Rick, the spirits in prison were the lost ones in Noah's day. But they rejected the "salvation" message.

If you mean the rest of the world...

Just as in the days of Christ, the church first needed to be cleansed in truth so the Spirit could come and the message could be proclaimed unadulterated, so shall it be for the last days.

We are in the time of the shaking, cleansing, purification, sanctification of the Adventist church, and everything that can be shaken out WILL be shaken out of the church.

For 10 days after the ascension of Christ to heaven the disciples waited for the promise in the upper room, and they searched scriptures and talked daily about the wonders of Christ, and on the 50th day since His death, when they had all come into one accord in present truth, they realized that they were missing one of the apostles because the number of the 12 tribes, so they cast lots to find out who should be the next apostle and as soon as the number was complete (like the 144,000) then the Holy Spirit was poured out in perfect truth and they began to proclaim the message with a loud cry.

Just as the disciples received the Early Rain and were the instruments for God to proclaim the truth loudly and in power leading thousands to repent and be baptized in one day, so shall it be when the 144,000 are prepared to receive the Latter Rain. The whole world will hear their cry empowered by God.

The amazing thing about the 120 in the Upper Room's discovery is that it was foreordained by prophetic utterance from the mouth of God that these disciples would be on Mt Zion at the exact moment that Jesus was being ordained as High Priest in heaven. The prophecy is very veiled but here it is, in one of the shortest psalms, 133.

Psalms 133:1

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

This prophecy was fulfilled at the exact time of the anointing of the High Priestly ministry of Jesus in heaven and the oil flowed down His beard and landed on the heads of those waiting for the promise on Mt Zion in the Upper Room.

Are you all coming to the upper room? There is lots of space.

When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and after He went to be tempted and came out victorious He went into the synagogue and quoted Isaiah saying...

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke 4:18

The Holy Spirit was given EXPRESSLY because he was sent to set the captives free from the prison house of death that is ever before us.

"Thus the Saviour ended His instruction. In the name of Christ the chosen twelve went out, as He had gone, “to preach the gospel to the poor, ... to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18, 19. {DA 358.1}



Jesus had to teach the people while they are still alive because the dead know not anything, He did this by sending Methuselah and Noah to warn the world before the flood and this is the whole point of the text in context with the next verse.



You both believe Jesus went into Tartarus to teach the gospel to fallen angels? So you are saying that Jesus went to the fallen angels to teach them the gospel? When the angels fell from heaven that was it, there was no coming back so why would Jesus try to teach them anything?

Show me this in the Spirit of Prophecy.

Both you and Rick have made statements completely at odds with our faith.

GC,

I went over my study with my 'wise counsel of theologians' from church, and they felt the reading did not lend itself to 'lost souls' but felt that 'fallen angels' also has some issues that need to be studied. I see that the commentary has 'and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;', and I think you can quess my next question. Were the fallen angels 'bound'?

Rick

You both believe Jesus went into Tartarus to teach the gospel to fallen angels? So you are saying that Jesus went to the fallen angels to teach them the gospel? When the angels fell from heaven that was it, there was no coming back so why would Jesus try to teach them anything?

A comment about your above underlined statement. The definition of kerusso is “to herald” or “to proclaim”. It is different than preaching. A proclamation can be done in a form of preaching, but we shouldn’t assume that preaching is always done in a proclamation.

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached[Kerusso, to herald] unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

His resurrection or as worded above “quickened by the spirit” was a proclamation that went into all the earth especially to those “spirits in prison” or “the angels that sinned , but cast them down to hell[tartarus]”. I agree with Rick, these are fallen angels as it is plainly stated.

The fallen angels are not dead and are able to hear this proclamation and that is one reason the emphasis is made here whereas all the people who died whether in Noah’s days or not, cannot hear it for they are asleep and not aware. The people who were alive in those days, most was not able to hear or understand this proclamation, however, those in tartarus was in the ability to hear and was very well in the knowing of what Jesus' resurection meant.

The proclamation(or His resurrection meant) was that Jesus is Lord over all(including the fallen angels) and that all was subject to Him, and that He had been given a Name above every name(Phil 2:10) is confirmed by Peter’s conclusion in his next verse :

1 Peter 3:22 “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Rick Aren't you going to address the question brother?

You said; "James, I have a question. If you were "privileged to ‘watch’ what Jesus experienced in the Garden as a sign that His Spirit is come to cleans His church." Then why not the rest."

And I asked "The rest of what?"

Then instead of answering the question you got defensive for being called out in the same way you yourself have taken me on in the past then you cry foul? It is OK to defend the truth in righteousness as long as you have the truth to back you up.

Show yourself approved and rightly divide the word of truth.

And on that note, show me in scripture or the Spirit of Prophecy where it says Jesus went and pleaded with demons in Tartarus, then I will believe you, I promise.

I'll even help you to prove my sincerity...

The closest thing I can find in the Spirit of Prophecy to support your theory is after Lucifer's fall, while he is stuck in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil he asked a passing angel to set up a meeting with Jesus and he asked Jesus to forgive him, but it does not say Jesus went looking for him it was the other way around... Here it is; From the Spirit of Prophecy...

"Satan trembled as he viewed his work. He was alone in meditation upon the past, the present, and his future plans. His mighty frame shook as with a tempest. An angel from heaven was passing. He (Satan) called him, and entreated an interview with Christ. This was granted him. He then related to the Son of God that he repented of his rebellion, and wished again the favor of God. He was willing to take the place God had previously assigned him, and be under his wise command. Christ wept at Satan’s woe, but told him, as the mind of God, that he could never be received into heaven.... The seeds of rebellion were still within him.... {TA 46.3}
When Satan became fully convinced that there was no possibility of his being reinstated in the favor of God, he manifested his malice with increased hatred and fiery vehemence.... {TA 47.1}
As he could not gain admission within the gates of heaven, he would wait just at the entrance, to taunt the angels and seek contention with them as they went in and out.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:28-30. {TA 47.2}

So Satan was pleading with Jesus, not the other way around, so who do you think would inspire you to tell it differently?

There is but one "biblical" confirmation of the fallen angels being bound, and that is during the millennium as spoken of in Revelation. I think one could say they were "bound" to this earth at the time of the Flood, but here's where the situation with the fallen angels really breaks down--when did Jesus "open" their "prison" and give them liberty? When did they ever become "free of sin?" Is not Jesus' mission to preach liberty to the captives? Is one to believe that Jesus is in the business of saving the fallen angels?

Hardly. The fallen angels made their choices against God in full knowledge and understanding of God, of His law, and of their options. They knew they could choose to serve either God or their commanding angel, Lucifer/Satan. They made their choices freely, and not in ignorance.

By contrast, humans have been deceived. Eve and Adam were both tricked into sin through Satan's lies and suggestions. While they were certainly disobedient, and were not completely ignorant of what they were doing, they did not have full knowledge of the facts. Eve did not know she was talking to Satan. Adam did not know what would happen to him without Eve. They were deceived. Their captivity to sin is what Jesus came to break. Jesus came, in fact, to put an end to the Originator of sin. Genesis 3:15 prophesies this.

Jesus wishes to release the bonds of sin from its captives and to set them free. Does this apply to fallen angels? No. Jesus has already done all He could for them. They needed no atonement. It is we humans who needed His sacrificial atonement to be repatriated to His kingdom. All of this points strongly to the "lost souls" being "us" and/or the antediluvians.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.