Sabbath 7/4/29/120
Dear Friends
The question of the judgment of the demons draws a lot of attention and much
anxiety for some reason from the more agitated of the so-called professing Christians.
There are many who for some reason get very upset at the concept that God might extend mercy to some of the sons of God in the Heavenly Host that have sinned or erred in the execution of their duties. Why God should be in such respect of persons in this matter remains a mystery they do not seem to even grasp much less be able to explain.
We have amended the paper Judgment of the Demons (No. 80) as there were a couple of scriptures omitted from the paper that are relevant to the matter and more efficiently complete the matter.
The end of the paper is extended and we will reissue the tape and paper so that the matter can be available to all from this Sabbath.
The section reads as follows:
Christ died to save sinners
It is an axiom of the Bible that the Messiah died to save sinners.
His death once and for all was to save sinners. They were given repentance and brought to judgment.
The Bible states unequivocally that the demons asked Christ for mercy (see above). The NT also states that Christ went to the demons confined to the pit and preached to them after his resurrection.
If the demons could not repent then Christ would not have preached to them as he could not have effected or extended repentance, which is the purpose of preaching.
Also it is wrongly asserted by some that being spirit, demons cannot die.
Objection 1. If demons could sin and could not repent then they would have been consigned to death with no redemption possible. Thus the creation is flawed and God is in respect of person, which He is not as we have seen above.
Objection 2. If spirit cannot die then Christ having pre-existence could not die. But Christ did die and was resurrected from the dead.
Thus, as God is Omnipotent and Omniscient, demons can die in the same way Christ died and that was to be brought down to flesh and the pit and then die and become resurrected to judgment.
After his resurrection Christ went in the Holy Spirit to preach to the spirits in prison, which is the pit. These spirits are those of Genesis 6:2,4 who sinned through fornication with the daughters of men and were confined because of it (see also notes to The Companion Bible to the text below and at Appendix 23).
1 Peter 3:18-22 (New International Version)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to
bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed
long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being
built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21and
this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt
from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's
right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
It follows, as the night the day, that Christ would not have bothered preaching to demons if they could not repent and could not be saved.
These demons are also those mentioned in 2Peter 2:4 and Jude 6.
2Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare sinning angels, but delivered them to chains of darkness, thrust down into Tartarus, having been kept for judgment; (Interlinear Bible)
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the Great Day (NIV).
The NIV is wrong in the translation of 2Peter 2:4 and renders Tartarus as hell, which it is not.
These fallen Host were consigned to the bottomless pit long ago waiting for the appearance and redemption of Christ in judgment.
Now if they had been consigned to everlasting fire they would have already been judged. Thus the Bible in these texts would be flawed and hence uninspired. The word in the text refers to the pit of Tartarus, which is the bottomless pit used to hold the fallen Host.
Christ qualified to redeem men and also the fallen Host and all powers in heaven and earth are subject to him.
The demons are subject to us, and will be judged by us at the Second Resurrection of the Dead when they will assume physical form in the same way that the resurrected humans of the creation will assume human form again at the Second Resurrection. They will all be translated on repentance and correction. The unrepentant will die and be burnt in Gehenna fire, which is the rubbish pit at the place of their judgment and death.
It is by our actions now that they are judged. We set the standard by which they are judged and as we sin so also are they justified. That is why Satan is the accuser of the brethren.
Have we not one God and Father of us all who created us (Mal. 2:10)?
Would He in His infinite goodness and mercy allow one of His children to die at the expense of another?
We perceive that with God there is no respect of persons.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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