Angelic Conflict: Judgment on the Genesis 6 Angels, Jude 6-7
We should be reminded that Jude sets forth his purpose
in the third verse: "Beloved,
while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation [his
original intent], I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the
saints." He had to write about a different topic, a topic related to the false
teachers who had now come into the congregation. He is warning them about them,
and part of his challenge is to remind those sitting in the pew that there is
definitely judgment in the plan of God the those who are disobedient to Him.
The examples that he uses are not going to be examples that relate to a
person's individual eternal destiny. There are some who would want to come to
Jude and interpret him in light of unsaved versus saved, those who are
justified and those who aren't. But that is not the context and focus of his
illustrations. The illustrations relate to those who God judges, those who are
disobedient to Him. And he is going to give these examples of God's judgment.
The first judgment we have looked at is
judgment upon the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. Then exodus
generation was disobedient to God, and even Moses was disobedient at one point.
For these acts of disobedience this generation was not allowed to enjoy the
blessings of the promised land. God brought judgment upon them; they died in
the wilderness before they could enter the land. This is not eternal
destruction, not eternal judgment; it illustrates the fact that there is
accountability in this universe because it is God's universe, and God is going
to bring judgment on those who disobey Him.
The second illustration has to do with
a group of angels who disobeyed God. They disobeyed in a certain way and then
were judged. We see in the last part of the verse that they are reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. That
judgment is future, so the focus is that they are held now under these eternal
chains of darkness. It is talking about present time judgment as a result of a
past disobedience. None of this has to do with the doctrine of individual
salvation because angels aren't saved in that sense like human beings are; they
donÕt have an option of trusting Christ as savior.
This is an important verse, and it is
important because it helps us understand a somewhat enigmatic episode in the
Old Testament. There are questions a lot of people have about this episode and
about the interpretation that is most obvious and clear, i.e. an invasion of
the human race by a group of fallen angels.
Jude 1:6 NASB "And angels
who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has
kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day." "Eternal bonds" is the main thought because it is illustrating God's certain
judgment on those creatures who are disobedient. So He kept these disobedient
angels in eternal bonds under darkness for the [future] judgment of the great
day. [7] "just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in
the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange
flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal
fire." This shows a comparison between what these angels did and what it meant
to not keep their own domain, and what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. The
focus is on punishment.
The first key word that we should look
at is the word "domain." This is a translation of the Greek word arche [a)rxh],
and it is translated in Arndt and GingrichÕs lexicon as domain or sphere of
influence, or power. It has to do with that which is first in order. The word
is also used in John 1:1: "In the beginning"—en arche [e)n
a)rxh]. The word "angel" (angelos in the Greek) means a
messenger—its primary function. It is used of human messengers; it is
also used n these creatures that are basically immaterial in their makeup, can
be invisible to human beings, who were the first order of intelligent creatures
that God created before He created the human race. These angels are then
subdivided into two classifications. There are the elect or holy angels, the
angels who stayed loyal to God in the time of the angelic rebellion when the
highest of all the angels, Lucifer, gave into his arrogance, became
self-absorbed, and asserted his desire to be higher than God and to take for
himself all of the worship of God. Approximately one third of the angels
followed Lucifer in his rebellion. Lucifer was later named satan (Heb.), or Satan, a name for him as the adversary or the
accuser of God.
The revolt took place between Genesis
1:1 and Genesis 1:2 which depicts the universe in some state of judgment and
chaos. God rebuilt and recreated the universe for the habitation of man. Man
was created in order to resolve the angelic conflict. What is meant by that is
that the human race was going to demonstrate the justice of GodÕs decision in
punishing Lucifer and the angels that followed him with eternal punishment in
the lake of fire. The reason for that is because the sin of disobeying God, the
sin of thinking that you can make life work apart from God, is so horrible and
terrible in its consequences that it is worthy of such a horrible punishment.
If we just think about that and the
original sin in the garden of Eden when Adam ate the fruit, that plunged the
human race into sin. It had the consequent effect of plunging the universe into
sin so that everything becomes impacted by the corruption of sin. Prior to Adam
biting off a chunk of that fruit there was not any sin, no suffering, nothing
that was horrible; everything was perfect. But as a result of AdamÕs sin the
entire universe plunged into corruption and so all of the horrible things that
we have seen in history are the consequence. All of the suffering down through
the ages is a result of rebellion against God, and so what God is demonstrating
in human history is that the consequence of an act, no matter how innocent it may
appear, no matter inconsequential it might seem, that is independent of GodÕs
will, that goes against GodÕs will, brings about such horrible consequences
that punishment of eternal condemnation in the lake of fire fits the crime.
When Adam ate from the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged into sin, as part of the
legal punishment he died spiritually. But God also provided a solution to that
spiritual death and it is indicated in a rather broad form in Genesis 3:15. God
said that the woman would give birth to the seed, and her seed (in a
future generation) would destroy the seed of the serpent. Genesis 3:15 NASB
ÒAnd I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her
seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.Ó
The bruise on the heel would still be a fatal wound but it is not the kind of
destructive wound that we have where the seed of the woman [Jesus Christ]
crushes the head of the serpent. That sets up GodÕs plan of redemption and
salvation from the penalty of sin, demonstrating that He is a loving and
gracious God and that SatanÕs charge that no loving, gracious God would ever
send His creatures to the lake of fire is false and fraudulent.
Once God announced His plan via the
seed then something else happened. Satan understood that he had to destroy the
human nature of the seed in order to prevent the coming of this promised
savior. That set up various attacks against the human race. The first of these
great attacks against the human race was SatanÕs temptation of Eve in the
garden. Multiple attacks occur during the Tribulation period. This involves a
demon assault army that currently is imprisoned in the Abyss under the command
of a demon called Apollyon (Revelation 9:1-12). That is the fifth trumpet
judgment. The sixth trumpet judgment involves a second demonic assault army
which is currently invisible and held in reserve under the Euphrates river
(Revelation 9:12-21). Then there is a third army of demons which are currently
stationed in heaven under the command of Satan, and this is spelled out in
Revelation 12:7-17.
Between the attack of the garden of
Eden and the future attack on the human race in the Tribulation period there
was a major assault against the human race, and this took place in the ancient
world during the time of Noah. That is the reference in Jude 6. So these are
angels who did not keep their original sphere of influence or their original
place of power. God had created all of the angels to be heavenly creatures to
serve Him in the heavens, and yet this group that left not only that position
and followed Satan but then left the domain of heaven in order to enter into
history to seduce human women in order to infiltrate and destroy the human gene
pool.
The first key word is they left their
original Òdomain.Ó They abandoned their proper Òabode,Ó the Greek word oiketerion [o)ikhthrion]
which refers to a habitation or dwelling place. So they didnÕt keep their
original station or purpose which had to do with serving God in heaven and they
abandoned their proper abode or dwelling place, i.e. they left heaven and went
to the earth. This tells us two things about this group of angels. They
violated their original purpose or mission as having been created to serve
God—and that would be their identification with Lucifer in
rebellion—and then they left heaven and entered into earth. They left
their domain and they left their proper abode.
Then we are told: ÒHe has kept in
eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.Ó This means
that they are under condemnation, they are in a place of complete and absolute
darkness, and that they are not going to be released from these chains. So they
are imprisoned right now for a future judgment, which is called Òthe judgment
of the great day.Ó This refers to a future time at the end of the seven-year
Tribulation when Jesus returns to save Israel from the armies of the
Antichrist, Satan and the false prophet. The Antichrist and the false prophet
are sent to the lake of fire and Satan is confined for a thousand years in the
Abyss. It is believed that at that time the fallen angels also are judged and
sent to the lake of fire. This is a subset of demons. Not all demons are free
to roam about the earth. There are actually four groups of demons, three that
are confined and one that is currently serving Lucifer in heaven.
But when we come to verse 7 there is a
comparative at the beginning telling us that there is something common between
the second example of judgment, i.e. the angels who are judged and imprisoned,
and the judgment of God upon two of the cities of the plains, Sodom and
Gomorrah, because of their sexual perversion. It says Òjust as [like] Sodom and
Gomorrah.Ó It is a comparison. The kind of sin that occurred among the angels
is the same thing that occurred among those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 7:
Òjust as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around themÉÓ The word for ÒcitiesÓ
is a feminine noun, and it is going to be followed by two pronouns, them and
they. These are feminine plural pronouns. The pronoun has to agree with the
original noun according to gender and number. So ÒcitiesÓ is feminine plural
and therefore any pronouns referring back to ÒcitiesÓ has to be feminine
plural. The first ÒthemÓ and ÒtheyÓ are feminine plural pronouns. But the next
pronoun translated ÒtheseÓ is a masculine plural and therefore it does not
refer back to Òcities,Ó it must refer to a plural masculine noun. The only
previous plural masculine noun is verse 6—the angels. So there is a
comparison made between the perversion of the cities of the plains—Òjust
as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they [the cities around
them] in the same way as these [angels]ÉÓ So the angelic rebellion of sexual
immorality that this references is some event that precedes the event of Sodom
and Gomorrah. The Sodom and Gomorrah event happened in Genesis 19, so this has
to be referring to some event among the angels that is prior to Genesis 19.
ÒÉ indulged in gross immorality and
went after strange fleshÉÓ What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? It was
homosexuality. Men lusted after other men, women after other women, and so
there was homosexuality and lesbianism rampant in the cities of the plain.
There was pure licentiousness and so they were not following the restrictions
that God placed upon human beings where sexual relations were to be between
members of the opposite sex, and married members of the opposite sex. So the
comparison is that just as Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in sexual relations with
those with whom they should not have sexual relations the angels had sexual
relations with those with whom they were not to have sexual relations with.
That only fits one scenario prior to Genesis chapter nineteen.
Jude is reminding his readers that God
judges disobedient creatures. ÒÉ are exhibited as an example in undergoing the
punishment of eternal fire.Ó The eternal fire here is a reference to the
judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah in time, in history. And that is the fire and brimstone
of God that came down from heaven and destroyed the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah. Eternal fire here is not a reference to the eternal fire of the lake
of fire. That comes later and is related to salvation. But in each of these
cases we are focusing on judgment that comes on a disobedient group at the time
of their disobedience. The Israelites are punished when they are coming out of
Egypt and they refuse to trust God to provide victory for them in the promised
land. The fallen angels here that enter into human history in Genesis 6 are
punished at that time and put into these everlasting chains of darkness. The
focus of the judgment is on that judgment, putting them into the everlasting
chains of darkness, not the future judgment of the great day. And the Sodom and
Gomorrah judgment, therefore, to fit the pattern being set up would relate to
the judgment of God on the cities of the plains through the fire and brimstone
coming from heaven.
There are other passages in the New
Testament that give us some clarity on this in the epistles of Peter. Remember,
2 Peter was written to the same group of people as Jude. Peter wrote much
earlier warning them of the coming of certain false teachers; Jude is writing
at the time they have shown up. 2 Peter 2 describes these false teachers that
will be coming. 2 Peter 2:1 NASB ÒBut false prophets also arose
among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will
secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought
them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.Ó
2 Peter 2:2 NASB ÒMany will
follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be
maligned [blasphemed]; [3] and in {their} greed they will exploit you with false
words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not
asleep.Ó Peter is saying the same thing Jude will say. Even though it may look
like God delays there is judgment that will come. God judges disobedient
creatures. Then he gives as an example a reference to the same event that Jude
references in Jude 6. [4] ÒFor if God did not spare angels when they sinned,
but cast them into hell [Hades, a place of confinement for the dead generally]
and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.Ó In the Old
Testament there were two compartments, the compartment of torments and a
compartment related to Paradise. After Christ rose from the dead He took those
who were in Paradise, Old Testament saints, to heaven. But there is another
compartment and that is the place of darkness where these fallen angels are
confined. Peter goes to this same event as Jude and says that if God is going
to judge the angels for their sins He is going to judge these false teachers
for their sin. The terminology here is very similar to that in Jude. The
darkness is a deep darkness that is so dark that they canÕt see anything; there
is no light that penetrates it whatsoever. There are twp punishments here. They
are in a holding cell until they are eventually taken to the place of punishment.
The sentence has already been pronounced.
He goes on to give us additional
information which helps us to locate these angels and their sin in history, the
second example of judgment. 2 Peter 2:5 NASB Òand did not spare the
ancient world ÉÓ So there is a connection between the sin of the angels in
verse 4 and the judgment of God upon the ancient world at the time of the
Noahic flood. ÒÉ but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven
others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.Ó Previously as
we looked at the Jude account what we learned was that the rebellion of the
angels occurred prior to Genesis chapter nineteen. This verse tells us that
this sin of the angels occurs before the flood began at the time of Noah and the
preservation of Noah and his family. This tells us it has to have happened
between Genesis chapter three and Genesis chapter six verse 18.
Ò É when He brought a flood upon the
world of the ungodly.Ó This us a use of the word ÒungodlyÓ in a context similar
to Jude where ungodly can only refer to unbelievers. The term ÒungodlyÓ is not
a term that technically refers to believers but to unbelievers or the acts that
are consistent with being an unbeliever.
2 Peter 2:6 NASB Òand {if} He condemned the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing {them} to ashes, having made
them an example to those who would live ungodly {lives} thereafter.Ó So we see
another example coming from Sodom and Gomorrah.
1 Peter tells us even more about this
event. 1 Peter 3:15 NASB Òbut sanctify Christ as Lord in your
hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; [16] and keep a good
conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. [17] For it is better, if God should will it so, that you
suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.Ó And now he
is going to give an example of Christ who was perfect who suffered for doing
good, not for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:18 NASB ÒFor
Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, so that He
might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in
the spirit.Ó That is the beginning of the thought. Then he says that there is
something that happened with Christ after He died physically on the cross. He
is put to death in the flesh, the body is buried in the grave, but the
immaterial part of Christ—His soul and His spirit—go and [19] Òin which also He
went and made proclamation to the spirits {now} in prison.Ó So there is some
sort of intermediate body, not physical but immaterial. How do we know there is
an immaterial body? One example is in Luke 16 and the account of Lazarus and
the rich man. The rich man looks across the great gulf that separates torments
from Paradise and the Scripture says the rich man is burning and in pain. He
begs Abraham to let Lazarus come and dip his finger and touch it to the rich
manÕs tongue. HeÕs dead, so how does he have a tongue? The only way to explain
that is that there is some sort of immaterial transitional body between the
physical body and our future body, either the resurrection body of the believer
in heaven or the body that the unbeliever receives that is capable of enduring
the eternal torments of the lake of fire.
So Jesus goes in some sort of
intermediate body to make a proclamation. 1 Peter 3:19 NASB Òin
which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits {now} in prison.Ó Who
are these spirits? This word ÒspiritÓ in the Greek is the word commonly used
for the angels and these angels are further defined in the next verse [20] Òwho
once were [previously] disobedient ÉÓ So we learn here that this is referring
to a class of angels who were disobedient in the past. Well that could be
either fallen angels as a whole or a subset of fallen angels. What we have
looked at already is that in Jude we are told that that group not only left
their original station in life, serving God, but they did something in addition
to that; they left their abode in heaven and went into human history. So that
group is a smaller subset of the whole group of fallen angels. That was also
defined in 2 Peter.
In the previous passages that prison
was defined as eternal darkness. It is interesting that the Greek word used in
both of those places isnÕt the normal word for darkness, it is a word that
references a more profound, gloomy, deep darkness that is associated in literature
with depression and gloom and misery. So that is the nature of their
punishment.
Now we are told specifically when that
occurred. ÒÉ when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during
the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were
brought safely through {the} water.Ó The passage in 2 Peter 2 shows us that
this had to be before the flood, but it is near the flood in close proximity,
just prior to the flood. So it makes it clear from comparing these passages that
this group of angels had a sin that was sexual in nature and occurred during
NoahÕs lifetime, and that it is that sin that is the cause of their judgment
and being locked down in this gloomy, depressing, deep, profound darkness until
they are brought before a final judgment and sent to the lake of fire.
There is only one event this could
possibly describe in the Old Testament and that is in Genesis chapter six. It
has to occur some time before the end of that chapter which is when Noah gets
his instructions for building the ark. Because based on 1 Peter 3:20 they were
continuing in this sexual activity even during the time of the construction of
the ark.
Genesis 6:1 NASB ÒNow it
came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters
were born to them.Ó The word translated ÒmenÓ isnÕt a word that means males, it
is a word that just refers generically to the human race (adam). We are descended from Adam in the garden and so adam refers not only to the individual
Adam, it also refers to the human race, male and female who descended from
Adam. The emphasis here in this verse is going to be upon the daughters, they
are the focal point.
Genesis 6:2 NASB Òthat the
sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautifulÉÓ So this is a
one-sided event. It is not the daughters of God and the sons of men, it is not
a joining that occurs between the sons of God and men but the sons of God and
women. It is a one way event from the group called the sons of God who are
taking ÒdaughtersÓ (females)—Òand they took wives for themselves,
whomever they chose.Ó
What in the world is going on here and
who are the sons of God? It is important to understand that this is a technical
term, beni ha Elohim, and it refers
to the angels as the direct creation of God. It is not referring to church age
believers who become children of God—that is true but it is a different
terminology. Israel is described as the son of Yahweh, but that is a different term; it is beni-ha-Yahweh, not beni ha Elohim
or beni Elohim. It is that generic
term Elohim that is important here
because it is showing that they are the direct creation of God.
There are three interpretations that
are suggested for Òsons of God.Ó The view that most scholars take is the third
one. There are exceptions, good scholars who disagree on this but we think that
sometimes scholars pick a position just because they want to be contrary. The
first view is that they are apostates, where terms Òsons of GodÓ and Òdaughters
of menÓ relate to two classifications of human beings, spiritual and apostate.
There is also a view that most
people donÕt ever hear. It is the view that says the sons of God are the good
guys, the believers, and the daughters of men are the unbelievers. It is when
believers intermarry with unbelievers and this is what causes all the trouble.
That is a fact but that is not what this is talking about.
The other view is that these are
dynastic rulers or autocrats, ancient tyrants who forced themselves on young,
beautiful maidens, marry them, develop huge harems, and this causes a breakdown
in social institutions.
The third view is the angel view that
the sons of God are a subset of fallen angels that have left heaven in order to
invade human history in order to take on and transform themselves with human
bodies so that they can take on human wives and reproduce in such a way that
they are destroying the purity of the human DNA
chain, and this would then make it impossible for God to send a savior who
would be true humanity.
The term Òsons of GodÓ and Òdaughters
of menÓ clearly identify two different groups. The first option, the apostates,
tries to take the position that Òsons of GodÓ stands for either the descendants
in the line of Seth or just believers in general. The view that we usually run
into is that the Sethites begin to intermarry with the Cainites (daughters of
Cain) and that is what causes the problem. In this view they try to treat all
the son terms and phrases as interchangeable and generic as opposed to
technical. There are other verses they will go to, Like Exodus 4:22 NASB
ÒThus says the LORD, ÔIsrael is My son, My firstborn.ÕÓ But this is an adoption
text: God adopting Israel. It doesnÕt really fit.
Deuteronomy 14:1 NASB ÒYou are the sons of the LORD your GodÉÓ It is not beni ha Elohim. That term is used in a
lot of places and every time beni ha Elohim
is used it always refers to fallen angels.
Deuteronomy
32:5 NASB ÒThey have acted corruptly toward Him, {They are} not His
children ÉÓ It is not using the term beni
ha Elohim, it is referring to this unique status of Israel as a nation to
God.
Hosea
1:10 NASB ÒYet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the
sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where
it is said to them, ÔYou are not My people,Õ It will be said to them, Ô{You
are} the sons of the living God.ÕÓ This is not the same as beni ha elohim.
The name beni Elohim is what we find in passages like Job which was written during the same early period as the events of Genesis 6. Job was probably the first book written in the Bible, before Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Job 1:6 NASB ÒNow there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.Ó Sons of God refers to the angels as a whole and it includes both holy and fallen angels. Job 2:1 NASB ÒAgain there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.Ó Again, this refers to all of the angels, not just to fallen angels. Job 38:7 NASB ÒWhen the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?Ó So there is unity in this verse at the time of the laying of the foundation of the earth, all of the sons of God are united together.
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