Entropy is a scientific term that, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary means “(a) the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity; (b) a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder”. In other words, orderly systems tend to degrade back to their original state of disorder. When this is combined with the idea that the natural state of the universe is chaos, the result is “chaos theory”. Scientific thinking about “chaos theory” has led to Quantum Physics, which is a body of physical principles created by the attempt to combine the principles of quantum mechanics with those of relativity to account for subatomic phenomena. In other words, it is an attempt to explain how order came out of the underlying chaos of the universe without accepting it as a work of God.

Spiritual Application

However, as believers we know that it was the Lord God who created all things, both the visible and the invisible.

(16) For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

(11) "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

It was God that brought order out of chaos and it is God who maintains order and upholds His order as the Scriptures tell us.

(3) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

We can see from these scripture verses that it is in Him that all things hold together, that is, in Him all things are maintained in order. Things that are not “in Him” would not be maintained, that is, those things would be subject to “entropy” and would degrade to disorder.

Jesus expressed this when He discussed Himself as the vine and us as the branches and the necessity of abiding in Him as the vine.

(6) "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

The branch that does not abide in the vine no longer has the sustaining Life of the Lord and, consequently, begins the entropic process—it begins to wither, dry up, and die; eventually to return to its initial components. This is a clear example of “spiritual entropy” and if we don't stay connected to the Lord, we will be subject to it.

The process of entropy began with the rebellion of Lucifer. Prior to his uprising everything in creation was held together and received life from the Lord. When Lucifer decided that he wasn't satisfied with his position and tried to change it, he was cut off from the life flow from God. When this happened, Lucifer became Satan and he and his angelic followers all became subject to entropy and the effect on them is continuing. There are physical implications to this that we need to consider.

The Imposed Order of Creation

When God created all things, He enforced an order onto all things according to His will.

We live in a universe created by God as our habitat. It is physical and visible. The angels and other spiritual created beings live in the heavens as their habitat and it and its occupants are invisible to us.

We and our habitat are created as a lower form of creation than the heavens and its occupants

(5) Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

(5) For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.

NOTE: The NASB translates the Hebrew word, elohiym, as God; however, it is plural and in this context should translate as angels, which is what the KJV says. This is consistent with the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions: 'ĕlôhîym: 1) (plural) 1a) rulers, judges. 1b) divine ones, 1c) angels, 1d) gods.

Based on this, we can conclude that we and our habitat are a lower order than the angels and their habitat. However, God has a plan and purpose for us that exceeds anything relating to the angels.

The Order of the Heavens

From our viewpoint, we know that “the heavens” are invisible to us. We only see the physical sky, which we call “heaven”. Apparently there are a total of three heavens. Paul speaks of a man that was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). If our physical sky is the first heaven, then there are two heavens that are invisible to us.

(6) "You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

The implication of this verse is that the “heaven of heavens” is the abode or throne room of God and would appear to correspond to what Paul referred to as the “third heaven”. That leaves a “second heaven” or mid-heaven, about which we know very little.

We have the “highest heaven”, which is the throne room of God and the habitat of His created angelic host and we have the “lowest heaven”, which is the physical sky that we see. This fits with the idea that man was created “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8:5), for even our habitat was created lower than the habitat of the angels.

So, what's in the middle heaven? When God created “the things invisible” (Col.1:16), he created levels of spiritual responsibility that the Scriptures call “thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities” (Col.1:16)¹. I believe that these occupy the second and third heavens. Thrones and dominions (literally, lordships), I believe to be part of the third heavens because Jesus was given a throne and made Lord by God the Father (Rev. 3:21; Acts 2:36). If this is true, then that leaves rulers and authorities (KJV = principalities and powers) to occupy the second heaven. Apparently, the rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) are also those who rose in rebellion with Lucifer². As a consequence, their loyalties are no longer attached to God and His purposes but rather with Satan and his schemes. That is why we have to contend with them.

(12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

For us to begin to understand some of this requires that we recognize some of the Father's purpose in Jesus. The Lord has been given a Kingdom with full dominion that will last forever.

Kingdom Basics

(14) "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

The Kingdom of God is one of the “mystery” aspects of what God is doing. Jesus told his disciples that it was given to them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but that understanding was not given to the general public.

(10) And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.

The Kingdom has to be searched out; that is why He spoke of the Kingdom in parables. Now, in space and time, the Kingdom is invisible to us; but, the Kingdom will come with the return of the Lord in visible manifestation and Jesus will rule in His Kingdom, visible on the earth for a 1000 years.³

Meanwhile, the purposes of the Lord, which have already been completed in Eternity, are being worked out in time and space of which we are a part. We need to understand what is happening in the Kingdom of God if we are to be of value in our struggle against the enemies of Jesus.

(24) Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

(25) "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

(26) "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

(27) "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'

(28) "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves *said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'

(29) "But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

(30) 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Jesus compared the Kingdom to a field that was sown with good seed, but an enemy sneaked into the field and sowed bad seed. It would destroy too many of the good plants to try to deal with the bad plants until it became harvest time. Then, the bad plants could be pulled out first and bundled in preparation to be burned, then the good plants could be gathered into the barn.

The disciples asked Jesus to explain this parable to them. This is what He said:

(38) and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;

(39) and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

(40) "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

So, we are sons of the Kingdom sown into the earth. There are sons of the enemy sown among the sons of the Kingdom and they are hard to identify (tares look like wheat until they ripen). The angels, at the close of this age, separate the sons of the enemy from the sons of the Kingdom in accordance with the purposes of the Lord.

The Lord intends to remove everything from His Kingdom that is not under His government.

(41) "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

A lawless person is one who does not obey the laws of the government. They live according to their own desires and become stumbling blocks to others. This is not acceptable to the King.

Removing the Lawless

The original lawless one was Lucifer and those who rebelled with him. He also became the original stumbling block by tempting Eve and leading Adam into sin and disobedience. He has continued to sow his lawless sons among the sons of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus made it clear that what we say and what we do is not as important as what is in our heart and our motivation for service. He will not allow lawlessness to continue in His Kingdom.

(21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

(22) "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'

(23) "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Refusing to be governed by the King cuts us off from His sustaining life and as entropy does its work, we return to our lawless state. Except we repent, we cannot escape the consequences of entropy.

There is coming a day when spiritual entropy will catch up with Satan and his fallen angels, too. This is the beginning of the lawless removal process.

(7) And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

(8) and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

(9) And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Previously, it appears that Lucifer and his angels were removed from the throne room of God. He then set up a rival kingdom, a kingdom of darkness, in competition with the Kingdom of God. This kingdom was apparently headquartered in the second heavens or mid-heavens from which the rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) operated in the earth. Now from these verses in Revelation we see that Satan and his angels are pushed out of heaven completely and are pushed into the earth. This is entropy at work. From the moment that Lucifer rebelled, he ceased to be sustained by the power of the Lord and he began to be subject to entropy. He degraded from the heaven of heavens, to the heavens, i.e., the second heaven, and, now, Michael and the Lord's angels push him out of the invisible spiritual habitat into the visible realm of the earth.

When we read the description of some of the creatures presented in the book of Revelation, there is a tendency on our part to spiritualize them or to make them correspond to modern machines such as helicopters in an attempt to explain their appearance. However, maybe we should accept these descriptions as literal depictions of living creatures. What would celestial creatures look like if they had been limited to the visible earthly realm? Lucifer is described as a beautiful creature before his fall, even, in appearance, an angel of light afterward. However, as entropy effects accumulate, he is described as a dragon, that old serpent. It seems to me that there is a major visual difference between an angel of light and a dragon.

In Revelation chapter nine, it is an angel that is given the keys to the abyss (this is not hell). The creatures that are loosed from the abyss are ugly. Their leader is Abaddon, the destroyer, and he is called an angel⁴. Is it possible that the description of these creatures are those of demons or fallen angels that are now limited to the visible, earthly realm? Could this be the appearance of fallen angels without their celestial glory?

We know very little of the invisible realms and the created beings that inhabit them. The scriptures give us some hints and, sometimes, the Holy Spirit brings some enlightenment, but, all in all, we can only try to put the things that we understand into the context of what we understand of the purposes of the Lord and His plans and procedures. In this, as in all things, search the scriptures and let the Holy Spirit bring revelation to you. Just remember that the Bible is not intended to record all things, it only records the history of man.

1For further discussion and analysis of this verse see “Present Truth Teaching Newsletter: The Things Invisible, Parts 1, 2, and 3” available on the website www.lifestreamteaching.com.

2Revelation 12:4 tells us that during the war in the heavens, the dragon's tail swept away a third of the stars. The dragon is later identified in verse 9 as the devil and the stars refer to his angels.

3Revelation 20:6

4Revelation 9:11

Spiritual Entropy

Definition

Spiritual Application

The Imposed Order of Creation

The Order of the Heavens

Kingdom Basics

Removing the Lawless