Saturday, February 16, 2013

Five Bible Verses on Fallen Angels

1. Genesis 6:1-22 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

This is a passage from Genesis that has sparked a lot of debate and discussion. Originally the first men had live hundreds of years. Eventually it was down to around 300 years that they lived. Then God decided that it would be 120 years. This verse is interpreted that angels that served God came down to earth and were taken by the beauty of human women. The term "fallen angel" actually never occurs in the Bible. It is a term coined for Satan's angels, angels that turned against God The women impregnated by these evil angels then gave birth to creatures called nephilim. They were giants that walked the earth and they were entirely evil. This led God to flood the earth and start over with Noah and his family.

2. Numbers 13:33 "And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

This quote is from the tribe of Israels time in the wilderness when they were lead by Joshua. Caleb was at work as well. Scouts returned and told of great giants and explained that they could never defeat them. We know that the Nephilim are the children of fallen angels. The corruption of human women mating with fallen angels made them completely evil, with no good thoughts of any kind. Everyone in the tribe was afraid, but Joshua knew that through God they could do anything. That is how leaders are formed, they know something, a truth that no one else knows. And as such they become leaders.

3. Ezekiel 32:27 And they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living.

I included this passage from Ezekiel because it mentions the nephilim briefly at the end when it says "the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living." Once again we see that the offspring of the fallen angels was utterly corrupt and terrifying. This gives us a good glimpse into the idea of fallen angels, or demons. They are fully evil, with no ability for retribution unlike man kind. Everything they produce is evil, and they sow such in the world.

4. 2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment

In 2 Peter we see that God has no forgiveness for angels when they sin. So if they sin once, they are doomed. Why is this? We don't really know. We learn that God does not spare them even, and casts them into hell where they wait for judgement day. We get an interesting glimpse into hell as it is referred to as "gloomy" and chains are also mentioned. Is this literal or figurative? Often in the Bible both is true. So there may be literal chains. And indeed it must be very gloomy. What happens to them once they're judged on judgement day? We don't really know. We know that through accepting Christ we avoid judgement of any kind. But what is the penalty for those who fail to accept Christ and are judged on their actions? We'll have to wait and see.

5. Revelation 12:7-9 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

This is a verse from Revelation that is very exciting. The earth had been swept over with disaster after disaster, plague after plague. And finally Michael and his angels are unleashed and defeat the dragon who is the devil. This passage always gives me chills when I read the part that refers to Satan as "that ancient serpent." It just has such a finality to it. Like finally! At last, the ancient beast who has so plagued man kind is defeated. It seems to indicate that the serpent who tempted Eve in the garden of Eden was in fact the devil himself. The interesting part of this passage is that it occurs in Revelation which is prophecy about future events, the end of the world. But what's interesting is that it also seems to reference the story of creation when there was war in heaven between Satan and his 1/3 of angels that joined him which was possibly before even the creation of the Earth itself. It's also possible that this infers that the war in heaven had been going on constantly since the creation of the earth and in the end times is finally concluded. It's hard to say, but we'll know someday.