Divine Judgment
“And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.” Jude 6
In this verse, Jude continues to state the disciplinary actions of God when He is defied – the divine judgment He enacts on wickedness. In the previous verse, we saw how God punished the rebellious sins of the Israelites who did not remain faithful to Him – they did not receive the Promised Land, promised to their ancestors because they showed contempt for God. Now we see God correcting the spirit beings – the demonic angels – who refused to remain within the limits of authority God granted them.
Jude is referring to Genesis 6:2, 4 NLT that says, “The sons of God saw the beautiful women, and took any they wanted as their wives … In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.”
Throughout Scripture, the phrase “sons of God” refers to angels – Job 1:6. Thus, angels, who are men, left the God ordained place of authority for angelic beings and became involved with humanity and took for themselves wives. Moreover, in order for the angelic beings to procreate physically, they had to indwell a male’s physical body.
How that exactly took place, I am not sure. Seriously, if people think Scripture is boring, they have not read it.
The union between the demonic angelic beings and women was not a natural union. The Bible does not necessarily state whether the women knew their husband was a demonic angelic being however, the children born obviously had unnatural strength as Scripture states this group of children became known as the heroes and famous warriors of the land in ancient times.
This took place before 2500 BC, prior to the Flood. It also took place prior to Greek mythology – and as many know Zeus, a Greek god, disguised himself as the husband of Alcmene of Thebes, a human woman, and they bore Hercules – who was known for both his divine and mortal qualities. Many of the Greek gods united with human beings and bore children who had unnatural strength.
If only people realized – that actually took place between demonic angelic beings and women.
In Hebrews, the writer emphasizes the truth regarding Jesus being greater than angelic beings - Hebrews 1:5-14, which reveals how angelic beings were idolized throughout time due to their supernatural presence and thus the essential need of reminding people of the angels’ place as Jesus’ messengers, not as His equal or superior.
Nevertheless, at this time in history, God recognized the wickedness of the people throughout the land, observing how their thoughts and imaginations were constantly evil – Genesis 6:5 and thus He destroyed humanity in the flood and He bound these angelic beings in tartarus, a word the apostle Peter took from Greek mythology which described a place lower than Hades, a place of suffering, reserved for the most evil. Here these demonic angels await the final judgment, when they will be cast into the lake of fire – Revelation 20:10.
We know one third of the angels departed with Satan, and many of these demonic beings roam the earth doing Satan’s bidding. We also know they fear being bound in tartarus like these other demonic angelic beings, as some demons begged Jesus to not send them to this bottomless pit – Luke 8:31, which is telling of their fear of that place of suffering, and how severe the punishment is.
Thus, God’s severe divine wrath is witnessed in His divine judgment of these demonic angelic beings due to them defying His authority and procreating with women. God punishes according to the crime committed. This evil was really beyond the boundaries of God’s will. Many demons obviously participate in evil; however, they have not been sentenced this way – indicating God’s severe anger at the specific details that took place.
Jude mentioning this specific divine wrath and judgment of God toward demonic angelic beings is needed. In his call to Christians to defend the faith to the false teachers, Jude provided the specific details in history that brought about God’s divine wrath for the Christian believers to rightly identify the false teachers’ unholy behavior and coming judgment – and to not imitate it.
These false teachers defied God’s authority themselves, not submitted unto Him – and there is stricter judgment for teachers – James 3:1, they scoffed at angelic beings, and lived immoral lives – Jude 8. Behaviors that bring about coming judgment, not the smile of God.
God takes sexual immorality seriously. There are specific details stated in Scripture that spark God’s fierce wrath where He states, “I will take vengeance;” and stealing someone’s spouse sexually is one of them as Paul states in a solemn warning in 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
We see God’s wrath in this regard toward the demonic angelic beings, and thus we see His wrath coming for the false teachers.
As we Christians know, marriage is symbolic of Jesus Christ’s relationship with the church, thus the union is representative of becoming one with God so that the world will believe God sent Jesus Christ to this earth to save people from their sins – Ephesians 5:23-24, John 17:21.
Jude once again emphasizes the Sovereignty of God in His deliverance of judgment – God reigns and defiance to His authority and will, evil behavior, will never escape His notice.
Divine judgment is reserved for direct defiance.
Today, will you rest in the truth that God sees your situation and will provide you with the wisdom you need to overcome?
Prayer: Abba, thank You for Your timely wisdom and for the times You remind us of truths we already know. May Your face smile with favor upon us and Your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
