Myths, legends and modern stories all testify that upon this earth, there were once powerful and evil superhuman beings who took great pleasure in tormenting mankind. They were the old gods of tradition and folklore, Zeus, Apollo and their ilk. Were they merely figments of human imagination, or were they real? Are these the entities the Bible identifies as fallen angels? 

Many Christians do not want to believe that these demigods of old were real. With the development of the early church, pagan deities faded into the forgotten pages of folklore. Yet the Bible refers to "sons of God," "fallen angels," and other demonic creatures who once tried to subvert humanity. They perfectly fit the description of the old demigods. 

Perhaps they were real, and are now either locked up or restrained. Will these fallen angels return? The Bible says that in the tumultuous days of the Tribulation Period, they will return. 

The common belief is that early humanity concocted these ancient myths to satisfy their desire for something to worship. But in the last few centuries, society has matured. There is, therefore, no longer the need for a belief in the existence of ancient gods. They have been allowed to slip back into the recesses of the cultural mind. By implication, such belief systems are weak-minded. Today's secular man confidently believes that he no longer needs these religious crutches. 

This explanation of ancient history speaks not so much of the power of some ancient gods, as it does of the unintelligent state of primitive man. In so doing, it supports the idea that mankind has evolved from the simple to the complex. This is the core concept of modern evolutionary theory. 

In short, it is now believed that these once powerful and evil demigods - the subjects of ancient pagan ritual - were only the figments of an impoverished ancient man's imagination. They were born in the dark nights of his caves and campfires, wherein lurked predatory beasts and nocturnal superstitions. 

The Serpent and His Followers 

But the Bible refutes this idea in at least two major ways. First, it tells us that man was created perfect, both in physique and intelligence. He had a perfect knowledge of God, even to the point of open fellowship with Him. He was devoid of superstition. 

Secondly, the Bible tells us that this perfect world was corrupted from without by a sinister character, whom God allowed to intrude upon the first innocent couple. He and his assemblage were far from imaginary. Together, they projected the power of the serpent. 

Ancient religions are rife with stories about a beautiful flying serpent. They are the Chinese dragon, the Central American Quetzelcoatl, the American Indian serpent gods, the feathered serpent, etc. 

The trail of the serpent can be traced through the Scriptures. Lucifer, with his various appearances as the devil and Satan, wages a continual fight against the Kingdom of Heaven. Furthermore, he has several levels of underlings who are deeply committed to his doctrine of rebellion. 

Many of them are now in the deepest kind of spiritual prison, there to await judgment. Others, along with Satan himself, are free to roam the earth, bent upon the dreary task of trying to overthrow the work of God. 

They are, of course, doomed to failure. But there is more of the saga to be played out before their story concludes in a plunge to the dreaded lake of fire. 

Once a Cherub 

Satan, their leader, was once a high - perhaps the highest - of all the angels. He held a holy and vaunted heavenly position: the office of cherub. 

"Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 

"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 

"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" (Ezekiel 28:12-15). 

Presented here as the spiritual power behind the earthly Tyrian dynasty, Satan is sadly recalled from the days before his fall as the summation of God's creation. What a statement! In His infinite strength and perfection, God made Lucifer a perfect being. 

Imagine the result: a wise and handsome creature of such beauty and perfection that our minds falter in the attempt to relate him to anything we now know. He was apparently clad in - perhaps formed of - precious stones. And in some way that is beyond our knowing, he was built with the ability to create beautiful music wherever he went. He was his own orchestra! 

His domain was the very throne room of God, apparently situated upon the mountain of God, the seat of His power. The old dragon walked among the stones of fire. From the context, we gather that they are in the intimate inner circle of God's projected power and authority. 

He was a close colleague and confidante who shared the very thoughts and decrees of God. He was tightly woven into the very personality of the Godhead. God must have created him for companionship, intimate discourse and the joy of exalted service in the holy inner circle of creation. 

Furthermore, this was not slave labor. Lucifer was no mere robot. He had a mind and free will, demonstrated by the fact that he was later able to commit iniquity. He chose to rebel and willingly followed through on the wrong choice. 

Said in another way, he broke a holy contract with God by committing a lawless act, which could not have happened had he been enslaved without the will to commit the sin. He assessed God's power and compared it with his own. 

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:12-14). 

From this famous discourse, it is obvious that Earth was Lucifer's original domain. Since his rebellion is centered around an ascent to heaven, it appears that his original rule was physical. It involved the earth and its environs. The "stars of God" may refer to the holy angels who constituted God's congregation. 

Apparently, he reasoned that he was perfectly capable of running things. Perhaps he even thought that heaven would be a better place with him in control. Blinded by his own ego, he badly miscalculated his effect in the universe. He lost his objectivity in a misguided grab for power. 

Above all, he committed his crime as an anointed cherub. He must have believed he had the right to perpetrate his evil deed. 

The meaning of the word "cherub" - title of a high office - has been blurred over the ages. In particular, during the medieval era and years that followed, cherubs came to be pictured as pudgy little babies with tiny wings. Flitting through the halcyon scenes of renaissance artists, they came to symbolize innocent bliss in the kingdom of God. 

But in antiquity, cherubs were considered beings of utmost power, closely associated with God's authority. Their physical appearance is unknown. Ezekiel saw them, but displayed a distinct inability to adequately describe them. He described their wings and their faces (lion, ox, eagle and man), but used terms such as "likeness" and "form," indicating that he really couldn't come up with definitive language to express what he really saw. 

The cherubim were God's very dwelling place. In many Old Testament Scriptures, as well as here, in II Samuel 6:2, they are mentioned in this way: 

"And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims." 

Here, upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, they stood as a miniature representation of God's heavenly throne. Other than the fact that they are said to have wings, their appearance is unknown. Some have said that they were sphinx-like in appearance, with winged lion's bodies and human faces, but that is pure conjecture. Even Flavius Josephus, writing in the first century, noted that no one knew what they really looked like. If their appearance was ever fully known, it had been forgotten. 

However, one thing is certain. They function as God's watchful guardians and special agents. Given their trusted position, this makes Lucifer's fall especially ironic. The defection of a trusted associate is the highest of crimes. 

In Revelation, they are depicted in much the same way as Ezekiel saw them, with the exception of their multiple faces. Here, they each have but a single face. 

"And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 

"And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 4:7,8). 

These "beasts," or "living creatures" are the cherubim, four in number, of which, it seems, Lucifer must have once been numbered. Both here and in Ezekiel, the number four is specific. Four of them surround God's throne, emblematic of His Kingdom. Full of eyes, they are also called "watchers" and "holy ones." (See Daniel 4:13,23). Theirs is the high calling of surrounding God's throne and doing His special bidding. 

Once, there were five of them. The fifth was called, "… the anointed cherub that covereth." The fifth was neither man, ox, lion or eagle. He was a serpent, created that way from the beginning. In his glory, he commanded the largest following of living creatures ever to walk the earth. They were the dinosaurs. Like their watcher, they were reptilian. Their prodigious presence made the earth to thunder. Once, he and his kingdom were exalted as the highest of all creation. Now, they have sunk to utter ruin and ignominy. 

After the serpent's perfidy in the garden, they were reduced to lowly dust-eating crawlers, whose very appearance has since produced loathing in humans who encounter them. 

Thus, along with himself, he brought an entire class of created beings to shame. In oriental cultures, the mythology of the dragon is always accompanied by the great lament that he lost his power. In the ancient rituals of their religion there are the stories of how he seeks to rebuild it. One day, say his followers, he will rise again. 

Satan and the Angels 

It was not only the physical creation that fell. Satan also took with him a great number of angels from God's spiritual creation. Though he sought to be like God, the devil was never able to create like God. Unable to create a following, he had to take a portion of God's angelic host with him. 

Once, when the disciples told Jesus about their success in casting out demons, He made a cryptic remark to them about Satan's fall: 

"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 

"And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:17,18). 

Lightning, as we know it, is the enormous discharge of accumulated electrical power. In a weather system, the charge may take hours to build into the billion-volt range required to bridge the gap between clouds and ground. Then, when the discharge occurs, it follows an almost random pathway - sometimes finding the unfortunate in its wake. It is, in short, an uncontrolled and catastrophic phenomenon. 

It is interesting that the Lord depicted Satan's fall in this manner. It illustrates the fact that a lordly being, bent upon control, departed heaven in a most uncontrolled fashion. 

How many angels did Satan take with him? The possible number is breathtaking, given a description of the angelic host found in Revelation 5:11: 

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." 

John's sweeping vision reveals an uncountable multitude of angelic beings. Ten thousand times ten thousand equals a hundred million. As if that weren't enough, this figure is multiplied by thousands of thousands, creating a possible total in the hundreds of trillions. Without a doubt, the number is beyond counting. 

And Satan took a third of them with him: 

"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. 

"And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne" (Revelation 12:3-5). 

Here, John gives us a retrospective view of Satan's fall and his subsequent effort to destroy the redemptive plan of God. In ages past, the old reptile's attempted coup d'état established an anti-God system of rule, which came to dominate the entire world. That rule is symbolized in the figures of heads, horns and crowns. 

But his spiritual kingdom also included a retinue of angels … apparently about a third of the heavenly host. Here, they are called "stars," a metaphor often used of the heaven's created beings. A good example of this is seen in Daniel 8:10, where the battling angels are called both "the host," and "stars." 

"And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." 

In Job 38:7, the angels are referred to as the "morning stars." As beings that shine like stars, they are the glory of God's creation. But one third of them - a number in the trillions - either chose to follow Satan, or were coerced into doing so. In either case, they became his slaves, and fell from grace to do his evil work. 

There appears to be a differentiation in their current disposition, as some angels are still free, while others (perhaps those of more willing evil intent) are imprisoned. 

The Mysterious "Sons of God" 

These evil angels were first mentioned in Genesis 6:2, where we see them referred to as "sons of God," from the Hebrew b'nai Elohim: 

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 

"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 

"And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Genesis 6:1-4). 

Many Christian theologians believe that the "sons of God" were fallen angels who violated a heavenly ordinance against mating with human women. Certainly, that appears to be what is described above. From the beginning, the angels of God lived in a specified way. According to Jesus, the angels in heaven do not engage in the practice of marriage. In Matthew 22:30, He said, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." 

But Satan, leader of the fallen masses, had already shown them what could be done when a skillful seducer applied his talents to a gullible woman. It seems likely that they emulated their leader's style. 

Eve had fallen, and so had Adam. The angels who fell were, by their actions, in agreement with their leader. 

The Book of Enoch, VI, 1, 2, contains a text that reveals an ancient view of this event: 

"And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 

"And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children." 

This text predates Christ by many centuries, as does The Book of Jubilees, which says, "And against his angels whom he had sent to the earth he was very angry. He commanded that they be uprooted from all their dominion. And he told us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold, they are bound in the midst of them and they are isolated" (Jubilees 6:6). 

Josephus, writing in his Antiquities of the Jews (I., 3), says, "For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength, for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants." 

Jude, who elsewhere directly quotes the The Book of Enoch, agrees with all these assertions: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). 

Thus, beginning with Satan and extending through a wicked following of the angelic host, humanity was systematically violated. Among the many historical traditions is that these fallen ones spawned a race of raging tyrants. They were the demigods of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and before that, of the Persians and Babylonians. They epitomized self-serving greed and unchecked power. Their very existence becomes the definition of uncleanness. 

The riotous lives of early demigods were brought to an end in the flood of Noah. The Greeks wrote of those days in their Arcadian myths, and remembered the destruction of a super-civilization in the tale of Atlantis. 

But pagan societies missed the true message of the flood story. Namely, that Noah was saved because his family's bloodline had remained uncorrupted. All his life, and especially for the last 120 years of preparation, he remained pure and obedient to God. 

The Evil Returned 

But after the flood, when civilization had somewhat regained its footing, men remembered what the evil angels had once done. Apparently they believed that this contact with the spirit world, illegal as they knew it to be, concealed some benefits for mankind. 

They reasoned that since the angels no longer came down to visit them, their only alternative was to reach up to the angels. So they began to build a tower. The narrative, given in Genesis, chapter 11, is well known: 

"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:3,4). 

Viewed in the context of modern history, their efforts sound ridiculous. We live in an age of skyscrapers, and know very well that merely ascending a few hundred feet will not take one to heaven. We could easily say the same thing about them. 

But these ancients were well acquainted with mountaintops … after all, Noah and his family had descended from there. Doubtless, many of them had even scaled their heights. The experience had shown them that the mere attainment of height would have absolutely no effect upon reaching heaven. 

There tower, therefore, must have been a huge, pagan device for the invocation of dark powers. It must have constituted a way for them to conjure up connections with the powers of the air who were still in Satan's service. Perhaps it was a mystical temple, whose arcane mathematical structure could forge a connection with the spirit world. 

Judging from the Lord's reaction, these men must have known what they were doing: 

"And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 

"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 

"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" (Genesis 11:5-9). 

Here, we find the astonishing recognition from the Lord, Himself, that these men were about to realize success in their goal. Precisely what that goal was, we do not know. But it must have had something to do with the long-held desire of the fallen angels to interact with mankind. 

Now, however, instead of the angels reaching downward toward man, it was man who tried to contact the angels. Doubtless, they remembered the gods of old - the superhuman race of demigods that were later held in adulation by Western philosophy. The tower became the focus of their efforts to re-establish contact with the old ones. Their knowledge must have been handed down from the antediluvean civilization of their ancestors. Perhaps there was an ancient set of incantations or instructions for worship of a particular kind. 

Whatever the case, the Lord's response was to corrupt their master plan by confusing their language. The resulting disorientation caused men to scatter to the four corners of the Earth. Their tower of unified purpose had become a tower of confusion. Babble was memorialized at Babel. 

Rosh HaShanah and Judgment: A Prophecy 

But still, the fallen angels continued to plague the entire planet with their intrusive schemes. Both now and in the distant past, they have formed a dark core of power that has been quite effective in blocking the way of righteousness. They are the "principalities … powers … rulers of the darkness of this world," of which Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12. 

The Sons of God who illicitly joined with human women appear to show up again in the book of Job. According to scholars, Job predates the writings of Moses. Following numerous cultural and historical clues within the text, they have concluded that it might well be the oldest writing in the entire Bible. Most think Job lived during the lifetime of the patriarch Jacob. 

Curiously, we find that the book opens upon a scene in heaven: 

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 

"Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 

"Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. "

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face" (Job 1:6-11). 

This passage affords us an unprecedented view of Satan's work as accuser of the brethren. Curiously, it begins with a "day" upon which the "sons of God" assembled at some sort of formal convocation. Curiously, Satan was there, among them. 

This is the first mention of such angelic creatures since they appeared in Genesis, chapter six. There, they were presented as the very essence of evil. Here, they appear before God with Satan in their midst. Among Christian expositors, it is customary to view the sons of God in the Job narrative as good and obedient angels who never followed Satan. But why must that be true? If Satan can intrude upon this holy place, why not some of his rebellious followers? 

This raises another question. Namely, what is the "day," upon which this peculiar assemblage was convened? Most Christian commentaries remain silent upon this point. But Jewish tradition states that this dialogue took place upon Rosh HaShanah, the Day of Judgment. Jewish thought depicts Satan circulating throughout the earth, evaluating the deeds of mankind. In other words, he is judging them from his warped perspective. 

Upon this day, Satan challenged God, accusing the righteous Job of being only superficially righteous. Acting as adversary, he arranges a challenge, in which Job becomes the subject of a test, to see whether he will blaspheme God when the going gets rough. 

In effect, Job undergoes the supreme judgment; Rosh HaShanah is not just a symbol with him, it is an actual, rigorous judgment. In phase one of this judgment, he loses his family and wealth in a plague of supernatural misfortunes. Doubtless, they were engineered by Satan and his fallen minions … the sons of God. 

However, the righteous Job prevails. In spite of all his losses, he still does not blaspheme God. Again, Satan and the sons of God convene before the Lord and another challenge is issued. 

This time, Satan is allowed to afflict Job's physical body, tormenting him from head to toe with boils. Now, his misery is compounded in an almost unspeakable way. But again, his faith holds true. Even his wife urges him to blaspheme God and die. But he does not. 

In this episode, we are given a close-up view of the adversary's operations. On occasion, he and his evil angels are allowed to act as tormentors, touching the righteous in ways that are designed to test their faith to the ultimate. In the end, Job was judged before the Lord and found righteous. 

The prophetic suggestion is strong that upon a future Rosh HaShanah, the fallen sons of God will be released to judge humanity during the Tribulation period. 

Paul, Tormented by a Satanic Messenger 

In II Corinthians 12:7, the Apostle Paul later confirmed this principle in a most emphatic way. He was given spiritual insight into the matter of an unfortunate disease which, according to tradition, rendered him somewhat repugnant in physical appearance: 

"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." 

Here is an example of Satan using a messenger (angel) to afflict Paul, much in the same way that he had afflicted Job. In this case, the nature of the affliction actually resulted in a favorable outcome for Paul. He was protected from being made a figure of worship. Here again, it seems perfectly logical to conclude that the messenger who did the job was none other than one of the fallen sons of God. We seem to be looking at the same group of beings who were the corrupters of mankind in the ancient days of the Old Testament. 

Days of Noah, Days of Judgment 

In Matthew 24:37 and 38, Jesus makes a statement about conditions as they will appear just before His Second Coming. He hearkens back to the days of Genesis, chapter 6, which we have earlier shown as a time when humankind was being systematically raided and corrupted by fallen angels: 

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 

"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark." 

From Jesus' description here, it sounds as though life was "normal" until the flood. People were going about their everyday activities. But from the Genesis account, we know that genetic corruption, depravity and degenerate behavior had become the norm. Wickedness was rampant. What's more, the tyrannical Nephilim ruled society. 

To the student of the Bible who can put two and two together, Jesus is saying that this situation will once again manifest itself. He said that the wicked conditions of the antediluvian world would set the scene of global judgment during the days of the Tribulation. 

Across the millennia since Abraham and God's covenant with him, the evil sons of God have been somewhat restrained. Their activities have been kept to a minimum. 

Certainly, they have been present as adversaries against God's obedient angels. One has only to look at the tenth chapter of Daniel to see this. 

There, we find the episode of the heavenly angel who answers Daniel's prayer. On his way, he was resisted for twenty-one days by one of the evil sons of God, called, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia." He was so vigorously beset that the archangel Michael had to come to his assistance. Then and now, this earth can only be described as a war zone. 

The prophets saw it that way, and so did the Apostles of the New Testament days. They constantly urged believers to remember that our war is not against physical enemies, but spiritual ones. 

The Wicked Power 

In II Thessalonians 2:7-9, we find that though the activities of the dark powers have been restrained, there will come a day when they are released: 

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 

"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." 

Here, the "mystery of iniquity" is the lawless spirit that has been present ever since Satan first broke the rules of the heavenly kingdom. It has been hard at work in the world ever since. Here, Paul informs us that when the man of sin - the Antichrist - is revealed, it will be with the full array of Satanic powers, no doubt including those same sons of God who desecrated the world in the days of Noah. 

Some of them are free to roam the planet with their leader. Others are imprisoned deep inside the vaults of Hades. As Jude wrote, this latter group is held there, awaiting the wrath of God. Might they be released for a short time before their judgment? 

Revelation 9:1-3 may, in fact, refer to just such an event, for it paints the awful picture of the gateway to hell being opened: 

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 

"And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 

"And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power." 

Many have speculated about nature and origin of these so-called "locusts." In the original language of this text, the way of their ascent - the bottomless pit - is literally called, " the well shaft of the abyss." The term suggests incredible depth … perhaps, even the deepest part of Hades. 

Peter bluntly states that the ancient sons of God who sinned against humanity are bound in that place: 

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (II Peter 2:4). 

Here, the term that is translated "hell" is the Greek "Tartarus," which refers to the deepest pits of gloom. In considering their fate, one thinks of maximum security, or solitary confinement. 

One day, it may be that they will be released for a short time. Their ghastly appearance as locusts with the power to sting is frightening to contemplate. Having been imprisoned since the days of Noah, they would have the pent-up fury of five thousand years in their stings. 

Furthermore, they have a fierce leader. It is extremely likely that he is one of those ancient, dishonored sons of God: 

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon" (Revelation 9:11). 

Here, we encounter a most powerful fallen angel. He is Apollyon, called "the destroying angel." He and his kind must be the very ones who have been imprisoned for thousands of years. Released from their entombment, their only thought will be of vengeance. 

But as we all know, there will be a happy ending. These evil angels will fight one last battle … and lose: 

"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 

"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7-9). 

Today, many observers believe that the forces of Satan are on the verge of being released to do their worst. Evil cults, violence, murder, and open wickedness are increasing. 

The dark forces who still have the freedom to travel around the world must be bubbling with excitement at the very near prospect of being joined by their brethren who have been imprisoned in Tartarus. They must be buzzing with rumors and carefully watching earthly events in an attempt to discern the times. 

Strange sights in the heavens are manifesting themselves with greater and greater frequency. Many Christians are now absolutely certain that unidentified flying objects and their associated phenomena are attributable to the evil angels of Satan. 

Concerning the end times, Jesus told His disciples that His Second Coming would be preceded by many signs. Among these, would be, "fearful sights and great signs … from heaven" (Luke 21:11). There seems little doubt that the activities of the fallen sons of God are one of the greatest prophetic indicators that we have. 

Their history, dating from the early chapters of Genesis, forms a pattern that will cycle once again to prominence, bringing the horrendous events of the days of Noah back to vivid reality. Those who are watching can see that this has already begun to happen. 

We must always remember Jesus' words to His disciples. As recorded in Luke 21:28, He said, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

Myths, legends and modern stories all testify that upon this earth, there were once powerful and evil superhuman beings who took great pleasure in tormenting mankind. They were the old gods of tradition and folklore, Zeus, Apollo and their ilk. Were they merely figments of human imagination, or were they real? Are these the entities the Bible identifies as fallen angels? 

Many Christians do not want to believe that these demigods of old were real. With the development of the early church, pagan deities faded into the forgotten pages of folklore. Yet the Bible refers to "sons of God," "fallen angels," and other demonic creatures who once tried to subvert humanity. They perfectly fit the description of the old demigods. 

Perhaps they were real, and are now either locked up or restrained. Will these fallen angels return? The Bible says that in the tumultuous days of the Tribulation Period, they will return. 

The common belief is that early humanity concocted these ancient myths to satisfy their desire for something to worship. But in the last few centuries, society has matured. There is, therefore, no longer the need for a belief in the existence of ancient gods. They have been allowed to slip back into the recesses of the cultural mind. By implication, such belief systems are weak-minded. Today's secular man confidently believes that he no longer needs these religious crutches. 

This explanation of ancient history speaks not so much of the power of some ancient gods, as it does of the unintelligent state of primitive man. In so doing, it supports the idea that mankind has evolved from the simple to the complex. This is the core concept of modern evolutionary theory. 

In short, it is now believed that these once powerful and evil demigods - the subjects of ancient pagan ritual - were only the figments of an impoverished ancient man's imagination. They were born in the dark nights of his caves and campfires, wherein lurked predatory beasts and nocturnal superstitions. 

The Serpent and His Followers 

But the Bible refutes this idea in at least two major ways. First, it tells us that man was created perfect, both in physique and intelligence. He had a perfect knowledge of God, even to the point of open fellowship with Him. He was devoid of superstition. 

Secondly, the Bible tells us that this perfect world was corrupted from without by a sinister character, whom God allowed to intrude upon the first innocent couple. He and his assemblage were far from imaginary. Together, they projected the power of the serpent. 

Ancient religions are rife with stories about a beautiful flying serpent. They are the Chinese dragon, the Central American Quetzelcoatl, the American Indian serpent gods, the feathered serpent, etc. 

The trail of the serpent can be traced through the Scriptures. Lucifer, with his various appearances as the devil and Satan, wages a continual fight against the Kingdom of Heaven. Furthermore, he has several levels of underlings who are deeply committed to his doctrine of rebellion. 

Many of them are now in the deepest kind of spiritual prison, there to await judgment. Others, along with Satan himself, are free to roam the earth, bent upon the dreary task of trying to overthrow the work of God. 

They are, of course, doomed to failure. But there is more of the saga to be played out before their story concludes in a plunge to the dreaded lake of fire. 

Once a Cherub 

Satan, their leader, was once a high - perhaps the highest - of all the angels. He held a holy and vaunted heavenly position: the office of cherub. 

"Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 

"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 

"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" (Ezekiel 28:12-15). 

Presented here as the spiritual power behind the earthly Tyrian dynasty, Satan is sadly recalled from the days before his fall as the summation of God's creation. What a statement! In His infinite strength and perfection, God made Lucifer a perfect being. 

Imagine the result: a wise and handsome creature of such beauty and perfection that our minds falter in the attempt to relate him to anything we now know. He was apparently clad in - perhaps formed of - precious stones. And in some way that is beyond our knowing, he was built with the ability to create beautiful music wherever he went. He was his own orchestra! 

His domain was the very throne room of God, apparently situated upon the mountain of God, the seat of His power. The old dragon walked among the stones of fire. From the context, we gather that they are in the intimate inner circle of God's projected power and authority. 

He was a close colleague and confidante who shared the very thoughts and decrees of God. He was tightly woven into the very personality of the Godhead. God must have created him for companionship, intimate discourse and the joy of exalted service in the holy inner circle of creation. 

Furthermore, this was not slave labor. Lucifer was no mere robot. He had a mind and free will, demonstrated by the fact that he was later able to commit iniquity. He chose to rebel and willingly followed through on the wrong choice. 

Said in another way, he broke a holy contract with God by committing a lawless act, which could not have happened had he been enslaved without the will to commit the sin. He assessed God's power and compared it with his own. 

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:12-14). 

From this famous discourse, it is obvious that Earth was Lucifer's original domain. Since his rebellion is centered around an ascent to heaven, it appears that his original rule was physical. It involved the earth and its environs. The "stars of God" may refer to the holy angels who constituted God's congregation. 

Apparently, he reasoned that he was perfectly capable of running things. Perhaps he even thought that heaven would be a better place with him in control. Blinded by his own ego, he badly miscalculated his effect in the universe. He lost his objectivity in a misguided grab for power. 

Above all, he committed his crime as an anointed cherub. He must have believed he had the right to perpetrate his evil deed. 

The meaning of the word "cherub" - title of a high office - has been blurred over the ages. In particular, during the medieval era and years that followed, cherubs came to be pictured as pudgy little babies with tiny wings. Flitting through the halcyon scenes of renaissance artists, they came to symbolize innocent bliss in the kingdom of God. 

But in antiquity, cherubs were considered beings of utmost power, closely associated with God's authority. Their physical appearance is unknown. Ezekiel saw them, but displayed a distinct inability to adequately describe them. He described their wings and their faces (lion, ox, eagle and man), but used terms such as "likeness" and "form," indicating that he really couldn't come up with definitive language to express what he really saw. 

The cherubim were God's very dwelling place. In many Old Testament Scriptures, as well as here, in II Samuel 6:2, they are mentioned in this way: 

"And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims." 

Here, upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, they stood as a miniature representation of God's heavenly throne. Other than the fact that they are said to have wings, their appearance is unknown. Some have said that they were sphinx-like in appearance, with winged lion's bodies and human faces, but that is pure conjecture. Even Flavius Josephus, writing in the first century, noted that no one knew what they really looked like. If their appearance was ever fully known, it had been forgotten. 

However, one thing is certain. They function as God's watchful guardians and special agents. Given their trusted position, this makes Lucifer's fall especially ironic. The defection of a trusted associate is the highest of crimes. 

In Revelation, they are depicted in much the same way as Ezekiel saw them, with the exception of their multiple faces. Here, they each have but a single face. 

"And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 

"And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 4:7,8). 

These "beasts," or "living creatures" are the cherubim, four in number, of which, it seems, Lucifer must have once been numbered. Both here and in Ezekiel, the number four is specific. Four of them surround God's throne, emblematic of His Kingdom. Full of eyes, they are also called "watchers" and "holy ones." (See Daniel 4:13,23). Theirs is the high calling of surrounding God's throne and doing His special bidding. 

Once, there were five of them. The fifth was called, "… the anointed cherub that covereth." The fifth was neither man, ox, lion or eagle. He was a serpent, created that way from the beginning. In his glory, he commanded the largest following of living creatures ever to walk the earth. They were the dinosaurs. Like their watcher, they were reptilian. Their prodigious presence made the earth to thunder. Once, he and his kingdom were exalted as the highest of all creation. Now, they have sunk to utter ruin and ignominy. 

After the serpent's perfidy in the garden, they were reduced to lowly dust-eating crawlers, whose very appearance has since produced loathing in humans who encounter them. 

Thus, along with himself, he brought an entire class of created beings to shame. In oriental cultures, the mythology of the dragon is always accompanied by the great lament that he lost his power. In the ancient rituals of their religion there are the stories of how he seeks to rebuild it. One day, say his followers, he will rise again. 

Satan and the Angels 

It was not only the physical creation that fell. Satan also took with him a great number of angels from God's spiritual creation. Though he sought to be like God, the devil was never able to create like God. Unable to create a following, he had to take a portion of God's angelic host with him. 

Once, when the disciples told Jesus about their success in casting out demons, He made a cryptic remark to them about Satan's fall: 

"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 

"And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:17,18). 

Lightning, as we know it, is the enormous discharge of accumulated electrical power. In a weather system, the charge may take hours to build into the billion-volt range required to bridge the gap between clouds and ground. Then, when the discharge occurs, it follows an almost random pathway - sometimes finding the unfortunate in its wake. It is, in short, an uncontrolled and catastrophic phenomenon. 

It is interesting that the Lord depicted Satan's fall in this manner. It illustrates the fact that a lordly being, bent upon control, departed heaven in a most uncontrolled fashion. 

How many angels did Satan take with him? The possible number is breathtaking, given a description of the angelic host found in Revelation 5:11: 

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." 

John's sweeping vision reveals an uncountable multitude of angelic beings. Ten thousand times ten thousand equals a hundred million. As if that weren't enough, this figure is multiplied by thousands of thousands, creating a possible total in the hundreds of trillions. Without a doubt, the number is beyond counting. 

And Satan took a third of them with him: 

"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. 

"And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne" (Revelation 12:3-5). 

Here, John gives us a retrospective view of Satan's fall and his subsequent effort to destroy the redemptive plan of God. In ages past, the old reptile's attempted coup d'état established an anti-God system of rule, which came to dominate the entire world. That rule is symbolized in the figures of heads, horns and crowns. 

But his spiritual kingdom also included a retinue of angels … apparently about a third of the heavenly host. Here, they are called "stars," a metaphor often used of the heaven's created beings. A good example of this is seen in Daniel 8:10, where the battling angels are called both "the host," and "stars." 

"And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." 

In Job 38:7, the angels are referred to as the "morning stars." As beings that shine like stars, they are the glory of God's creation. But one third of them - a number in the trillions - either chose to follow Satan, or were coerced into doing so. In either case, they became his slaves, and fell from grace to do his evil work. 

There appears to be a differentiation in their current disposition, as some angels are still free, while others (perhaps those of more willing evil intent) are imprisoned. 

The Mysterious "Sons of God" 

These evil angels were first mentioned in Genesis 6:2, where we see them referred to as "sons of God," from the Hebrew b'nai Elohim: 

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 

"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 

"And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Genesis 6:1-4). 

Many Christian theologians believe that the "sons of God" were fallen angels who violated a heavenly ordinance against mating with human women. Certainly, that appears to be what is described above. From the beginning, the angels of God lived in a specified way. According to Jesus, the angels in heaven do not engage in the practice of marriage. In Matthew 22:30, He said, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." 

But Satan, leader of the fallen masses, had already shown them what could be done when a skillful seducer applied his talents to a gullible woman. It seems likely that they emulated their leader's style. 

Eve had fallen, and so had Adam. The angels who fell were, by their actions, in agreement with their leader. 

The Book of Enoch, VI, 1, 2, contains a text that reveals an ancient view of this event: 

"And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 

"And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children." 

This text predates Christ by many centuries, as does The Book of Jubilees, which says, "And against his angels whom he had sent to the earth he was very angry. He commanded that they be uprooted from all their dominion. And he told us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold, they are bound in the midst of them and they are isolated" (Jubilees 6:6). 

Josephus, writing in his Antiquities of the Jews (I., 3), says, "For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength, for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants." 

Jude, who elsewhere directly quotes the The Book of Enoch, agrees with all these assertions: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). 

Thus, beginning with Satan and extending through a wicked following of the angelic host, humanity was systematically violated. Among the many historical traditions is that these fallen ones spawned a race of raging tyrants. They were the demigods of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and before that, of the Persians and Babylonians. They epitomized self-serving greed and unchecked power. Their very existence becomes the definition of uncleanness. 

The riotous lives of early demigods were brought to an end in the flood of Noah. The Greeks wrote of those days in their Arcadian myths, and remembered the destruction of a super-civilization in the tale of Atlantis. 

But pagan societies missed the true message of the flood story. Namely, that Noah was saved because his family's bloodline had remained uncorrupted. All his life, and especially for the last 120 years of preparation, he remained pure and obedient to God. 

The Evil Returned 

But after the flood, when civilization had somewhat regained its footing, men remembered what the evil angels had once done. Apparently they believed that this contact with the spirit world, illegal as they knew it to be, concealed some benefits for mankind. 

They reasoned that since the angels no longer came down to visit them, their only alternative was to reach up to the angels. So they began to build a tower. The narrative, given in Genesis, chapter 11, is well known: 

"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:3,4). 

Viewed in the context of modern history, their efforts sound ridiculous. We live in an age of skyscrapers, and know very well that merely ascending a few hundred feet will not take one to heaven. We could easily say the same thing about them. 

But these ancients were well acquainted with mountaintops … after all, Noah and his family had descended from there. Doubtless, many of them had even scaled their heights. The experience had shown them that the mere attainment of height would have absolutely no effect upon reaching heaven. 

There tower, therefore, must have been a huge, pagan device for the invocation of dark powers. It must have constituted a way for them to conjure up connections with the powers of the air who were still in Satan's service. Perhaps it was a mystical temple, whose arcane mathematical structure could forge a connection with the spirit world. 

Judging from the Lord's reaction, these men must have known what they were doing: 

"And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 

"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 

"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" (Genesis 11:5-9). 

Here, we find the astonishing recognition from the Lord, Himself, that these men were about to realize success in their goal. Precisely what that goal was, we do not know. But it must have had something to do with the long-held desire of the fallen angels to interact with mankind. 

Now, however, instead of the angels reaching downward toward man, it was man who tried to contact the angels. Doubtless, they remembered the gods of old - the superhuman race of demigods that were later held in adulation by Western philosophy. The tower became the focus of their efforts to re-establish contact with the old ones. Their knowledge must have been handed down from the antediluvean civilization of their ancestors. Perhaps there was an ancient set of incantations or instructions for worship of a particular kind. 

Whatever the case, the Lord's response was to corrupt their master plan by confusing their language. The resulting disorientation caused men to scatter to the four corners of the Earth. Their tower of unified purpose had become a tower of confusion. Babble was memorialized at Babel. 

Rosh HaShanah and Judgment: A Prophecy 

But still, the fallen angels continued to plague the entire planet with their intrusive schemes. Both now and in the distant past, they have formed a dark core of power that has been quite effective in blocking the way of righteousness. They are the "principalities … powers … rulers of the darkness of this world," of which Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12. 

The Sons of God who illicitly joined with human women appear to show up again in the book of Job. According to scholars, Job predates the writings of Moses. Following numerous cultural and historical clues within the text, they have concluded that it might well be the oldest writing in the entire Bible. Most think Job lived during the lifetime of the patriarch Jacob. 

Curiously, we find that the book opens upon a scene in heaven: 

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 

"Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 

"Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. "

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face" (Job 1:6-11). 

This passage affords us an unprecedented view of Satan's work as accuser of the brethren. Curiously, it begins with a "day" upon which the "sons of God" assembled at some sort of formal convocation. Curiously, Satan was there, among them. 

This is the first mention of such angelic creatures since they appeared in Genesis, chapter six. There, they were presented as the very essence of evil. Here, they appear before God with Satan in their midst. Among Christian expositors, it is customary to view the sons of God in the Job narrative as good and obedient angels who never followed Satan. But why must that be true? If Satan can intrude upon this holy place, why not some of his rebellious followers? 

This raises another question. Namely, what is the "day," upon which this peculiar assemblage was convened? Most Christian commentaries remain silent upon this point. But Jewish tradition states that this dialogue took place upon Rosh HaShanah, the Day of Judgment. Jewish thought depicts Satan circulating throughout the earth, evaluating the deeds of mankind. In other words, he is judging them from his warped perspective. 

Upon this day, Satan challenged God, accusing the righteous Job of being only superficially righteous. Acting as adversary, he arranges a challenge, in which Job becomes the subject of a test, to see whether he will blaspheme God when the going gets rough. 

In effect, Job undergoes the supreme judgment; Rosh HaShanah is not just a symbol with him, it is an actual, rigorous judgment. In phase one of this judgment, he loses his family and wealth in a plague of supernatural misfortunes. Doubtless, they were engineered by Satan and his fallen minions … the sons of God. 

However, the righteous Job prevails. In spite of all his losses, he still does not blaspheme God. Again, Satan and the sons of God convene before the Lord and another challenge is issued. 

This time, Satan is allowed to afflict Job's physical body, tormenting him from head to toe with boils. Now, his misery is compounded in an almost unspeakable way. But again, his faith holds true. Even his wife urges him to blaspheme God and die. But he does not. 

In this episode, we are given a close-up view of the adversary's operations. On occasion, he and his evil angels are allowed to act as tormentors, touching the righteous in ways that are designed to test their faith to the ultimate. In the end, Job was judged before the Lord and found righteous. 

The prophetic suggestion is strong that upon a future Rosh HaShanah, the fallen sons of God will be released to judge humanity during the Tribulation period. 

Paul, Tormented by a Satanic Messenger 

In II Corinthians 12:7, the Apostle Paul later confirmed this principle in a most emphatic way. He was given spiritual insight into the matter of an unfortunate disease which, according to tradition, rendered him somewhat repugnant in physical appearance: 

"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." 

Here is an example of Satan using a messenger (angel) to afflict Paul, much in the same way that he had afflicted Job. In this case, the nature of the affliction actually resulted in a favorable outcome for Paul. He was protected from being made a figure of worship. Here again, it seems perfectly logical to conclude that the messenger who did the job was none other than one of the fallen sons of God. We seem to be looking at the same group of beings who were the corrupters of mankind in the ancient days of the Old Testament. 

Days of Noah, Days of Judgment 

In Matthew 24:37 and 38, Jesus makes a statement about conditions as they will appear just before His Second Coming. He hearkens back to the days of Genesis, chapter 6, which we have earlier shown as a time when humankind was being systematically raided and corrupted by fallen angels: 

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 

"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark." 

From Jesus' description here, it sounds as though life was "normal" until the flood. People were going about their everyday activities. But from the Genesis account, we know that genetic corruption, depravity and degenerate behavior had become the norm. Wickedness was rampant. What's more, the tyrannical Nephilim ruled society. 

To the student of the Bible who can put two and two together, Jesus is saying that this situation will once again manifest itself. He said that the wicked conditions of the antediluvian world would set the scene of global judgment during the days of the Tribulation. 

Across the millennia since Abraham and God's covenant with him, the evil sons of God have been somewhat restrained. Their activities have been kept to a minimum. 

Certainly, they have been present as adversaries against God's obedient angels. One has only to look at the tenth chapter of Daniel to see this. 

There, we find the episode of the heavenly angel who answers Daniel's prayer. On his way, he was resisted for twenty-one days by one of the evil sons of God, called, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia." He was so vigorously beset that the archangel Michael had to come to his assistance. Then and now, this earth can only be described as a war zone. 

The prophets saw it that way, and so did the Apostles of the New Testament days. They constantly urged believers to remember that our war is not against physical enemies, but spiritual ones. 

The Wicked Power 

In II Thessalonians 2:7-9, we find that though the activities of the dark powers have been restrained, there will come a day when they are released: 

"For the mystery of iniquity doth alre