2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
While is isn’t a happy thought to examine the nature of apostasy, the Lord leads us to do this for our own protection. It is clearly important to the Lord to have us doing this, or He wouldn’t have inspired so many Scripture writers like John, Peter, James, and Jude to discuss this subject. Jude’s words in today’s passage, JUDE 8-11, not only recall some Biblical anecdotes illustrating the subject, but it suggests a group of cross references which when put together give us a unique glimpse into the world of unseen warfare that is being waged between God’s angels and those of the adversary. “In the same way also, these people [the apostate] have visions which make them sin against their own bodies; they despise God’s authority and insult the glorious beings above. Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the devil with insulting words but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ But these people attack with insults anything they do not understand; and those things that they know by instinct, like wild animals, are the very things that destroy them. How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed.” (I realize that I have stopped mid-paragraph, and will continue on with the rest of the paragraph tomorrow).
In looking at these verses, I hope you will review RO 1: 18-32 which gives the mechanism by which the unrighteous reject God. It shows how people who engage in perversions, pornography, pediphilia, sodomy, incest, and other such horrendous behavior begin with filthy fantasies and go on to carrying them out. This is the same mechanism that the men of Sodom used to lead to their homosexuality depicted in GN 19: 5 and 9.
Unrighteous people reject authority at all levels. They are proponents of lawlessness and anarchy. They belong to organizations which base their activities upon hate, prejudice, and rejection of government authority. If these people weren’t so busy suppressing and rejecting truth, they would know that God is sovereign. RO 13: 1, “Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God.” DN 4: 17, “This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that He can give them to anyone He chooses, even to the least important of men.” The apostate also speak evil of angels, as we will see from the example given below. EX 22: 28 is clear on the issue of honoring God. “Do not speak evil of God, and do not curse a leader of your people,” Moses said. From the example of Korah’s rebellion, which you can read about in NU 16: 1-50, you can see that this is exactly what the apostate people are willing to do.
The realm of faith takes in belief in both what we can see and things that we can’t. An example of the latter is the unseen spiritual warfare that goes on between God’s angel forces and those of the adversary. We are given glimpses into this in several places in the Scriptures. Jude is most likely allowed to know about an argument over Moses’ body that took place between the devil and the archangel Michael [Israel’s guardian angel] supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. This argument is not revealed elsewhere in the Scriptures. However, DT 34: 6 tells us that God buried Moses somewhere in the valley of Moab. It is most probable that Satan wanted to know the exact location, so he could build an altar there to encourage worship of Moses’ bones. That kind of idolatry is his stock and trade. Michael refused to tell him to prevent that from happening. We know from DN 10: 13 and 20-21 [see also DN 12: 1] that Michael struggled with the adversary, as this was told to Daniel by Gabriel. “The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia…he [Gabriel] said, ‘Do you know why I came to you? It is to reveal to you what is written in the Book of Truth. Now I have to go back and fight the guardian angel of Persia. After that the guardian angel of Greece appear. There is no one to help me except Michael, Israel’s guardian angel.” JUDE 9 reveals that Michael, in spite of his high position, never tried to usurp God’s sovereign right to judge and that in the face of all the insults he must have borne from the devil, all he did was to say, “The Lord rebuke you!” In REV 12: 7-9, we are allowed to know that Michael and his angels will be used to actually cast the devil out of heaven. Yet, nowhere in the Bible do we see Michael condemning the devil himself. He leaves that for God to do.
Apostate people are rebellious, stubborn, lack repentance, reject salvation, attempt to acquire wealth by making a business out of service to God, and store up wrath for themselves at the last Judgment. RO 2: 5, “But you have a hard and stubborn heart, and so you are making your own punishment even greater on the Day when God’s anger and righteous judgments will be revealed.” They “take the way of Cain”: GN 4: 3-5 tells the story of how Cain rejected salvation by eschewing blood sacrifice. We know from LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 22 that blood must be poured for there to be forgiveness. Reliance on human effort leads to hatred of grace and objects of grace, which leads to persecution and even murder [see 1 JN 3: 15]. The apostate commit the error of Balaam and desire personal wealth to come out of their service to God, the sin of simony. We all know of modern day ministries that engage in this; and who can forget the example of the moneychangers that so disgusted our Lord when he threw them out of the Temple [see MT 21: 12-13]? Balaam’s story can be read in NU 22-24. Balaam’s sins didn’t stop with his efforts, frustrated by God, to curse Israel five times. NU 25: 1-5 reveals that he led Israelite men into sin by luring them into making sexual unions with Moabite women. The rebellions of apostate men fly in the face of rules for worship set down by God, just as the story of Korah’s rebellion and burning unholy fire with his friends, Dathan and Abiram exemplifies [see NU 16: 1-50, particularly 1-2, 23, 30-31, 35, 40, and 49]. God has demonstrated that He will punish those who show Him this disdain.
PRAYER: O Lord, You love us so much that You want us to recognize the behavior of an unrighteous person, so we can be alert and protected. People who reject Your teachings and Your sovereignty are forever denying themselves the salvation and grace that You offer us by Your love for us. How foolish they are! You have organized us into congregations, placed us in societies with governmental authorities, and called us to lives of righteousness and spiritual maturity for no other reason than You want us to become sanctified and eventually glorified. You give us the examples of evil angels, men like Korah and Balaam, and even spoken to us of the adversary, so that we will learn what is not acceptable to You. These are the actions of a loving Abba, Who wants to enjoy eternal fellowship with the children He loves. We humbly approach You with our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, praise, loyalty, dedication, and thanks. You deserve nothing less. We honor and glorify You for the blessings You shower on our lives when we live “in Christ.” In His holy name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the rest of what Jude had to say in describing the apostate and about the Judgment of the Condemned in JUDE 12-16. In the meanwhile, please know that God has deemed this subject important for us, which is why He has spending this much time on it. All of this is one more manifestation of the profound love He has for each of us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn