| | | | Fallen Angels - Jude 1:6 Yesterday we learned that just like the Israelites, Christians belong in the Promised Land! Today we explore some interesting doctrine; Fallen Angels...
Example #2 - Fallen Angels (Gen 6)
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day Jude 1:6
The next example Jude uses is that of the fallen angels. Angels are beings created by God, they operate in the eternal realm, and they're purpose is to serve and minister to God. But they also have a will, and these angels apparently "left their proper domain" in rebellion to God. This rebellion was initiated by Satan, the greatest of all angelic beings. His fall is described in Isaiah 14:
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!" Isaiah 14:12
Jesus witnessed this event...
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18)
The Apostle John was given a vision of the event...
"…an enormous red dragon…His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth…the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him" Revelation 12:3-9
What sin is Jude referring to? It's hinted at in Gen 6;
There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown
Gen 6:4
Many believe that this is describing how the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan came to earth and intermixed with humans, producing genetically corrupt human beings. (I have a personal theory that the "gods" of the Greek and Roman mythology may have been inspired by the legends of these "men of renown" from Genesis 6.) We're not told how this interbreeding was possible, perhaps it was some form of demonic inhabitation, either way it was an abomination to the Lord.
It gives us some insight into why God chose to flood the earth: The unnatural union of humans and angelic beings corrupted the genetic pool of mankind to the point that severe action was required. But God found Noah; According to scripture Noah was "a just man," and he "walked with God." But there's an interesting statement; Noah was "a man perfect in his generations" (Genesis 6:9). We could take this to mean that Noah was "pure in his genetics," in other words his family wasn't corrupted by the angelic interbreeding. That, along with his obedience to God, made him a perfect candidate to repopulate the earth.
(Sidenote: Just like Noah was perfect in his genetics, which qualified him to repopulate the new world, when a man or woman accepts Christ, the bible teaches that they become a "new creation" [2 Cor 5:17]. This present earth will be destroyed [Matt 24:35, 2 Peter 3:10, Rev 21:1], and only those who are in Christ will be able to inhabit the new Heaven and earth!)
Bottom line: Just like the angels who rebelled and corrupted God's world, false teachers who rebel against God and corrupt God's truth are an abomination to God. And just like the angels, they will be punished.
Tomorrow we'll look at the final example; Sodom and Gomorrah.
Pastor Clay | | | | | | | |
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