ttruscott
Well-known member
In broad terms yes, that is the essence. To round out the filling of the earth with mankind just a bit more about the post garden period: In the history of the war in heaven, we are told that when the dragon was hurled into the earth, he swept one third of the angels with him to fight against Christ, indicating they are sinners enslaved to sin. Rev 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, hurling them to the earth. That seems like it must sadly be a huge number but let's look at it closer...@ttruscott
Can you check this to make sure I am getting you right?
You are saying:
Do I have this right so far?
- We were all created first as angel-like beings
- Then Jesus preached the gospel to us and the angels
- Everyone either accepted the gospel or rejected it
- Then we started being born
7 Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. 9 And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
"THEN a war broke out in heaven:" seems to indicate that after some angels were hurled to the earth, then Satan was caught in a war. Iow he rejected these first angels as help in his war against Michael. It is also worthy to note that the verb hurled, flung, is said to contain the ideas of animosity and great violence, the same kind of violence that Michael et al used to hurl down the demons! He didn't just politely ask these angels to leave, he violently expelled them from his army and sent them into the earth. Though sinful they obviously did not meet his expectations!!
It seems to me that these must have been sinful angels or he would have had no power over them but they were obviously no good to him in the coming war. Perhaps they refused to fight against GOD or they may have even worked against him from within his ranks!
Who might these be - sinful fallen angels who are useless, perhaps hostile, to Satan? I suggest that they are the sinful elect, those who believed in GOD's proclamation of HIS divinity and the gospel but who rebelled against the call for the judgment out of love for these, their now damned friends. It also does not seem imperative that they were flung by the Satan but maybe he is accused of sweeping them down because he inveigled them, pleaded with them to keep him from hell knowing GOD had promised to never condemn them. "You are safe in your election and know you will never die - side with me and we can both be saved!!!" He enticed them into rebellion but they still would not fight for him against GOD.
IF the total number of sinful angels flung into the earth includes all the sinful elect, then the horror of one third of all angels being damned is vastly mitigated. Within the one third of all angels choosing sin we now [maybe] have even a majority of them to be the sinful elect predestined to be redeemed reborn, sanctified and made heaven ready to be HIS Bride! A wonderful thought!
I also suggest being hurled into the earth involved their being sown, not created, into the earth, both the fallen good seed called the people of the kingdom and the sinful people of the evil one as told in Matt 13:36-39, the explanation of the parable of the weeds which, to be a true explanation, cannot properly contain more metaphor. The reason the judgement has been postponed is in the same parable, Matt 13:25-30 which tells us the reason for the postponement of the pulling up (judgement) of the weeds because they must live together with the sinful good seed until the time of the harvest, ie, the time of the maturity of the good seed in holiness.
Why together? So the indulgence in the evils of the reprobate around them might convince these sinful elect that the weeds do NOT make good partners, neighbours, citizens in any meaning way and so would finally turn against them and their evils until they were sick enough of them to allow their destruction in hell. The stories of Pharaoh's atrocities and the way Satan monstered the most holy old man in the history of the world, Job, just because GOD lauded him, are cases in point. [Aside: I personally think that the burden of exposing Satan's willingness to torture an innocent person for being good and in allegiance with GOD must not have just been dumped on Job as being a bit harsh but before he was born, GOD asked him to take on the work and Job agreed...]
Just one last bit and then we can rest:
WE know that people did not all come into mankind together at once but are sown bit by bit as the explanation indicates. So where are we while we are here yet not yet sown into the world?
I find a hint in Ps 9:17 The wicked will RETURN to Sheol—all the nations who forget God. Is it return or turn into as the kjv interprets it?
To begin we most all accept that Sheol is within the earth and holds sinners like in a prison, I presume.
Going to Sheol is the result of a judgment. The implication is clear. The wicked are punished by being sent to Sheol instead of back to heaven. The word is translated as return 391 times by the biased KJV, just not here in this verse.
TURN BACK; Strong’s H7725 shûb - shoob
A primitive root; to turn back
to return, turn back
• to turn back
• to return, come or go back
• to return unto, go back, come back
English Standard Version
The wicked shall RETURN to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
Berean Study Bible
The wicked will RETURN to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
New American Standard Bible
The wicked will RETURN to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God.
IF the wicked RETURN to Sheol, logic and ordinary use of language indicates that they were there before but left. We have people coming from Sheol as humans and then returning back there after they die. We also have Christ telling us that the good seed, the people of the kingdom are sown into the world by the Son of Man and the people of the evil one are sown into the world by the devil, Matt 13:36-39. And sown cannot mean to be created as the devil does this sowing also and he can't create people!
So I have put my faith that this verse refers to the moving of people from Sheol as supported by, attested to, by Ps 9:17 and maybe elsewhere. Gee, how can that be when orthodoxy has already declared it means something else and cannot be a reference hint to our pce. And we've got the King James Bible to keep us straight (or to hide the fact of PCE?) about the orthodox interpretation, that is: The wicked shall be turned into sheol, even though turned into indicates the opposite of to return, sigh. I'll say again, eisegesis can be fun!
Last edited: