Evil angels

1) The Royal Bank of Scotland is Britain’s second largest bank.

2) About 60 days ago this bank demanded that its employees have an account with them.

3) The 14,000 employees were told to have an account with the Royal Bank or face discipline.

4) This did not sit too well with some of the bank’s employees.

5) No matter how one might feel about the bank’s decision, their attitude reminds us of something.

6) Actions often have consequences.

a) In the case of a big bank, the consequence is face discipline if an account is not opened.

b) Other things in life also are closely tied to consequences.

7) We have spent some time studying information about Satan and his origin.

8) It has been shown that the passages commonly used to describe the devil’s beginning are incorrect.

9) By deductive reasoning we conclude Satan is a fallen angel.

10) In one way or another Satan sinned, and his sin resulted in some consequences.

11) Stated another way, Satan did not sin and God waved His hands and said, “You should not have done that.”

a) Satan sinned and God punished him.

b) Listen to Jude 6 – READ.

c) Satan and his helpers lost their heavenly position.

d) Jude speaks of “everlasting bonds,” “darkness” and punishment in eternity.

12) Peter makes a similar comment in 2 Pet. 2:4, and the different wording is instructive.

13) Peter said “God spared not the angels when they sinned.”

14) Peter then adds that they were cast down and “committed” to a very interesting place.

15) Here is how the entire text reads – READ 2 Pet. 2:4.

a) Angels “sinned” and God “did not spare them.”

b) A bank said to its employees, “if you fail to bank here, you will pay a price.”

c) Angels failed to abide by their heavenly role and God “cast them down.”

d) Angels were literally evicted from the heavenly realm.

e) Peter says they have been “committed to pits of darkness” and “reserved unto judgment.”

f) Of all that Peter says in this verse the most interesting words are these: “cast down to hell.”

16) A good study Bible will show that Peter did not mean “Hell” as we generally understand the word.

17) Peter used a word that can be translated “Tartarus.”

a) This word will be in a footnote or in a marginal note in many study Bibles.

b) Tartarus was a word used in Greek and Roman mythology.

c) In pagan thought it was where the wicked went.

d) When someone offended the gods (little “g”) they were sent to Tartarus.

e) In Tartarus a person was allegedly imprisoned in a chair and could not move.

18) This word is used in pagan thought, but Peter did not have in mind pagan teachings.

19) Tartarus is explained by Jude 6.

20) It is a “place of darkness” where God keeps evil spirits till judgment day.

21) This is not a pleasant place.

a) Peter says Tartarus is a place of “darkness.”

b) Vine defined this darkness as “thick darkness, darkness that may be felt.”

c) Some of us have been in caves or caverns, deep under the earth.

d) We have been in environments that were literally pitch black. It was impossible to see anything.

e) This is the picture we get of angels and they place where they were cast.

f) I wish we had more information about Tartarus. I wish Peter would have said more in the next verse.

22) Tartarus is found only here in the New Testament.

23) If there is any additional reference to it, we must search for it by some other name.

24) This has been done, and the only thing that fits is a place the Bible calls Hades.

a) In Lk. 16 Jesus spoke of two men. There was a rich man and a poor man.

b) The rich man was wealthy, but all his wealth was in this world.

c) He was not in a right relationship with God. he was spiritually poor.

d) A second man was known as Lazarus; he was materially poor but spiritually rich.

e) Jesus said both these men died, and they went to the same place.

25) Both men went to “Hades” (Lk. 16:23).

a) Hades simply means the “realm of the dead; the place of departed spirits.”

b) When we study Lk. 16 we see that Hades has two sections.

c) One section of Hades is for the saved, the people who are in a right relationship with God.

d) The other part of Hades is for the unsaved.

e) Lk. 16:23 says the Lazarus and the rich man were in the same area, but had different environments.

f) Both were in the Hadean realm, but both were not in the same section.

g) We are told there was a “great gulf” (verse 26) between these two men.

h) In Hades there are two compartments where people are separated from each other.

26) Many believe, and I am of this persuasion, that Tartarus is located in Hades.

a) I know of no reason to reject the idea that Tartarus is part of the bad side of Hades.

b) In Rev. 20:14 the Bible says Hades will one day be destroyed.

c) In other words, Hades is a temporary place. It is the place where people go when they die.

d) Peter said angels are being held in chains of darkness till the coming judgment.

e) What does this tell us? It says that Tartarus is also a temporary holding place.

f) Peter tells us Tartarus is a place of punishment; the rich man in Lk. 16 was being punished in Hades.

g) One side of Hades seems to line up very, very well with the word Tartarus.

h) If there are degrees of punishment and reward, Tartarus may describe the worst or lowest section of it.

27) Peter’s statement in 2 Pet. 2:4 does leave me with some questions.

28) If the angels are chained, does that mean these creatures must leave men alone?

29) When we think about people being locked up, they are not free to come and go as they please.

30) How can we understand Peter’s statement and the demon possession in the first century?

31) Again, we need to take some information and piece it together.

32) We know two things for sure.

a) Peter says these evil creatures were cast down and chained (bound). This is a fact.

b) We know Satan and fellow demons were active in the first century. This is also a fact.

c) For both of these things to be true, we have a limited number of choices.

33) One option is to say that only some of the evil angels were chained.

34) It has been suggested that some demons sinned more than others. That is:

35) The “really bad” evil spirits were permanently confined, but the spirits guilty of lesser sin were not.

36) Although this could be an explanation, it does not to me to be the most attractive possibility.

37) Jesus often illustrated spiritual truths with things of the earth, and such may be helpful for this subject.

a) In life we see times where people are incarcerated.

b) Even though a person has been confined, there are times when some of the restrictions are lifted.

38) A man may be a prisoner, but he is given the freedom to attend a funeral.

39) There are also so-called “death-bed” visits that prisoners are allowed to make.

40) A man may be sentenced to a long prison term but be allowed to go on a “work furlough.”

41) We may be inclined to look at Satan’s binding in a way that is far too literal.

a) Yes, he was cast down. Peter says that and we believe that.

b) Yes, Satan and the other angels have been bound. We do not doubt that.

c) The removal and chaining do not mean the devil has ever been incapacitated.

d) Peter does not say how long the chains (boundaries) are.

e) Certainly in the first century Satan and his helpers were given unique opportunities.

f) Col. 2:15 says Jesus “despoiled the principalities and powers,” making an open show of them.

g) It is almost like Satan has been defeated twice as we assemble here tonight.

h) There was the defeat in his initial rebellion at the beginning of time.

i) Then, he was defeated by Jesus 2,000 years ago. This was his second defeat.

j) A third and final beating will come to Satan at the second coming.

k) In baseball it is “three strikes and you are out.” Satan will have had at least 3 major strikes.

l) In each case he will have lost.

m) He and his forces are chained (greatly restrained), but still working as hard as he can work.

42) Satan’s final defeat is guaranteed to such a degree that Paul commented on it in 1 Cor. 6.

a) The apostle said Satan Christians will “church angels” (verse 3).

b) There are many things about this text we do not know.

c) Paul did not say if he had in mind good angels, evil angels or both.

d) My best explanation of this passage is two-fold.

43) First, angels have already been judged.

44) We have noted from 2 Pet. 2:4 that there were angels that chose sin. These creatures were “cast down.”

45) Some angels chose evil; others chose to stay on the side of good and God.

a) I can find no basis for a future judgment of angels as we normally think of the word.

b) What I do find is a time when a sentence will be pronounced.

c) Jesus alluded to this in Mt. 25:41. He will say to the unsaved, “depart from me.”

d) He will say, “enter into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

e) This will be the sentence.

f) Back in 1 Cor. 6 I believe Paul has in mind Christians will agree that all sentences will be just.

g) We will on the day of judgment be able to look at any lost person and say, “this is the right sentence.”

h) We will also give our approval to what God does to angels.

i) We will understand why the good angels will spend eternity with God and endorse that decision.

j) We will understand why evil angels deserve eternal punishment and agree this is right.

k) As evil as Satan and his helpers are, God will treat them fairly.

46) Satan knows what that final sentence will be so he is doing all he can till that time comes.

47) He wants us and God wants us. We are the deciding party in who wins this battle.