A Tribute to Dr. Michael Heiser

With tears welling up in my eyes, I read the Facebook post written by Dr. Michael Heiser; the effects of stage 4 pancreatic cancer were getting worse. This was heart-breaking news. Many of us had been prayerfully hopeful for Dr. Heiser’s healing over the past few months. Our prayers are still with him and his family as he, by all indications, seems to be finishing his race. But what a race this has been. What a blessing it has been to follow this man’s ministry. It’s not possible to comment on all the aspects of his ministry because he has produced so much content, but I do wish to share some of my favorite aspects with you all here.

Dr. Heiser has made quite a name for himself by delving into the fringe and mysterious parts of God’s word, but we would be sorely mistaken if we thought that’s where the essence of his ministry ended. His content has harnessed those fringe topics to give us a better understanding of who God is and how God operates in the world. More specifically, these so-called fringe topics give us a more complete understanding of the salvific mission of the incarnate Son of God. Would that we all have the life-changing impact that his teaching has had on countless lives for Christ. I’m confident that Dr. Heiser would agree; the impact for Jesus is what he has most cherished.

I can say this with confidence because Dr. Heiser has consistently woven that message into every ministry his hand has touched. That’s no easy task for a guy who has frequently plunged into the murky waters of the sometimes strange and often neglected topics of the Bible. The temptation to follow rabbit trails is very real. The temptation to make the rabbit trail the main thing is also a real threat, but Dr. Heiser has always had a special way of staying focused on the reason the rabbit trails exist in the first place. They exist because they have a connection to the main road, or should I say, the main story line; God’s plan to redeem mankind through Christ. I have always appreciated that about Dr. Heiser. He refuses to allow the weird parts of the Bible to become the main focus of what’s important, but he also refuses to ignore those weird parts because they supply us with a more complete understanding the main story line.

There may be no better example of this than his book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Have you ever been curious about the Nephilim from Genesis 6? What about the prince of Persia from Daniel 10? Are you under the impression that the Hebrew word elohim is only to be used of the one true God? Well, buckle up because you’ll be given the scholarly treatment on those and other fascinating topics in the Bible. But don’t think for one second that you’ll learn about those topics for the sake of head knowledge alone. You’ll discover how those parts of the Bible would have been understood by the ancient writers and readers of the Bible. That knowledge in turn will shed a whole new light on how several other biblical concepts and passages are understood. What I’m trying to describe here is the quality of illumination; the ability of a doctrine or biblical concept to bring a more complete understanding to parts of your Bible study that you didn’t even realize were dim. Understanding why Jesus sends out 72 disciples in Luke 10 is enough to make any soldier of Christ shout for victory! Giants, demons, disobedient sons of God; these are all very interesting topics that could easily distract us and make us want to focus on them as topics in and of themselves. Dr. Heiser is more interested in teaching how a proper understanding of those topics helps us better understand God’s redemption plan.

Another of my favorite examples of Dr. Heiser’s approach is his argument for Jesus’ birth date being September 11, 3 BC. Now stop. Before you read any further, I didn’t say, “I think we should all believe that Jesus was born on September 11.” Hear my heart about this. I’m trying to tell you what I appreciate about Dr. Heiser’s approach. He lays out a sound case from both a biblical and an astronomically scientific perspective. It’s an approach that magnifies the glory, wonder, and precision of God’s plans and purposes. Then, in true Dr. Heiser fashion, he refuses to make public the exact recipe for his astronomical conclusions. He demonstrates for us that the stars literally align for this proposed birth date, but he won’t tell people how to recreate the alignment or when the same astronomical occurrence will happen again. Why? Because he knows that people have a tendency to run down rabbit trails; to make the astronomy the main thing and to force the data to give us conclusions about the future that are not warranted. He has already given you the way those amazing data points all come together. Don’t chase the data points for the sake of chasing them! Look at what they point to! If the argument for this date is correct, the data point to a God who loved the world so much that He sent His unique Son in the fullness of time, and with awe inspiring precision, to the exact place and people that would allow for His plan of redemption to unfurl. That’s the message. That’s what’s important.

I could go on and on about how much I appreciate Dr. Heiser and his approach to Bible study because he himself goes on and on, especially in his podcast “The Naked Bible Podcast.” Talk about exegeting Scripture! The man spends 8 podcasts unpacking the shortest book of the Bible, Jude… then has enough questions from the audience to have two full Q&A episodes about it. I dare say I’m a fanboy, but please stop and hear my heart again. I appreciate the nuance, the care, and attention to details about history and culture of the ancient writers. As Dr. Heiser would say,

“The Bible was written for us, but it was not written to us.”

My friends, we need to get into the heads of the original authors if we wish to grasp more truth and nuance from God’s word. I heard a pastor once telling us from the pulpit about his experience with his Old Testament professor in seminary. His professor would say, “Students! In order to know what it means you have to know what it meant!” Dr. Heiser’s material is a fantastic resource for getting back to those origins.

I am beyond grateful for the many years that he has dedicated to helping bridge the gap between the academic world and the world of lay people. His commitment to the bedrock principle of believing loyalty to Christ is what drives his ministry. I know that Dr. Heiser’s approach is not everyone’s cup of tea. It would be ridiculous to think that because the world is made up of so many different learning styles and preferences. But for those of us who love to love God more with our minds, for those who are brought to tears at the vastness of the connections between Old Testament and New Testament, for those who are humbled by learning about the finer details of God’s great redemption narrative, we all say a profoundly grateful “Thank you” to Dr. Heiser and his ministry.

We all pray that God gives you comfort in your journey to ultimate healing.