Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20010527.htm

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (ORGANIZED BIBLE KNOWLEDGE)
Part III: Angelology (Study Of Created Spirits)
B. Ungodly Angels
  1. Introduction
    1. The believer knows he should not seek fellowship with Satan's fallen angels, the demons.
    2. However, the Christian fights in a war of spirits according to Ephesians 6:12, so he is obliged to know about his spiritual adversaries so he can have God's spiritual victory in his life.
  2. Ungodly Angels (I am greatly indebted to J. Dwight Pentecost's Your Adversary, The Devil and Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology, vol. II (Angelology - Anthropology) for this material):
    1. The ungodly angels were created sinless by God, but fell into sin and rebellion against God.
      1. All evil spirit beings were once without sin, including Satan, Ez. 28:15 with Rev. 12:3-4a.
      2. Satan, the loftiest angel of God's created spirits in heaven, sinned in a fivefold manner: (a) he tried to usurp God's throne (Isa. 14:13a); (b) he tried to rule over God's other angels (Isa. 14:13b); (c) he tried to administrate God's universe (Isa. 14:13c); (d) he tried to make God's glory his own (Isa. 14:14a) and (e) he tried to imitate God in every way to be divine himself (Isa. 14:14b).
      3. As a result, Satan was cast out of his position in heaven, taking 1/3 of God's angels with him in his rebellion, Rev. 12:3-4a. These fallen angels are demons, Jude 6. Satan moved to the earth to dominate man who is made in God's image by tempting man to fall into sin (Gen. 1:27; 3:1-6); he succeeded, usurping man's role as God's vicegerent on the earth to become this world's false god, Gen. 1:28-29 with 3:1-6 and 2 Cor. 4:4. [Unlike some teachers, in view of Mk. 12:25, I see Gen. 6:1-4 not referring to demons who wed women, but Seth's sons intermarrying with Cain's daughters who bear evil rulers.]
      4. Satan's current goal is to block God's plan to save man from sin. He thus seeks to destroy man physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and the institutions into which man has been placed (marriage, family, government, church). He tries to obtain God's discipline on man by accusing him to God constantly (Jn. 8:44; Gen. 3:1-6; Isa. 14:12-15; Mk. 5:1-7; Job 1:12-19; 1 Cor. 7:5; Rev. 12:10b).
    2. God has an extensive plan for the defeat of the ungodly angelic influences on man.
      1. God's general plan is to reverse Satan's usurped rule of man in rescuing him by Christ's salvation and setting man up over earth through Christ's rule akin to what God first planned for man, Rev. 12:1-2, 5.
      2. Though cast out of office, Satan has access to heaven to accuse believers in an effort to block their having spiritual victory until the middle of the Tribulation, Zech. 3:1-4; Job. 1:12-19, 6; Rev. 12:6-10.
      3. He will then be forced from heaven; thus, he will try downing God by eradicating Jews, key subjects of Christ's rule, and so ruin God by obstructing His keeping Abraham's Covenant, Rev. 12:7f; Dan. 12:1.
      4. Israel will flee to a wilderness place to hide for the last 3 years of the Tribulation, Rev. 12:6, 14-17.
      5. At Christ's Second Coming to earth, Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for the 1,000 reign of Christ, Rev. 20:1-3. He is later released to deceive the unsaved children of the Great Tribulation's believing survivors; they rebel at the final battle on earth, Revelation 20:7-9.
      6. Satan and his demons are finally forever cast into the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20:9-10.
    3. In the process, God wants believers to gain experiential victory over Satan before his forces are removed:
      1. God wants men to trust in Christ as Savior to be moved from Satan's to Christ's reigns, Col. 1:12-13.
      2. As believers, God wants us to confess our sins to survive Satan's accusations and hence God's discipline (1 Jn. 1:9; Rev. 12:10b) and depend on the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16-23) for the power and discernment to use Scripture as our guide for all of life's directions and actions, 2 Timothy 3:13-4:2.
      3. In so doing, Satan's accusations become useless, God blesses us as we do His will in countering Satan's efforts, and thus in Christ we experientially overcome Satan, cf. 1 John 3:8-9; 4:4; 5:18.
Lesson: There is a WAR in the spiritual realm, and God wants us BELIEVERS to SUCCEED in it. We succeed by HIDING in the spiritual provisions Scripture reveals and HEEDING God's Word!

Application: Like relating to the good angels, our INTENT should never be to try interacting with evil spirits on our OWN power or initiative -- that can lead to our harm, Acts 19:13-17. OUR part is to FIT INTO what SCRIPTURE reveals is our ROLE, and GOD gives us victory, cf. Jude 9 with Rev. 12:7-9!