The following statements of Jude are more than sufficient to account for the saying, that " The annals of the church are the darkest on record." The evil was at work in the apostle's day. But the small mustard-seed has become a great tree, and the little leaven has permeated the mass. These early elements of evil were introduced into the church by the enemy to pervert its energies, and corrupt all its spiritual ways. " These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." They were, as we would say, in fellowship, breaking bread, and taking part in the love-feasts, which were meant to be the happy expression of brotherly love, but without a particle of conscience before God, or the least sense of their own sin and shame before men. But this state of things, in the early days of Christianity, is here viewed by the Spirit of God as that which would result in the full-blown apostasy of its closing days.
These instruments of Satan appeared in the midst of the saints, and feeding themselves at their pious feasts without fear. Hardened and blinded by the enemy, we doubt not they were most pretentious, forward, and active in the assembly of the faithful. " Raging waves of the sea [turbulent and violent against all who opposed them] foaming out their own shame." But they are described and denounced by the Holy Ghost with an energy strikingly peculiar. " 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."
Clouds without water, darkening the heavens, but containing no refreshing showers: trees without fruit, as if blasted by the withering curse of God, and rooted out of the garden of the church, being doubly dead, by nature and their own apostasy. "Every plant," says the Savior, " which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." (Matt. 15:1313But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. (Matthew 15:13).) Wandering stars, who had left their original position, and were unsteady in their course; to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Many, alas! who have assumed the position of stars never were in the Lord's right hand, wandered from the Shepherd's path, were unsteady in their course, and a stumbling-block to thousands who blindly followed them.
What must the state of Christendom be in the sight of the Lord, we may well exclaim, seeing it contains all these elements of evil, and in fearful activity! And still more solemn the thought, if possible, there is no hope of improvement. We are plainly taught by the Spirit of God, through the prophecy of Enoch, that the evil which had crept in among the early Christians would not cease, but continue, until the Lord returned with myriads of His saints to execute judgment upon the ungodly. Evil men and seducers in the professing church are spoken of as waxing worse and worse, until destroyed by judgment at the appearing of the Lord in glory. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, 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 them. 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."
As the judgment here spoken of will not be executed until the Lord returns, attended by all His saints, the wicked must be left behind when the faithful have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Most solemn thought for all Christendom! The rapture of the saints leaves behind for judgment every false professor within its vast limits. There will be no conversions among such after the church is gone, and whatever may be the first feelings of those that are so left, they will speedily fall into the hands of Satan, and under the power of the strong delusion, being utterly rejected by God, " Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." As they persisted in rejecting the truth of God, they are judicially doomed to believe the lie of Satan, with its awful and eternal consequences.
Such will be the fearful end of multitudes who once formed a most respectable part of the company of Christians. But though members of churches, or even office-bearers, they had never broken with the world, they had never really come as lost sinners to the Savior, they had never really and truly been converted to God. And were the Lord to come for His church today, how many such would be left behind? And how many who had never once thought of ever being left behind to perish with the openly and vulgarly wicked? What! they may exclaim, we were Christians, we have always been religious, we were in office, we were full members of the church, and have always done our duty—and not to be accepted!
Nothing can be more awfully solemn; but Cain, the founder of their system—natural religion, was a worshipper, and thought he had done his best. But he cared not to think of the nature and being of that God with whom he had to do, nor of his own condition as a lost sinner. The sweat of his brow should have reminded him of the judicial consequence of sin, and that his family had been driven out of paradise. But he was guided by his own opinions, not by God's word. And what should we think of a man now who hoped he would get to heaven by acting sincerely according to his own opinions, by contributing largely to the cause of religion, and being regular in his attendance at his place of worship? This is all; there is no faith in the blood of Christ, no subjection of heart to His will. And are there not thousands, and tens of thousands, all around us in this state? Blinded to the character of God, without conscience as to the judgment of sin, and their own condition, just as Cain was.
But again, we repeat that to be religious, a worshipper, without faith in the precious blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, is a solemn mockery, and a practical denial of the whole truth of God. Only those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus, shall enter that cloudy chariot, and be caught up to the Father's house of many mansions, and be forever with the Lord.
May the God of mercy grant that my dear reader, if not already a true believer, may lay these things to heart. The door of mercy stands wide open now, and whosoever will may enter in. All who come are welcome, received, and blessed forever. " Him that cometh to me," says the blessed Jesus, "I will in no wise cast out." Surely this word of grace from His own lips is enough to create faith in that blessed Savior. And then love to Himself and willing obedience are sure to follow. But there must be personal exercise, personal faith, personal repentance, personal confidence in the Lord Jesus, and in His word. This is the one thing needful; everything else, compared with this, dwindles into utter insignificance. Oh, then, my dear reader, as thou wouldst escape the awful disappointment of being left behind, the awful deception of the strong delusion, the awful judgment that will be executed upon all such by the Lord in Person, and in His full manifested glory, accompanied by all His saints in the same glory, and perfectly conformed to His image—forget not that the disappointment, the judgment, the separation from that glory and those glorified ones, must be forever. In the dark prison-house of hell, the brightness of His glory, the celestial happiness of those who now share that glory, when remembered by thee, must deepen its gloom, and increase thy misery. Hadst thou not seen the Savior in His beauty and glory, and the happy myriads around Him, thy agony would have been less intolerable. But now thine eyes have seen both, and their heavenly brightness can never be forgotten. But what a scene to remember in hopeless woe! Oh, what can I say to induce thee to give thy heart at once to Jesus! Escape! oh, escape! flee from the direful consequences of unbelief, however correct thy outward life may be. Salvation is by faith alone, without deeds of law. Nothing in the vast universe can keep thy soul out of the flames of hell but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Without the shedding of blood is no remission. But that precious blood cleanseth from all sin—all who believe are cleansed and whiter than snow. Heb. 9:22For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the sanctuary. (Hebrews 9:2)2 John 1:77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7); Psalm 51:77Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7).
We would only further add, with reference to the apostasy, that another of its characteristics is the way that certain persons are looked up to and believed in, in place of looking to the Lord, and believing in Him alone. With this class we are all familiar. " Having men's persons in admiration because of advantage." Favorite ministers or leaders may be idolized, and all they say received as pure truth, though opposed to the word of God. The former they admire, the latter they do not respect: or Jude may refer to the tendency of ministers to flatter the rich, and overlook their faults, in order to gain advantage by them. But there is a class of persons in the church "who separate themselves"—who consider themselves more holy, more sacred, more spiritual, and their persons more inviolate, than the rest of mankind; in every way superior to the laity, as if they were a higher order of beings, and made of a different material. Nothing is so plainly written on the pages of history as clerical assumption. " These be they," says the Spirit of truth, " who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." They are like the Pharisees, and practically say of others, Stand by, come not near me, for I am holier than thou. Yet they are without the Holy Spirit.
(* In the September number, page 244, bottom line, for " sacred people," read saved people.)