Bible Study Series: The Book of Jude - The Acts of the Apostates
Bible Study Jude vs 6: The Angels that left their Abode
By Fraser Gordon
Jude 1.6 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.
The angelic domain
There was an area which the angels were given to dwell in. That was their realm but there was a certain number of angels who did not keep to it. Some think this refers to Satan's first sin which was an act of rebellion to raise himself above God. In that act of rebellion Satan led an innumerable host of angels against God. Most Jewish scholars and biblical theologians however, believe the angels left their proper domain in the time of Noah.
Ephesians 1.2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air. In other passages he's called the king of this world.
Ephesians 6.12 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
From these passages we see that the demonic angels led by Satan have access to heavenly places and to earth. He is called the Prince of this world. The angels obviously left this area which was their domain. Whatever they did, they crossed a boundary that had been set for them by God which they were then judged for.
The sons of God
Genesis 6 is one of those passages in the Old Testament that is a crossroads for humanity.
Genesis 6.1-7 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
Men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them. That's one group. Then we are introduced to the sons of God. Who are they? Some say they are the offspring of Cain and Seth. However, they are more than normal people. These were giants on the earth, and mighty men of renown. The book of Job gives 3 references to the Sons of God.
- Job 1.6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
Here you are introduced to a divine council and these sons of God with Satan come before the Lord Almighty. This is the angelic realm. It's not humanity. - Job 2.1-2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the Lord and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."
That is Satan’s domain. Here again, you have the sons of God appearing before God in this divine counsel. These are angelic beings or fallen angels. The last reference is the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind. - Job 38.4-7 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
This passage probably speaks of a time before the rebellion. The whole angelic realm marvelled at the greatness of God and the wonderful creation he had made in his wisdom and creativity. All of the sons of God shouted for joy.
These three verses in Job all speak of the sons of God as being angelic not human. In Genesis chapter six we are introduced to these sons of God, and they're distinguished from men and the daughters of men. In Genesis 3.15 God said that the seed of the woman will crush your head. Genesis 6 is Satan's response to God's pronouncement that from a woman would come the Messiah. He would be born of a woman and would crush the head of Satan himself. Satan's response to that was to allow demonic influence on humanity that would corrupt what God had created. Satan knew that the Messiah had to be born through a woman; this was his attempt to corrupt the seed of women and stop the Messiah being born from a natural woman the way God had created them. Satan wanted to corrupt the genetics of humanity. In quite a few passages of scripture it states that everything was corrupt on the earth and the earth was filled with violence.
The Book of Enoch
Genesis 6.12-13 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
God wanted to destroy all mankind, the beasts, the creeping things, and the birds of the air. Something radical had happened. The earth was in such a state that everything had been corrupted and filled with violence. You can see Satan's handiwork here. There had been an infusion into humanity of the demonic realm. The angels we read about in Jude, left their abode and were judged for it. Genesis 6 is when it may have happened. These demons reproduced with the daughters of men, and produced giants, men of renown, and the whole earth was filled with wickedness.
The Bible doesn't say much about it but other books, such as the Book of Enoch do. This book is not included in our Canon of Scripture, but it was well read and understood amongst the Jews and Jewish writers of the time. When they found the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Enoch was among them. Even though we can't say it is divinely inspired, Jude quotes from it and historically, there may be some truth that backs up what the Bible says.
According to the Book of Enoch when the angels came to earth they taught mankind astrology, the stars, magic, how to make war, and how to build cities. There were 200 fallen angels and the Book of Enoch says they descended onto Mt Hermon in northern Israel. It is one of the highest mountains in the north. Interestingly Jesus also went to Mount Hermon, which is also called the Mount of Transfiguration. Here the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before his disciples, his garment shone and he was completely transfigured into His glory before their eyes. Moses and Elijah also appeared with Him in Glory. Moses pictures the dead in Christ who will again live with Jesus and Elijah pictures those that are raptured, taken body and soul into heaven. I wonder whether Jesus specifically chose this spot. If what Enoch wrote is true then this is where the angels left their abode and descended to earth. Did Jesus specifically choose this area to reveal who he was, the God man? The angels came down to corrupt mankind and God's image on earth. When the Son of Man came down He came to pay a price for those who could not pay. By bearing His body on the cross for our sins, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous. Jesus came down to raise us up and save us from our sins so that we could share in His glory and be with Him forever.
Even though the Bible itself doesn't reveal what exactly happened. We know that these angels did something so severe that God judged them, and he's chained them up in darkness for leaving their abode.
Giants on the earth
Genesis 6.4-7 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. 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
Genesis says that there were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward. After the flood Satan again attempts to thwart God's plans and purposes. Nimrod builds Babel and further on you find seven people groups that were in the promised land, all the ‘ites’. The Hivites, Girgashites, Canaanites, Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, and the Hittites. God said to the Nation of Israel, wipe all these tribes out and everything that is with them. It was only these specific groups because they had giants among them. The satanic seed had infiltrated once again. Joshua also had to deal with giants in the land and David too. All giants in scripture come from these specific tribes.
Genesis is quite clear that something happened when the angels left their abode and crossed over the boundary. They took the daughters of Eve and a hybrid race of angelic and human beings was produced. It was Satan's attempt to corrupt the seed of woman and stop the Messiah being born, destroying everything God had created.
The rich man and Lazarus
2 Peter 2 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
Jude and 2 Peter both talk about false teachers, false prophets, and how God deals with them. Swift destruction in verse 1 sounds very much like what Jude says in his epistle. Peter also says the same thing as Jude - ‘God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and to chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgement’. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for hell is Sheol. In the New Testament the Greek word Hades is used. It's exactly the same place apart from the name. In the New Testament, Jesus expounds on Hades in the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
In Luke 16.22 there's a rich man and a man named Lazarus, both live very differently on earth. In death they also have two different outcomes. They find themselves in separate places, the rich man is in Hades, and Lazarus while also in Hades is in a part called Paradise or Abraham's bosom. There were two sides to Hades, an unrighteous and a righteous side. This is where Lazarus finds himself and this is where all the righteous saints went before Christ rose from the dead. They remained there until Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruit. This is why it says when He died, He led captivity captive. All those believers waited in captivity in Abraham's bosom until Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He then took them all with Him to heaven, even the thief on the cross to whom He said ‘You will be with me in paradise’. Now when we die we go directly to where the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven. Paul said ‘To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord’.
The three parts of Hades
While Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise no longer exists Hades still does and it has three parts to it. The first part is reserved for all unbelieving humans. Just as we saw with the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man was there, conscious of many things. He could look over, but he couldn't crossover. There was no escape for him and he was in torment. He knew that he would be there until Judgement Day. So it is for all that die outside of Christ. They are in Hades and they will be there until the Great White Throne judgement when death and Hades give up it’s dead and everyone stands before God to be judged.
The second part of Hades is called the Abyss. I think the bible speaks about it nine times and always in reference to angels. This place is a temporary confinement for fallen angels. Some are free to roam in the heavenly realms and on earth and some have been judged and temporarily confined to the Abyss. Do you remember the story of the man who had a legion of demons in him that Jesus cast out? They said to him, ‘Please do not send us to the Abyss before our appointed time’. For some reason, Jesus granted their request. He allowed them to go into the pigs which ran down the hill and drowned. They would then have become disembodied spirits still inhabiting the heavenly and earthly realms. Jesus did not send them to the Abyss before their appointed time.
In Revelation 9 an angel is given a key to the bottomless pit, and he goes to the Abyss. Some of the fallen angels are then released on earth. This is at the command of God as a judgement on an unbelieving world in the seven-year tribulation. The Abyss is a temporary confinement and the demons are there at the moment, but will be released one day. When Jesus returns to earth at the end of the tribulation, Satan is bound by an Angel with a great chain. He is bound in the Abyss and will stay there for a period of 1000 years. He is then released to cause havoc once again and to receive his final judgement.
The word hell in 2 Peter is the Greek word Tartarus. This is the third part of Hades and is the only time it is used in the New Testament. In Greek mythology it is the deepest darkest prison surrounded by complete blackness with no light and a place of permanent confinement. Both Jude and Peter write of how the angels received a permanent judgement from God and are bound by everlasting chains, reserved for the Great White Throne judgement. This is not a temporary jail like the Abyss, Tartarus is a permanent solitary confinement in complete darkness. At the end of the Millennium death and Hades will give up their dead and both men and angels are judged before God. The angels in Tartarus are then cast into the Lake of fire where the devil, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will also find their home. Whatever they did bought a severe judgement on them. Jude writes of the angels act of rebellion in leaving their abode and the boundary that was set for them. They tried to corrupt humanity and God’s creation to prevent the seed of a woman, the Messiah, from crushing the head of Satan. Tartarus is where their abode is now, and they go from there into the lake of fire.
God will judge sin. False teachers, the creepers that come in among us, will be no different. He judged his own people Israel and He has judged the angels. He also judged Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin which we will look at next.
As in the days of Noah
The angels left their abode in the days of Noah and we need to be mindful of that. Jesus said that the coming of the son of man will be like the days of Noah and it will be replayed in some aspect before the second coming of Christ. We now have transhumanism tampering with and modifying genetics, changing God’s created humanity. AI is also now part of our reality. Will we see angels leaving their abode infiltrating humanity once again? We know the whole world will be corrupted so we need to be watchful of what is happening in our world.
I pray that you would look at these things for yourselves.
God Bless you all.