Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Angelic Conflict. Part 16. Satan is an ungrateful master and tortures his own servants.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Point 4. Two Categories of Fallen Angels.
1. The non-operational angels.
a. The first category of angels - in a place called Tartarus, who reproduced a group of super-creatures called the Nephilim,
Jude 1:5-6, 2PE 2:4.
b. The first demon assault army incarcerated in the abyss at this time.
The abyss is that part of Hades which contains demons who transgressed the boundaries or the rules of the angelic conflict in the human race.
Both “Sheol” and “Hades” are used to refer to anything that is subterranean and large.
They are used for the vast subterranean place of the departed dead of the human race and the abode of certain fallen angels.
Sheol is sometimes used for the grave, GEN 37:35; GEN 42:38; 1SA 2:6.
The dying are said to go to Sheol, which is not the grave, but the underpart of the earth. This is a reference to their soul, NUM 16:30; EZE 31:15, 17.
The abyss is the fourth compartment of Hades and is the jail for certain demons who have been incarcerated there because they disobeyed the rules for the angelic conflict in human history.
Satan is permitted to release his first demon assault army, and they will torture their targets for five months.
Satan does this to his own servants because Satan is an ungrateful master.
The opening is the entrance and the exit for the great underworld prison known as the abyss.
Once Satan is cast out of heaven he sheds all hypocrisy, all self-righteousness; he shows his real colors in pettiness, vindictiveness, and implacability, which are the manifestations of his arrogance.
In this chapter - that phenomenon where arrogance tortures arrogance.
JER 49:16 “As for the terror of you, the arrogance of your heart has deceived you,”
He uses what God has given him to destroy those that have served him against God, both carnal believers and unbelievers.
MAT 7:7 “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
JER 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
MAR 12:30 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
If you are in the cosmic system you are the servant [slave] of Satan.
There are two areas where demons are in prison; the first is called Tartarus and there is smoke in Tartarus.
The second is the Abyss and there is smoke in the Abyss.
Darkness - noun zophou - zovfou = black clouds and a mist.
The function of the locust on the one hand and the function of the scorpion on the other hand are the best ways in which in the ancient world it is possible to describe the function of the first demon assault army.
Locusts - akrides = an army of destruction.
The destruction of Nineveh in the book of Nahum is described in terms of the locust plague, NAH 3:15-16.
Locusts invade the land and destroy crops; therefore they are analogous here to the demon army which invades planet earth from the Abyss.
PRO 30:27 The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks;
Real locusts are known for laying waste to countrysides all over the world.
Whenever the locusts form up and go into the air, their wings make an awesome sound and they literally darken the sky around them.
For the second time in history, beginning in the middle of the Tribulation, demons are permitted to attack men.
Scorpions - noun skorpioi = belongs to the spider family and is usually 5 or 6 inches long and has a poisonous sting in its tail.
The scorpion sting is a very painful thing and is used in the analogy to torture here.
This is warning before judgment.
Grace precedes judgment.
There is never a judgment which destroys a segment of the human race until first of all that segment of the human race has an opportunity to repent.
Noah preached for 120 years before the flood came.
PSA 76:10 “For the wrath of man shall praise Thee”
They are going to be restricted as to what they can do to their target - made up of people who live in the cosmic system, believers and unbelievers of the Tribulation.
There is an alternative to trying to commit suicide and that is to accept Christ as personal savior, or in the case of believers to rebound and get out of the cosmic system.
Pain can serve as a motivation, but also in some cases pain can make a person a lot worse.
Pain and suffering and adversity either makes us worse or better, but it never leaves us the same.
The wonderful thing about disaster and adversity and pain and difficulty and problems is that it gives us a fantastic opportunity for improvement.
HEB 9:27 “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”
I believe that thousands of years after members of the human race are suffering in the lake of fire that if they were offered to believe on TLJC and trust in Him as their Lord Savior, I believe they would still reject Him.
1. The more some people suffer, the more bitter and arrogant and hateful and resentful they become.
2. Satan and the fallen angels - they still rebel against God even after they were given a second trial.
3. When Satan is put in prison for a thousand years, the first thing he does when he gets out of prison is start a human revolt against God.
4. The sin nature gets more and more corrupt as it gets older, EPH 4:22, and all of those in the lake of fire have their old sin nature.
“Loves” - in the present tense = they still do love and practice lying.