From Nephilim To Neuralink Demons, A.i., And The Fall Of Mankind - 2 Peter 2:4 Series

2 Peter 2:3 ... Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction has not been sleeping. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into pits of darkness to be held for judgment; ... 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.

Guaranteed Human

There is a news talk radio station I listen to that has an interesting tag line. After they give their call letters and their little blurb, the last line is, “...guaranteed human.” Of all the ways they could promote their station, why do you suppose they chose that tag line? I mean, AI is all the rage, right? It’s the hottest thing going, everyone is using it, it’s super smart, super fast. Don’t you want your news station to have all the data? Everyone is using AI in their own lives, and yet, the marketing experts concluded that the line “guaranteed human” would appeal to people.

Why? We all have a lot of complaints about humans, right? Humans can be temperamental, biased, deceitful, unreliable, overly emotional, they don’t have near as much information as AI, and yet there is an appeal to the promise, guaranteed human.

Tonight we’re going to get an idea of why that is. But we’re also going to learn about a massive threat that the world is facing now for the first time in over 5000 years.   

Background

This is going to be a little different tonight. I usually don’t like giving too much background information in a sermon. I like to focus mainly on the text itself. But once in a while you need some background information to be able to understand the text, and that’s the case with this passage.

Review: Judgment not Sleeping

We left off last time at the end of v.3 with Peter talking about the condemnation of the false teachers.

2 Peter 2:3 ... Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

The judgment on these people was pronounced long ago—all the way back in Deuteronomy when God prescribed the death penalty for false prophets. But there’s a tendency to think that if judgment hasn’t happened yet, it never will. So Peter says, “No, that verdict and sentence is right on schedule. It’s as certain as the sunrise. The wheels of God’s justice are churning right along. Those wheels turn slow, but they grind small.

And if you doubt it, all you have to do is read the book of Genesis. When Peter said their damnation has not been sleeping, the next word is “for,” which means he’s going to support what he just said. “You want to know how we can be so sure these false teachers are going to be punished by God? Let me give you a little history.” And then in the next 6 verses, Peter gives us a little clinic on God’s judgment from the book of Genesis.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into pits of darkness to be held for judgment

I told you we need background information to understand this, but the main point is actually easy to understand right on the surface.  He’s proving that God will judge the false teachers, and he says, “If God didn’t even spare angels and sent them to hell, do you think he’s going to be shy about dealing with these yahoos?” If not even angels can escape God’s judgment, the false teachers really don’t have a chance.

So it’s not hard to understand the basic point, but it does raise some questions. Like, when did God send angels to hell?

Who Are the Angels Who Sinned?

Most people assume this is pre-Garden of Eden.[1] Is that what Peter has in mind? But that doesn’t work because these angels Peter is talking about are locked up.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into pits of darkness to be held for judgment

“Held” is tereo—to be kept under guard. The word “put” is used of turning over a prisoner for imprisonment (see Acts 8:3; 12:4).  So they’re incarcerated. Where?  In pits of darkness. Some manuscripts say chains of darkness. Hard to say which is the original, but the meaning is the same either way. The parallel passage in Jude 1:6 says:

Jude 1:6 ... these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

Peter mentioned these angels in his first book.

1 Peter 3:19 ... through [the Spirit] [Christ] went and preached to the spirits[2]in prison.