“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!” (Jude 24-25)

 

Lesson 5 – Jude (NIV)

Vs 5-7 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

 

     Jude issues a warning to the evil people who were perverting the belief and conduct of the church. He simply is reminding them of stories they are very familiar with. It seems to me that often what we hear preached or taught is not always a new Word from the Lord but it brings to our attention things we already know. How often do I sin (unknowingly) and then the Holy Spirit checks me? How often do I sin and know before hand it’s a sin?

     Now to really understand this portion of scripture we must understand (whether we agree with it or not) that the people who were corrupting the church did not regard themselves as enemies of Christ, they really thought they were “advanced thinkers” smarter than the average person. Jude chooses his examples to make clear that, even if a man has received the greatest teachings, they can still fall into disaster, no created being man or angel can get cocky!!!! We all must be on constant watch against twisted truth, our own arrogance and sin.

     The example in verse 5 comes from Numbers 13 & 14. The mighty hand of God delivered the Hebrews, brought them safely to the Promised Land. And at the borders the people sinned. The spies reported they couldn’t defeat the people of the Land, stirred the entire group up and disobeyed God. The consequence was (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb who did not disobey) all people over the age 20 would never enter the Promised Land but wander in the desert. And they did, wander and died there! Have there been any instances in the last few days where I was disobedient? What happened, how did I reconcile it or did I?

     The example in verse 6 is the dreadful story of fallen angels. The Jews had a very highly developed doctrine of angels. They believed in the fall of the angels and much is said about this in the Book of Enoch which is often behind the thought of Jude. In regard to this there were two lines of tradition. First, it was that the fall of the angels was due to pride and rebelliousness. That legend gathered especially round Lucifer, the light-bringer, the son of the morning. The idea was that there was civil war in heaven. The angels rose against God and were cast out; and Lucifer was the leader of the rebellion. You can find references to some of this in Isaiah 14: 12 and Luke 10:18. The second stream of tradition finds its scriptural echo in Genesis 6: 1-4. In this line of thought the angels, attracted by the beauty of mortal women, left heaven to seduce them and so sinned. All this may seem very strange to us but it was common tradition and common thought in Jude’s day. What we can really need to glean is… two things brought ruin to the angels – pride and lust!!! If pride and lust ruined the angels in spite of all their privileges, pride and lust can and will ruin us. If we ever get to thinking that we know better than the church’s teachings we are already on a very slippery path. This would be a great time to examine my own thoughts… Have there been times when I thought I knew more than Orthodox Church statements? Now, don’t misunderstand…we are thinking beings and it’s o.k. to question but when we begin to challenge beliefs from the Bible itself or clear interpretation we could be falling into arrogance or rebellion which leads to sin. Anytime it has to be MY WAY, I’m already in trouble. Do I often have to have my way or do I think my opinion is always right?

     The third example is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah found in Genesis 19: 1-11. The sin of Sodom is one of the most horrible stories in history. Two angelic visitors had come to Lot. At his pressing invitation they come into his house to be his guests. When they were there, the inhabitants of Sodom surrounded the house, demanding that Lot should bring out his visitors so “they should know them.” In Hebrew “to know” is the word for sexual intercourse. What the men of Sodom were bent on was homosexual intercourse with Lot’s two visitors – sodomy and rape! It is reasonable to suppose that those people to whom Jude attacks in this passage had also descended to sodomy/rape and that they were perverting the grace of God to cover even this! Jude insists that they and we should remember that sin and judgment go hand in hand, and they should repent. Is there anything in my heart or life that I am covering up, or trying to justify with grace?

Information from “Beacon Bible Commentary - Jude” by Delbert Rose and “The Letters of John and Jude” by William Barclay

 

 

Nancy Cantrell,

Associate Pastor

Harrisonville Church of the Nazarene