Jude 1:6, commentary and pictures

The angels abandoned their loyal obedience to God's law and left the holy dwelling appointed them, and God keeps them in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day as a certain warning against rebellion.
Their first estate was a high and happy state of holiness in which they were created sinless, beautiful and wise ministers about God's throne, and all their glory and happiness depended on loyalty to Him.
One exalted cherub swerved from allegiance to follow his own will and be first in Christ's place, and by specious reasoning and pride he seduced fellow angels into insubordination until after conflict with the Son and the loyal angels they were defeated and cast out from God's presence.
They are reserved in darkness to an appointed future time when Christ and the righteous will judge Satan and the evil angels during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, and they will never be allowed to enter heaven again.
Their fate proves that God hates sin and cannot endure it in His presence, and it warns every soul that high position does not guarantee salvation and that whoever chooses his own will and clings to sin will share their separation and destruction.

Wording and Jude Setting

The angels who did not keep their original position but left their own dwelling are kept by God in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day. Those who failed to keep their first position and left their appointed home are held under darkness for judgment on the great day. Their fate stands as a warning of certain judgment against rebellion and ungodliness.

The verse belongs to Jude's exhortation to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints against ungodly men crept in unawares. Those men turn grace into lasciviousness and deny the Lord. That contending is the work of bringing men back from transgression of the commandments of God, proclaiming the gospel of Christ with earnestness and zeal as light to commandment-breakers to arouse them to prepare to meet God. It raises the standard of the truth delivered to the saints while the law is trampled by the disloyal, magnifying the law and making it honorable. Jude's letter is addressed to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ.

It is set alongside the Lord saving the people out of Egypt and afterward destroying those who believed not, and Sodom and Gomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, as proof and remembrance of certain judgment on rebellion and ungodliness for those who once knew the truth. It speaks of conditions to be met in the present day, including apostasy and people who seek to deceive the faithful. It is part of the wonderful revelation of Jude that must be studied earnestly, kept constantly before the people, and made prominent as truth for those living in the last days. It is a warning showing danger and how to avoid it.

The verse belongs to scenes in the heavenly courts where angels of the highest rank take an interest in the affairs of men. Both good and evil angels take an active part in matters connected with earthly kingdoms. It belongs also to the description in Jude 1-8 of the pollution of the world and the working agencies of Satan to corrupt the world. That pollution stands as the dark background against which Michael the archangel's restraint in refusing to bring a railing accusation against the devil is to be copied in meek, non-retaliatory witness.

Original State and Rebellion

The first estate was loyalty, and loyalty meant obedience to God's law. The high and happy state of the angels depended on that obedience, with their happiness and harmony coming through it. To leave loyalty was to leave that estate, and those who abandoned it were cast out of heaven with their rebel leader.

The angels who sinned had been created sinless and equal in nature, power, and glory to the holy angels. They were beautiful, holy, wise ministers about God's throne, loved by God. Satan himself had held high office in heaven with a throne radiant with light, as a covering cherub in connection with God next to Christ, where he gained knowledge.

One angel began the controversy and continued it until rebellion arose. He swerved from allegiance to the blessed and only Potentate, challenged the law by claiming angels should be free to follow their own will, and rejected the authority of the Son. After conflict with the Son and the loyal angels the rebels were defeated and cast out, driven from God's presence and no longer acknowledged as having any right in the heavenly courts. God did not immediately destroy the chief rebel but allowed the angels to choose sides so that characters and His justice would be made clear, and Satan as the open antagonist of Christ planted the standard of rebellion on earth around which his sympathizers rallied, beginning the controversy between right and wrong that involves all people. Angels who joined him fell from their high and holy estate and were expelled from heaven with him.

They fell through insubordination by seeking independence from God, even though beauty and glory, happiness, light, understanding, and intelligence depended on Him. They became proud of beauty and forgot that beauty of person and character came from the Lord Jesus, refusing to work in harmony with God and believing they need not consult Christ. They obscured that Christ was the only begotten Son of God and wanted exaltation, to be first in Christ's place. Satan tried to reform God's law to make it more acceptable to himself and thought he had gained the highest place, but was at last thrust out of heaven.

The angels were tested and failed to endure the test. They were seduced and deceived by Satan through specious reasoning, false science, and sophistry presented as truth, with Lucifer as the most exalted of all the angels occupying a position next to Christ drawing many away. They uttered sentiments opposed to loyalty to God so that the heavenly family became corrupted, and as evil angels they now do the same work by taking minds captive and placing them under spiritualistic education in deceptive theories such as pantheism about life and God's relation to living things. Though fallen and having lost their first estate, they are wiser than people on earth because they had been in heaven's councils.

Expulsion and Reserved Judgment

The angels who abandoned loyalty and joined the rebel leader were cast out of heaven and exiled from their former place and happiness. They no longer share in heaven's worship nor enjoy the peace and joy of Christ's presence, and their disobedience brought strife, discord and despair. Before the expulsion the loyal angels had warned that God who created the angels could overturn their authority and punish rebellion.

The fallen are kept in darkness until a future appointed time, the great day of judgment. That day is the same period in which the Lord comes to execute judgment. Their punishment is already prepared, and they are reserved for that judgment under a God who has authority to limit and control Satan and the evil angels. That judging takes place during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, when Christ and the righteous judge Satan and the evil angels.

The evil first introduced by the fallen angels will never be allowed to enter heaven again. Those who abandoned their appointed place are held in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day and will not enter heaven or belong to God's family. Those who have had light yet refuse to keep the commandments will have no open door there, because to admit them would bring a second rebellion, which cannot be allowed.

They were left to perish beyond redemption with responsibility resting on their own choice. Their guilt and punishment were proportionate to great knowledge, privilege and experienced glory in heaven, and no greater revelation of God's power and glory could have given them a more favorable test. Unlike fallen humanity they were given no hope of rescue, while rescue was reached out to man. Their remorse over lost privileges was not genuine repentance nor renewed love and obedience, so they could not be restored, for the law could condemn but could not pardon. Rebellion against the law proved incurable and no provision had been made to save those who chose it, after defeat in conflict with the Son and the loyal angels and after time given to choose sides so that character and justice would be made clear.

Present Work of Evil Angels

The angels who sinned were created sinless and equal in nature, power, and glory to the holy angels, beautiful, holy, wise ministers about the throne, but fell by joining Satan's rebellion and were cast out of heaven. They remain united under Satan against God's authority, working unseen among people to bring temptations and trials to provoke God and seeking to destroy people. That apostate host, still led by Satan retaining his lofty stature, works with evil people against God and even tried to make Christ appear the chief of sinners. Fallen angels and fallen men join in desperate companionship, giving soul, body, and spirit to the enemy as a willing offering that should have been given to God, with those on the side of darkness encouraging others to do the same. Even where jealousy, envy, and discord exist among themselves, evildoers are linked as with iron bands in opposition to the laws that bring peace and harmony, while the one who fell by apostasy works constantly against goodness and obedience leagued with all who refuse to keep God's law. Fallen angels do all the harm they possibly can to those who love God and who under great difficulty strive to proclaim present truth, and those who shared large responsibilities and turn to be enemies of the work link themselves with them, so to take their course and join them is to be linked with fallen angels.

They retain great intelligence and education and use knowledge gained in heaven with beautiful, persuasive language and attractive ideas to spread heresies, deceive people, and lead them to lose their souls, while practicing wickedness whose influence must be recognized and resisted. Those who wanted to be first in Christ's place now lead as powers of darkness, and those who reject warning and follow their own judgment will have no part in the inheritance. They expressed sentiments opposed to loyalty to God and corrupted the heavenly family, and evil angels can likewise influence human minds until people lose independent judgment and will. Their science is taking captive the minds of those who associate with them, including mesmerism and hypnotism, which men and women are not to study or tamper with but must resist everything of the kind. They fell because Satan seduced and deceived them, and as evil angels they now do the same work by taking minds captive and placing them under spiritualistic education in deceptive theories such as pantheism about life and God's relation to living things. Under Satan's influence they uttered sentiments directly opposed to loyalty to God so the family in heaven became corrupted, and these fallen evil angels still lead in the same way, and if permitted will work the minds of men until men have no mind or will of their own.

Satan was once a covering cherub in connection with God where he gained knowledge, and the angels who did not keep their first estate fell from a high estate and became his subjects under his rule. When the Spirit of God is withdrawn from the earth his power will be more manifest as he uses that knowledge and every power of his exalted intellect to subordinate his fallen subjects, to misrepresent God, and to instigate rebellion against Jesus Christ as Commander of heaven. As the angel who fell from his first estate he came to Adam, who originally possessed the wonderful gift of a sinless nature, with specious sophistry and falsehoods presented as truth and exercised hypnotic power upon him. By listening to his falsehoods Adam sinned and opened the door through which the enemy could ever gain access to human beings. By that sin Adam and Eve lost the spiritual life that would have been theirs by continual endowment.

Not all angels lost their first estate; those who kept it remain loyal in heaven and are constantly employed in the work of redemption to bring men back from rebellion to reconciliation with God. They cooperate with intense earnestness to bring men moral efficiency that in and through Christ they may be more than conquerors. Their sympathies were with Jesus when He left the heavenly courts, and all the heavenly intelligences were in His train as He advanced from the manger to Calvary, where in the dying victim mercy answered the claims of justice with full compensation. Satan works to keep people bound in spiritual darkness and under his power, so winning them to Christ requires earnest, persistent labor.

Holiness Law and Sin

The angels who did not keep their first estate had stood about the throne, near to it, loved, whose first estate and first position was loyalty, and when they abandoned that loyalty and left it they were cast out of heaven with their rebel leader. Their fate proves that God rejects sin even in those so favored, because He cannot endure its presence and His soul hates it. Sin is the opposite of holiness, holiness is the foundation of His throne, and sin is so hateful that it crucified the Son of God. If its hatefulness were seen it would not be tolerated or cultivated but life and character would be reformed and secret faults overcome, for God does not work with sinners in the ministry who will not agonize to so reform, and to be saints in heaven they must first be saints upon the earth.

The angels who abandoned their appointed place are rebels against the law and enemies of those who love and obey the commandments, joining the forces of Satan in opposition to the government. Refusing to obey the law places beings among the enemies, as when they joined the great apostate in heaven. Their judgment is set among the examples of punishment for transgression, warning the ungodly and unrepentant that they will not be received into heaven as holy and happy angels. Chains of darkness and reservation for judgment represent the punishment awaiting transgressors of the law, so that those who cling to sin and refuse forgiveness and grace will realize too late that sin separates from God, with remorse, despair, and hatred as its sure results, and the unrepentant finally destroyed.

The first angels who fell introduced the element of evil, and that evil will never be allowed to enter heaven again, while the fallen are kept in darkness for judgment on the great day. Their abusing the privileges of their high estate to join Satan against God, fall into apostasy, and be exiled from heaven illustrates the seriousness of sin and the choice every soul must make about whose side to join. As long as life continues on earth evil must still be met and battled, for a battle is going on over every soul. Whoever chooses his own will and way and refuses to be converted to the Lord's way will be used in that service, and whatever knowledge of divine things such a person has gained becomes united with the knowledge used to strengthen that side of the controversy.

Warning and Personal Application

The angels who failed to keep their first position and left their appointed home are held under darkness for judgment on the great day, and their fate warns that a high position does not guarantee salvation but may endanger a person, since human traits seek recognition and mastery. They sought independence from God despite depending on Him for happiness, light, and understanding, and through insubordination they fell from their high estate. Their example warns against rejecting the help God provides through appointed leaders and the church, for insisting that guidance must come directly from God alone leaves a person vulnerable to deception and ruin.

The epistle belongs to conditions to be met in the present day, including apostasy and people who seek to deceive the faithful. It guards believers in the last days against the seductive influences of false teachers, men who have a form of godliness but are not safe leaders. At a time when Satan is working with power upon religionists, leading them to make a pretense of being righteous while failing to place themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, false teachers arise and become actively zealous, presenting all kinds of theories to divert minds from the very truth that defines the position that can be occupied with safety. The fallen angels were misled and seduced by specious reasoning and false science presented by Lucifer, the most exalted of all the angels who occupied a position next to Christ, and many angels were drawn away by him, and the same deceptive influence now works upon men to lead them to cast aside God's commandments, so those who hear must watch unto prayer, make diligent work for eternity, and display their true colors, with the certainty that truth will prevail and bear away the victory.

Those who shared large responsibilities in the work and turn to be enemies of the work link themselves up with the fallen angels, who are at work to do all the harm they possibly can to those who love God and who under great difficulty are striving to proclaim present truth, so that to take their course and join with them is to be linked up with fallen angels. The image of being bound in chains of darkness describes the helplessness of people overwhelmed by remorse: they lack resolution and moral strength, cannot see clearly or know what steps to take, and feel lost and distressed, yet long for pardon and peace. When a person opens wide the door of the heart and invites Satan in, Satan tempts him and binds him with fetters of darkness. Through fear and failure to correct personal faults a person binds himself in spiritual darkness and risks losing the opportunity to seek truth and God's favor.