What Are Fallen Angels?
Remember that an angel is a messenger and that the Bible defines two groups of angelic messengers: the good and the evil. We have seen how God’s heavenly messengers obey His commands and minister for us — the heirs of salvation.
When did they fall?
Evil angels, however, are those who have fallen from their first estate (Jude 1:6) since the Creation. The Bible records several different times evidence that angels fell to earth. Some have already fallen (Genesis 6:2; Amos 5:26; Revelation 12:4) and many will fall in the future (Revelation 6:13, 8:10-11, 9:1). It is Satan , the great dragon, who entices them (Revelation 12:4).
One theory concerning creation is called the “gap” theory, and is held by many conservative bible scholars. It takes place between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. This theory holds that God’s creation in verse 1 was perfect. It holds that it was ruined afterward, and before verse 2, by Satan. Please refer to Isaiah 14:12-15, for details about Satan’s origin and his fall. This theory proposes that Satan, after he was cast from heaven, caused the chaos on earth that is revealed in verse 2. According to the “gap” theory, the account of God’s creation, beginning in verse 3, is God’s act of
reconstructing and restoring His creation. Proponents of this theory believe that the gap between verses 1 and 2 is ages long, probably billions of years.
Those who support the “gap” theory will point to the reference of “darkness was upon the face of the deep” and say that the darkness referred to here indicates the absence of God. The Hebrew word for the phrase “without form” is the word Tohu meaning “ruin or vacancy.” The Hebrew word for the term “void” is Bohu meaning
“emptiness.” Please refer to Isaiah 45:18. In this verse God says He did not create the earth “in vain.” The Hebrew word used here is the same as in Genesis 1:2: Tohu. Proponents of the “gap” theory maintain that God did not create the earth tohu va bohu, in ruin or emptiness, or in vain. God created the earth for man to
inhabit it. The “gap” theorists maintain that, after the chaos caused by Satan, God reconstructed the earth into a perfect place for man to live.
Unlike humans, fallen angels cannot be redeemed. Once angels rebel against God, they are permanently banned from God’s glory and presence. Some fallen angels are currently imprisoned until God’s Day of Judgment (I Peter 3:19-20; II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6), and some rule the realm of darkness with Satan . They, too, will face the wrath of God (Matthew 25:41).
What Was the Sin of These Angels?
The Bible confirms that there are angels who sinned (Job 4:17-18; also see Job 15:15, 25:5).
Every time the Old Testament mentions sons of God it is a reference to angels (compare Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7 and Psalm 89:6). In Genesis 6:2, sons of God (angels) took on human form — which angels can do (see Genesis 19:15-16; Hebrews 13:2). But these sons of God transgressed their created purpose by lusting after the daughters of men and marrying wives who bore them children. This evil brought mankind to a new realm of wickedness so frightening and terrible that God saw it necessary to destroy the earth with a flood, saving only Noah and his family.
The fall of these angels is also told by Enoch, great-grandfather of Noah, who walked with God (Genesis 5:22). Copies of the Book of Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although this book is not a part of canonized Scripture, it does line up with the Genesis account and is, in fact, quoted in Scripture (see Jude 1:12-
14).
Enoch told how these angels not only took human wives but also taught them the secrets of good and evil (remember that Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thus opening the door to all knowledge). In this way fallen mankind became corrupted very quickly, soon requiring a world-wide flood to purge the human race. (Genesis 6:4-13).
Enoch’s account also describes the consequences for the sin of these fallen angels. The angels felt remorse for their sin but were not allowed to return to their former estate in the heavens. They were bound (and are still bound, according to II Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6) to await judgment. The children of those angel-human relations died, but their spirits would go throughout the earth as evil spirits to harass mankind. They would look for human bodies to inhabit; the male ones being malevolent spirits and the female ones being seductive spirits (or sirens).
In the last days, the earth will again become corrupted to complete wickedness. Jesus told us, “as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37). In the end times the world will become just as wicked as it was before the Flood.
This possibility is likely suggested in the prophetic dream in which Daniel interpreted for the King of Babylon. In the dream, there was an image whose feet were part iron (spiritual beings) and part clay (mankind). Daniel says, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed
with clay” (Daniel 2:43). After this time, God’s Kingdom will break all other kingdoms and then be established forever.
Noah was a righteous man among those in his perverse generation. His ways pleased the Lord (Genesis 6:8), and he and his family were saved by the Ark (a picture of our being in Christ). The question for our generation is this: “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).