Preaching does not always denote a message of salvation, it can also be a message of judgment or condemnation. Christ
may have preached a message of judgment and condemnation or proclamation of future judgment.
"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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 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."1 Peter 3:18-20
Who are these "spirits in prison"?
Hebrews 1:7 "And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels SPIRITS and his ministers a flame of fire."
Hebrews 1:13-14 "But to which of the angels has He ever said, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering SPIRITS, sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?"
Angelic beings are referred to as "spirits" and "sons of God", so then could it be speaking of fallen angels in prison?
Several passages speak of a rebellion and fall during the "days of Noah".
Genesis 6:1-8 "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. And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 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. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
The term "sons of God" is only used when speaking of angelic beings:
Job 1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them."
Job 2:1 "Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD."
The sons of God that presented themselves before the Lord were clearly angels.
Job 38:7 "To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
During the creation of the earth, no humans existed, only the sons of God, the angels, were present and shouted for joy.
Angelic beings, sons of God - not sons of men - saw the daughter of men and desired them and furthermore they had children with them! The result of this union were the giants, a race of beings that God had not created but were instead a product of an ungodly union between angels and men. This happened during "the days of Noah".
II Peter 2:4-5, 9 "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;.. the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,"
Jude 1:6 "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
During the times of Noah, angels "left their own habitation" and went after "strange flesh", after the daughters of men. They are now "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness waiting for the judgment day."
It is very clear that Jesus preached to the angels in the Abyss. Jesus went and preached, or made a proclamation to these angelic beings.
So why did Jesus preach to these fallen angels imprisoned in the Abyss? It would indicate by these passages that Jesus was preaching "deliverance to the captive angels". If there had been no deliverance for them, why would Jesus have bothered to preach to them? Was there a possibility that they would repent and be forgiven?
Philippians 2:6-11 "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
It seems likely in this verse that those "under the earth" refers to these angels imprisoned in the Abyss.
1 Peter 3:18-20 "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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 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."
Luke 4:18 "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, "
The bottomless pit is literally: the "pit of the abyss." This pit is in the inner part of the earth:
Ezekiel 26:19-20 "For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;"
Ezekiel 32:24 "There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit."
Ezekiel 32:18 "Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit."
Jesus possession of "the keys of Hades and Death" represents his power and authority
to release, and even allow Satan to release those restrained behind the gates of Hades.
Revelation 1:18 "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hades and of death."
Revelation 9:1-6 "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them."
Satan being the "fallen star" unlocks the bottomless pit as he is cast out of Heaven,
releasing the tormenting locusts from the abyss, clearly they must be fallen
angels. So they are most likely the ones that revolted against Gods (1/3 of the
angels) rule.
It is important to note that the term here "sometime" means "once" or "formerly", and implies that these spirits might no longer be disobedient, some may have repented in earnest, but it is not clear if a great many do repent since they are tormenting the godless.
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