Jude 1:6-7 “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; (7) as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
The apostle Jude gives us further insight into this particular incident in the above quoted passage of scripture, for he elaborates on the fact that these angels committed abominable acts of sexual immorality by going after “strange flesh”. These angels were part of Satan’s kingdom but they even rebelled against Satan’s authority in committing this act, for had Satan sanctioned their action, God would have held him to account when God judged these angels. Satan knows his limits and will not step out of bounds, for even though he knows the judgement that he is facing he does not want to incur that judgement before the time. And so when these rebel angels committed their sinful act, God judged them by casting them into the bottomless pit where they are currently being held awaiting their final judgement. At the same time, their offspring were also cast into the bottomless pit, for God will not allow any hybrid species of part angel and part man to roam free in His creation. Two of those offspring are the Antichrist and the false prophet, whom God will release from the bottomless pit in the end time to fulfil His purpose.
Revelation 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
This explains why the above passage of scripture refers to the Antichrist in the following manner, as one who “was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit”, for the Antichrist was on the earth before the time of Noah and God judged him by locking him up in the bottomless pit, from where God will allow him to be released in the last days. It is also because the Antichrist and false prophet are part celestial and part terrestrial beings that they cannot die, for angels cannot be killed because they are immortal beings. The fact that he is immortal explains why the Antichrist will be able to recover from the mortal wound inflicted upon him in the assassination attempt, and it also explains why the Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire when they are judged (Revelation 19:20). And so because the Antichrist is the joint offspring of both angels and men, he will have extraordinary powers that he will demonstrate on the earth.
Michael E.B. Maher
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