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Hello and welcome to WPNs study on ‘Evil Angels’
Did you know that that there are good and evil angels in the world? That angels, as well as man, had a falling out? In this study we are going to look at some of the different places in scripture that speak about these angels and how their fate was ultimately decided long ago. These are the topics that we will discuss today:
- The fall of evil angels / Satan’s betrayal
- The dwelling place of the evil angels
- The roles of evil angels in Heaven and Earth and,
- The fate of evil angels
To start off, lets define what an evil angel actually is. Evil angels or demons are angels that sinned against God and fell short of His glory. The best example we have in scripture to define an angel that became evil is Satan. In Eze 28:14 nasb, God is speaking directly to Satan, telling him that he was the anointed ‘cherub‘. A cherub (or cherubim) is a classification of a high ranking angel that is mentioned many times in scripture, most notably in Exodus chapter 25 and Ezekiel chapter 10.
So not only was Satan and angel, he was a cherub, and not just any cherub, but he was the most glorious cherub God ever created. This can be seen in Eze 28:11-14 nasb. Actually Eze 28:12 nasb says that Satan had the ‘seal of perfection’ which no other angel in scripture had been given this title.
So how did Satan fall?
Eze 28:17 nasb says that Satan became corrupt due to his pride, and because of this God casts him down. In a future study I’ll go into more detail about Satan’s betrayal, but for now, we are going to use this as an example to show that angels do in fact have the ability to sin (pride) and betray God. And if Satan (an angel) has the ability to sin, then can the other angels sin? In 2 Peter 2:4 nasb, the apostle Peter confirms that at some point, certain angels did in fact sin, and were judged. God has restrained, but not eliminated, these fallen angels with “chains,” and they still exert influence on this earth. However, their day of judgment, when their sentencing will be carried out, is sure to come.
But when did the the fall of the angels occur? To answer this question we must first look at when the angels were created. If you look at Job 38:4-7 nasb, God asks Job a series of questions. Verse 4 God asks where Job was when He laid the foundations of the earth? Then in verse 7 God says that after the foundations of the earth were laid, “all the morning stars sang together, and All the sons of God shouted for joy.” The term “sons of God” here refer to all the angelic beings: see Job 1:6 for reference to sons of God as being angels.
So knowing this, we now know that angels were at least created ‘before’ the earth, because when earth was created, the angels praised Gods creation. Now to finish our answer, we have to pinpoint when in scripture their fall occurred. Gen 2:31 nasb is the account of the end of the sixth day of creation. Here, God reflects on all that He had created the past six days, and saw that it was ‘very good.‘ So if everything God made at this point was ‘very good’, then the fall of the angels couldn’t have occurred until at least after the sixth day of creation.
Now if we go to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, (just one chapter later) this is where we see the first deceptive act of Satan as the serpent who deceived mankind, which ultimately led to the fall of man. So this means that somewhere between the sixth day of creation in the 2nd chapter of Genesis and the fall of man in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, the fall of the angels must have occurred.
Revelations 12:3-4 nasb says that the Dragon (Satan) swept away a third of the stars of heaven. This is apocalyptic literature referring to angels as being the stars of heaven (see Job 38:7 for a description of stars referring to angels). This indicates that when Satan was overcome by pride and ultimately fell, he, as the ‘anointed cherub‘, convinced a third of the angels in heaven to follow him, leading to the official fall of the evil angels.
Now lets look at where these evil angels dwell.
To get this answer, lets look at the scene in 2 Chronicles 18:18-21 nasb. Here, all the hosts of heaven (the angels) were standing at the throne of God, and God asks if any of the ‘hosts’ would entice King Ahab of Israel to go to war. After a few of the hosts gave suggestions, one in particular told God that he would go and be a ‘deceiving spirit‘ to Ahab’s prophets.
Now we know from earlier what happened to the angels when they sinned, therefore the righteous angels would not be ‘deceiving spirits’ because they uphold Gods standards. So this host, who suggested being a deceiving spirit, was an evil angel. Again if we look at Job 1:6 nasb, this is another scene in heaven where the sons of God (angels) came before God’s throne and Satan was with them. Here, God asks Satan where he came from, which Satan responded with a very interesting answer, saying that he was “roaming about on the earth.” And since Satan presented himself alongside the other ‘sons of God’, this indicates that other evil angels were also among them.
So knowing all this, we can conclude that evil angels (demons) do not dwell in hell, but on heaven and earth!
The book of Revelation speaks about a new heaven and a new earth being created while the old heaven and earth passed away (Rev 21:1 nasb). Have you ever wondered the purpose of this? The reason is because the old heaven and earth were both tainted by evil and sin, therefore new ones would have to be created in order to facilitate a truly peaceful eternity future.
But what role do these evil angels play now?
Lets start off by looking at Gods sovereignty. We have a God who is in complete control of ALL things. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 nasb that the Father “gave all authority in heaven and on earth” to Him. This means that Satan and his angels cannot do anything in heaven or on earth without Christ’s permission. Remember, God does not command the evil angels, Satan does. God just grants them permission to carry out certain acts as long as it is in line with His will (see 2 Chronicles 18:18-21 nasb again for an example). God can use both good and bad deeds to facilitate His plans. And to know that we have God in heaven who is in control of all the chaos we see today is very comforting.
What about the fate of these evil angels?
Redemption (salvation) for the angels is very different from that of mankind, but the Retribution (punishment) is the same. God made a plan of redemption for all mankind after we fell in the garden, to send Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. That we can be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That all who believe in Him and call on His name would have everlasting life. And those who ultimately choose to reject the salvation only found in Jesus Christ, will be judged in the last days and sentenced to eternal damnation.
The angels on the other hand, do not get the same chance at redemption that mankind does. When Satan sinned, his fate was decided right then and there, no second chances. This was the same for all the angels that fell and followed Satan’s example. Angels only get one chance at redemption, and if they fail, they are then given the same punishment as those who refused Christ, which is an eternity in the lake of fire.
To avoid this, we must all come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
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And always remember, why is it important to study Bible prophecy? Because never have we been closer than today..