Solemn Warnings to All Children of God: On the Epistle of Jude
Table of Contents
Solemn Warnings to All Children of God: Jude Part 1
Beloved Brethren: The epistle we now have before us, while very short, embraces a vast historical period. It presents to us the apostasy of Christendom from the earliest elements that crept into the assembly to corrupt it, in the days of the apostles, down to its final judgment at the appearing of the Lord. This epistle shows us how the Church, forsaking the truths which God had entrusted to her, has made rapid progress toward ungodliness which will culminate in the rejection of the Father and of the Son. In that day, still future, moral darkness will replace the light of the gospel shining at present in this world; nevertheless we see at work even today the various elements which characterize the apostasy. And the epistle of Jude instructs us regarding the attitude to be taken by every Christian in our day toward this evil, and the manner in which he may glorify God in these sad circumstances. Let us ever remember that the Christian can glorify God just as completely in a time of ruin as in the most prosperous of the early days of the Church. Circumstances have changed, no doubt; but God may be honored by His own, honored in a different manner perhaps, but just as truly as when the Spirit fell on the disciples at Pentecost. God does not ask us today to rebuild that which we have ruined ourselves, nor to deport ourselves in the midst of Christendom as if all were in order, closing our eyes to its declension; but He reveals to us a way which leads us through the midst of ruins, a path approved and known of Him, which the eagle's eye could never see, but which faith learns to discern.
Notice first of all the very general way in which Jude defines the Christians to whom he writes: "Jude, bondman of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called ones beloved in God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. v. 1; J.N.D. Trans. The other epistles are addressed to them in very different words; it is true that they are there named twice, "called saints"; that is to say, saints by, calling, but never just "called." When God wants to win a soul to Him, He begins by calling it. It is thus he did with Abraham, the father of believers; and one could not give to the children of God a character more general than this. It takes them all in, for they are all called, without a single exception.
Do we not find here a very evident intention? This epistle which deals with the present times, is an appeal to all the children of God, excluding none, without distinction of walk or of knowledge, and regardless of what might divide them. All then are responsible to listen and to conform to it. Hence this term "called," at once so broad and so individual. When an apostle addressed a local assembly, many a Christian who was not a part of it might have (in this, very unintelligently, no doubt) considered himself not bound by the whole contents of his epistle. With Jude, such a thought would be inexcusable. Every member of God's family in this world must say to himself, The Lord is here speaking personally, individually to me.
It is to be remarked that there are two things which give to these "called" an absolute certainty as to their relationship with God. They are "beloved in God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ." There should never be in God's great family a single soul doubting its relationship with the Father, and not having the certainty of its salvation. Let those who doubt it meditate these words: The love of the Father for you is as perfect as His love toward Christ, His beloved; this is why He says to you, "beloved in God the Father." Your security is as perfect as that of Jesus Christ's. For this reason He says to you, "Preserved in Jesus Christ." If the salvation of those who are called were dependent upon their faithfulness, not one of them could _reach the end of his career. We are equally powerless to keep as to save ourselves. Our eternal security is assured, not because we are faithful, but because God in love sees us in Christ before Him.
The salutation of the Apostle is of great importance: "Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied." v. 2. In the epistles to Timothy, the word "mercy" is part of the salutation, but none of the epistles addressed to an assembly of Christians contains this word. It is because mercy is a necessary thing, not to an assembly collectively, but to each believer individually. I am a poor, weak being, failing in many ways, exposed to continual dangers. My state calls for divine compassion which comes to my assistance, warns me, is interested in all the details of my walk. Such is the character of mercy. But here, a collective epistle, addressed to all who are called, without distinction, invokes mercy upon them. How are we to explain this anomaly? For the very solemn reason that in a time of ruin Christian testimony takes a character increasingly more individual. This does not in any way signify, as one sometimes hears it said to believers discouraged before an ever growing tide of evil, that Christian testimony can no longer have the collective character of an assembly of saints. Those who thus speak are in gross error, and this very epistle of Jude proves it. It mentions people who crept in among the faithful, that are spots in their feasts; their very presence is a proof that there exists an assembly of saints. But the teaching we get here is that we are bound in presence of the terrible moral state of Christendom, to be more and more faithful in our individual testimony, for God takes special notice of this. Doubtless, the hearts of intelligent Christians can rejoice together over the blessed privilege afforded them to unite around the Lord's table—blessed token of collective testimony, and proclamation of the unity of the body of Christ in a time when it is trodden under foot in professing Christendom. Needless to say, the testimony today is extremely feeble compared to what it was at the beginning; nevertheless, God takes notice of it, for that which is most elevated in Christianity, worship, is connected with the gathering of His children apart from the world. But that which we insist upon is that if our collective testimony can be so impoverished that it is reduced to the gathering of two or three around the Lord, individual testimony should in no wise suffer such hindrances. It can be as powerful as when the Holy Ghost filled the Christians individually in the early days of the Church. The Holy Spirit's power in the individual is no more limited now than it was then, if we are careful not to grieve the Divine Guest in our walk, while the Church's worldliness and unfaithfulness, its ruin in short, necessarily restrains the Spirit's operation in the assembly.
An individual testimony faithfully maintained in the present time, a holy separation from evil in all its forms, are all the more necessary when because of prevailing iniquity in the Church, we cannot look for much support and help from our brethren; but the Lord remains, and we can count entirely upon Him.
Here, perhaps, many Christians will interrupt me. You are speaking, they say, of the progress of evil, of Christendom's state of ruin, of its impending judgment. You seem to intentionally turn away your eyes from all the good that is being done around you, the activity in our churches, the considerable amount of efforts put forth for charity and solidarity which characterize the Christian world today, of the immense sums spent to promote the kingdom of God. I am far from denying all that faith produces among the children of God, but my answer to those who thus reason is, God considers not the state of Christendom as you do, nor as the world does. He judges the state of men by the manner in which they deport themselves toward His Son and toward the Scriptures that reveal Him; and you would not be sincere if you sought to deny that the professing body to which you belong is making rapid progress toward the surrendering of the Word and the denial of the Son of God.
This character of God's judgment is confirmed by the Scriptures from beginning to end. It is the moral state of the world toward God, not its material progress or its estimation of its attainments and of its devotedness that gives the measure of God's judgment. Complete apostasy consists of the denial of the Father and of the Son, and it is what the epistle of Jude, the second epistle of Peter, and the first of John, among others, set forth in all clearness. Satan has a thousand ways to turn men away from God and to blind them by feeding their pride and keeping them occupied with their progress, which is not the least of his wiles.
"Peace, and love, be multiplied"! (v. 2). Dear brothers and sisters, this is what the Apostle wishes for us all. He does not speak here of the peace with God, and of His love to which nothing can be added, but he desires that we realize these in a practical way. He knows the Christian's difficulties in these last days, when the world is characterized on the one hand by perpetual restlessness, and on the other by the coldness of all legitimate affections and by selfishness which primes all other considerations. "Love be multiplied"! I believe, dear friends, that if in the present days the "called" of the Lord should receive in their hearts what the Spirit of God wishes for them here, they would all be good witnesses of Jesus Christ. The enemy seeks in every way to cool off love which is the bond between the children of God. He must not be successful in this. It is never difficult for us to see and point out evil in others, but is the discovering of evil a remedy? No, it is love that heals, restores, and strengthens our brethren in their walk. Grace wins the heart; severity may repress evil, but it has never won anyone. If it is so with our brethren, it likewise applies in connection with the gospel preached to the world. Grace attracts, reaches the conscience, produces repentance, brings to Christ, and if it is necessary to tell man the truth to make him understand how far he is from God, it is grace which bares his condition to remedy it, for grace and truth. came by Jesus Christ. In a time when the love of many has grown cold, and iniquity abounds, do we not all need that love be multiplied?
Solemn Warnings to All Children of God: Jude Part 2
After having shown the two characters of the "ungodly," the forsaking of grace and the rejection of the Lord's authority, the Apostle passes over to the judgment of the evil; but he first establishes the fact that God withheld no resource from them. The history of the people of Israel is a witness to this. God had delivered them from Egypt through redemption. Why then was this people destroyed in the wilderness? It is because they believed not; lack of faith was the cause of their judgment, for there is no real blessing which is not the outflow of faith.
As it was with Israel, unbelief in professing Christendom is the cause for its judgment. But, first of all, the Apostle wants to characterize apostasy, consequence of this unbelief, and the judgments that overtake it. "God," says he, "hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation." v. 6. Under whatever form it may be, the abandonment of our first estate is apostasy. The Apostle alludes to certain mysterious events referred to in Genesis, and which the Word leaves in obscurity, as the fallen angels who were the perpetrators of them. It does not behoove us to lift this veil, but what we do know is that the judgment of the great day shall overtake these corrupted spirits, even as the punishment of eternal fire has already overtaken the profane cities of Sodom and Gomorrah who had acted "in like manner with them" (v. 7; J.N.D. Trans.). We find here two kinds of judgments, one future, the other immediate and final; one under darkness, in chains, to await the sentence of the divine tribunal, the other actually by fire, which is a fire everlasting.
Jude now passes on to the wicked who lived in his time, and whose character shall grow worse and worse until the final judgment. "Yet in like manner these dreamers also defile the flesh, and despise lordship, and speak railingly against dignities." v. 8; J.N.D. Trans. He calls them dreamers, people who are guided not by the truth, but by an imagination that knows no rule. From the moment man forsakes the Word of God, he has no reason for not giving himself over to irrationalism and fables. These dreamers have two characters already mentioned in verse 4—they defile the flesh, despise lordship, and speak railingly against dignities. Contempt for the lordship of Christ has as fatal consequence an injurious attitude toward dignities, while the Christian, acknowledging the Lord's authority has no difficulty to submit himself to the authority of those appointed by Him. Should there be magistrates without morals, or sanguinary tyrants, the believer would submit himself to them except in the things wherein obedience to God is above that due to man. Even Michael the archangel (v. 9) dares not bring a railing accusation against Satan, who sought to take possession of the body of Moses, doubtlessly to seduce the people anew, leading them again into idolatry.
"But these," adds the Apostle, "speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves." v. 10. The word "these" occupies a very important place in this short epistle. It characterizes the men who lift up themselves against God, from the days of Jude through ours and unto the coming of the Lord in judgment. Hence, these men exist in our days. Peter in his second epistle styles them in the same way: "These, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." Chap. 2:12. In what contemptible terms the Spirit of God speaks of those who in their pride dare lift up themselves against God, boasting of their intelligence and lowering themselves to the level of brute beasts; for they suppose, fools that they are, that man without God can be intelligent!
The Apostle adds: "Woe unto them!" For on the one hand, they provide contempt for God, and on the other hand draw upon themselves His judgment. The Lord has pronounced woes upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the cities of Galilee, and all the prophets of the Old Testament, upon the Jewish people and upon the nations; but here, as in Rev. 8:13, the woe is pronounced upon Christendom—woe more terrible than all because of the higher privileges accorded the Christian nations.
Dear friends, do you believe this? Have you felt the weight of the woe which hangs over the Christianized world in the midst of which you are called to live?
"Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core." v. 11. We find in this verse three examples which describe to us the progress of evil from its inception to the apostasy, three steps of which bring men to the final revolt against God and against Christ.
The first case is that of Cain. Cain's religion admits not that God's curse hangs over man and the world because of sin. Cain presents himself before God with the illusion that a sinner can set himself right with Him by his own efforts; so he brings his best corn, fruit of his work and of his efforts, for a sacrifice to God. This natural religion, beginning of apostasy, differs not from the religion of the men of our days, for it is of "these" the Apostle speaks when he says, "They have gone in the way of Cain." Their religion consists in setting themselves right with God by their own works. In defiance of His express word, it turns away from the conscience the thought of our inevitable judgment. But the example of Cain has yet another meaning. Abel's faithful testimony to the justification by faith, becomes the occasion of Cain's hatred against his brother, picture of the world's hatred against the believers, picture too of the Jewish people's hatred against Christ. This hatred against what is born of God characterizes particularly the last times all through Revelation.
If Cain represents the state of the whole religious world, the case of Balaam has a more limited bearing. It is, if I may express myself thus, the ecclesiastic evil. You know what Balaam was—prophet—not a false prophet, for he had received his gifts from God, but he combined them with idolatrous practices. He went "to seek for enchantments." He who knew God's thoughts, knowingly and willingly taught the error, and with what object? For a reward! He was paid for this; he received a salary for his teaching designed to destroy God's people. That Satan had a hand in it mattered not to Balaam, provided he was enriched thereby. He "loved," says Peter, "the wages of unrighteousness." The book of Revelation reveals to us a second character of Balaam, necessary development of the first. It speaks of the "doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication." Rev. 2:14. It tells us what the book of Numbers is silent about, that Balaam seeing his reward slipping from him, gave counsel to Balak to seduce Israel through the daughters of Moab to bring them to bow down before Baal-peor (Numb. 25:1-4).
Sad indeed it is, my dear friends, to have to admit it as a fact that the teaching of error for a reward is a trait of the apostasy and belongs to the Christianity of our days. One sees standing in the pulpits men who deny the most important truths of the faith, teaching the error concealed by words designed to deceive the simple by hiding the poison they contain. This error is not a future thing, for it began to manifest itself in the days of Jude. It exists today, and God's Word pronounces woe upon those who spread it.
We see in the case of Core a last step in the evil. They "perished in the gainsaying of Core." Core was a Levite who had the ambition to usurp the dignity of Aaron in the high priesthood. He wanted to lord it over the people of God by seizing upon an office assigned in his time to Moses' brother, and conferred now to Christ. Moreover, you read in the book of Numbers that he had associated himself with Dathan and Abiram, Reubenites who rose up against Moses and positively refused to obey him. Moses was in his time the true king in Israel (Deut. 33:5).
Today this true King is Christ to whom God has committed all authority. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram refuse him obedience. It is the type of the open rebellion against Christ, the last character of apostasy, future still in part. The day is near when Christendom shall want no more of Him, neither as Priest, King, or God. It shall deny the Father and the Son. This last character, the apostasy of Core, is the worst of all. One sees from the judgments that fell on these several persons what God thought of their acts. Cain, cursed of God, was a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth; Balaam fell by the sword of Israel with the kings of Midian; the earth swallowed up Core and his associates, and they went down alive into the sepulcher, precursors of their last representative, the antichrist who shall suffer the same fate in the lake of fire.
Such is, dear brethren, the development of the principles of evil. It is necessary that we all realize what the world is in its relationship with God, and what fate awaits it; and if we do, the knowledge of its future will fill us with a profound pity for it, and, as we shall see at the end of this epistle, an ardent zeal to save the souls who are in it. But, on the other hand, we cannot seek after its friendship at the time when judgment hangs over it. Moses said to the people at the time of Core's revolt, "Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram" (Numb. 16:24). Would an Israelite have been obedient to the word of the Lord, had he gone to shake hands with them and declared himself as their friend? Would not this disobedience rather have exposed him to the danger of sharing their fate?
"These," adds the Apostle, "are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." vv. 12, 13.
All these references to the end, as uttered by Enoch the prophet, are made to "these"; that is to say, to the men of the last days, and those days are the days we are living in. The Apostle adds to his picture one more general trait, in which you will recognize the world of today—continual anxiety and endless restlessness. They are, says he, clouds without water, carried about by winds, raging waves of the sea. Isaiah expresses the same thought: "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Chap. 57:20. If haply they seem to take root, they are "trees... twice dead, plucked up by the roots." Yes, the world of our day realizes the perpetual motion, and its course quickens more and more. It hastens on toward the abyss, fearing, it would seem, to pause for a moment in this maddening rush to find out where it is heading for and to seriously consider its future. Alas! like the wandering stars, it shall disappear in everlasting darkness. The Christian alone possesses rest in this world, because his rest is in Christ. His heart and his conscience are built upon the Rock of Ages, eternal foundation of the faith.
It is also of "these," men of the present time, that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied. "Behold," said he, "the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." vv. 14, 15. Enoch prophesied before the flood. Evidently, his prophetic eye could discern the judgment that centuries later would fall upon this world in the flood; but he looked much further on in the future. His prophecy, through thousands of years, reaches our days; for it speaks to us of Christ's coming in judgment with ten thousands of His saints. Enoch was looking not for the flood, through which he did not go, but for the Lord. And his hope was realized; he was taken up without going through death, and shall come again with Christ when He shall come accompanied by His armies to execute His vengeance upon the ungodly men of our days.
Solemn Warnings to All Children of God: Jude Part 2
The Apostle now takes up the true subject of his epistle. Are you not struck with the solemnity of this beginning? "Beloved, using all diligence to write to you of our common salvation, I have been obliged to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." Jude 1, 3; J.N.D. Trans. His first thought was to take up the pen, filled as he was of the great desire to present to them a subject which shall always be the joy of the redeemed, "our common salvation." Before all else he wished to have all believers in fellowship one with another, rejoice in the wonders of the work of the Savior. But the pen falls from his hand. What has happened? Dangers have surged, and these poor Christians may not even be aware of it! It is urgent to warn them lest they fall asleep into dangerous inaction. The Apostle gives up then his first theme and again takes up the pen to exhort them to contend for the faith.
Dear friends, this exhortation is more timely now than then. The war is declared, the enemy occupies the country, dangers threaten on all sides, traps are set, deceitfulness abounds all about us. Perhaps the Lord's sheep are not on their guard against these strangers which come to them with fair speeches and flattering words, seeking to undermine the very foundation of their faith. Perhaps their hearts are not simple enough to hear only the Good Shepherd's voice. The Apostle decides to write to us. We must be awakened from our sleep, rise and fight against the tide of evil all about us. What is the banner we are called to hold up? "The faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
We find in a number of passages, which it would take too long to enumerate, that "the faith" is not here the gift of God put in our heart enabling it to lay hold of salvation. "The faith" is the whole of the Christian doctrine taught to the saints, and which their faith has laid hold of. Now the character of the evil in the last days, is the surrendering of this doctrine. Notice the word once. It was delivered once; it is immutable and has never been modified. When Jude wrote, he spoke of this teaching as belonging to the past; it was what the first Christians had learned from the mouths of the apostles. This same teaching we now have in the Word. God has seen to it that it be given to us in the Holy Scriptures, and it exists nowhere else.
What is uppermost upon my heart is to convince you, beloved, that the great task incumbent upon us today is to hold up with a firm hand the banner that has been entrusted to us, around which all the "called" without exception must group themselves—the banner on which are written two names that are but one: the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are confronted with the moral evil that exists in the world and which is on the constant increase, displaying everywhere irreligion and unbelief and, danger greater still, appeals to man's reason to overthrow the truth, do not believe it necessary to engage in much controversy. We are much too insufficient for this, and I am persuaded that in our state of weakness we are no longer capable of doing it.
At the time of the Reformation and even until the past century, controversy, without convincing the adversaries, could establish the souls of the Christians struggling against the enemy. Seeing our little strength, our present business is rather not to let ourselves be turned aside from the things once taught to the saints, and to hold them fast. In this consisted Philadelphia's struggle: "Hold that fast which thou hast," said He that is holy, He that is true (Rev. 3:11). Do not think that this requires much knowledge and intelligence; only one simple thing is needed, love for Christ, and the most ignorant among us can possess it. If the Lord occupies in our hearts the place that is due Him, we shall certainly gain the victory; for Satan can do nothing against Him, and we shall maintain the faith once delivered to the saints, for it has nothing but Him for its object.
One sees by this epistle that at the time the Apostle wrote, the division already morally at work in the Church, was not as yet an accomplished fact. It took place only after the departure of the last Apostle, but Jude presses and declares that which was going to happen, and appeals, as we have seen, to the whole of God's family in its simplest and broadest acceptation, so that not one Christian might elude his duty when it is a question of repulsing the attacks against faith. It is to be noticed that the state of the Christians to whom the Apostle was writing was far from being what it should have been. He said to them: "I would put you in remembrance, you who once knew all things" (v. 5; J.N.D. Trans.). They were about to forget those things formerly well known which had been taught to them once, at the beginning. They had received the unction of the Holy Spirit, by which they knew all those things; but their faith had grown weak, their thoughts had turned toward the world, and Jude felt the need of reminding them concerning the scene toward which they were casting covetous eyes. Likewise, the Apostle Peter in his second epistle felt the need of awakening the sleeping Christians by reminding them of these things (2 Pet. 1:13). And we, believers of today, do we think it not time to remember them? Are we already awakened from our sleep? The call to the battle was sounded long ago. Oh! may we hear and heed these words of the Apostle: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Eph. 5:14.
The second section of the epistle of Jude (vv. 5-16) describes the evil which characterizes the last days. I deeply feel, dear brothers and sisters, that the subject I now call your attention to is neither rejoicing nor uplifting, but at certain times God brings us to the brink of a precipice and invites us to take a look at it. The view is helpful when we have, like Lot, been seduced by the beautiful appearance of the plain of Jordan. Only let us remember that where it is a question of resisting evil, nothing will enable us to do this like occupation with good. As you think of it you will see that "the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6), to be able to withstand in the evil day, consists above all in a good state of soul, and that victory entirely depends upon it. Words alone do not gain the victory, but a life consecrated to Christ and spent in communion with Him does.
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained [marked out] to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." v. 4. These men had crept in among the faithful, privily bringing in "damnable heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). But the Word reveals to us that in the days of old these men who came so long afterward had been ordained beforehand to this condemnation. This term does not at all mean that God had predestinated them to everlasting judgment, a serious error which figured in Calvin's doctrine. This passage means that God had spoken beforehand of these wicked ones of the last days and proclaimed in the days of old the cause of the accusation that should be brought against them and for which they should afterward be condemned. The first time a prophet was raised in the world (Enoch), he announced that an accusation should be brought to the charge of the wicked of our day, which should afterward bring on them a terrible judgment. Oh! may they have, in time, their eyes opened to learn of the fate awaiting them and to know God's horror of their doctrines, proved by the fact that He condemned from the beginning of the world, before the flood, the principles taught today.
These are "ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Two characters of evil are marked here, that we may easily recognize them. These ungodly men of whom the Apostle speaks, are the men of our days who were not born under law, but under grace. What do they do with it? They despise it, slighting the moral obligations it imposes upon them, and take advantage of it to give themselves up to unrestrained corruption.
The second character of these ungodly ones is that they deny "the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." This term is used many times in this epistle. The Word does not say here that these ungodly men deny the Person of Christ, but they deny Him as Lord. They accept not His authority, and this is what characterizes Christendom before the final development of apostasy. These men look for authority only in themselves and in that which they call their conscience. It is the iniquity of which 1 John 4:3 speaks, selfwill or the refusal of all laws other than one's own law, every one being a law to himself. Christ's rights are thus trodden under foot; His Word is not the rule; everyone feels free to judge it, taking what suits him, rejecting what does not. Let us not forget that these "ungodly" often profess the greatest admiration and the most profound respect for the Person of Jesus while rejecting the Lordship of Christ. Before the Word which reveals Him, they reserve the right and the authority to judge, which belong to God only. Their religion therefore is the exaltation of man, and shall be so more and more until the day when the "man of sin" "sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).
Solemn Warnings to All Children of God: Jude Part 4
After having drawn the picture of the ungodly in their relations with God, the Apostle yet considers their moral character. This examination is of great moment, for it is a common thing, when we do speak of the terrible condition of the ungodly, to hear well intentioned persons answering, no doubt it is distressing that their thoughts on this subject differ from ours; however, they are honorable, devoted people, irreproachable in their deportment, etc. Does the Word speak of them in this wise? Listen to what it says: ' These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage." v. 16. "Murmurers, complainers"; is this not what characterizes more and more in our day this world seeking to live without God? A veil of discontentment and bitter sadness stretches itself everywhere over people's minds. One seeks to set it aside with feverish agitation, but without success. Has one ever found a happy man in the world? Moreover, the thought that others have attained to what they themselves desire, gives rise to jealousy in the heart; they are "complainers" about their lot. The Apostle adds that they walk "after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words." Boasting, self-satisfaction, pretension to virtue, walk side by side with the hidden search for the secret desires of their hearts. Finally, they admire men in view of their own profit. Is not this the world's custom? One professes admiration for others, speaking pleasing words for the sake of profit.
We have followed to the end this sad enumeration of the elements of evil already largely developing in our days, but which are about to precipitate their course in an irresistible manner. It is with the apostasy as it is with those avalanches one sees forming in our mountains. At first they are only fragments of ice rolling down a snowy slope. These fragments pick up others and suddenly, with frightful swiftness, this solid torrent rushes on, crushing everything along its path until the whole valley is filled with its debris. This moral cataclysm of the end is daily becoming closer at hand.
We have just seen what the actual state of Christendom is, and the judgment it shall bring upon itself. Now the Apostle addresses himself to the faithful, to you all, beloved, called of Jesus Christ, to exhort you. "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." v. 17. This word, "But... ye" is the counterpart of the word "these." It is you, children of God, that the Holy Spirit teaches what you must do and what is your safeguard before the increasing evil. He brings you back to the Word of God as it has been given to you in the New Testament by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second epistle of Peter, which contains the same exhortation, adds to the New Testament the contents of the Old: "That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior." Chap. 3:2. So the 18th verse of our epistle, "How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts" corresponds to 2 Pet. 3:3: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." We must remember that in "the last time," or in "the last days," mockers shall come. Their present appearance proves to us that we certainly have arrived at the last days. On the one hand, we feel relieved to think that in a very short time all further development of this evil shall have ceased, and that we shall be introduced into the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; but on the other hand, to see this last form of evil established is most solemn and must put us all on our guard. The third chapter of Peter's second epistle gives a detailed description of these mockers. "Walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." They are not, as one might think, people who jest about anything and turn to ridicule the divine things; this turn of mind was in fashion about a century and a half ago. The mockers of the last days are serious mockers who reject the Word of God in the name of science and of reason and esteem as worthy to be believed only such things as they can see. They believe in the eternity of the matter, since it has not changed "from the beginning of the creation." If they sometimes profess a high esteem for the Person of Jesus Christ as a historical and authentic Person, as far as they are concerned, His career ended at His death. Consequently they reject this promise of His coming.
"These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." v. 19. When Jude wrote, the Christian assembly still existed as a whole, with those who separated themselves in its midst. Do not forget, dear friends, that there are two kinds of separation, one approved of God, the other condemned by Him. The first is separation from the world, as it is written: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. The other is the separation of these "sensual, having not the Spirit," from the Christians. They had crept in among the faithful without being of them, and bringing in their "damnable heresies," feasting with them and corrupting the center into which they had gained admittance, and who should never have received them. The first epistle of John shows us a second phase of the separation of these men. "They went out from, us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." Chap. 2:19. The duty of every Christian in the present day is to be separated from them—not to admit them in the assembly of believers, and not to join himself to them on the ground upon which they stand. Is this what is being done? Alas! the noxious influence of these men, "sensual, having not the Spirit," is tolerated and accepted today in the midst of Christian profession!
After having warned us, the Word of God exhorts us, and enumerates our resources in presence of this state of things. We again find here the precious truth, of which we have already spoken, that God can be perfectly glorified by His own in the midst of ruined Christendom. "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,..." v. 20. The first exhortation is to build up ourselves on our most holy faith—the faith which was "once delivered unto the saints" (v. 3). This faith, the Christian doctrine, contained in the Word which has been entrusted to us, is most holy, and the Lord wants by this means to separate us entirely from the world, for Himself. "Sanctify them through Thy truth," said Jesus, "Thy word is truth." John 17:17. Such is our first resource to glorify the Lord.
The second exhortation is, "Praying in the Holy Ghost." If God sanctifies us for Him, through the Holy Scriptures, He does so also through prayer. This latter expresses our dependence upon God. Through prayer we approach Him and present our needs to Him. We enter thus in direct relation with Him in our daily life; only prayer to be effectual must be in the Holy Spirit. Thus we are sanctified, separated to God, first by the Word, then by the habitual exercise of prayer.
The third exhortation is of the greatest importance: "Keep yourselves in the love of God." The Holy Spirit has shed this love in our hearts and we are to keep ourselves in it, carefully watching that we do not allow in our souls the least thing that might hinder our enjoyment of it.
The fourth exhortation is, "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (v. 21). This is the Christian's hope. This passage contains the three characteristic traits of the child of God so often mentioned in the New Testament—faith, love, and hope. This latter is as important as the other two; it looks for eternal life into which the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ alone can introduce us. Eternal life, which we now possess, is viewed here as that into which the believer is going to enter, while he enjoys it but imperfectly down here. Notice that in these two verses our resources consist in our relations with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
But, as Christians, we still have duties toward those who contest, and duties toward our brethren. "And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." vv. 22, 23. As to the mockers who dispute, like Satan their master disputed of old with Michael the archangel, we are, like the latter, to answer them with these words: The Lord rebuke you! It is henceforth useless to seek to persuade them. We are in the times of which it is said, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still" (Rev. 22:11). But the souls of our brethren may be seduced by these reasoners and their false doctrines which challenge the Word of God and the Person of the Savior. What are we to do for them? We are to save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire. A Christian has compared the epistle of Jude to a house on fire. One must at all costs get the inhabitants out, at the risk of one's own life; no effort is to be thought too great by us who know the value of these souls. They must be made to realize the imminent danger to which they are exposed. Let us save them with fear. Such is our principal aim in addressing to Christians the solemn warning contained in these pages.
As to ourselves, if we would be helpful to others, let us learn to hate "even the garment spotted by the flesh," to avoid all intercourse with an impure profession (the garment is the emblem of profession) of which this epistle speaks and which it calls the defilement or filthiness of the flesh (see Rev. 3:4). It is thus that in the second epistle to the Corinthians, after speaking of our bounden duty as the family of God, to be separate from the world, the Apostle adds as to our individual testimony, "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).
May God give all His dear children to realize these things, and to each to ask himself or herself, Do I bear the characters recommended by this epistle in view of the present time? Should we not feel deeply humbled by the fact that we manifest so little that which the Lord desires?
How blessed that we yet have one resource—God remains. He alone can keep us. Let us trust Him, for is it not true, we cannot trust ourselves? "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." v. 24. Is it not marvelous that this epistle, picture of the irresistible development of the evil in the last days, shows us at the same time the possibility of being kept from falling, in a path strewn with obstacles and snares? It encourages us with the assurance that God is able to accomplish perfectly that which we are incapable of doing, and to present us for eternity faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. How much encouragement in these words! How precious that they are addressed to us for the present time, and not for a time when all was comparatively in order. How good to be able to say, The power of God has not changed, is not modified by circumstances, and is all the more glorified because displayed in a time of moral desolation and ruin. The more the apostasy grows, the more it is necessary to have no confidence whatever in ourselves, but to lean on the One who wants to keep us and will bring us in the eternal enjoyment of His glory.
"To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." v. 25. You will not find one epistle in the New Testament where the praises of the Savior God so richly overflow as in this short epistle of Jude. Not only can we glorify God in our walk in these difficult times, but the more difficult the circumstances through which we are passing, the more we shall appreciate His glory. Only by keeping the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not denying it when it is attacked on all sides, are we qualified to understand and celebrate this glory; and this gives us a foretaste of the great heavenly reunion where words such as these shall be uttered around the throne: "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power" (Rev. 4:11). "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Rev. 5:12. "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.
Dear brothers and sisters, may God give us to take these things to heart, and not to delude ourselves as to the character of the days in which we live, and to heed the exhortations of this epistle.
Thus, instead of showing a guilty indifference with regard to the evil, or being discouraged by it, we shall walk from strength to strength, having with us the power of God, all ready to lead and sustain us and to keep us from falling until the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.