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Our apostle having asserted in the foregoing verse, that the judgment of the wicked in general lingereth not, and that the damnation of seducers in particular slumbereth not; he comes here in these verses to make his assertion good by a three-fold instance, namely, the angels, the old world, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah; from whence he would have them conclude, that, if God spared not these, he would not long spare false prophets and their followers.
Observe, 1. The example of God's severity on the fallen angels; they sinned, and kept not their first state, they fell from that state of holiness in which they were originally created; and their punishment followed, they were cast down to hell, and delivered into chains of darkness, reserved unto judgment.
But are they not judged and punished already?
Yes, no doubt, but the full wrath of God will not be poured out upon them until the day of judgment; if they are now as full of sin as they can be, it is certain they are not so full of misery and torment as they shall be.
Learn hence, 1. That the angels, though created in an holy, yet are they not in an immutable state.
2. The freedom of their own wills was the cause of their sin, and their sin the cause of their misery.
3. That for sin they were cast down to hell, where their misery is much, but they expect more.
Observe, 2. The example of the old world, upon whose sinning God brought a flood, drowning them all, except eight persons.
Where note, That the greatest multitudes and number of sinners does not hinder God's justice from executing judgment upon them for their sins; a whole world sinning are as easily destroyed by God as a single sinner.
Observe, 3. He instances in the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were consumed by fire from heaven, and rendered by the Almighty a dreadful spectacle to all that should live ungoldily. Sin lays the foundation of ruin in the most flourishing cities and kingdoms; the strongest walls cannot keep judgments out, when sin enters in; Sodom's plenty and power could not secure her inhabitants, when sin had once exposed them to the wrath of God.
Note also, The intention, end, and design of God, in punishing some sinners; it is to make them examples unto others.