The Triumphant Of Christ at the Cross
First Peter 3:18-22
Peter looks at the cross,
he sees not only a triumphant sin-bearing,
a triumphant sermon is preached to defeated demons,
he sees a triumphant salvation accomplished as when Christ Himself is undergoing all of the fires of judgment and all of the hatred of demons and men, He is an ark of safety for all who believe for all ages,
He sees yet beyond that a triumphant supremacy. Verse 22: "This resurrected Jesus Christ who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."
instant analysis impossible, it requires study.
I believe He went to declare His victory over demons and that the spirits refer to demons. You say, "Why do you...why do you say demons?"
Because these spirits were in what? Prison. They were in prison. Now this could not be a message of salvation to demons. Why? Because demons can't be saved. The demons that fell are forever damned, forever, as it were, locked into their destiny. In Hebrews 2:16 it says, "He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham." He doesn't redeem spirits, He redeems people. So whatever He said to these demons was not a message of salvation, it was a kērussō, it was a heralding of triumph.
You say, "Well why would He go and herald a triumph to a bunch of demons?"
I'll tell you why; because since the beginning when Satan fell he has been at war with the purposes of God. There is cosmic conflict in this universe between God and Satan, witness Job chapter 1. There is conflict between the holy angels and the fallen angels, witness Daniel. And the tremendous conflict between the great, mighty angel of God and the prince of Tyre, a demon. There has always been spiritual warfare on that supernatural level and Satan and the demons have done everything they possibly could to destroy the purposes of God in Christ. Is that not so? From the very beginning when Satan knew that his head would be bruised and that he would be ultimately defeated, he has fought the purposes of God and fought against Christ every way possible. Throughout the Old Testament he tries to destroy the Messianic line. He tries to destroy the people of God. In the New Testament He tries to get Christ in a temptation to capitulate to himself and thus thwart the purpose of God. He tries to destroy Him, to violate the plan of God by having the mobs kill Him. He tries when He's dead to keep Him in the tomb so He can't come forth. You see, the demons of hell and Satan himself have always sought to destroy the work of Christ. And now as He's on the cross and He is bearing all sin and His life is crushed out of Him, and He is physically dead, it would seem that the demons have won, right? And some writer said years ago that hell was in the midst of its carnival when He arrived. They were probably celebrating this great defeat.
And where was this? It says in prison. Where is this place that He went?
By the way, nowhere in Scripture are the souls of men ever said to be imprisoned. But these spirits are imprisoned. Phulakē is the term and it is not, now listen carefully, it is not a condition, it is a location. It refers to an actual location, not some condition of being imprisoned in sin. It is a place.
Definition
guard, watch
a watching, keeping watch
to keep watch
persons keeping watch, a guard, sentinels
of the place where captives are kept, a prison
of the time (of night) during which guard was kept, a watch i.e. a period of time during which part of the guard was on duty, and at the end of which others relieved them. As the earlier Greeks divided the night commonly into three parts, so, previous to the exile, the Israelites also had three watches in a night; subsequently, however, after they became subject to the Romans, they adopted the Roman custom of dividing the night into four watches
You say, "Well now wait a minute. If Jesus went to a place where demons are imprisoned, how come demons are running around all over now?" Different demons, different demons. Not all demons are in the prison. Can I give you a little diagram, a little angelology, short course? Just watch my hand and it will help you. The front...the first line angels, okay? Splits into two kind; holy, elect angels, fallen angels. Of the fallen angels there are two kinds, loose and bound. Of the bound there are two kinds, permanently bound, temporarily bound. What we're talking about here then are the angels fallen bound permanently. Got it? That's your course in angelology.
The loose ones, by the way, and there are a lot of them running around loose, we know that, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against what? Demons. The lot of them running around loose. And you want to know something about the loose ones? Let me give you a characteristic of the loose ones. Luke chapter 8 verse 31, "And they were entreating Him," these loose demons and their name was Legion, you remember they were in the demoniac, and many, many demons had entered this man, they were all over the place in him, legion, "they were entreating Jesus not to command them to depart into the" what? "abussos," the abyss. Please, Jesus, don't send us to the abyss, don't make us prisoners. They didn't want that.
In fact, in Matthew 8:29 they said to Jesus, "What do we have to do with You, Son of God, have You come here to torment us before the time?" Aren't You off schedule? What are You doing here now? Are you going to send us to that place now before the time?
They didn't want to go there. Please, don't send us there. It must be a very dreaded fate, by the way, for the fallen angels to go there because they're unable to move, they're incarcerated. They're captive. They cannot ply their wicked trade around the earth and the universe. They cannot fight the holy angels. They cannot make efforts to thwart the purposes of the God they hate. So they said, "Don't send us to the abussos," and Luke uses the word that basically means the prison of disobedient spirits, so says Kittel in his Greek word study of that term.
Definition
bottomless unbounded the abyss
the pit the immeasurable depth
of Orcus, a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth used as the common receptacle of the dead and especially as the abode of demons
the abyss, unfathomable depth, an especially Jewish conception, the home of the dead and of evil spirits.
ἄβυσσος, in classic Greek an adjective, (ος, (from ὁ βύσσος equivalent to βυθός), bottomless (so perhaps in Wis. 10:19), unbounded (πλοῦτος ἄβυσσος, Aeschylus, the Sept. (931) 950). in the Scriptures ἡ ἄβυσσος (the Sept. for תְּהום) namely, χώρα, the pit, the immeasurable depth, the abyss. Hence, of 'the deep' sea: Genesis 1:2; Genesis 7:11; Deuteronomy 8:7; Sir. 1:3 Sir. 16:18, etc.; of Orcus (a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth: Psalm 70:20 () ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς, Euripides, Phoen. 1632 (1605) ταρτάρου ἄβυσσα χάσματα, Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 20, 5 [ET] ἀβύσσων ἀνεξιχνίαστα κλίματα, ibid. 59,
3 [ET] ὁ ἐπιβλέπων ἐν ταῖς ἀβύσσοις, of God; (Act. Thom.32ὁ τήν ἄβυσσον τοῦ ταρτάρου οἴκων, of the dragon)), both as the common receptacle of the dead, Romans 10:7, and especially as the abode of demons, Luke 8:31; Revelation 9:1; Revelation 9:11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:1, 3.
Now you say, "Wait a minute. OK, some are loose and some are bound. How did they get bound?
What did they do to get permanently bound in this place?" Verse 20 tells you. Well, they once were disobedient. You say, "Wait a minute. Demons are always disobedient. But what in the world does that mean?" Once at some point in the past they overstepped even God's limitations. They went too far.
You say, "Well, when were they disobedient?"
