When the whole work of creation was finished, “God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). In particular, both the angels and human beings that He had created were very good; spiritually and morally they were very good; they were wholeheartedly willing to do God’s will, to do His bidding continually.
Yet sin entered into heaven itself. We can be sure of this as a fact; Scripture tells us explicitly that there are fallen angels. In particular, we read about Satan, who is the chief of the devils. It was he who went so far as to undertake the impossible task of tempting the Son of God in our nature to commit sin. This shows Satan’s enmity to God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – an enmity which will continue even when Satan and the other fallen angels are shut up in hell for ever. “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement” (2 Pet 2:4). God shows them no mercy, but for Him to act toward them in this way is no departure whatever from perfect justice. He acts in infinite justice both when He justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus and condemns those who persist in their unbelief.
Let us note, first, some of the applications Matthew Henry makes in considering this verse, in his commentary:
(1.) “No excellency will exempt a sinner from punishment. If the angels, who excel us vastly in strength and knowledge, violate the law of God, the sentence which that law awards will be executed upon them . . . without mercy or mitigation, for God did not spare them.”
(2.) “By how much the more excellent the offender, by so much the more severe the punishment. These angels, who had the advantage [above] men as to the dignity of their nature, are immediately punished.”
(3.) “Sin debases and degrades the persons who commit it. The angels of heaven are cast down from the height of their excellency and divested of all their glory and dignity, upon their disobedience. Whoever sins against God does a manifest hurt to himself.”
(4.) “Those who rebel against the God of heaven shall all be sent down to
hell. There is no place nor state between the height of glory and the depth of misery in which they shall be allowed to rest.”
Let us now note the substance of two points Alexander Nisbet makes in commenting on this verse:
(1.) The judgement of God is brought upon the angels, creatures who excel mankind, to prove it certain that similar punishment will come upon the false teachers who are ready to make light of the Apostle’s threatenings. Nothing can shelter them from the wrath of the God they have provoked.
(2.) We should think it marvellous mercy in God that He does not at once send sinners down to hell when they provoke Him. Much more is it marvellous mercy that He has provided a remedy and offers pardon to them. Every moment that one is spared after committing sin should be thought of as wonderful indulgence on the part of God.
Satan has an eternal enmity to all the followers of Christ – those who “love God, and keep His commandments” (1 Jn 5:2). He no doubt envied the wonderful environment in which the first human beings lived, wishing to bring them down to a state of enmity against God. And that is what he did; he came into the Garden of Eden, used all his evil subtlety to bring Eve into a sinful condition through his temptations, and Adam also – bringing them out of the kingdom of God and turning them into his own willing slaves; yet he does not have the slightest desire for the good of any of his slaves. He has made them rebels against their Creator.
Satan glories in all the sin that is committed in this world and hates all that is done towards reconciling sinners to their Maker – especially by God the Father; and His Son Jesus Christ, whom He gave to suffer for sinners; and the Holy Spirit, who applies the gospel. Satan also hates those who preach the gospel or who in some other way serve God by, say, speaking a word on His behalf in opposition to sin, or in pleading for souls at the throne of grace. On the other hand, all the other fallen angels willingly support their leader Satan in all he does in opposition to the authority of God, seeking to deny Him the glory that is due to Him.
But many angels stood firmly in their original condition; they have never sinned and they never will; the Most High will always preserve them in perfect obedience; they will be ever ready to do His will, whatever He may command them to do. David calls them God’s “angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. . . that do His pleasure” (Ps 103:20,21). To “harken”, or listen, to God is an expression for obedience to Him. In his Commentary on the Psalms, David Dickson draws the following lesson, among others, from these verses: “It is the commendation of angels that they obey all God’s commands readily, and we
should follow their example and aim at their perfection in [God’s] service, that the will of God may be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.
Yet there is a great difference between fallen angels and fallen human beings. Fallen human beings may be reconciled to God in His infinite mercy, but that is impossible for fallen angels. Why not? The only answer we will give is that God is sovereign; He has the right to do what He wills with what is His own property, and both angels and human beings are His because He created them all. His eternal purpose is to show mercy to many human beings, but not to any of the angels who sinned.
The angels stood each one for himself at the beginning: if they sinned, they fell each one for himself; if they continued in their original holiness, they did so individually. It was otherwise with mankind: all the descendants of our first parents were represented by Adam in the covenant of works. Because Adam sinned, all these descendants are accounted guilty from the beginning of life; but if Adam had continued in perfect obedience to God’s commandments for whatever period of time God had appointed as a probation, they would all have been accepted as holy because of Adam’s obedience.
Let us consider then the kindness of God to sinful human beings. He has chosen “a great multitude which no man could number” (Rev 7:9) to be delivered from sin and its guilt and from eternal punishment in hell, and given a right to enjoy all the privileges of the covenant of grace – not only in this world, but for ever in heaven. Clearly those whom God has elected to everlasting life will be no small number. We should not treat God’s election as something that keeps sinners away from everlasting blessedness; it is rather what should encourage us to seek for salvation in Christ. On the basis of Christ’s finished work – what He did in this world to make provision for the salvation of sinners – Christ is calling all sinners who come in contact with the gospel to trust in Him for a full and free salvation. He is saying, in His wonderful mercy: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The call of the gospel is not to be regarded lightly. Let us take it seriously. We considered the warning in 2 Peter 2:4, and there is a further warning two verses on: God “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them . . . making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly”. But we should also take seriously the direction: “Be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Pet 3:14). The unconverted are diligently to seek reconciliation to God through Christ, and believers are diligently to seek further sanctification of heart and life. And when God will see all His people brought at last to glory after being fully acquitted by the great Judge, will He not say, It is very good?