Showing posts with label Jude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jude. Show all posts

Angels good and bad; some lost their positions of authority, some did not

Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 

Some angels are good and some are bad, the demons or devils. They are described here as those who sinned and so did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling (heaven?) and were sent to hell. God has kept them in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. They may seem unchained but they are not really. When were they actually hurled down to hell? Probably when Christ died on the cross.

Angels are humbly slow to assert their own authority

Jude 1:9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 

2 Peter 2:11  yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 

The allusion is an obscure one but the point is clear. Even Michael the Archangel, the head of all angels, did not take it upon himself to rebuke Satan or condemn his slander but meekly said "The Lord rebuke you!" . All the angels show the same modesty. In many cases they are stronger and more powerful then the fallen angels who oppose them but they do not heap abuse on such beings even when bringing judgment on them from the Lord.