Chapter 3 - The second wave of fallen angels

At the time of the flood the first wave of sinful angels were imprisoned in the Abyss, out of the way. As for Satan, “iniquity” had been found in him, but he had not yet technically sinned nor been cast from heaven. Right after the flood there seems to be no mention made of there being any other fallen angels. As such it would make sense that all the other angels at that time were still good and Holy angels, who were in good standing with God.

In several places the Bible mentions that the nations of men are in some way under the jurisdiction of various angels. In Hebrews it is implied that the current world is somehow subjected under angels.

“For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” Heb 2:5

The word here for “subjection” is “hupotaxis” in Greek, and it means “under-ordered”. The word for “ordered” is “taxis” which refers to the correct order things are to be done in, or a type of arranging or arrangement. This word is used most often to refer to the “order of Melchizedek” the priest (compared to the order of the Levite priests). As such a more literal meaning here is that the current world is arranged under angels in some ordered system. More detail on this arrangement seems to be found in Deut 4:19

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

The host of heaven here are the angels. This verse makes clear that God has divided all the nations to these angels. However, it is also clear that despite the nations being divided to these angels that people are not to serve or worship these angels.

This division of nations under angels seems to be made clear in Daniel chapter 10. Daniel has a vision of an angel, who is later identified to be Gabriel (Dan 9:21). Gabriel says several things to Daniel which makes this division clear:

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and [there is] none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Dan 10:13. 20-21

Here we see that Gabriel has been fighting against other angels, one is called the prince of Persia, a prince of Grecia is mentioned, and also Michael one of the chief princes. He is mentioned again in Dan 12:

Dan 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

Michael is said to be the angel that stands for the children of Daniel’s people, and Daniel’s people are Israel (and those who are spiritually Israel, in context). Michael is also called the archangel in Jude 1:9, again in relation to the affairs of Israel.

Jud 1:9 “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”

As such, it seems that every nation had an angel responsible for the nation in some capacity, and this was how things were arranged by God. Michael was the angel for Israel, and the nations of Persia and Greece also had angels that they belonged to in some way.

Dr. Michael S. Heiser has argued that the Greek translation of Deut 32:8 sheds some added light on this arrangement, in his paper “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God”; his work is where I first learned of this topic.

“Deut. 32:8-9 (with LXX and DSS) – (8) When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.”

If the Greek is correct, then what we are looking at is a specific event and time, in which God divided the nations of mankind according to the number of the angels of God. This is specified to have occurred when God divided all mankind. When did God divide all mankind? God divided mankind right after the tower of Babel incident, which was not long after the Flood.

“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Gen 11:8-9

When the Babel incident happened is not spelled out in specific by any of the characters in the Babel story. However, in Gen 10:25 a more specific date is given: “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name [was] Joktan.”

Adding up biblical chronologies, this would place the time of Peleg to have been about 100 years after the Flood. And so it was about 100 years after the flood when God divided the nations and set boundaries for them according to the number of the angels of God. And at this time, 100 years after the flood, there is every reason to think all of these angels were still in good standing with God.

What was their job over the nation assigned to them? The most specified task seems to have been to influence the affairs of men so that justice would be done. These angels were also referred to as “gods”,

“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid [them] out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.” Psalm 82

The “congregation of the mighty” here seems to parallel both the assembling of the sons of God in the time of Job, and also the “assembly” or “council of the holy ones” in Psalm 89.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
Job 1:6

“The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.” Psalm 89:5-7

And so it becomes clear that at times these angels assigned to the nations would gather before God. But by the time of David when Psalm 82 was written, around 1000 BC, God clearly was saying the angels were not doing their assigned job correctly. By the time of Daniel, about 550 BC, all sorts of chaos seems to have broken out. Let’s look again at Daniel 10:

“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and [there is] none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Dan 10:12-13, 20-21

Daniel had started praying, and Gabriel had been dispatched to deliver a message to Daniel from God. Gabriel got held up by the angel of Persia for 3 weeks, keeping him from delivering his message, while Daniel fasted and prayed for 3 weeks. And so it becomes clear that these angels over the nations were preventing an angel of God from delivering a message and doing God’s will for a whole 3 weeks. The messenger only got through because assistance came, help from a more powerful good angel, Michael.

This paints a picture that while at one point these angels would assemble before God, and tried to do His will, that eventually they chose to rebel against God. By the time of Daniel, these angels over the nations were in such rebellion that Gabriel, sent by God to deliver a message, couldn’t do so without a fight. Rev 12 makes it clear that the rebellion of these angels had something to do with the influence of Satan, as his tail is what drew down a third of the stars to earth.

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Rev 12:3-4

It may be that during this period of time between David and the birth of Jesus, that these angels over the nations who became sinful stayed on earth most or all of the time, and stopped assembling in the presence of God. That would explain what Rev 12 seems to indicate, that they were already down on the earth due to Satan’s influence. However, a few verses later, after Jesus’ ascension, there was a great battle that was located in heaven. These angels over the nations who were with Satan participated in this battle that was located in heaven. And it is only after this battle that they were cast down to earth and kicked out of heaven permanently.

“She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne... Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Rev 12

As such it seems these angels over the nations made a choice to stay out of heaven, ignoring assembling before God and receiving His instructions for some time, due to the influence of Satan. This seems to have been true in the time of Daniel, around 550 BC, up till the time of Jesus. They had not been kicked out of heaven, but seemed to stay on the earth voluntarily, though under Satan’s influence. And so it seems to be during this time period that they handed their power over to Satan, so that Jesus called Satan “the prince of this world” and Satan said that all kingdoms of the world had been delivered to him and he could give them to whoever he wanted (Lk 4 Mat 4). But after Jesus’ Ascension, these rebel angels over the nations tried to go back into heaven, and took part in this great battle, lost the battle, and then were kicked out of heaven and cast down to Earth with Satan. Only at that point were they not allowed back in heaven anymore, banned from entry.

It should be noted that the assembly of angels over the nations may be comprised exclusively of the “sons of God” or messenger type of angels (human men in appearance). In Job the term used is “sons of God” and in Psalm 82 a similar phrase “sons of the Most High” is used. Satan is one of the cherubim, and also there is nothing that indicates he had a nation assigned to him. Rather, as Luke 4 and Matt 4 indicate, it seems that Satan somehow convinced the angels who had nations assigned to them to hand their power over to him.

Satan is referred to as the “King of Tyre” in Ezekiel 28, indicating he had power over this nation. However, Ezekiel dates to around 580 BC, close to Daniel around 550 BC. As such it may be that the reason Satan was the “King of Tyre” at that time was because the angel over the nation of Tyre had given Satan his power over the kingdom. It is a possibility. Isaiah 14 also refers to Satan as the “King of Babylon” and is dated to around 740 BC. As such it may be possible to date that Satan had power over nations handed to him by the angels over the nations as early as 740 BC. This is in keeping with Psalm 82 that describes God’s displeasure with the angels over the nations, which is dated to around 1000 BC.

After Jesus ascended these fallen angels lost the battle in Heaven and were also cast down to the Earth, and have been here ever since waging war against Christians. These are the same ones who Paul references to repeatedly.

In the Old Testament the term “host of heaven” is "tsaba shayahim" in Hebrew. In the Greek Septuagint, this Hebrew phrase is translated 3 ways, "stratia ouranous", "dynamis ouranous" and "kosmos ouranous".

The same term “stratia ouranous” is used in Luke 2 referring to the “host of heaven”, who are also called “aggelos”, and these were the Holy angels sent to the shepherds to herald Jesus’ birth. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." Luke 2

The terms “dynamis ouranous” and “kosmos ouranous” also are continued into the New Testament, but are used in reference to the fallen angels who, back when they were good, God had set over the nations. They now are the fallen angels cast down to earth with Satan, making war against Christians.

The term “dynamis ouranous” is used several times, meaning “powers of heaven”, but referring to these fallen angels.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Mat 24:29 (also Mark 13:25, Luke 21:26)

But much of the time in the NT, the phrase "powers of heaven" gets shortened to just "powers", however this is still referring to the same fallen angels. While "Holy angels" are just called "angels" much of the time, the fallen angels are referred to with the term "powers", and with other terms, to differentiate them from the Holy angels. 

“Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience --through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” 1 Pet 3:21-22

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8:38

These are some very reassuring verses, stating that these fallen angels have been subjected under Christ, and that they will not be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Some synonymous terms are used here pretty interchangeably with the term “powers”. The terms “authorities” (exhousia) and “principalities” (arche) also are synonymous terms for these fallen angels.

“Arche” is the same root word as in the "Prince of Persia" who fought with Gabriel and Michael in Dan 10. And so “arche” is another term used for these fallen angels.

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” Dan 10:13

“Exhousia” is the same as what Satan speaks of in Luke 4:6 

“And the devil said unto him, All this power [exousia] will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.”

And so those fallen angels who delivered this power (exhousia) to Satan, are sometimes referred to as “exhousia” or “authorities”.  Three times Jesus Christ called Satan the prince, or “archon”, of this world, in John 12:31, 16:11, and 14:30. In Ephesians, Paul calls Satan the "prince of the power of the air": the "archon" of the "exhousia" of the air. 

"Exousia" is also found in Dan 7:6, relating to the Beast out of the Sea,
“After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion [exousia] was given to it.”

The same prophecy of the Beast out of the Sea is told again in Revelation 13:2
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority [exousia].”

The term “kosmos ouranous” in the New Testament, gets morphed into 2 different phrases, "kosmos archon" (singular) and "kosmos-krator" (plural). It means prince or ruler of this world, or rulers of this world.

In John 12:31, (16:11, 14:30) the term Jesus uses is "kosmos archon", referring to Satan.  “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”

The term “kosmos-krator” is used in Ephesians 6, where several of all these terms are used:

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities (arche), against authorities (exhousia), against the rulers (kosmoskrator) of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. Eph 6:11-12

Understanding what these terms mean, Eph 6:12 says three times that we are wrestling against fallen angels, and also against the more broad term “spiritual wickedness” which also covers all evil spirits, including those called demons.

While the "kosmos archon", Satan, is the chief, the "kosmos krators" are the fallen angels under Satan, ruling this world's darkness. The word in Eph 6:12 for darkness, "skotos" is the same word in,

“To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness [skotos] to light, and from the dominion [exousia] of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'” Acts 26:18

“Who hath delivered us from the power [exousia] of darkness [skotos], and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” Col 1:13

Many of these terms are also found in Eph 1: 19, along with another synonym, dominion “kyriotes”.
And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities (arche) and authorities (exhousia) and powers (dynamis) and dominion (kyriotes), and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The term “kyriotes” or “dominion” is also used in Col 1:16, 2 Pet 2:10, and Jude 1:8, seemingly also in reference to fallen angels, and the term “doxa” is used somewhat interchangeably also in reference to fallen angels.

In other words, the New Testament mentions these fallen angels in many places. Several different synonymous terms are used, but they all in general point to these same fallen angels. These are the second wave of fallen angels, many or all of whom were at one point given responsibility over nations, who later delivered their power over to Satan making him the “prince of this world”, who battled against the Holy angels after Jesus’ ascension and lost, who were cast down to the Earth along with Satan, and who currently do make war against the people of God.

The book of Revelation is not specific about when they will be cast into the lake of fire. It may be after Jesus returns and the Beast’s armies are defeated, and the Beast is cast into the lake of fire. Or it may be that they will continue to roam the earth while Satan is bound in the Abyss for the millennia, or they may be bound with him. But at the very latest I would think they will be cast into the lake of fire when Satan is. We do know that they will be cast into the lake of fire at some point during the events in Revelation, as Jesus said:

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” Matt 25:41

“Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” Jer 10:11