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2 Peter 2:4
4 For [gar] if [ei] God [theos] spared [pheidomai] not [ou] the angels [aggelos] that sinned [hamartano],
but [alla] cast them down to hell [tartaroo], and delivered [paradidomi]
them into chains [seira] of darkness [zophos], to be reserved [tereo]
unto [eis] judgment [krisis]; KJV-Interlinear
4 For if God did not spare angels
when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of
darkness, reserved for judgment;NASB
God does not withhold judgment
when judgment is due.
God is however, merciful
and gives you lots of room with which to form your life.And given that room, or time, over the course
of your life, when you finally arrive at its end, then you have no excuse for
the decisions you have made during your life.
At life's end, all the
tears, all the pleading, all of the emotional genuflexing (knees bent to the
floor in total humility) you may try in order to give yourself another chance,
will fall on deaf ears.
Peter goes through several
historical examples of this principle.God
gives us all time, enough time to get our life in order.During our life, we establish a pattern of a
lifestyle for our life and though we may deviate from that pattern from time to
time, the overall pattern will stick with us because our decisions and
attitudes and so forth, establish that pattern of thought.
None of us are
perfect.All of us fail from time to
time.Even if you pursue your spiritual
life with a vigor, you will still stumble from time to time.But God does not evaluate you based on your
occasional failure, but on your overall life.
Likewise if you ignore your
spiritual life, and occasionally recognize a Biblical principle from time to
time, this will not result in your spiritual growth, nor cancel Gods bad
evaluation of you.Your choices in life
are what you subscribe to over the long term.
Therefore, do not think
that you can ignore God all of your life and then suddenly go off to heaven and
make your changes there, in order to get better grades, as it were.
Peter s first example
comes from the angels that sinned.The
reference comes from Jude 13.
Here, Peter uses a word
that has its roots in Greek mythology. Tartaroo,
is a Greek word that refers to a place where anyone who is extremely
disobedient, is sent.It is a place of
deep darkness and is located deep in the bowels of the earth.In our study of Hades, Tartarus is one of the
four compartments located in Hades.
Hades is a broad term
referring to the underworld.Hades has
four compartments within it Paradise, Torments, Tartarus, and the Abyss.
Paradise used to be the
temporary home of Old Testament believers called prisoners, who were led out of
captivity by Christ after the event of the Cross.They are now in heaven and Paradise is now
empty.
Torments, is and
remains the temporary home of unbelievers from all of human history.There they remain waiting their final judgment
at the Great White Throne, which will occur at the end of the Millennium.
The Abyss houses the
badest of the bad, of all fallen angels.They have been there for a very long time even prior to the beginning of
human history.They will get a temporary
release during the Tribulation (two-hundred million demons, Rev. 9:16, released
under their general Abaddon), and they will cause tremendous terror and death
to humanity. Upon their release, their
sole purpose, immediate and without hesitation, is the destruction of the human
race as one-third of the human race will be murdered, Rev. 9:18. They will again be jailed by Christ for the
same one-thousand years as Satan is jailed, and there await their final
judgment at the Great White Throne.
By the way, we do not
know anything about these demon angels.Only that they are extremely bad, and have been locked up during all of
human history.Presumably, so they could
not interfere with humanity.
Tartarus, houses those
fallen angels of Genesis six.These are
the angels in focus in our current verse.They disobeyed God and had relationships with human females, producing
the monsters or half breeds of human and angel offspring .Those half breeds (half human and half angel)
are the heroes or famous people of whom the stories of old came from.You might want to review Gen. 6.
Those angels, disobeyed
God, by breeding with humans, which implies that they were not supposed to
breed with humans.That should be
obvious.They were rounded up and cast into
a pit of darkness, which is called Tartarus.
There they remain until
their final judgment, which again is the Great White Throne, which is the final
appearance before Christ for all the condemned.The Lake of Fire is their sentence.
Now there are only
three groups of folks imprisoned.Unbelievers are in Torments for their unbelief.The disobedient angels are in Tartarus for their
disobedience and interference with human history.And, then we have the angels who are bound
in the Abyss.Those Abyss occupants may (only
guessing here) very well be imprisoned for their disobedience in prehistoric
history.
Now, I offer a bit of
speculation here.I know that some do
not like my speculation, but it can be fun just to wonder about various
things.
Since we know that the
dinosaur age pre-existed our human age, and that the dinosaur age was
destroyed. And, given that we have to
incorporate the fall of Satan and his angels into that dinosaur age, somehow,
then we can speculate that it may have been those bad angels, who are in the
Abyss, who had something to do with the demise of the dinosaurs.What impact they had, what relationship they
had to earth s history, we haven t a clue.Were they incarcerated for their interference?
Somehow, I don t think
that they were just observers of prehistoric life on the earth.But then, how they interfered is anyone's guess.
In Genesis 1 the earth
was created along with the universe and it was created perfect, then it became
null and void (destroyed) and Satan was blamed for this result.So I believe that these angels had a part in
this destruction.
Anyway, back to our
verse.
What is the whole point
of all of this?Whether speculation of
reality, we know that disobedience is punishable and when punishment is
decreed, it is not removed or cancelled out.
The angels in Tartarus
have been there since before the flood of Noah, and there they remain until
their judgment, which Peter herein states, they are reserved for.They are on hold, waiting the execution order
of their sentence.
And by the way, they
are in chains of darkness.This is a
reference to an extreme darkness, in which there is no light. Chains, which is
the darkness itself, are thick and heavy and from which there is no escape, and
no rescue is possible.
God is light, and when
you have been removed from His light, then there is total darkness, no
orientation, no frame of reference, no knowledge, no wisdom, nothing.There is only total aloneness and captivity.And from this captivity there is no quality
of life, nothing.Even the angels who
have been allowed to wander on this earth, express fear, to Jesus, of this
place.So it is an extremely fearful
place.One in which we cannot imagine.
Peter states this so
that you will know that your disobedience, your indifference, your playing
games with God now, your being argumentative, in this life, is a big, big, big,
big mistake.
There is a greater
history and precedence before you ever existed.Don t presume that you are above any of that.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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