After my Sunday school class, I was talking to Tom. I reminded him that there was no salvation for Lucifer and the angels who fell with him. Someone in the upcoming class overheard us and asked me if I could point to a verse saying that.
No one ever asked me that before. Great question.
At the time, I said I thought it was an inference from various verses. But I didn’t mention any.
I’ve given it more thought and have come up with some Scriptural support.
Matthew 25:41. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (emphasis added). No exceptions are given. The Lord did not say that the everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and most/some of his angels. He did not say that it was prepared for the devil and those of his angels who did not believe in Jesus for everlasting life.
Note that the everlasting fire–the lake of fire (Rev 20:15)–was not prepared for unbelieving humans. It was prepared for Lucifer and the angels who participated in his rebellion. Unbelieving humans will join them there. But it was not designed for humans.
Revelation 12:4. “His tail [the dragon’s tail = Lucifer, see v 9] drew a third of the stars of heaven [= a third of the angels, see v 9] and threw them to the earth.” When Lucifer rebelled against God, one-third of all the angels joined him. They were all thrown to the earth. That is, they were cast out of God’s presence (though Job 1-2 shows that at least Lucifer was occasionally permitted to approach God after his fall). Compare Isa 14:12-15.
Revelation 12:9. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
There is no hint anywhere in Scripture that the angels who were cast out with Lucifer could be saved.
Matthew 8:29. “And suddenly they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?’” (emphasis added). The demons know that after the Millennium, they will be tormented forever. They do not ask for a way out of it. They know there is no way out for them.
Jude 6. “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.” Some of the fallen angels are already being tormented. The demons of Matt 8:29 knew this and feared they would be joining the fallen angels in the abyss. The time of Matt 8:29 is the judgment of the great day in Jude 6.
John 1:29. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The word world (kosmos) refers to all humans of all time. It does not refer to fallen angels. Christ died for the descendants of Adam and Eve only (Gen 3:15). He did not die for angels.
John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The word whoever refers to any member of the world. God gave His Son for the world of mankind, not for fallen angels.
How could fallen angels be saved if Christ did not die for them? The answer is that they could not.
The more remarkable question is why God provided a way for humans to be saved after they fell when He did not do the same for fallen angels.
I suspect that angels received no opportunity for salvation because they had such exalted positions. They were in the very presence of God. And they are likely much more intelligent than any human who has ever lived. The fact that two-thirds did not sin shows that what the rebels did was unreasonable.
God provided a way of salvation for humans because His plan was for the Lord Jesus Christ to live on earth with mankind forever (Gen 3:8; Revelation 21-22). He did not allow that plan to be thwarted. The fact that a third of the angels fell did not thwart God’s plan for angels or humans.
