1. Creating Utopia: A return to eden or babel?
Considering the implications of building a perfect society without God.

2. Utopia Lost: The RebellionS
Session 1
Utopia Lost: The RebellionS

3. The title of the presentation was:
The framework of this study was laid out by Dr. Heiser in a presentation given at the “Future Congress” Conference.
The title of the presentation was:
“Thinking Theologically About the Utopian Impulse as a Perversion of the Judeo-Christian Worldview”
It can be viewed on YouTube at:

4. For more of Dr. Heiser’s work listen to his: “Naked Bible Podcast”
Or visit his primary website at:

5. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Disobedience and Rebellion
“Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”
–Oscar Wilde
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
–Jesus, John 14:15

6. Utopia Recognized God creates the Earth.
God places Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Humanity lives in the garden in the presence of God and angels.
Genesis 1:1-27
Ezekiel 28:13
Ezekiel 28:13 (HCSB)
You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone covered you: carnelian, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; they were prepared on the day you were created.

7. The major rebellions The Angelic Rebellion The Rebellion of Man
The Genesis 6 Rebellion
The Rebellion of the Nations

8. The Angelic Rebellion
To better understand the angelic rebellion we should have a clear view of who the rebels were.
The heavenly host is far more complex than we often consider.
Many people have a simplistic view of the angelic hierarchy.
God
Archangels
Angels

9. The Angelic hierarchy (1st Sphere)
Angelic beings closest to God’s throne.
Seraphim (Strong’s Hebrew 8314)
Isaiah 6:1-7
Cherubim (Strong’s Hebrew 3742)
Genesis 3:24 & Ezekiel 1:4-14 & 1:22-24 & 10:1-8 & 10:15-22
Ophanim (Strong’s Hebrew 212)
Ezekiel 1:15-21 & 10:9-14
Isaiah 6:1-7 (HCSB)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory fills the whole earth. The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is atoned for.
Ezekiel 1:4-14 (HCSB)
I looked and there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber. The form of four living creatures came from it. And this was their appearance: They had human form, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, sparkling like the gleam of polished bronze.  They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead. The form of each of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle. That is what their faces were like. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching that of another and two wings covering its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went without turning as they moved. The form of the living creatures was like the appearance of burning coals of fire and torches. Fire was moving back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, with lightning coming out of it.  The creatures were darting back and forth like flashes of lightning.
Ezekiel 1: (HCSB)
When I looked at the living creatures, there was one wheel on the ground beside each creature that had four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their craftsmanship was like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same form. Their appearance and craftsmanship was like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved. Their rims were large and frightening. Each of their four rims were full of eyes all around. So when the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels also rose. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, the creatures went in the direction the Spirit was moving. The wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

10. The Angelic hierarchy (1st Sphere)
Angelic beings closes to God’s throne.
The Four Living Creatures (Strong’s Greek 2226)
Very similar to Cherubim
Revelation 4:6-8
Thrones (Strong’s Greek metonymy)
Colossians 1:16 & Revelation 4:2-4 & 4:9-11
Revelation 4:6-8 (HCSB)
Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were in the middle and around the throne. The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like a calf; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming.
metonymy [mi-ton-uh-mee] (dictonary.com 11/25/2017)
noun
1. a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as “scepter” for “sovereignty,” or “the bottle” for “strong drink,” or “count heads (or noses)” for “count people.”.
Revelation 4:2-4 (HCSB)
Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was set there in heaven. One was seated on the throne, and the One seated looked like jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne. Around that throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads.

11. The Angelic hierarchy (2nd SPHERE)
Angelic governors and administrators in Heaven.
Principalities (Strong’s Greek 746)
Ephesians 1:20-21 & 4:10 & 6:12 & Colossians 1:16
Authorities (Strong’s Greek 1849)
Dominions (Strong’s Greek 2963)
Colossians 1:16 & Ephesians 1:20-21
Powers (Strong’s Greek 1411)
Ephesians 1:20-21
Ephesians 1: (HCSB)
He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens - far above every ruler [principality] and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

12. The Angelic hierarchy (3rd SPHERE)
Angelic warriors and messengers in Heaven and on Earth.
Archangel (Strong’s Greek 743)
Singular Noun - The Bible only mentions Michael.
Jude 1:9 & 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Malakim / Angels (Strong’s Hebrew 4397 & Strong’s Greek 32)
The most common example in the bible.
The angelic being most commonly in contact with humans.
Jude 1:9 (HCSB)
Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses’ body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (HCSB)
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

13. The Angelic Rebellion The Setting The Heavenly/Spiritual Realm
Before the Creation of the World
Job 38:4-7
Job 38:4-7 (HCSB)
Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

14. The Angelic Rebellion The Repercussions
Angelic Rebels Removed from Authority
Ezekiel 28:11-19 & Psalm 82
Removed from Heaven (Yet Future)
Job 1:6-7 & Job 2:1-2 & Revelation 12:7-12
Satan Bound (Yet Future)
Revelation 20:1-3
Rebels Cast into the Lake of Fire (Yet Future)
Revelation 20:7-10
Ezekiel 28: (HCSB)
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, lament for the king of Tyre and say to him: This is what the Lord God says: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone covered you: carnelian, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; they were prepared on the day you were created. You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you. Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendor you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings. You profaned your sanctuaries by the magnitude of your iniquities in your dishonest trade. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of everyone watching you. All those who know you among the nations are appalled at you. You have become an object of horror and will never exist again.”
Psalm 82 (HCSB)
God has taken His place in the divine assembly;
He judges among the gods: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and needy; save them from the power of the wicked. They do not know or understand; they wander in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High. However, you will die like men and fall like any other ruler.” Rise up, God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to You.
Job 1:6-7 (HCSB)
One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”
Revelation 12:7-12 (HCSB)
Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Messiah have now come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown out: the one who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, for the Devil has come down to you with great fury, because he knows he has a short time.
Revelation 20:1-3 (HCSB)
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the 1,000 years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.
Revelation 20:7-10 (HCSB)
When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.  They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.  The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

15. The Rebellion MAN The Setting
The Garden of Eden (The only utopia on Earth)
The Divine Commands
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
Genesis 1:28
Do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Genesis 2:16-17
Genesis 1:28 (HCSB)
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
Genesis 2: (HCSB)
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

16. The Rebellion MAN The Repercussions
Hostility between Satan and Mankind (The first prophecy in the Bible, and it was about Jesus).
Genesis 3:15
Dysfunctional Relationships, Painful Labor in Childbirth and in the Fields
Genesis 3:16-19
The Introduction of Death
Genesis 3:19
Genesis 3:15 (HCSB)
I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Genesis 3: (HCSB)
He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

17. The Rebellion MAN The Repercussions
Each person must make atonement for sin and be saved.
Romans 3:23-25, 6:20-23, 10:9-13 & John 3:16, 8: & Mark 16:16
Rebels Cast into the Lake of Fire
Revelation 20:12-15
Romans 3: (HCSB)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
Revelation 20: (HCSB)
I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

18. The GENESIS 6 Rebellion The Setting The Earth The Rebellion
The angels (Sons of God) took human wives and produced Nephilim offspring.
Genesis 6:1-4
Genesis 6:1-4 (HCSB)
When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.  And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.

19. The GENESIS 6 Rebellion The Repercussions
All mankind is destroyed but Noah and his family.
Genesis 6:5-13
The Edenic Mandate is restated as humanity’s goal
Humanity becomes omnivorous.
Genesis 9:1-7
Angels imprisoned for “deserting their proper dwelling”.
2 Peter 2:4-10a & Jude 1:5-6
Genesis 6:5-13 (HCSB)
When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.” Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord.
These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness. God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
Genesis 9:1-7 (HCSB)
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.  I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man’s brother for a man’s life. Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image. But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”
2 Peter 2:4-10a (HCSB)
For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; and if He didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to ruin, making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard) — then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.
Jude 1:5-6 (HCSB)
Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: The Lord first saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe; and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling.

20. The Rebellion of the nations
The Setting
The Valley (plains) of Shinar
Genesis 11:2
The Rebellion
Genesis 11:4
Making a name for themselves instead of worshipping God.
Building the Tower of Babel
Likely a ziggurat temple.
May have been built to protect against future floods.
Humanity tried to stay together instead of filling the Earth.
Genesis 11:2 (HCSB)
As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Genesis 11:4 (HCSB)
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

21. The Rebellion of the nations
The Repercussions
A unified language was broken into distinct language families (78+).
Genesis 11:7
Mankind was spread over the face of the Earth.
Genesis 11:8
The nations were created.
Genesis 10 & Deuteronomy 32:5-9 & Acts 17:26
Abraham and his descendants were called to be God’s people amongst the nations.
Genesis 12:1-3
Genesis 11:7 (HCSB)
Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
Genesis 11:8 (HCSB)
So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.
Deuteronomy 32:5-9 (HCSB)
His people have acted corruptly toward Him; this is their defect —they are not His children but a devious and crooked generation. Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t He your Father and Creator? Didn’t He make you and sustain you? Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel. But the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob, His own inheritance.

22. The Rebellion of the nations
Recommended Reading
Genesis Chapter 11
The Antiquity of the Jews: Book 1 - Chapter 4
By: Flavius Josephus
Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of Our Ancestors
By: Bodie Hodge

23. Summary
In the Garden of Eden God’s vision of direct communion between His heavenly and earthly “families” was realized.
Through repeated rebellions against God, rebellious angels and humans, were driven further from God and into a dysfunctional existence.
Since God is the source of life, rebellion against Him is an exercise in death and decay.
Seeking to create a man-made and Godless Eden/Utopia will lead to further separation, death, and decay.

24. For more of Dr. Heiser’s work listen to his: “Naked Bible Podcast”
Or visit his primary website at: