Secrets of Watcher Angels: Fallen Beings from the Antediluvian Age

What began in the Garden of Eden did not stop there.

The accounts of this supernatural dynamic are strung throughout the narrative of Scripture. Angelic forces are warring against each other in the unseen realm, and the ruling powers of darkness have shown their cards. They want to keep you out of your land of promise. They want to possess your land and run you off from the face of the earth. It started in the garden, and only ten generations from Adam, we see the supernatural enemies of God’s plan at work again, crafting a plan to thwart God’s cosmic purpose with humanity. This is the secret of the watchers.

The Antediluvian Age

Between the fall of man in the garden and the flood of Noah on the earth, the period of time between those two events is known as the antediluvian period. The antediluvian age was a time of supernatural extremes. Imagine the sexual revolution of the 1960s on steroids, only this was not isolated to a farm in upstate New York; this was the whole of humanity. The earth was still so young; humanity was fallen yet still so innocent. Because of the innocence, it was a time where the separating veil between the seen and unseen realms was nearly non-existent. Spiritual realities coexisted alongside the natural world in such a heightened way that angels and humans were mixing with one another.

Much mystery remains around the stories of that period, but there are some things mentioned in Genesis that give us clues to piece together a picture of what may have happened. The days leading up to the great flood were a time of unprecedented supernatural activity, unlocking an information age that nearly ruined humankind forever, but God had a plan.

Angelic beings known as the elohim, members of the invisible race, had made themselves visible to humanity, teaching them the art of deceit, war making, witchcraft, and death. The letter of Jude comments on these beings, stating, “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 1:6). The angelic forces left the heavenly realm and paid a visit to humanity.

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose (Genesis 6:1–2).

The term “sons of God” is used to describe the members of God’s divine council. The Hebrew word found in Genesis 6:1–2 being translated sons of God is bēn (the sons) ‘ĕlōhîm (of God). Scholars believe that the ruling class of angelic beings who governed together with God in the unseen realm were members of a divine council. This divine council consisted of the sons of God, but as the story unfolds around the members of the divine council, we begin to see a narrative of rebellion among the sons of God detailed in Psalm 82:1 and 6:

1 God [‘ĕlōhîm] stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods [‘ĕlōhîm].

6 I said, “You are gods [‘ĕlōhîm], and all of you are children of the Most High [bēn ʿelyôn].

The easiest way to understand this is to recognize that angels are not human as you and I are members of the human race. Angels are members of the unseen realm, created by God to rule with Him in His divine council. Elohim is not a word restricted to God alone, but it is an identifying term used to describe nonphysical beings. If you can recall the story of the witch of Endor, there is an interesting detail found in her dialogue with King Saul. Saul was looking for a medium who could conduct a séance for him to bring up someone from the dead (see 1 Samuel 28:7–8). Speaking to the dead is a forbidden ritual according to the law:

When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you (Deuteronomy 18:9–12).

Saul was king and thought he was above God’s law. The hypocrisy of the story is the witch confronted Saul, who had disguised himself, and she said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” (1 Samuel 28:9).

Saul swore to her, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing” (v. 10).

Who was Saul seeking from the realm of the dead?

Saul spoke to the witch, “Bring up Samuel for me” (v. 11).

Samuel had been deceased for some time, but Saul was desperate for a prophetic fix. God was not speaking to him any longer “by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets” (v. 6). Saul was attempting to conjure up his trusted prophet, Samuel, from the afterlife.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit [‘ĕlōhîm] ascending out of the earth” (1 Samuel 28:12–13).

The ‘ĕlōhîm mentioned here was the spirit of Samuel the prophet. Saul ultimately met his doom as we find saul’s prophecy from the dead prophet detailed that Saul would be joining him the following day in the afterlife (v. 19)

The Sin of the Watchers

The term watchers has come to be recognized as an identification given to the sons of God. The bēn ‘ĕlōhîm are regarded by many scholars as the watchers spoken about in Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about the decree of the watchers concerning the next seven years.

And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, “Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him”; this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses (Daniel 4:23–25).

It is essential to the discussion that we understand the ‘ĕlōhîm are a central focus of a supernatural worldview. God’s dealings with the watchers and their progeny are riddled throughout the narrative of the Scriptures. While modern preachers place the emphasis of sin upon Adam and Eve, it was the watchers (‘ĕlōhîm) who furthered man’s sin intelligence by teaching mankind all sorts of demonic behavior, instructing them in what Scripture calls “the depths of Satan” (Revelation 2:24).

The list can go on and on, but I think you get the point—these are some nasty characters. As we look into the sin of watchers, something else stands out that is the central focus of the Genesis 6 narration of the watchers.

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose (Genesis 6:1–2).

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (Genesis 6:4).

Members of the ‘ĕlōhîm (sons of God) went into the daughters of men and took them as wives. Their union was unnatural, and something demonic came forth from their union, the giants, which I will explore more in in my book, Secrets of the Angels.