No. Well not in the way most people think. There are two verses in the Bible that refer to the Devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41
41 Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
and Revelation 12:9.
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
First, it is important to note that nowhere in these verses or anywhere in the Bible are angels or Satan’s angels connected to demons. There is no verse that says that demons are corrupted or converted angels. So, who are Satan’s angels?
It is possible that in these two verses the word angel is simply used to describe demons because demons are Satan’s equivalent to Michael’s angels. As Michael Heiser states in his book Demons, “in the Old Testament ‘angel’ is a functional, not an ontological, term…This circumstance changes in the Second Temple period and the New Testament, where ‘angel’ is a term used predominantly to distinguish loyal supernatural beings from evil, rebellious ones”. Thus these “angels” are loyal to Satan and could be described as “fallen angels”, but that does not make them the same type of supernatural being as a heavenly angel.
Another possible meaning of Satan’s angels is that these beings are in fact real angels formerly loyal to God that now serve Satan, but that they are still separate beings from demons. We know that angels can become corrupted as seen Genesis 6:4,
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Jude 6,
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day
2 Peter 2:4,
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment
and other verses. So it is possible that there are corrupt angels in service to Satan. However, it is never stated that these angels became demons. Furthermore, it is possible but unlikely that Satan’s angels are the angels from Genesis 6, since that is the only part of the Bible that actually documents the corruption of angels. Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 are likely referring to the Genesis 6 angels as well.
The idea that angels in the proper sense, messengers of God, that were loyal to God became corrupted and transformed into demons loyal to Satan is a tradition born out of Revelation 12. The verse in question is Revelation 12:4 which states in the ESV,
4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
It is from this singular verse that many Christians are given the idea that a third of the Heavenly Angels rebelled with Satan and became his demons. However, there are a few things to note about Revelation 12.
First, we must establish when demons began to exist or at least when they were first documented. Obviously, demons are prevalent in the New Testament, so we know they existed during the life and ministry of Jesus. Going back further, demons are often mentioned in Second Temple literature such as 1 Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. This literature was written prior to the New Testament, so we know that demons or at least the concept of demons existed prior to the birth and life of Christ. The Old Testament is less clear on the presence of demons, but there are some verses that are noteworthy. Isaiah 34:14 has references to certain demonic forces,
14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird settles
and finds for herself a resting place.
In this verse, “night bird” in Hebrew is “lî·lîṯ” or transliterated “Lilith”. In Mesopotamian literature, Lilith is a night demon with a long history that is not relevant here. The important thing to pull from this verse is the fact that the concept of demons was present in the Old Testament. Additionally, Isaiah 14:9 speaks of the shades of Sheol,
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations
These shades or “rep̄ā·ʾîm” in Hebrew seem to be some kind of underworld being or demon. To be fair, Old Testament demon references are unclear and require connection to other Ancient Near East texts, but the references in the Second Temple period are clear and that is what is important for this study.
Now back to Revelation 12, Christ is clearly in view as this chapter. Revelation 12:5,
5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne
points to Psalm 2:9,
9 “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
which is a messianic psalm. Thus the events of Revelation 12 are taking place either at the birth of Christ or sometime later in His life. Since we have references to demons in both the Old Testament and in Second Temple Literature we know that these beings existed prior to the events of Revelation 12 meaning Revelation 12 can not be the origin story of these evil beings.
So, what is meant by Revelation 12:4 if not that these angels fell into corruption? I think a more likely interpretation is that these were angels that fell in the battle between the angels and Satan and his forces. This verse is very reminiscent of Daniel 8:10,
10 “It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them.”
I think it is clear in Daniel that these angels fell due to being defeated in spiritual warfare. However, even if these angels did fall into corruption then we still have no reason to believe they became demons. As seen earlier Satan could have demons and angels in service to him, but we have no reason to believe they are the same beings.
I believe that these evil beings have an origin in Genesis 6 that we will look at in the next post.
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