JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Jude 1:6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Our God is a God of mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love but He is also a God of judgment, never hesitating to send punishment on the ungodly when He deems it necessary. And lest anyone dare to call Him unfair, they do so in folly because there is no fallacy found in Him and this means He administers justice perfectly.

Yesterday, we started a series regarding judgment reminders as we find Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, writing about times in biblical history where God brought consequences to those who blatantly sinned against Him. In the first message, we were called to remember the Israelite people who decided to rebel and complain against God despite Him miraculously rescuing them from the grip of an Egyptian captivity. We looked at how God later “destroyed those who did not believe” (v.5).

Today, we move from human beings to angelic ones in an interesting reference by Jude. Let’s look at today’s scripture, verse 6 of Jude, chapter 1.

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.

I think most people as a whole think of angels as perfectly good in nature. They are in the heavens and sometimes are sent down to earth by God to care for people in some special way (think about references to guardian angels). But as we see here in Jude, there were angels who went bad, what we often hear referred to as fallen angels who became demons.

These angels gone bad chose to “not keep their positions of authority” by “abandoning their proper dwelling”, committing some egregious sin against God to where He exercised punishment upon them, binding them up with “everlasting chains” and keeping them “in darkness” until the day when He sends Jesus back to earth to judge creation. Like Satan, the one they chose over God, these angels would find themselves committed to Hell forever.

Unfortunately, not all demons were imprisoned. Since the great fall, they have been actively involved in carrying out the work of the devil and will continue to do so until Christ comes back and eradicates all evil in advance of God hitting the reset button on creation, bringing forth a new heaven, earth, and the holy dwelling place, New Jerusalem.

In today’s message, we are reminded that even angels experience the judgment of God. He is indeed sovereign over all beings, whether in Heaven or on earth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.