiritual beings inhabit physical places, who are malevolent individuals, yoked together in wickedness, and given certain real power?

We’re talking about some kind of celestial being. In other words, it is one kind, or another, of angel (if we define angel as a celestial being, while acknowledging different kinds and varieties of them exist).

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