Jude
Notes
Transcript
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The name Jude is odd for English his name in the Hebrew is Judah… which you might ask why we didn’t go with that… and I don’t know I wasn’t there, but Judah is usually rendered as Judas in Greek… so you see why maybe they just decided to pick something different but close just to entirely avoid possible confusion. The name means “praise” and it’s obvious in the Hebrew when Leah gives birth she practically explains the name. Genesis 29:35 “And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.”
I really wanted to go through all the names in this book… believe me I made I put notes together through Abel… but realized we’re gonna eat up too much time and this is a DENSE small book… Easily could do 10-11 weeks on this book.
1) Intro
OT / Other Examples
2) Wilderness Rebellion
3) Rebel Angels
4) Men of Sodom
5) Michael and the devil
6) Cain and Abel
7) Balaam's Error
8) Korah’ Rebellion
Warnings
9) 1 Enoch’s warning
10) Disciple and Jesus Warning
11) Fight for the faith!
We’re going to go through a whole lot really fast but I just want to note that Jude is assuming a whole lot of Biblical and Extra Biblical knowledge exists for the people that read this letter. I do not want to assume that on your behalf and so we are going to have a whirlwind jaunt through the Bible tonight to understand some of the, as short as 4 word references used.
Okay, Jude gets to the points quick so I should attempt something similar here and get on with it!.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
Jude is our author and he writes to some church we don’t know which church but it seems to be addressing specific issues so we should presume there is a specific church though many would also argue he intended it for all churches/believers right from the start. We start with an amazing statement though. This is TO those loved by God the Father that are kept there by Jesus - the ones who have been summoned/drawn in/called irresistibly. I don’t want to dwell long on this but this is yet another text that points to the eternal security of the believer. All are kept, none become lost after being called and a beloved of God the father. John 10:28–29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
May Mercy (not being punished for that which we deserve), Peace (Living in the security of God), and Love (The true Love that cares not for itself but for others) be multiplied you don’t get more of something when you multiply if it started at ZERO. Believers HAVE mercy, peace, and love. Jude is just desiring that it would multiply to greater than what they’ve already recieved.
Jude has a purpose for this letter and it wasn’t the letter he was planning on writing. It’s possible he later wrote the letter he describes desiring to write but we don’t have any indication he did. Instead of a letter about shared salvation instead we get a warning that we are in a fight!
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
We’re in a fight and we must wrestle to keep the faith, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Q: What is the “faith” that was delivered to the saints?
A: This isn’t the faith we speak of as trusting in God although that is always needed but as a term to encompass the traditional teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. That of course includes trusting in Christ. To sum it up I’ll quote
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Q: What do we hope for?
A: The promises of God throughout the Bible to be fulfilled.
Now, the question is why did Jude have to write this letter of warning? We’re finding out in the next verse.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
We see five things about these people.
1) They’re creepers - John 10:1 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.”
2) Their judgment was already written down long ago - Proverbs 16:4 “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”
This judgment is due to 3 attributes that follow
a) ungodliness
b) perverting the idea of Christian freedom to sinful abandon
c) denial of Jesus’ authority
Examples of God’s judgment
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Some may be confused by Jude attributing the salvation of Israel to Jesus. Yet it was Jesus, who is God, that saves His people.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
In this way Jesus led the people out of Egypt however something happened after they made it out.
They get to this wonderful promised land then
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”
So they are sent and it’s an amazing land with bountiful plenty all throughout it, however when they get back...
Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
With the exception of Joshua and Caleb this bad report is given and the people lose heart and hope no longer believing the promise of God.
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
So in their unbelief God destroys them by condemning them to wander for 40 years so the whole generation of unbelievers will die off. God wants to just destroy them right then an there but Moses intercedes to have them spared.
Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.
Q: What was the purpose God had for the people?
A: NOT THIS - his desire was for them to enter and be blessed.
The unbelieving sinners will be punished
Next Jude 6
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
This comes from the events in Gen 6 which we’ll just read briefly here.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
This has been oddly controversial among Christians about who the “sons of God” actually are and whether angels could do this etc. etc. The reality is that the Jews have always understood this to be angels that took for themselves human women as wives. It’s not just
1 Enoch 6:1-2
1* In those days, when the children of man had multiplied, it happened that there were born unto them handsome and beautiful daughters. 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them; and they said to one another, “Come, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the daughters of man and beget us children.”
Another Pseudepigraphal book but that as an ancient text points to consistent view on this passage shares the view
Jubilees 4:15
15* And in the second week of the tenth jubilee, Mahalalel took for himself a wife, Dinah, the daughter of Baraki’el, the daughter of his father’s brother, as a wife. *And she bore a son for him in the third week in the sixth year. And he called him Jared because in his days the angels of the LORD, who were called Watchers, came down to the earth in order to teach the sons of man, and perform judgment and uprightness upon the earth.
Even Josephus the Jewish historian of the late first century after Jesus makes a reference. Ant 1.73
The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 3: Concerning the Flood; and after What Manner Noah Was Saved in an Ark, with His Kindred, and Afterwards Dwelt in the Plain of Shinar
for many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, That these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants.
Q: What is the purpose of Angels?
A: NOT THIS - but to worship God and bring His message to men Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”
The ones that walk away from God’s order will be preserved for judgment.
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Who is this Sodom and Gomorrah, is that a Marvel movie thing? While I doubt anyone is confused by the Guardian of the Galaxy character let’s makes sure we do all know what we’re talking about.
We first hear about Sodom. Genesis 13:13 “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.” but Gomorrah is not left out they are both full of wickedness.
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Abraham begins this bartering with God for the righteous to be saved… will you spare these cities if there are 50.. 45.. 40.. 30.. 20.. 10.. God says not even if there are 10. But the men sent in are grabbed by Lot right away and encouraged not to stay publicly in the town yet they were seen. The men of the city, young and old showed up to Lot’s place wanting to have sex with these strangers. This is not good but these men / angels blind everyone and Get Lot and his wife ( eventually ) to run. It turns out God wasn’t going to destroy the place if only ONE righteous was there since Lot is the only one that’s actually saved and the angels tell him they cannot begin their destruction until he’s gone.
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Q: What is the purpose of cities/government?
A: NOT THIS - They should enact and uphold justice Romans 13:1-4
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
These three examples have pointed to the purpose God would have being subverted to do what they desire instead.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
So like the examples above the people Jude is speaking out against resemble this type of character and failure as people. Their dreams either literally what they dream during sleep or dreams as in desire are the basis for their morality. They defile flesh aka sexual immorality - reject authority aka God's because it's not plural and the word is almost always used in relation to God it might be better translated “Reject Lordship" - and blaspheme against angels - the last part is a bit odd and it's possibly an abuse of 1 Corinthians 6:3 “Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” Takin that authority now instead of in the proper time and place. The strange part is that given the next verse it's likely Jude is talking about the fallen angels and not the good ones. Don't go around shouting down demons calling them names or rebuking them, leave that to the Lord.
Let's get to vs 9 then.
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Some small context is found at the Moses' death. Deut 34:5-6
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
Likewise the phrase the Lord Rebuke You is not a new phrase and it is in a similar context of The accuser, Satan, making accusations. Zechariah 3:2 “And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?””
This claim here seems to be Satan saying he has a claim to the body because Moses is defiled by murder and other sins. Instead of Michael rightly telling off Satan he says the Lord Rebuke You. It is God's place to deal with the accusation and handle the accuser.
This whole idea and basis for this verse comes from a book called the “Assumption of Moses" I don't think Jude was making a statement to whether it should be conisdered Bible or even historically true. He was pulling from literature everyone at the time was aware of to make a point. It would be like quoting from Pilgrim's Progress during a Bible study to make a point. It doesn't mean someone thinks that that book should be in the Bible or that they thought it was historically true either.
But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Back to the comparison of the people that are the problem they just blaspheme what they want all the while being destroyed by following their own evil nature.
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
The analogies to historical figures in sin continue but now we're more clearly connecting them to the judgment they receive or to their Woe!
The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Cain was punished by being sent out - exiled.
He was summoned to prophesy against Israel for honor and money.
So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”
Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
As the story goes on Balaam actually blesses the Israelites multiple times because God will not allow him to Curse them. So finally for his own grrreed he just explains how to defeat them. Through the tempation of Women that will draw them into foreign God worship.
Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.
Balaam however dies as an enemy of God
They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
And the third example in this verse is that of a false teacher that leads to outright rebellion.
Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”
And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.
But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Hidden reefs sink ships
They do not fear eating the Lord’s supper in vain, They feed themselves not the sheep.
Waterless clouds are bad sign like drought that are blown by without raining
Fruitless trees after the time they should have produced. Dead both ways, no fruit then uprooted from the ground.
Waves of the sea are dangerous and produce nothing but foam.
Wandering stars that don’t help guide your way as many people navigate by stars the star must be fixed to be of any use a wandering star would be worse than no star.
We start the wrap up with judgment of Enoch’s prophecy.
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
This restates essentially what we’ve talked about for these people.
Exhortation in the END
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Essentially pointing now to the modern statements of the same warnings. The apostles and even Jesus have given these same warnings about the people who would come like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
