God continues to affirm to us that it is His hand that moves all things to their appointed end. Jonathan Cahn says it so well: “God is sovereign over all events and all things. His invisible hand will guide every action, reaction, and interaction, every event and moment, into the outworking of His purposes. And He will work all things, the good and the bad, together for good to those who follow Him. The righteous must trust in His sovereignty and rest in the workings of His hand to fulfill His purpose in their lives.” This was made real to me in a personal way last week. In our Bible study on Kingdom Authority, I inadvertently stated in the section on Angelic Rebellion that there were two hundred angels evicted from heaven with Lucifer. God brought that to my attention within hours after sending out From the Throne. He used this incident to draw me back to examine some of the miraculous activities of God in His supernatural book—the Bible. The Bible does not shy away from the reality of the unseen world, a world located just beyond the veil. Many people in the church today believe the Bible, but only to a point. I believe that God is calling us back to examine closer the supernatural realm of angels and their role in the end-time events as Jesus connected the days of Noah and Lot to the time before His return to earth.
Revelation 12: 3-12 describes the spiritual battle of the ages between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. It is there that we learn the number of angels who rebelled with Lucifer/Satan. He is described as a red dragon in verse 3 and verse 4 reveals that a third of the stars of heaven were cast down to earth. Verse 9 identifies both the dragon and the stars of heaven. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Now, let’s return to verse 4 as it connects us back to the passage in Genesis 3:15 as God had specifically designated Satan as the enemy and that his seed would be crushed by the seed of the woman. So we see in the last book of the Bible the battle being played out: “The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Verse 5 identifies the child: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and to His Throne.” Of course, it is this season that we celebrate the birth of Christ who came into this world to bring salvation from sin and death to whoever would believe and trust in Him as Savior. For 2000 years He has been caught up into heaven seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding on our behalf. Verse 10 looks forward to the time that Satan will be forever cast out of heaven as the accuser of Christians: “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.” It is the blood of the Lamb of God and His testimony that brings victory over Satan and his minions (Verse 11). Satan’s tactics and strategies against God have not changed and I believe that God used my error in the number of angels who fell in the first angelic rebellion to make us focus on another significant account in scripture of fallen angels documented as 200 in historical books and occurred in the days of Noah. As in the original rebellion, these angels did not keep their positions of authority that God created and assigned to them. This again was an attack upon God’s plan and His kingdom.
God’s truth is revealed as we compare precept upon precept and line upon line (Isaiah 28: 13). Jesus is the focus of the Bible and the words of Hebrews 2: 14-17 sets the bases of our study. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” We must remember that God was very clear in His creative acts to emphasize and command His order of separation of each kind as we see repeated in God’s instructions to Noah in the animals who were taken into the ark (Genesis 6: 21). Jesus became a human so that He could die for humans. God carefully guarded the human race in order to keep it pure including the line that Jesus would be born into—the line of Abraham. This year God has brought me back to study the Septuagint as it was the scriptures that were in place and studied in the time of Jesus. Genesis 6: 2-6 says: “And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and after that when the sons of God were wont to go into the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown.” In verses 12-13 we read: “But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity. And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted; because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.” The biblical meaning of “corrupt” is—to alter from the original or proper form, perversion. So we see in this passage an explanation of why judgment was brought upon the earth—as all flesh was corrupted: “Behold I bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven, and whatsoever things are upon the earth shall die” (verse 18).
In order for us to gain proper understanding of this judgment, we must allow scripture to interpret scripture. The term “sons of God” in the Old Testament occurs 5 times (Genesis 6:2, 4; Job 1: 6; 2: 1; 38: 7). The phrase “sons of God’ is used in these passages as angelic hosts in God’s heavenly court. This was the interpretation most favored in ancient Judaism and the early church and confirmed in New Testament passages that we will examine. The passages that provide the clearest meaning of the phrase occur in the book of Job. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1: 6) Verse 7 makes it clear that these angels were not part of God’s heavenly host who are continually in the presence of God : “The LORD said to the Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan responded to the LORD and said, ‘From roaming the earth and from walking on it.” “Again, 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.” (Job 2:1) In both passages Satan and the “sons of God” who presented themselves before God are not holy angels but followers of Satan. In Job 38:7 the “sons of God” are angels too. “When the morning stars sang together; And all the sons of God shouted for joy?” We have already identified that the “stars” in Revelation 12:9 are angels. Therefore, we must conclude that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 and 4 are also angels—fallen angels.
There are three New Testament passages that make this clear. The first is Jude 6-7. “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, 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.” Notice three important points. First, there were some angels who did not keep their own domain or original created assignment or role. Second, these angels are now in “eternal bonds” or prison and it is dark. Third, these angels are compared to Sodom and Gomorrah who engaged in gross immorality (from the Greek “ekporneuo” from which we get pornography) and refers to a wide variety of sexual sins. Also, the term “strange flesh” refers to the unnatural sexual conduct of the people in those cities as the men sought to have sexual relations with the angels in the form of men who visited Lot. (Read Gen. 18: 16- 19:29)
The next passage is 2 Peter 2: 4-10. Verses 4-6 state some angels sinned and were cast into pits of darkness at the time of Noah and after referring to Noah, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned. Notice the time when the angels sinned—at the time of Noah. “For If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and 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.”
Why is it important for us to study these passages? Because Jesus Himself compared the events of the last days with the days of Lot and Noah! In Luke 17:26-30, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God. He is speaking about His return and the coming of the Son of Man, and makes reference to that time being like the “days of Noah” and the “days of Lot”. It was necessary for us to examine the details of those accounts in order to understand why final judgment will come upon earth. Let us consider the words of the Father in regards to Jesus’ mission to destroy the works of the devil and provide salvation for mankind in John 12: 28-32. Jesus said, “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The people who heard were puzzled at the voice. “Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” The enemy has been identified by Jesus Himself—Lucifer/Satan and his minions are the enemies of God and man. A war has been going on since before the beginning of time. It is this war between God and Lucifer that has ushered in this temporary confusion upon this earth. Just as God is the same yesterday, today and forever, Satan’s tactics never change—he deceives, distracts and destroys. Satan has never had, nor will ever have, the power of creation as God does. He still has to take something God already made and corrupt it. This is what we see throughout the Bible and this is what we see being played out today. God is a God of order and Satan is the god of chaos and disorder. Satan wants to destroy God’s creation—man, woman, children, the family unit, the animals, air, soil, food, water, health, finances, freedom and especially our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His Word—the seed of the woman! People are not our real enemies! The principalities and powers will use people. God wants us to understand that the real enemies are the supernatural beings who are motivating these people to do their bidding trying to get the heirs of salvation to be tripped up—distracted, deceived and destroyed!
Let us return to Revelation 12: 12b—“the devil knows that he has but a short time” so we are seeing him like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour. (I Pt. 5: 8) According to Rev. 20: 2, his days are numbered and he will be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit while Christ reigns on earth and his final destination is in verse 10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
NOW KNOW THIS: GOD WINS! From the ashes of pure, unadulterated chaos that we see now, God brings order…and revival! It is assured because Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan. He did it and He lives in us! Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 that the plan of the fullness of times is to bring all things together in the Messiah—both things in heaven and things on earth, all in Him; that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling—His exceeding great power toward us who keep trusting Him—in keeping with the working of His mighty strength; He is far above any ruler, authority, power, leader, and every name that is named—not only in this world but also in the world to come; God placed all things under Messiah’s feet and appointed Him as head over all things for His community—which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all! We are to STAND—hold our position—don’t back up—don’t give in to Satan’s deceitful persuasions! May we see the grandest display of “Jesus revolution” this Old Earth has ever seen and it all begins with you and me!