WICKED ANGELS: PAST. PRESENT AND FUTURE

INTRODUCTION

We will now go on to section three of our study of angels as we begin looking at evil angels. Evil angels today seem to be in one of three places; in heaven, on earth or in a special jail. They apparently still reside in heaven and have some level of access to God, even after their fall. However, during the tribulation period they will be completely banished from heaven and sent to earth where they will wreck havoc for awhile until they are defeated by Jesus and sent to the Abyss awaiting their final trial and judgment. A special class of evil angels is already being held in a jail called Tartaros. Let’s study some of the scriptures that describe these things so that we can understand them better.

WICKED ANGELS IN THE PAST

Did you know that there are wicked angels? Where did they come from?

It seems that God created angels in the heavenly realm before he created mankind on earth. We don’t know how much before, but it was before (Job 38:4-7). He created millions upon millions of angels (Rev 5:11). Let’s begin by looking at some of the characteristics and powers of Satan and his wicked angels.

Satan was created as a model of perfection, wisdom and beauty, but fell because of pride (Ezek 28:11-19). He was cast out of his place of authority in God’s heavenly government (Rev 12:7-9). Satan wanted to be worshipped like God and was therefore banished from his position in heaven (Isa 14:12-17).

One third of all angels in heaven fell with Satan and became wicked angels (Rev 12:4).

Satan’s fallen angels are sometimes called demons (Matt 12:24), evil spirits (Lk 7:21), unclean spirits (Matt 10:1), and spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12).

There is a special class of evil angels called Nephilim that we will study later.

WICKED ANGELS IN THE PRESENT

Wicked angels are still among us today. Satan and his demons are responsible for much of the evil that is done in the world. They attempt to thwart God’s plans and anything that is good. Let’s look at how the Bible says Satan does his work in the world.

Satan is called the ruler and god of this world (John 12:31, 2 Cor 4:4).

Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2).

Satan is the deceiver of the whole world (Rev 12:9. 20:3).

Satan is man’s adversary and opposes him in every way he can (1 Pet 5:8), he is our enemy (Matt 13:39), he opposes all that is good and promotes all that is evil (1 Jn 5:19). In fact he is a man killer (1 John 3:12, 15).

Satan is the father of lies (Jn 8:44).

Satan is the leader of the evil angels (Rev 12:9, Matt 25:41).

Satan has power over world governments (Matt 4:8-9, 2 Cor 4:4), in the physical realm (Lk 13:11, 16), in the angelic realm (Eph 6:11-12, Jude 9), and even in the church realm (Rev 2:9, 3:9).

Satan’s principal tactic in attacking God’s kingdom is to present a counterfeit kingdom and program. He masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). The Bible tells us that Satan is responsible for false churches, ministers, gospels, theologies, teachers, prophets, and christs in the world.

Satan’s principal goal since his banishment from God’s heavenly government has been to thwart God’s plan to provide a kinsman redeemer for mankind and to oppose the work of Christ in the world.

Evil angels inflict disease, mental disorders, and even death upon man in some cases.

The Bible tells us that Satan and his followers do the following to believers; tempt them, slander them, hinder their work, place unbelievers among them, persecute them, hinder answers to their prayers, place doubts in their minds, and place pride and jealousy in their hearts.

Believers have protection against demons since the Holy Spirit is within them (1 Jn 4:4).

Our defense against Satan and his followers is through Jesus (Rom 8:34, Heb 7:25), and through our spiritual armor (Eph 6:11-18). Also see James 4:7 and Eph 6:13-14.

Presently there are at least two classes of demons or evil angels, (1) those who are at work in the universe opposing God and his people and (2) those who are being confined in Tartaros (2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6). Those who are in Tartaros may or may not be the evil angels from the Abyss who will be released upon the earth for a period of five months at the very mid-point of the seven year tribulation period. This will be during the fifth judgment.

Evil angels recognize Jesus as the “Son of God” and obey his commands (Mk 3:11-12, James 2:19).

WICKED ANGELS IN THE FUTURE

Satan knows what God’s plan for him and his angels is and he is doing everything he can to change it. In the meantime he is wrecking all of the havoc that he can with God’s people. Let’s look at what God says is in store for Satan and his angels.

Both God’s angels and Satan’s angels will be very heavily involved in the seven judgments of the tribulation period, which begins the end times on earth. For detailed discussions of these angels and what they will do see the study of Revelation and the following entries in the symbology dictionary in the Revelation study, Abyss, smoke from the; angels, the four angels; four horsemen; and winds, the four winds.

Starting shortly before the mid-point of the Tribulation period Satan will be barred from all access to heaven. He and his evil angels will be banished to earth where they will create havoc for awhile with their primary goal being to pursue and destroy Israel. Jesus will return at the 2nd Coming and defeat Satan and his evil forces. Satan and his evil angels will then face their ultimate destruction and final judgment (Rev 12:1-24, Isa 14:12-17). Believers will be part of the jury (1 Cor 6:3).

Satan will be banned to the “Abyss” during the Millennium (Rev 20:2).

Satan and his angels will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity at the end of the Millennium (Matt 25:41, Rev 20:10).

We will next look at and study a special class of evil angels, called Nephilim.

THE NEPHILIM CONNECTION

WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE FOR MAN’S CREATION?

When God created man he had a reason for doing so and a grand plan for mankind. The reason had to with ultimately providing a bride for his only Son, Jesus the Christ. The bride would be the totality of mankind who loved his Son and wanted to spend eternity with him. The Bible calls the bride the church. Just as we wouldn’t marry someone who we didn’t love and who didn’t love us back, so it is with God. In fact, Jesus loved us so much that he died for us and he expects us to be willing to do the same for him.

Satan and his angels have been doing everything that they can to prevent this marriage and they have been working on it since the creation of mankind.

WHY DOESN’T SATAN WANT CHRIST’S MARRIAGE TO THE CHURCH TO OCCUR?

Because right after the marriage supper of the lamb, Satan and his angels will be chained in Hades for 1000 years and then judged, found guilty and thrown into a lake of fire for eternity. The Bible calls the lake of fire hell. Satan has been doing everything he can to prevent God’s plan from succeeding. We will discuss some of the things that he has tried below.. Some of the following discussion is educated speculation on my part.

WHAT DO THE FOLLOWING THINGS HAVE IN COMMON?

Genetic engineering.

The reason for the great flood.

Hercules, Mercury and the super heroes of Greek mythology.

Goliath.

The pyramids, the great sphinx, Stonehenge.

The Anakites, Emites, Rephaites and some other peoples who lived in the Promised Land.

God’s direction to the Israelites to kill every man, boy child and non-virgin girl and woman in some of the lands which they conquered.

The end times.

The anti-christ.

The answer is the Nephilim. We’ll quickly discuss each of the above to find the Nephilim connection.

FIRST, WHO ARE THE NEPHILIM AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

An apparent intrusion of wicked angels into the sphere of humans produced a race of wicked giants (Gen 6:4-6) called the Nephilim. The Nephilim were huge (Deut 1:28, 2:10). The word Nephilim originally meant fallen ones, mighty ones, earth-born, and to be cast down. The Nephilim were super-human, gigantic, violent, and very sinful. The Nephilim apparently had already arrived on earth during the time of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, since Jude 14-15 says that Enoch was talking about them and their final fate.

The Nephilim were apparently the vehicle which Satan was going to use to try to thwart God’s plan for mankind, since God’s plan was not good for Satan and his angels. Satan may have already tried three times to use the Nephilim in this way and may have at least one more attempt planned.

IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE NEPHILIM, GENETIC ENGINEERING, THE SUPER HEROES AND THE GREAT FLOOD?

Satan’s first attempt to thwart God’s plan for the redemption of man through providing a kinsman redeemer and for providing a bride for his Son was to corrupt the world of humanity by creating a hybrid race of half man/half angel (the Nephilim), possibly through genetic engineering. Gen 6:4 says that these hybrids, the Nephilim, were the heroes of old, the men of renown. This parallels the Greek mythological legends of half god/half man heroes who were part terrestrial and part celestial (Hercules, Mercury, etc.). Could it be that these Greek legends are not mythology after all? Could this have been the race that is responsible for the Great Sphinx, the pyramids, Stonehenge, etc? Your guess is as good as mine is.

God’s answer to Satan was to eliminate every Nephilim through a worldwide flood. God salvaged a pure remnant without perversion by Satan, since Noah’s line was unblemished (Gen 6:8-9). The apparent reason for the flood was to purify the bloodline of man by destroying all of the hybrids. This answers questions 1-5 above.

DID SATAN GIVE UP AFTER GOD KILLED ALL OF THE NEPHILIM?

No. In fact Satan apparently used his genetic engineering skills to recreate the Nephilim again after the flood. This was Satan’s second attempt to destroy God’s plan. Gen 6:4 says “and also afterwards,” meaning that the Nephilim were also recreated after the flood (see Num 13:26-33, especially Vs 33). Goliath and his four brothers were apparently Nephilim. Goliath was over nine (9) feet tall (1 Sam 17:4). When the Israelites arrived at the border of the Promised Land they sent spies in to explore the land. When they returned they reported that the Anak were there and that they were descendents of the Nephilim. They reported that the Anak were so large that they appeared as grasshoppers in comparison (Num 13:28). The Emites, who were as large and strong as the Anakites, also lived there (Deut 2:10) as did the Rephaites, whose king was so large that he required a bed thirteen feet long and six feet wide (Deut 3:11). God promised the Israelites that when they entered the Promised Land he would destroy the Anakites for them (Deut 9:1-3). Each time the Nephilim would return God would find a way to eliminate them. Whenever the Israelites would come up against a nation which had Nephilim residing there, God would instruct the Israelites to destroy every man, male child and woman who was not a virgin (Num 31:15-18, Judges 21:10-12). This answers our questions 6 and 7 above.

HAS SATAN MADE ANY MORE ATTEMPTS TO USE THE NEPHILIM?

It may be that Satan recreated Nephilim after Jesus ascended. Jude 4 may be hinting at this. Jude was Jesus’ brother and seems to know some things that we don’t read anyplace else. He talks about the Nephilim in his short book. If the Nephilim were re-created you can be sure that God again destroyed them, quite possible in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed and over a million Jews were killed by the Roman soldiers.

Paul may also be hinting at something related to the Nephilim in 1 Cor 11:10. Here he says that a woman should have a sign of authority on her head because of the angels. What in the world is that comment about? It could mean several things since Paul doesn’t explain the comment. One thing that it could mean is that the evil angels may have been abducting women to harvest eggs to once again produce Nephilim using genetic engineering techniques. I presume that they could have altered the human eggs by inserting angelic genes in them in some manner and then place the altered and fertilized egg back into the abducted woman. The resulting child would be a Nephilim, part human, part angel. One possible interpretation of 1 Cor 11:10 is that women could protect themselves from abduction by evil angels by being covered. Christians are covered by the blood of Jesus (Rom 4:7), which protects us through all eternity. This could mean that believing women are protected from abduction by evil angels because of the Spirit of Jesus that is within them. Having the Spirit within is an inner sign of an outer covering. The only way we will really know if that is what Paul meant is to ask him when we see him in heaven one day.

ARE THERE NEPHILIM ON THE EARTH TODAY?

Of course we don’t know the answer to that. The Bible seems to hint that they would return to the earth in the end times. Are we in the end times? We don’t really know. There are people in every generation who are thoroughly convinced that they are in the end times. I believe that Jesus wants us to think that way since we are more likely to stay prepared for his return if are expecting him any day.

WILL NEPHILIM BE PRESENT IN THE END TIMES? WILL the ANTI-CHRIST BE NEPHILIM?

The Bible seems to tell us that the Nephilim will be present in the end times. In Dan 2:43, Daniel is describing the empire that will exist on earth in the end times. He says that the people will be a mixture like iron and clay, two things that don’t normally mix. Could this be a description of Nephilim returning, a mixture of man and angel? Matt 24:24 and 2 Thess 2:7-9 indicate that there will be false prophets and anti-christs in the end times who will do all sorts of miracles, signs and wonders. Could these be Nephilim? In Matt 24:37, Jesus says that in the last days it will be as it was in the days of Noah before the flood. There were Nephilim on the earth before the flood and they were one of the principal reasons for the flood. Could this mean that the Nephilim will return? Jude 6-7 and 2 Peter 2:4-9 tell us that the Nephilim of the Old Testament are now in Tartaros being held for judgment. It may also well be that the anti-christ will be a Nephilim. Rev 17:8 describes the antichrist as the one who once was, now is not, and will yet be. That certainly could apply to the Nephilim if they return in the end times as it appears they will. Also, the antichrist will do all sorts of miracles and wondrously deceptive things. This answers our questions 8 and 9 above.

We have asked a lot of questions about the Nephilim. It is interesting to speculate about the future. However, the answers to some of the questions won’t be available until the events have already transpired. Also see Nephilim in the symbology dictionary in the Revelation study.

A PARTIAL LIST OF SCRIPTURES CONCERNING THE NEPHILIM

Gen 6:1-9 1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,

2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-- for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Num 13:31-33 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 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. 33 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."

Deut 2:10-11 10 (The Emites used to live there-- a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.

1 Sam 17:4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.

Deut 3:11 (Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

Num 31:7, 17 7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,

1 Cor 11:10 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

Dan 2:43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

Matt 24:24, 37 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-- if that were possible.

37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

2 Pet 2:4-5 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;

Jude 1:4, 6, 14-15 4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-- these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

[i] Ron Rhodes, Angels Among Us, 1994 Harvest House

[ii] Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible, 1984

[iii] Ray C Stedman, Hebrews, Inter-Varsity Press, 1992