And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling--these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day. Sermons I. THE EXISTENCE OF EVIL ANGELS. It is expressly asserted in Scripture. There is no greater moral difficulty in understanding the existence of such beings than in understanding the existence of evil men. They are spoken of as "angels that sinned" (2 Peter 2:4), as devils "who enter into men" (Luke 8:30), as beings to be judged by the saints (1 Corinthians 6:3). II. THEIR REVOLT AND DEFECTION FROM GOD. "And angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation." They are represented in the parallel passage in Peter as simply "the angels that sinned; ' and the devil is spoken of as not "abiding in the truth," and pride is assigned apparently as the cause of his fall (1 Timothy 3:6). "It is hard to be high and not high-minded." But the allusion here is rather to the angels rejecting their high dignity of position in subjection to God, and departing from their habitations in heaven, as the consequence of the alienation caused by pride. 1. Their revolt was a dishonour to God. (1) They slighted the place of his glory. (2) They were the highest order of his creatures, and might have found their happiness in obedient service. 2. An evil nature cannot endure either the joys or the holiness of heaven. 3. It is a sin for the highest being to exempt himself from service. 4. The angels have a habitation in heaven. III. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE EVIL ANGELS. "He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." 1. There is a present punishment. They are "kept in everlasting bonds under darkness." (1) There are the bonds of. God's power. "The strong man is bound by a stronger than he." "The old dragon was bound for a thousand years." (2) There are the bonds of sin, as if to account for the dread consistency of him "who sinneth from the beginning" (1 John 3:8). (3) There are the bonds of a guilty conscience, which cause the devils to tremble as they believe (James 2:19). (4) Yet restraint or torment cannot reform the evil angels. (5) The devils cannot hurt us unless we get within the compass of their chains. Calvin says, "Wherever they go they drag with them their own chains, and remain involved in darkness." (6) The darkness under which they are held points to their miserable condition, as signified by their separation from the presence of God, brought about as it was by their own act, and utterly irrevocable. 2. There is a future punishment. "Unto the judgment of the great day." (1) The Lord will judge the angels in that day with the saints as his assessors (1 Corinthians 6:3). (2) The devil wilt be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. (3) There will be no further seduction of the wicked, and no further hurt to the elect. - T.C.
And the angels which kept not their first estate. I. THE LOSS OF AN EXALTED STATE.1. By whom lost. 2. What they lost. An "estate" of spotless purity, exalted dignity, supreme felicity. 3. How they lost it. By rebellion against God. Probably pride was their special sin (1 Timothy 3:6). Beware of this sin; it is the first of which we have any knowledge, and I may say the dread parent of every other. Unbelief is a great sin, but the hidden germ of that sin is pride. Old Quarles says, "It hates superiors, it scorns inferiors, its owns — no equals;... till thou hate it God hates thee." II. THE WITHHOLDING OF SAVING GRACE. Angels sinned and were destroyed, then let men beware. III. THE SEALING OF AN AWFUL DOOM. Notice the contrast — angels yet in chains, under darkness. Beings once of supernal light now dwelling in infernal gloom. 1. Observe that punishment is according to abused privileges. This is not a mere arbitrary law. Privileges create a capacity for suffering. To confine a poor beggar in prison for a year would not be a tenth so irksome as a year's imprisonment to a prince. 2. The punishment of the wicked is not intended to be disciplinary. At least six thousand years have already hovered over these fallen angels since first they fell. But no reformation has been wrought in their characters. Hell is not the place to burn the rebellious spirit out of fallen angels, nor yet of lost men. 3. The punishment of such as rebel against God is not at its worst until the judgment-day. 4. The punishment of apostate angels will be side by side with that of unsaved sinners. They shall be companions in misery. (W. Williams.) 1. The best of created perfections are of themselves detectible.2. Nothing is so truly base and vile as sin. 3. In defection from God there is an imitation of Satan. 4. It is difficult to be high and not to be high-minded; to be adorned with any excellencies, and not unduly to reflect upon them. 5. The better the persons are who become wicked, the more obstinate they are in wickedness. When angels fall into sin, they continue in it with pertinacity. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.) The sin of angels is notorious, and their punishment is as famous; they are fallen from light to darkness, from heaven to hell, from felicity to misery; Valerian fell from a golden chair to a cage of iron; Dionysius fell from a king to a schoolmaster; AlexanderIII. fell from being pope to be a gardener in Venice; Nebuchadnezzar fell from a man to a beast; but the celestial spirits fell from angels to devils. For their sin of apostasy was great, it cried to God for vengeance. The Lord Jesus noteth this apostasy in them to show that their sin was not by creation but by wilful corruption. And this is the cause, saith , why God hath redeemed men and not angels, for that they sinned from within and of themselves maliciously and rebelliously; man sinned from without and by provocation. Their fall was great, so was their punishment. The higher their state and condition the more grievous their fall. If it was much for Cain to be a vagabond, and Adam to be driven out of Paradise, and Ishmael out of his father Abraham's house, how much more for the angels to be driven out of heaven and not to return, like Noah's dove, to the ark, but to live in darkness for ever? But in that God hath reserved them in chains, it is a thing of singular comfort. Here, therefore, we learn that they cannot pass their bounds, they are under God, they depend on His beck. Well, God hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness, they are punished already, but their full punishment is not before the day of judgment. As yet they are but as prisoners in fetters and irons; the great assizes, the day of execution, is yet to come. Lastly, note, that the day wherein the angels shall be judged is called a great day. It is so called in three respects: great in respect of the Judge (Daniel 7:9, 10); great in respect of the assistants — the angels; great in respect of the prisoners that shall be arraigned. Good Lord! what a great day will this be, when all the saints out of heaven, all the damned out of hell, all the dead bodies out of the earth must appear! Not an angel spared, not a devil respited, not a saint or sinner rescued, but all must be summoned to give their attendance and to make their appearances. But to proceed a little further, this day is called "a day" by an excellency. For never day was like unto it. For if the day of Christ's humiliation was so glorious, what shall be the day of His glorification? (S. Otes.) 1. They whose course and trade of life is in sin most resemble Satan.2. Torments cannot reform devils. Hellish horrors cannot change hellish hearts. 3. Restraint much differs from reformation. Devils may have a chain upon them and yet no change within them. 4. Satan can do nothing but by God's permission. 5. Satan cannot hurt us, unless he gets us within the compass of his chain. 6. God can make an offender his own afflicter, a terror to himself, and constantly to carry his own chains of terror and torment about him. Powder which blows up the house cannot itself escape from burning. 7. There is no liberty to be found in forsaking God's service. A saint loses nothing but his bonds and fetters by becoming holy; nor is holiness a chain to any, but those who know no other freedom than a house of bondage. 8. The pleasures of sin bear no proportion to the horrors thereof. (W. Jenkyn, M. A.) I. IT IS IN THE NATURE OF SIN TO RELINQUISH THAT WHICH IS VIRTUOUS, BEAUTIFUL, AND HAPPY. Dissatisfaction, ambition, or a love of change might have been the cause.(1) (2) (3) II. GOD HAS APPOINTED RESTRICTING INFLUENCES, AND A FINAL DOOM FOR THE SINFUL. There are chains — bounds which the transgressors cannot overstep. Sin is apprehended by law, justice, and the moral sense. But all sin is on its way to a finality. (T. Davies, D. D.) 1130 God, sovereignty 5484 punishment, by God Persevering Grace. Jude 1:24,25. The Manifestation of the Church with Christ. The Twofold Bearing of this Fact. The Redeemer's Return is Necessitated by the Present Exaltation of Satan. Salvation. Saved by Grace; The Character of Its Teachings Evidences the Divine Authorship of the Bible |
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