Jude Series: Jude 21b-The Recipients of Jude Were to Anticipate the Manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Compassion (2)

Jude 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (NIV)

Now, as we noted, the third and final means by which the recipients of the epistle of Jude were to obey the command in Jude 21 to make it their top priority of keeping themselves in the state of loving God because of God’s love for them and continue doing so appears in Jude 21.

It asserts that they were to obey this command and continue doing so by anticipating for the benefit of themselves the manifestation of the compassion of Lord Jesus Christ for the purpose of experiencing eternal life.

The noun eleos (ἒλεος), “compassion” depicts a heartfelt response by the Lord Jesus Christ who has something to give the recipients of this epistle who have a need, which in this context is giving them a resurrection body at the rapture of the church.

Therefore, the word means “compassion” rather than “mercy” since the latter has the connotation of withholding judgment whereas the former depicts a desire to fulfill a need.

This word also contains the figure of metonymy which means that the Lord’s compassion is put for the manifestation of it.

The Lord’s compassion will manifest itself at the rapture of the church because at that time He will give to each member of His body, i.e., the church age their resurrection body, which will complete their sanctification and salvation.

The verb prosdechomai (προσδέχομαι), “as you wait for” speaks of anticipating the resurrection of the church to take place when each and every church age believer will receive their resurrection body from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The rapture we noted will manifest His compassion for the recipients of this epistle and all church age believers.

The participle form of this verb is also functioning as a participle of means.

This indicates that the recipients of this epistle were to obey the command to keep themselves in the state of loving God because of His love for them “by means of” existing in the state of anticipating for the benefit of themselves the manifestation of the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.

This participle can also be interpreted as a temporal participle.

Therefore, it would be expressing the idea that the recipients of this epistle must keep themselves in the love of God by building themselves up by their most holy faith, and by praying by the Holy Spirit “while’ anticipating the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s compassion for the purpose of experiencing eternal life.

In Jude 21, the middle voice of the verb prosdechomai(προσδέχομαι), “as you wait for” is an indirect middle which is focusing attention on the Christian community in Judaea acting in their own interests by anticipating the manifestation of the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.

This act is in their own interests since it benefits them spiritually to do so since it will cause them to experience their sanctification which results in rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church which is subsequent to the rapture of the church (cf. 1 John 3:1-3).

1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (NIV)

1 John 3:2-3 teaches that the prophecy of the rapture purifies the believer.

Specifically, it teaches that the conviction regarding the prophecy of the rapture motivates them to experience their sanctification.

So not only is the confident expectation of the Lord’s return at the rapture a source of comfort and encouragement to the believer, but also it is a very definite incentive for holy living.

Roy Zuck writes “Knowing that the Lord may come at any moment influences believers to lead lives pleasing to the Lord. Immediately after referring to the ‘blessed hope’ Paul referred to the Lord’s desire ‘to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good’ (Titus 2:14). As believers look forward to the new heaven and the new earth, they should ‘make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him’ (2 Peter 3:14). John affirmed that when Christ ‘appears, we shall be like Him,’ and then he added, ‘Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure’ (1 John 3:2–3).”[1]

[1] Campbell, D. K. (1991). Foreword. In C. Bubeck Sr. (Ed.), Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth (pp. 229–230). Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.