The Fall of the Angels
What We Believe, and Why We Believe It! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Let’s play a game (it’s not fair that Parks Kids get to have all the fun). I’m going to say a word and you tell me its opposite. We’ll start easy:
On
Off
Up
Down
Soft
Hard
Left
Right
So far so good!
In
Out
God
? “Satan” - wrong!
That wasn’t entirely fair, but it did set us up to demonstrate how skewed our understanding on this subject is. Satan has blinded us into thinking he is God’s opposite, but to be His opposite, he must on some level be His equal.
Now, to be fair, Satan’s character is opposite to God’s. God is righteous, Satan is evil, etc. But his power is not matched, etc.
How does this tie into our study of angles? Becasue Satan, Lucifer,is, or rather was, an angel. Becasue he was an angel, that means that God created him, and if God created him, then he cannot on any level be God’s equal. This fact, that he cannot be God’s equal is what ignited the fuse of his pride, and caused him to lead a rebellion in heaven which brings us to the next leg of our study of angels, the Fall of Angels.
We will begin by asking...
What Caused the Fall of Angels?
What Caused the Fall of Angels?
I want to be clear as to the timing of their fall, it must have taken place early in history, some time after the sixth day when God created man. The reason I hold this position is it began with Satan. Read Ezekiel 28:15
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
We have already discussed that the Bible doesn’t specify when the angels were created exactly, but does suggest that they predated the creation of the world/universe. Listen to how the Word of God describes Satan, Ezek. 28:12
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Full of wisdom - no creature more intelligent. Perfect in beauty - no creature could compare to him. Ezek. 28:14
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
“Anointed cherub” means, literally, “outspreading or expansion of wings”. Lucifer stood in the presence of God and was tasked, evidently, with covering His glory. This duty belonged to no other creature, but him alone. He also led in the worship in heaven, Ezek. 28:13
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Tabrets and pipes were musical instruments used in worship in heaven, and it was Lucifer who led the heavenly orchestra in praise to God. But we read in verse 15 that “iniquity was found” in him. What was his sin? Pride. That five-letter word is root from which all sin sprouts. Read Isaiah...
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
What could have caused him to swell with pride? The creation of man. See, unlike the angels, man was given more than just a spirit (life), he was given a soul (Consciousness, self-awareness).
Satan couldn’t understand why God would have such a special relationship with this new creature. Thus Lucifer exercised the one thing which angels had in common with man - free will. He convinced 1/3 of the angels of heaven to join him in his rebellion against God Revelation 12:4
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Those angels that joined his cause were guilty of the same sin and by their own volition and exercise of their free-will they decided to join him. This leads us to our last question for tonight’s study...
What Happened as a Result of Their Fall?
What Happened as a Result of Their Fall?
The fall of angels forever changed the angelic host, dividing them into two categories:
Fallen, and
Unfallen
The Unfallen angels at that time becaem the “elect angels” of God 1 Tim. 5:21
21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
The fallen angels lost their position in glory and were confirmed in their sin, and the judgment that will follow their choice 1 John 3:8
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Some of the fallen angels were incarcerated in a place called “Tartarus” 2 Peter 2:4
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Why would some of these angels be “locked away”? Many believe them to be ring leaders with Satan, or some suppose they had committed some unnamed sin after their fall that resulted in their being bound. The Bible doesn’t say, so it is best not to speculate.
Some, an unspecified number, are bound, but the rest, and it is a very large number, are considered “free”. These fallen angels, aka evil spirits, aka demons, are loose and are carrying out Satan’s work against God and His people. Dan. 10:12-13
12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Take Away
Take Away
I have family, that deny the existence of God, but accept the existence of spirits. I could tell stories that would send shivers down your spines of just a few of the accounts that have been shared about their fascination with the practice of communicating with these spirits, yet they deny the existence of God!
Here is what we leave with:
Satan is not God’s equal - he is created by God and thus limited by him.
Satan is not all-powerful - he is however more powerful than we.
Satan is not omnipresent - he relies on his hordes of demons to help him in his quest to disrupt and destroy mankind.
There fate is sealed. The moment they decided to rebel, they forever sealed their destiny in the lake of fire.
*For this we are grateful! Next week we will look at the classification of Angels.