2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
For the last few messages we have been looking at a long passage in which Christ’s half-brother, Jude, has been talking about false teachers. Like Peter, he was writing to the early Christian church which was being persecuted and faced with the infiltration of false teachers. The descriptions being given by these Scripture writers and others is very important to us, because the same efforts by followers of the adversary are going on today. The best defense against these efforts is recognizing the descriptions of false teachers God inspired these writers to give us and heeding well their conversations about the fate of people who are apostate (unrighteous). Today’s passage, JUDE 14-16, deals with the judgment of the condemned. “It was Enoch, the sixth direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: ‘The Lord will come with many thousands of His holy angels to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against Him!’ These people are always grumbling and blaming others; they follow their own evil desires; they brag about themselves and flatter others in order to get their own way.”
It is appropriate here to mention that there are two judgments that will take place at the end of mankind’s history. One is the “bema-seat” judgment or the judgment of the redeemed. This is the same reward judgment that is spoken of in 1 COR 3: 10b-15. The gist of this citation is in (13 & 15), “And the quality of each person’s work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone’s work; the fires will test it and show its real quality ….but, if anyone’s work is burnt up, then he will lose it; but he himself will be saved, as if he had escaped through the fire.” In this judgment, there is no question of salvation, just a decision Christ makes on the degree of reward for one’s work done. JN 5: 24 clarifies Christ’s intentions. “I am telling you the truth: whoever hears My words and believes in Him Who sent Me has eternal life. He will not be judged, but has already passed from death to life.” On the other hand, there is a separate judgment, that of the condemned, in which the final decision is made by Christ regarding the punishment of second death for a person. It is this judgment of the condemned of which Jude speaks, which is the fate of unrighteous apostate people in today’s passage.
The ancient prophecy mentioned in JUDE 14 -15 given by Enoch of the Lord coming to earth with 10,000 angels to bring judgment on the condemned was most probably given supernaturally to Jude by the Holy Spirit. (You will remember from JUDE 3 that this writer originally set out to speak about the salvation all the church shares in common, but was clearly being inspired by God to write about encouraging his readers to fight for the faith that all of them had been given instead). It stands to reason that if the Holy Spirit was redirecting the focus of Jude’s subject, He might also be instructing Jude to reveal certain information, such as this prophecy, which would further God’s goals here. We are very blessed by any person in our lives who is as willing as Jude was to empty their spiritual vessels of human agendas and allow this kind of direction for their thoughts and actions by the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t hurt to review from GN 5: 18, 21-24 just who Enoch was either. “When Jared was 162, he had a son, Enoch…when Enoch was 65, he had a son, Methuselah. After that, Enoch lived in fellowship with God for 300 years and had other children. He lived to be 365 years old. He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him away.” Enoch was one of only two people mentioned in the Scriptures who was translated in this way. The other was Elijah [see 2 K 2: 11-12]. It is not unrealistic to assume that these two translated people were held in high esteem by God.
It is interesting to note that this prophecy will be partially fulfilled when Christ appears after the Tribulation at the onset of the Millennium. The latter is that thousand year period in which Christ comes back with the saints to rule, and the devil is bound in the abyss. The devil will be let loose for a short, God-controlled time after this in order to try to deceive those born during the Millennium, so that God will know whether they choose to come to faith or not. That is followed by the adversary’s final defeat [REV 20: 1-10]. After the white throne judgment, God’s Kingdom will be established. The white throne judgment [REV 20: 11-15] is the final fulfillment of Enoch’s prophecy.
They condemned for both their ungodly deeds and blasphemy against the Lord. The manner in which they performed those ungodly deeds and irreverent words spoken by them will be taken into consideration in this judgment of the condemned. This judgment will not only evoke their guilt, but it will also be a sentence pronounced by the only One with authority to judge on them. DN 7: 14, [re: Christ] “He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve Him. His authority last forever, and His Kingdom would never end.” This authority was given to Christ in Daniel’s prophecy (cited here) by “the Ancient of Days” [God].
God punished the Jews for being grumblers and complainers in NU 14: 29-30, the citation about how a whole generation of Jews wandering in the desert, except for Joshua and Caleb, would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. He also punished the Jews for their rejection of Him in as their political Leader (with the onset of the period of the monarchy) and their rejection of Him as their spiritual Leader in favor of idolatry. I refer here to the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel [see 2 K 17: 23] and the Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah [see 2 K 25: 8] for a time. This is worth mentioning in view of Jude’s assertions in JUDE 16. God knew some of the Jews would eventually come back into the fold, so he simply punished them for a limited time. However, He knows these apostate false teachers were not going to respond to any effort He would make to bring them back to faith. Thus, they are condemned to the lake of fire and sulfur which is second death. They find fault with God and God’s people, are narrow-minded in their creed, display puritanical conduct, live by the flesh, advocate sexual permissiveness, speak arrogantly to gain attention, espouse extreme political, social and economic views, assert God is dead, and are masters of flattery to gain a following and added income. This is a true and accurate profile of people we see daily in the media of the world. God, through, Jude and other Scripture writers, alerts us to them and asks us to use the discernment obtained from being in His word to fend off their enticements.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we understand the consequences of being lured into false teaching, we are motivated to stay close to You by study of Your word and active prayer. Throughout mankind’s history, You have been there guiding, teaching, consoling, encouraging, and sometimes punishing us with one over-all goal in mind. You want us to become perfected, to permanently depart from the life of sin into which we were born, so that we may gain eternal life with You. To that end, You sent Your Son to be a once and sufficient sin sacrifice on the cross. Then, You invited us to repent and come to faith in Him. You sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers, so that we would not feel that we were left to wage spiritual warfare without effective Help. All through our lives on earth and beyond, You are right there with us. The profundity of that love is beyond human comprehension. All we can do is to humbly approach You with our love, trust, obedience, praise, thanks, honor, and glory. While this only begins to approximate what You deserve, Your love for us always there. We pledge our hearts, minds, and service to You, Dear Lord. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we look at warnings and instructions that Jude gives us from JUDE 17-23. In the meanwhile, keep in mind that no matter what challenges to our faith that the adversary dishes out, we are equipped by our faithful discernment which comes from the Scriptures to deal with them victoriously. It is often hard to see this when we are “in the belly of the beast,” but it is a reality. That is part of the wonderful blessings our loving Abba gives us in return for our faith in Him and His Son. The Trinity will never abandon us or stop loving us. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn