To get a sense of what was going on there, let’s read Genesis 6:1-8, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

How heartbreaking this was to the Lord. His grandest creation had turned against Him. They were living according to the lusts of their hearts. The Lord declared that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY.” Jeremiah would write later in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Let us all be aware of this one thing: THE HEART OF MAN IS JUST AS EVIL, DECEITFUL, AND WICKED today as it was then.

In this portion, we have the unique situation where ‘fallen angels’ had taken on men’s bodies, took wives from the women they chose, and birthed “GIANTS IN THE EARTH.” Notice that these angels took wives “of all which they chose.” When someone rebels against the Lord and is determined to live as they please, they make themselves wide open for the influence and use of Satan and his demons. These fallen angels chose whomever they desired and it seems there was no resistance to them.

So, what happened to the spirits of these giants when the Lord destroyed the earth with the great flood? The Lord led the Apostle Peter to write of that very incident. We read in 2 Peter 2:4-5, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into CHAINS OF DARKNESS, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

In the New Testament, the most common Greek word translated ‘hell’ is “gheh’-en-nah” which is used to describe a place of eternal punishment. However, the Greek word for hell in 2 Peter 2:4 is “tartaroo” which means ‘a great abyss’. This is the ONLY time this Greek word is used in all of scripture. Jude also writes about this incident in Jude 1:6 which tells us, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” In this ‘great abyss’ we can see that these ‘angels which kept not their ‘first estate’ are now “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

We read of a day of judgment in Revelation 20:1-3 where we read, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” This angel, under the authority and strength of the Lord, binds Satan and casts him into this bottomless pit, or abyss for one thousand years. Later, we read of Satan’s eternal punishment in Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” We can only conclude that these fallen angels will follow Satan into this “lake of fire and brimstone” where they will be “tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (281.10)