God’s Word for You

Genesis 3:1 Part 1, The fall of the evil angels

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, September 4, 2026

3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

We will need to examine a few things with this passage, for a great many things are revealed here. (1) The fall of the evil angels, (2) Satan and the possession of this serpent. (3) The time of the fall of the angels and the fall of man, and (4) The form of this temptation, attacking the word of God.

1. The fall of the evil angels.

We begin with what lies behind the opening phrase, just a single word in Hebrew, “Now the serpent….” For this is not just a snake, but an animal that was taken over by Satan, the devil. But before we consider this possession, we want to know where the devil came from.

Each and every angel was created at the same time, during one of the six days of creation. Since angels do not multiply or die (Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35), we know that their numbers were all complete by the time God rested from his work on the seventh day.

Some time after that, after God declared that everything he had made was very good (Genesis 1:31), some of the angels turned to evil, led by one chief angel. Luther thought this could even have been later on the seventh day, the Sabbath day.

The devil and the demons (that is, the other fallen angels) are spirits, fallen into sin and wickedness. Professor Koehler rightly says that “Evil angels are not a personification of the wickedness in the world or in man, but they are personal spiritual beings, as may be seen from the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:3; Mark 5:9).”

They sinned voluntarily. They “did not hold to the truth” (John 8:44). They “did not keep their positions of authority, but abandoned their own home” (Jude 1:6), and they were the beginning of sin (1 John 3:8). We are not told what their first sin was, although pride has been considered, perhaps on account of Solomon’s proverb, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). When they sinned, God did not spare them. He set apart a prison for them outside the creation. That prison is hell, and it was designed to contain and punish the wicked angels forever, until judgment day and forever after (2 Peter 2:4). But they are spirits, and they can still move about in the universe, but only with God’s permission, as we see when Jesus allowed a band of them to enter into the pigs in the Gerasenes, for “he gave them permission” (Mark 5:13).

The evil angels and the devil cannot be redeemed or received back into grace. We know that this is the terrible truth: “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). Or as Shakespeare put it, they fell, “never to hope again” (Henry VIII, 3:2). As to why they cannot be redeemed, the Bible does not directly say. Augustine wondered about this. He said, “It pleased God that the group that had fallen should stay in eternal perdition, but that the group that remained with God, though the other defected, should always firmly know and rejoice in their blessedness.” Anselm (d. 1109) also pondered this, saying, “All of the angels are of the same nature, but they are not all from one angel in the same way as all humans are from one man.”

We can say these things about them:

• There are many of them (“My name is legion, for we are many” Mark 5:9).
• They are powerful. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
• They know God, and they know their judgment. They cry out in terror: “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” (Matthew 8:29). And again, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19).
• The devil and his demons are cunning. They quote Scripture but only to deceive or confuse. “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6).
• They are liars. “When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44b).
• They are murderers. “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44a). And a father said, “From childhood the demon has often thrown my son into fire or water to kill him” (Mark 9:21-22).
• They are utterly depraved, perverted, unclean and wicked (Matthew 10:1).

God permits them to roam the world until judgment day. Why does he do this? Although they do nothing but wickedness, they cannot go beyond what God permits (Job 1:12, 2:6). They must serve the purposes of God, especially to chasten Christians, and they also punish the wicked (Psalm 78:49).

This group of spirit-beings had once been glorious, but they overreached their place of authority, rebelling against God. Hell was created for them. They attack us even to this day. Therefore the Christian should pray for God’s help against the attacks of Satan and the wicked demons. We are not helpless against their attacks, but we are weak, and we often stumble and fall. Remember the compassion Jesus had when his dearest friends could not stay awake to pray with him: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). David prays: “Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless” (Psalm 60:11). And we remember Luther’s words from his daily prayers: “Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me” (Small Catechism VII, Morning and Evening Prayers, §2 and 5).

We ask God to help us, and God does help us. He sends his good angels to watch over us (Hebrews 1:14). The very name of Jesus sends the fallen angels cowering, for “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). The disciples exclaimed, “We drove out demons in your name!” (Luke 10:17). And we can be assured that “nothing is so effective against the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh, and all evil thought, as to occupy oneself with the Word of God. Talk about it, and meditate on it!” (Luther, Large Catechism).

It was formerly believed by the Medieval church that “holy water” (water blessed and used in baptism) would drive away the devil and heal troubled souls. But the word of God is the true holy water, the cure for the lies of the devil and the thing that frightens him, for it is the word from the mouth of God himself. It is the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus, that gives forgiveness to tempted and sinful human beings. It is the Gospel of Jesus that saves us.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive