Jude 5-7
Notes
Transcript
We saw last week that the first 4 verses teaches somethings we should know:
Verse 1 — Know who we are in Christ: Called, Loved, and Preserved
Verse 2 — Know what you have from Christ
Verse 3 — Know what you believe: Because Faith must be defended!
Verse 4 — Know how to live: Belief and behavior go hand in hand!
Then Jude lists 4 charges against “some people”:
Charge 1 — “Whose judgment was written long ago”
Charge 2 — They are godless people.
Charge 3 — They change the grace of God into license for immorality.
Charge 4 — They deny Jesus Christ as our only Sovereign and Lord!
This is where we pick up our study today
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time 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 proper dwelling—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.
This is the word of God…
Jude wants to remind them, to put back in their mind the reality of what they have learned and know about the facts concerning Jesus.
What they know about Jesus
What they know about Jesus
Explain the translations and committees in regard to the name Jesus in verse 5 and older texts have only Lord like the NIV
The name of Jesus in verse 5 puts Jesus in the Exodus and presents Him as Yahweh, the I am who present during their Exodus.
Burning Bush — Exodus 3:13
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
In the Septuagint the Greek is ego eimi in the New Testament Jesus states:
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
This a place where Jesus is saying…
“I Am” — Yahweh, He is the Yahweh in that passage!
Then Jude says, “later destroyed those who did not believe.”
Remember what God said after the Rebellion of the Golden Calf?
29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
Jude is reminding Christians what we know Jesus and the judgement of God!
The Angelic Rebellion
The Angelic Rebellion
Let’s start with the Angel rebellion in heaven
The first thing that Jude tells us — Jude 6a
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling…
Angels rebelled and left their position of authority and proper dwelling.
Some tie this rebellion back to Genesis 6:1-3
1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
The idea of Angels having relations with women is an idea found in Jewish writings that are not in the Old Testament, like the Book of Enoch.
The understanding has strong scholarly support and is considered the majority view of Genesis 6 and Jude 6
And we know scripture speaks elswhere of this rebellion
12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
The other passage Revelation 12:7-9
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Thus these angels rebelled refusing to keep their station and place and divine Judgment came upon them.
Sodom and Gomorrah’s Rebellion
Sodom and Gomorrah’s Rebellion
Verse 7 continues Judes evidence of divine judgment against rebellion.
Those who rebel against divine morality are judged by God.
Were are taken to the days of Abraham and Lot and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah found in Genesis 19
Some say we don’t understand the words used by Moses and misinterpret what Moses ment that they did not engage in perverted sexual immorality.
5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
The Hebrew word is actually very specific and the NIV has the correct translation.
The word means to know sexually, have intercourse with and reveal one’s self.
These were men of the city wanting to have the men in Lot’s how sent outside to them.
Puts this with Genesis 19:4
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.
This is the perversion that Jude speaks of!
In Greek it is saying “Having gone after different flesh.”
An idiom literally to “go after strange flesh.”
It is understood to engage in unnatural sexual intercourse!
It is very clear that the time came when God said enough and destroyed those cities.
Conclusion
It is interesting that Jude considers the angelic rebellion and the sexual rebellion of Sodom and Gomorrah as similar.
Strengthening the understanding of Genesis 6.
They resemble one another because ungodly actions brought divine judgement.
Also those involved find themselves in the “punishment of eternal fire.”
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
This is what Jude meant in Jude 7b
…They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
This morning Jude has started to present evidence for his argument concerning the immoral rebellion of some people who have crept into the church.
However, for us may it serve as a warning for us to be watchful and praying!
