And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Jude 6

God’s angels were created to reside in heaven. It’s their home and base of operations. There, they work the business of God’s government. From there, they are sent on missions to our world that are orchestrated by God’s will.

But then there were those angels who rebelled against God, deciding to revolt with the angel who has become God’s arch-enemy. As such, they, along with their leader, could no longer stay, and didn’t want to stay, in what was their natural habitat.

Having lost their battle with the Lord, they have been confined to this world. It is here that they are in bondage; not in literal chains – after all, they are spiritual beings – but in chains of circumstances.

Compared to the bright glory of God’s presence in heaven – brighter than the sun – the contrast that this world presents is awful dark to them. To their eyes, they now serve out their time in darkness as they await their fate in the physically and spiritually extinguishing lake of fire.

In the meantime, restricted (figuratively chained) to this world, they, these criminal malcontents, prey on us.  Knowing that humans are to eventually be exalted, they and their leader are determined to influence as many of us to also rebel against God. In this way, they get to take us to destruction with them as their last parting shot against their Creator.