Undeserved Love

2 Peter 2:1-22

Sometimes God asks us to do hard things. In truth, everything God asks us to do is hard. In contrast, the world offers easy ways out. Just stay, just fit in, just keep quiet, just give in… God calls us to a complete opposite way of living. He commands us to forgive when the forgiven doesn’t ask. He tells us to love when hate fills our mind. He says resist, stand firm, be patient and kind. Is the struggle worth the fight? Sometimes we can become so overwhelmed with the struggles we face that we might question God’s sovereignty. There are times when life is just too unfair, we wonder if we were wrong about God’s love and mercy. Then we are reminded of just who God is.

The entire letter written by Peter is one big reminder. There is so much Peter has to say that I have to slow myself down to take it all in. We read this second chapter of 2 Peter last week, but it contains more than just a description of false prophets. Peter also mentions angels which rebelled. I have tarred writing this devotion because I needed time to meditate on what this passage means. I read all the commentaries and studied what people much smarter than me had to say. All this I find incredibly interesting, but there is something more personal that kept whispering in the back of my mind. I want to share both with you today.

First of all, we are told: “For God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment.” Elsewhere in scripture, we are given glimpses into the event that Peter refers to. Jude 6 says, “And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by Him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day.” While some have suggested that the angels referred to in these two scriptures are the ones who rebelled and followed Satan (Revelation 12:4, 7). However, there is a problem with this assertion: those former angels, now demons, roam freely upon this earth causing havoc. The remainder of the commentators I read tie these passages back to Genesis 6:1-2. Here, we read: “When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose.”

Now to the whisper that has been toying in the back of my mind. Why should this matter to me so much that God would punish these angels differently than the ones who rebelled against Him? This is how my heart responds: The angels who rebelled with Satan were cast out of Heaven and the Lord’s presence. Those who abused and perverted mankind were trapped in chains until judgment. Isn’t that a beautiful example of fatherly love? To hurt God brings about separation which ultimately only hurts you. To hurt God’s children brings about pain and suffering as well as separation. Why? Could it be because we are that precious to Him? Could the thought of allowing these demons to continue to pervert His creation have been so vile to Him that He added punishment to punishment? I’m not sure why God cast these specific angels into an earthly prison as they await eternal judgment. I can’t quite put the feeling into words, but I know it makes me feel protected. It makes me feel loved and important. God hates sin because it hurts His children. Isn’t that what this entire book tells us? What a great love we have and yet do not deserve.

(Written by Keegan Harkins.)