The Epistle of Jude by Dr. Stephen Jones

EPISTLE OF JUDE COMMENTARY

By Dr. Stephen Jones

PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE OF JUDE – 3-16-2019

Jude, or Judas, was one of Jesus’ younger brothers, not to be confused with Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him. He identifies himself in his salutation in Jude 1 and 2, saying,

¹ Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. ² May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Verse 1 identifies the author under the Greek name, Ioudas, or Judas. He was referenced again in Matthew 13:55, 56 where we read of the questions the people of Nazareth had about Jesus,

⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

The same is found in Mark 6:3, which gives us the same story from a different gospel writer. From this we find that Jesus had four brothers and at least three sisters. If Jesus had had only two sisters, the wording would have been, “And His sisters, are they not BOTH with us?” But in using the term “all,” it is implied that He had more than two sisters. In other words, Jesus was the first-born son in a fairly large family of eight brothers and sisters. Judas, being listed last, was no doubt the youngest brother.

One might compare him to the family of his forefather, David, who was the eighth brother (1 Samuel 16:10, 11). However, David was the youngest, while Jesus was the oldest, and we do not know if David had any sisters, as none are mentioned.

The Conversion of James and Judas

Very little is known about Judas himself. He is believed to have written his epistle in Judea, for he wrote against the Gnostics that had been infiltrating Christian circles. Gnosticism was founded by Simon Magus, who was confronted in Samaria by Peter (Acts 8:9, 18-23). Peter admonished Simon to repent, but he did not do so, preferring to establish a counterfeit version of Christianity that merged Greek religion with elements of Christianity.

John 7:5 says, “not even His brothers were believing in Him” during the time of His earthly ministry. However, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to James (1 Corinthians 15:7), which apparently confirmed him in the faith and prepared him to lead the church in Jerusalem a few years later after the apostles were forced to flee from Jerusalem.

Judas may have seen Jesus as well after the resurrection, but if so, we are not told. At the very least, his older brother, James, would have testified of his personal experience, and Judas would have believed his account.

Their view of Jesus after His resurrection changed dramatically. No longer was Jesus their older brother, for they had to learn a new truth. Resurrection makes one legally a new creation—that is, a different person. So Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16 and 17,

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

So also Jude introduced himself not as Jesus’ brother but as “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.” He was still the brother of James, but his relationship with Jesus had changed. He claimed no blood relationship with Jesus, for Jesus had ascended to a greater position as the Master of all who believe. He is now a brother to the whole Church (Hebrews 2:12) and a near kinsman to all who are made of “flesh and blood” (Hebrews 2:14).

James himself called himself “a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). Paul identified himself as “a bond-servant of Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:1). Thus, Judas, James, and Paul were equally bond-servants of Jesus Christ.

A bond-servant is a slave, but the New Testament writers use this term to refer to voluntary love-slaves, who have been set free but who have returned to have their spiritual ears nailed to the door of the Master’s house (Exodus 21:5, 6). They are no longer slaves sentenced to work off their debt to sin (Exodus 22:3), for Jesus paid their debt and set them free. Instead, they are voluntary slaves who return because they love their Master and desire to share in His inheritance as part of His household. Hence, they have said (as in Psalm 40:6-8),

⁶ … “My ears Thou hast opened… ⁷ Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me; ⁸ I delight to do Thy will, O my God, Thy law is within my heart.”

In other words, being a bond-servant of Jesus Christ is not a matter of compulsion but of love. They do the will of God, not because they are forced against their will, but because they are in agreement with His will.

Dating Jude’s Epistle

Dr. Bullinger dates the epistle from 41-46 A.D. Others date it a bit later. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says in its introduction to Jude,

“Though the date of composition cannot be fixed with certainty, it would not be inaccurate to assign it to the latter half of the first century. It is listed in the Muratorian Canon (second century), and mentioned by Tertullian, Clement, and Origen (third century).”

Jude’s concern about the rising Gnostic influence in the Church also helps to date it, as this was an important issue at that time.

Jude’s Salutation

Jude 1 addressed the epistle to “the called,” “the beloved,” and those “kept for Jesus Christ.”

Jude 2 says, “May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

Those who are called (kletos) are greeted in the Hebrew manner by peace (shalom). The beloved, of course, are loved. Those who are kept (tereo, “guarded”) for Jesus Christ are given mercy.

Jude’s salutation is similar to Paul’s greeting in 2 Timothy 1:2, “grace, mercy, and peace from God.”

PART 2: THE EPISTLE OF JUDE  3-18-2019

Jude 3 and 4 says,
³ Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common [koinos] salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Apparently, Jude had been preparing to write a letter to some local church to explain the basic principles of “our common salvation,” when he received news that some Gnostics had joined that fellowship, teaching views that were contrary to the gospel of Christ. Gnosticism was the first great challenge to the early Church, and no doubt this was also the reason that Luke records the manner in which its founder, Simon Magus, had first come into contact with Christians. That story is told in Acts 8:9-11,

⁹ Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; ¹⁰ and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” ¹¹ And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.

Whether Simon had been using trickery and illusion or demonic power is not known. However, when Philip came to Samaria and began to preach the gospel with “great miracles” (Acts 8:13), Luke says that Simon “was constantly amazed.” He could see that these miracles were genuine and had exceeded his own abilities. Hence, “Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued on with Philip.”

Simon could not dispute Philip’s miracles but desired to learn how to do these for himself. Later, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard of the revival taking place in Samaria, Peter and John went there and laid hands on people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thinking that the Holy Spirit was something to be controlled and utilized by men, Simon offered to pay them money for the authority to impart the Holy Spirit to people (Acts 8:19). That is when Peter discerned that Simon’s heart was not right.

Gnostic Teaching

It is not known precisely what Simon had been teaching in Samaria when he first came in contact with Philip, Peter, and John. By the second century, however, his followers were teaching that Simon and Helena, his prostitute-wife from Tyre, were the means of salvation. One only had to recognize Simon as “The Great Power of God,” who had been sent to release Helena from her condition, and to accept his doctrine.

Gnosticism was based on the idea of an unknown God, which they sought to “know” (gnosis). The Gnostics believed the basic Greek principle that spirit was created by the good God and that matter was created by the evil god (demiurge). Hence spirit was good and matter was evil. Simon’s wife, Helena, was supposed to show the path of salvation, or how to move from a life of prostitution to a life of spirituality. In essence, Simon presented himself as a messiah type, competing with Jesus Christ as the savior of the world.

Gnoticism took more than one form, but the main groups were antinomian, rejecting the law of God as being given by the demiurge (or “devil”). This gave license to all kinds of immoral practices, which appeared to be drawn from earlier beliefs from Greece, Egypt, and Persia. It was commonly believed that man fell from heaven to earth in seven stages, each represented by a different planet. The sun and moon were considered to be the closest planets, and the moon was said to be the stage in which men fell by engaging in sexual relations.

The solution, they said, was to return to heaven through the seven stages, beginning with the moon. Hence, the people were required to be “purified” by having sexual relations with a priest or priestess in the groves (Asherah) or in temples. This teaching gave rise to the abominations denounced by the prophets in the Old Testament.

Gnosticism attempted to appeal to a wide variety of people by adopting elements of many religions. So also they had adopted certain elements of Christianity and, in fact, claimed to be the true form of Christianity. They functioned as a mystery religion, claiming to know secrets of the unknown God, which would be imparted to those who believed in Simon Magus.

The Common Salvation

Jude mentions “the common salvation,” where he uses the word koinos. This was a word that Paul also used in a similar manner in regard to “Titus, my true child in the common faith.”

Koinos was a word used in Judaism to denote something that was profane or unclean, as we see in Acts 10:28, where Peter said,

²⁸ And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy [koinos, “common”] or unclean.

Peter was still reluctant to follow his own revelation in later years, and Paul admonished him for his hypocrisy in Galatians 2:11, 12, 13). Nonetheless, the term koinos was soon embraced as a good thing that characterized Christian practice as distinct from what was seen in Judaism. The supposedly unclean Greeks were “unholy” to the Jews, but many of them had embraced Christ and had a “common faith” (Paul) and a “common salvation” (Jude).

Jude’s use of the term koinos may also suggest an underlying meaning, as it is used in the context of Gnostic teaching. Its dual meaning may refer to the counterfeit path whereby people move from unholy to holy. Helena had been a prostitute and had supposedly become “holy” when Simon released her. All others too might be released if they believed Simon’s doctrines and recognized him as the Great Power of God.

But Jude makes it clear that the Gnostics had turned the grace of God into licentiousness and denied “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Grace was not a license to sin (transgress the law), and Simon was not a second “Master and Lord” on par with Jesus Christ.

Falling from Grace

Jude 5 continues,

⁵ Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

It is a matter of record that most of the Israelites died in the wilderness after being saved out of Egypt. Jude’s point is that Simon himself believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13), and yet he was like those Israelites “who did not believe.” This compares Simon and other Gnostics to the Israelites who did not have the faith to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:11, 12; Hebrews 3:19).

All of those Israelites who died in the wilderness had been justified by faith in the blood of the Passover Lamb when they had left Egypt. Nonetheless, their first step of faith was insufficient to receive the promise of God. So Hebrews 4:1 tells us,

¹ Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come sort of it.

The explanation is given earlier in Hebrews 3:14,
¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.

It is clear from this that it is one thing to have faith in Jesus Christ and quite another to receive the promise of God. Only the overcomers can enter the Promised Land, pictured by Caleb and Joshua, who did indeed have faith in God’s ability to fulfill His promise.

When we examine the story of Israel’s failure to enter the Promised Land, the explanation for their lack of faith is found in Numbers 13:31,

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him [that is, with Caleb] said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”

The people thought that they had faith when they departed from Egypt, but in the end the source of their faith was in themselves, not in God. They were depending upon their own strength to conquer the land, and they did not believe that God was able to do it. Hence, they had Old Covenant faith, which was faith in their own flesh, their own will, and their own ability to keep their vow to God (Exodus 19:8).

Of the twelve spies, only Caleb and Joshua possessed New Covenant faith, saying in Numbers 14:8,

⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey.

Their faith was in God’s promise, not in their own promise to God. That is what made the difference, and their faith in God’s promise was what qualified them to enter the Promised Land.

Afterward, Moses interceded for the people, saying in Numbers 14:15-17,

¹⁵ Now if Thou dost slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Thy fame will say, ¹⁶ “Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.” ¹⁷ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as Thou hast declared.

Moses did not appeal to God on the basis of the Old Covenant, for he said nothing about the people’s vow to God in Exodus 19:8. Instead, he appealed to that which God had “promised them by oath.” In other words, if God was unable to fulfill His oath, then the other nations would have grounds to say that God was unable to fulfill His word.

God’s response is seen in Numbers 14:21,

²¹ but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

This promise is repeated four more times in later Scriptures, including Habakkuk 2:14,

¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Knowledge is given to people, not to an inanimate earth. It is clear, then, that the promise is being given to people, not to dirt or land.

In other words, God said, not only will I fill the Israelites with My glory, but I will fill the whole earth with My glory. And yet that generation died without receiving the promise. The same can be said about most of the people in the rest of the earth. It is apparent, then, that when sinners die, it is not the end of the story. Scripture goes on to reveal that all of the dead will be raised and that when they stand before the Great White Throne, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess and declare allegiance to Christ (Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10, 11).

The point is that while men may indeed fall short of the faith required to receive the promises of God, their condition is not permanent, even if they die in their unbelief. Some, like the Israelites, are justified by the blood of the Lamb. The majority of people who have lived on earth died without even hearing of Jesus Christ. But in neither case is their salvation based upon their own vows or decisions to follow Christ. Their salvation is based upon the promise (oath) of God, not upon their own promises.

Jude does not explain all of this in his short epistle, so if we want to understand what he wrote, we must go back to the story that he referenced and study it for ourselves. Jude’s point was that men may indeed fall from grace when their faith is tested and proven to be insufficient. But we know from the actual story in Numbers 14 that this is not the end of the story. God’s oath must be fulfilled, and when our faith rests in his promise, then it is sufficient to enter God’s rest.

EPISTLE OF JUDE PART 3

Jude gives us a second biblical example proving that people’s initial faith may not endure. After setting forth the example of the Israelites in the wilderness, he goes on to give the example of the angels who sinned.

The Nephilim

Jude 6 says,

⁶ And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal [aidios] bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

No doubt this is a reference to the event in Genesis 6:1, 2, which says,

¹ Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

This appears to be a reference to the account in the book of Enoch, which gives a rather elaborate and detailed account of angels taking earthly women and producing giants in the earth. The fact that there were giants in those days is well established in biblical history, beginning with Genesis 6:4,

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward [i.e., after the flood], when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

The flood was sent to destroy these Nephilim (“giants”), but yet centuries after the flood there were still offspring of the Nephilim on the earth. Either the flood failed to destroy them all, or there was another occasion “afterward” when angels took the daughters of men as wives. The Nephilim were still in existence in the days of Moses, for they were the primary reason why the Israelites lacked the faith to enter the Promised Land. Numbers 13:32, 33 says,

³² So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. ³³ There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The tribe of Anak (Anakim) were the branch of the Nephilim that dominated Canaan. Their name, Anak, means a neck or necklace, indicating that they were probably known for their long necks or for their gold necklaces.

The Rephaim

A different tribe of Nephilim were known as Rephaim, who lives on the east side of the Jordan River in the land of Bashan. The name Rephaim comes from rapha, “to heal,” and may have referred to their use of balsam oil that was famous for its healing properties. Balsam was grown in Gilead, and the Israelites living there had learned the secret of distilling it. Jeremiah 8:22 asks, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

The Israelites destroyed the last of the Rephaim after Moses led Israel to the land of Moab, preparing them to cross the Jordan. Deuteronomy 3:11-13 tells us,

¹¹ “(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.) ¹² So we took possession of this land at that time…. ¹³ And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim).

Og’s bed was nine cubits in length according to the ordinary cubit of six handbreadths (19.8 inches). Og’s bed, then, was 14.85 feet long, which suggests that Og himself was probably about 13 feet tall.

Whatever happened in Genesis 6:4, these “sons of God,” or “angels,” are called Nephilim, which name is from the Hebrew root word naphal, “to fall.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5307&t=NASB

Hence, we get the term “fallen angels,” that is, angels who fell into rebellion or apostasy. Other Hebrew interpreters explain this by saying that the angels had attacked or had fallen upon their victims—in this case, the daughters of men. Whatever the explanation, they believed that the angels had “fallen” in taking the daughters of men as wives.

Mount Hermon

The result of this was that giants ruled that area near Mount Hermon, where the Nephilim had actually descended in Genesis 6:2. The book of Enoch, chapter 13, verses 6 and 7 tells us,

“And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.”

The name Hermon is from charam, which is variously translated “ban, devotion, curse.” For example, in Joshua 6:18 Jericho was put under charam, which meant that all of the gold, silver, bronze, and iron were devoted to God. Anyone who violated the ban was put under a curse—such as what happened with Achan (Joshua 7:1).

According to the book of Enoch, the mountain was given the name Hermon on account of an oath that had bound the fallen angels together in some sort of covenant. The implication is that if any of them broke ranks or refused to assist each other in time of need, they would come under a curse.

The book of Jubilees 4:15 also dates this event in the days of Jared, specifically in the tenth Jubilee from Adam, in the sixth year of the third “week” (of years). We know from Scripture that this is indeed when Jared was born, but the author’s opinion that this was when the Nephilim took the daughters of men cannot be verified by Scripture. The accounts in Jubilees and Enoch tell us that Enoch himself reprimanded these fallen ones and their offspring.

Mount Hermon is Sion

Deuteronomy 4:48 says,

⁴⁸ from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon).

This is important, because we learn from Hebrews 12:22 KJV that Mount Sion is the rallying place for the true Church.

²² But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.

Mount Sion, or Hermon, was the place where Jesus was transfigured in Matthew 17:1, 2. We know this because Jesus had just taken His disciples to Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:13), where Peter had made his great confession in verse 16. Caesarea Philippi (the old city of Dan) was north of Samaria at the south base of Mount Hermon. It was where the Grotto of Pan was located, which the Jews called “the gates of hell” (Matthew 16:18).

Jesus took three of His disciples up Mount Sion (Hermon), where He was transfigured and where God pronounced Him to be “My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 17:5). In other words, Jesus was the TRUE Son of God, whereas the fallen angels were FALSE “sons of God” attempting to fulfill prophecy in an unlawful manner.

The Nephilim apparently understood that the idea of Sonship involved some sort of union between heaven and earth, but they attempted to fulfill this unlawfully. The true fulfillment, of course, was when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and begat Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18). We too have the authority to become sons of God by being begotten by the Holy Spirit through the seed of the gospel, which begets Christ in us through hearing and believing the Word.

The true sons of God, then, look to Mount Sion as the New Covenant mount. With Jesus as our example, we are given the hope of transfiguration or “change” (1 Corinthians 15:51). In the end, to be sons of God means that heaven and earth have come together to form glorified bodies. That is the ultimate goal of the feast of Tabernacles, as I have shown in other studies.

Jude’s Teaching

Jude brought up the angels that sinned in order to tell us that not only men but angels too might fall. The Israelites had all been justified by faith when they left Egypt, but their faith lacked endurance. The angels presumably had been perfect at one time but yet they still “fell” (naphal). Both of these examples were designed to warn the church of Gnostics whose founder had originally believed the gospel and was baptized but whose heart was later exposed (Acts 8:23).

Both examples show the distinction also between the church and the overcomers in the topic of Sonship. Sonship is progressive, for although a son is technically a son at birth, he is not a full son until he is mature. A minor is no different from a servant, or slave, Paul says in Galatians 4:1. An immature son is a work in progress, but the father does not entrust him with the family estate until he is old enough to be responsible for its use.

So also the Israelites were born out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), but most of them failed to reach spiritual maturity when they arrived at the border of the Promised Land. The so-called “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 attempted to achieve Sonship in an unlawful manner through rebellion, and so they too were disqualified.

Both of these stories are packed with lessons for the church to learn, but Jude’s main point is to let the church know that they must be on their guard against those who profess Christ but who do not remain in His teaching. This shows the importance of enduring to the end.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 4

Before continuing to the next verses in Jude, we need to go back to previous verses and explain a few of the minor points raised.

The Sovereignty of God

First, in Jude 4 we read that the Gnostic infiltrators had been “long beforehand marked out for this condemnation.” Jude recognized the sovereignty of God, and so he attributes the existence of Gnostics to the divine plan. No doubt he agreed with Paul when he wrote in Romans 9:22 about vessels of dishonor that God has created.

Calvinists, of course, have used this to try to prove that God creates certain people to be unbelievers, and that their end is to be burned in hell forever. They fail to see that the judgment of God is remedial and that God will save all mankind in the end. Only that solution is truly just, and it is the only solution that aligns with a God of Love. Calvin’s problem was that he read Romans 9 without first understanding Romans 5.

Note that Jude’s example lists the Israelites themselves as being comparable to the Gnostics. Almost the entire generation of Israelites were “subsequently destroyed” (Jude 5) in the wilderness. Did that mean they all went to an eternal hell? No, they merely failed to reach the goal of the Promised Land, which in New Testament terms is to be Sons of God. They were justified by faith (Passover), but they failed to receive Pentecost at Sinai, and thus they also failed to enter the land at Tabernacles.

The same situation is found in the church today, where all true believers are justified by faith in the blood of the Lamb but not all are filled with the Spirit and even fewer have the quality of faith necessary to receive the promise of Tabernacles. Fortunately, the New Covenant itself is God’s promise to the church and, indeed, to the whole earth. When men question God’s ability to fulfill His promise, the word of the Lord rings loud and clear from Numbers 14:21,

²¹ but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Do you think God has a problem bringing the Israelites into the Promised Land? Wait until you see how He saves the whole earth! A delay does not mean failure, unless you believe that death is the final deadline for someone to be saved. Death is a deadline to be an overcomer who inherits the promise in the First Resurrection, but it is not a deadline to be saved.

Hebrews 9:27 says,

²⁷ And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.

This tells us that judgment comes after death. It says nothing about a deadline, unless you assume that judgment is the final condition with no remedy or correction possible. But the verse says nothing about that. I too believe that judgment comes after death, but to understand the nature and duration of divine judgment, one must look elsewhere for answers.

Where but at the Great White Throne will every knee bow and every tongue swear allegiance to God and Christ (Isaiah 45:23)?

Jude, then, recognizes that many are “long beforehand marked out for this condemnation,” but this condemnation is not a permanent condition. It is aionian (Greek) or olam (Hebrew), which describe an unknown, hidden, or indefinite period of time that is best rendered “an age.”

Jude’s Use of Aidios

In Jude 6 we read the author’s second example of how people can fall from an original position of belief or perfection. The “angels who did not keep their own domain” are said to be “kept in eternal [aidios] bonds under darkness.”

This is one of two places where this unique word was used in the New Testament. The usual word is aionian, which is the normal equivalent of the Hebrew olam, “hidden.” Paul too used aidios once in Romans 1:20,

²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal [aidios] power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Paul’s point was to show that God’s “invisible attributes,” including His aidios power and divine nature, have been clearly seen by all in the world—through nature itself, if nothing else. In other words, Paul was not intending to present God’s “eternal power,” but rather His hidden attributes that have been revealed and clearly seen. The contrast is not between eternal and temporary but between hidden and visible.

Hence, also Dr. Bullinger suggests that in The Companion Bible, appendix 151 that aidios was not from the Greek word aei, as is commonly supposed, but from a (not) and idein (to see). By this understanding, he says it means “unseen or hidden.” That would be the equivalent of olam in Hebrew, whose root word is alam, “to hide.”

Yet even aei, the root of aionian, does not mean “forever” but “without fail.” In Acts 7:51 Peter says,

⁵¹ You men who are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always [aei] resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

Peter was not saying that they would resist the Holy Spirit forever, but rather that they did so without fail. Nonetheless, regardless of the inherent Greek meaning of this root word, we must understand that the Jews were using aionian as the established equivalent of the Hebrew word olam. That is the source of the biblical meaning of aionian.

But Jude uses the term aidios, which is even clearer in its meaning, especially when we see how the apostle Paul used the term in Romans 1:20. The bottom line is that Jude 6 was telling us that the fallen angels had been bound with unseen chains of darkness. The time itself was limited, because it was “for the judgment of the great day,” at which time they would be summoned to the Great White Throne for judgment. Jude has no further explanation.

Futility in Creation is Subject to Time

The original purpose and intent of God for creation will be fulfilled, because God is a success, not a failure. To fail (Hebrew: khawtaw) is to sin, as we see in the biblical use of the word in Judges 20:16,

¹⁶ Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss [khawtaw].

Yet Genesis 18:20 says also,

²⁰ And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin [khawtaw] is exceedingly grave.”

Sin means missing the mark, or failing to reach one’s goal. So Paul says in Romans 3:23,

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

The word picture is of an archer whose arrow falls short of the target. In this case the target is “the glory of God.”

God Himself also has a target, or goal, and if He should fall short of that goal, then He might be properly called a sinner. Therefore, when God gives His word, promise, vow, or oath, He is responsible to reach the intended goal, despite the obstacles and opposition. His New Covenant vow is to make us His people, to be our God, and to write His law upon our hearts (Hebrews 8:10). If He is incapable of doing this, then He should not have made such a vow.

But we know that God is indeed successful, for He is fully capable of doing all that He has set out to do. We do not worship a great Sinner, as the Greeks did in worshiping their sinful gods.

Hence, the chaos in creation that was brought about by Adam’s sin did not cause God to fail in His original purpose. God will win in the end. Nonetheless, there has been a delay, which has brought about the need for the creation of time. All that is associated with this delay is subject to time, for it is only when God’s goal is reached, and all creation has been reconciled, that time becomes irrelevant and useless.

So Paul says in Romans 8:19-21,

¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Creation itself has a stake in the manifestation (or “revealing”) of the sons of God. The sons of God, that is, the overcomers, are the first fruits of creation (1 Corinthians 15:20), just as Christ was the first fruits of the overcomers (James 1:18). First fruits always signal a greater harvest yet to come. God is not content with receiving a few first fruits and then letting the rest of the harvest burn.

We are all in training as sons of God. Those who fail to achieve the goal of entering the Promised Land in the First Resurrection will experience a delay until the general resurrection at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:11). The delay does not mean that they will be lost. They will simply remain “dead” until they are raised in resurrection.

This is the meaning of the Israelites dying in the wilderness without receiving the promise on account of their unbelief. It is not a permanent condition, for at the Great White Throne judgment some will be given immortality (“life”), while others will be brought to further judgment (John 5:28, 29).

The believers, those justified by faith through Passover, as the Israelite under Moses, will be given immortal life at the Great White Throne. Yet even the unbelievers who are judged will merely experience a longer delay to the Creation Jubilee at the end of Time. The law of Jubilee demands the cancellation of all debt (sin) at the appointed time. The law of Jubilee does not eliminate divine judgment; it only limits it through the grace and mercy of the God of Love.

What About the Nephilim?

Scripture says very little about the Nephilim, other than showing their judgment at the time of the flood, where they were bound with chains of darkness. Yet there was a second group of Nephilim who were produced after the flood, which Moses and David encountered. Hence, there are Nephilim who were not bound with chains of darkness, and we ourselves have encountered them in the spirit.

Yesterday’s weblog dealt with the Nephilim, and so (as we often see), our own local team had an encounter with a few of them yesterday afternoon. We were led to go to an Indian burial mound to cleanse the land of innocent blood. As we approached, the spiritual guardian of that place attacked us, followed by four more after we arrived at the site itself. None of them were any match for Jesus, of course, although they were very powerful.

During that encounter, we also saw three Nephilim nearby. We did not know what to do with them, so we sent them to the feet of Jesus for judgment, letting Him decide their fate.

I do not often write about our extracurricular activities here, but you can be sure that the Spirit of God keeps us quite busy in between the weblogs.

The Epistle of Jude, part 5

Having finished his examples of how men may start out having some level of faith and then fall away later, Jude then speaks of divine judgment. In Jude 6 he wrote about the angels who sinned, telling us that God has put them in aidios bonds “under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”

He does not explain the nature of those bonds, other than what is implied in the word aidios, which is that they are unseen or hidden. Perhaps by using this unusual Greek word, he was confessing his lack of further revelation about it. Hence, he says no more about it.

In Jude 7 he continues with his next topic as he expounds further upon “the judgment of the great day.”

⁷ Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality [ekporneuo] and went after strange [heteros, “another, other, not of the same nature, class, or kind”] flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal [aionios] fire.

This refers to the story found in Genesis 18 and 19, where God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, “and the cities around them.” Moses later lists four cities in Deuteronomy 29:23, “Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.”

The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah

Apparently, all of these cities “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh.” Jude was referring specifically to homosexual behavior, because when the angels (posing as men) took lodging at the house of Lot and his family, the men of the city surround the house and demanded the right to have sexual relations with them. Genesis 19:4-8 says,

⁴ Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.” ⁸ “Now, behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man, please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

Jude calls their sin ekporneuo, an enhanced form of porneo, “fornication,” and from which we derive the term pornography. Fornication, biblically speaking, is any unlawful sexual relation, including prostitution, adultery, incest (1 Corinthians 5:1), bestiality, and (in this case) homosexual relations. Any claims that one’s fornication is based on “love” are invalid because love is defined by the God of Love, whose law is an expression of His nature. Anything that falls short of God’s love also falls short of God’s purpose for mankind, and God will not leave anyone in such a state forever. His promise is to write the law upon every heart.

I should also add that the law of God, when applied as an external force, regulates behavior. It is only the Holy Spirit that can change the heart itself. In a practical sense, then, the law does not condemn homosexuals as such but only condemns homosexual acts. Homosexuals may indeed believe in Jesus Christ, submit to the law of God by refraining from sin, and claim the promise of God that He will write the law in their hearts as He promised in His New Covenant vow.

The Judgment in Jude’s Prophecy

Jude’s reference suggests that the Sodom and Gomorrah served “as an example” of the judgment that is yet to come at “the great day,” that is, the Great White Throne judgment. Isaiah 1:9 and 10 prophetically calls Israel Sodom and Gomorrah, saying,

⁹ Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors [“remnant”], we would have been like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah. ¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

As a nation slides into darkness away from God and His law, it increasingly resembles Sodom and Gomorrah. Homosexual behavior was rampant in the Greek and Roman empires, in which the church stood as a beacon of light in opposing such sin. But the Church under the anointing of Pentecost proved to be inadequate to the task of turning the world to righteousness.

We today are now seeing the result of the Church’s failure. News accounts, especially since 2001, have exposed many church leaders and priests being guilty of homosexual behavior, usually including pedophilia. And so the sin of Sodom itself included “both young and old” demanding homosexual relations (Genesis 19:4).

Years ago, I discerned from Isaiah 1:9 and 10 that the day would come when America itself would legalize homosexual relations and that this would be the final stage of degradation before our deliverance and judgment. This has proven to be true, and it is significant that it came just before the transfer of authority to the saints of the Most High in October 2017.

Isaiah’s message was not only gloom and doom. Isaiah 1:9 suggests that the remnant of grace will prevent the judgment of God from destroying the nation as God did with Sodom and Gomorrah. The fact is, the Lord of hosts has indeed left America and other nations with a remnant of grace in order to ensure that the same destruction would not be repeated. The overcomers are called to agree with God in all of His ways and in all of His judgments. Their presence in a nation is the guarantee of grace and mercy.

This principle is suggested in the story of Lot, where the angels would not destroy the city until Lot and his family had escaped. Lot dragged his feet and complained, not understanding the urgency of the situation, but the angels “seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him” (Genesis 19:16).

In our time, where the nations and the entire world are being threatened by divine judgment, we are not being led to leave, for where would we go? The sin is too widespread, and there is no place to run and hide. We can only escape by refusing the lifestyle of the world and by living in agreement with the nature and law of God. Hence, God has forced a different situation upon us, by requiring that we remain in the new Sodom and the new Gomorrah in order to bring the baptism of fire (the Holy Spirit) as a New Covenant form of judgment. This judges the sin but saves the sinner. This eradicates the lawlessness by causing the people to repent.

In other words, the nature of the “fire” is defined by the “fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). A sentence of double restitution for theft is a “fire.” A sentence of slavery is a “fire.” Jesus said in Luke 12:48, 49 that the sentence of flogging with few or many stripes is a “fire.” The fire was not meant to be taken literally but as a figure of perfect judgment proceeding from the divine nature itself. For this reason God portrayed Himself only as fire (Deuteronomy 4:24 and 36).

Lot was a prophetic type of a believer but not an overcomer. He was the nephew of Abraham but was not part of Abraham’s household of faith. Thus he had chosen to live in Sodom amidst the immorality and corruption of the fertile plain where he might prosper financially. Even so, he was called “righteous” in 2 Peter 2:7, indicating that he was a non-overcoming believer. Hence, his life was spared, though he lost all of his possessions in the divine judgment.

The Purpose of the Remnant

We who are prospective overcomers are the “remnant” of the day, and we are united with the same remnant of 7,000 that lived in the days of Elijah. Our calling is to manifest the presence of God in “Sodom” to ensure grace and thus prevent the destruction of the world. To reword Isaiah’s prophecy, because God has left a remnant of grace in the world, we will not be as Sodom or Gomorrah.

This is God’s way of fulfilling His New Covenant vow, beginning with the covenant given through Noah in Genesis 9:11,

¹¹ And I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.

Many Christians limit this covenant to a watery destruction, saying that the earth will indeed be destroyed but this time by fire. The wording in Genesis certainly allows for such an interpretation, but when we see that this is based upon the New Covenant (as also with the covenant with Abraham), it is clear that the spirit of this covenant is to provide grace to the earth, not merely to change the manner of destruction for the earth.

If I were to make a promise that no sinner would ever be drowned again but would instead be burned forever in fire, would there be any real benefit in this change in the form of judgment? Such a covenant would be devoid of grace and would actually be worse! How, then, could the people take comfort in seeing a rainbow in the clouds?

The Eternal Fire

Jude 7 compares the destruction of Sodom with “undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” The word translated “punishment” is inadequate, as it is a word that focuses on inflicting pain, rather than on establishing justice. The Greek word is dike, which means justice, a suit at law, a judicial hearing, judicial decision, especially a sentence of condemnation.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1349&t=NASB

It is clear that dike is not about the act of punishment but is about rendering a guilty verdict in a court of law and passing sentence upon him in accordance with the law. God’s law is based on the principle of “eye for eye,” where the judgment always fits the crime (Exodus 21:24). The law also says, “burn for burn” (Exodus 21:25).

It is self-evident that the judgment of the law is that if a man burns his neighbor, and if he and his victim cannot agree upon a monetary figure for compensation, then, as a last resort, the law would sentence the sinner to be burned in the same manner that he burned his neighbor.

There is no way for any man to burn his neighbor eternally, so there is no judgment of the law that would judge any man to be burned forever. Eternal punishment is unlawful, for no man can commit so much sin in a limited lifetime as to warrant judgment for eternity.

Jude uses the Greek adjective, aionios, to describe the fire. The word is derived from aion, which is an eon or age. One may argue whether an age is limited or infinite, but in the end we must define it through Hebrew eyes. The Hebrew-Greek dictionary had been established two or three centuries before Christ when the 70 rabbis translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This was called the Septuagint Translation, and by the first century it defined Hebrew-Greek equivalents.

The Greek words aionios and aionian were used to express in Greek the meaning of the Hebrew word olam. Hence, we must define aionios in accordance with the meaning of olam, rather than seek for an independent definition based on Greek culture and usage. Olam means “hidden, unknown, indefinite,” for it is derived from the root word alam, “to conceal, to hide.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5956&t=KJV

When the word is used to describe time, it means an age, an indefinite period of time, whose duration is hidden—usually, until it comes to an end. The judgments of God depended upon the seriousness of the crime. Not everyone was given the same sentence. Hence, lawful judgments might be to pay little or much, or to be enslaved for a day, a year, or a decade. The term olam was an indefinite term, because the judgment was supposed to fit the specific crime.

Hence, Jude 7 indicates that the literal fire that struck Sodom and Gomorrah was a prophetic type of the fiery law by which the earth will be judged at “the great day.” The main difference is that the remnant of grace will change the destructive fire into the New Covenant’s baptism of fire, which burns the chaff (flesh) in order to set men free of their own sin and depravity.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE PART 6

After Jude warns against the immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah and speaks of their judgment by fire, he continues in Jude 8,

⁸ Yet in the same manner these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority and revile angelic majesties.

By “these men,” Jude was referring to the “certain persons” in verse 4, Gnostics who had infiltrated the Church in the first century. Gnostic immorality, adopted from other mystery religions, had caused them to “defile the flesh” in similar manner that had been seen in Sodom and Gomorrah. Whether Jude was referring specifically to homosexual behavior or more broadly to all forms of fornication is not known, but the latter is probably the case.

By “dreaming,” Jude was using the Greek term enypnion in the sense of one’s imagination or visualization of immoral acts, which would lead them invariably to carry out their dreams and “defile the flesh.” The descent into lawlessness, of course, was a violation of the covenant and a departure from the nature of God, giving evidence that “these men” were neither filled with nor led by the Holy Spirit.

Instead, such lawlessness is evidence that they “reject authority,” presumptuously thinking that they were their own authority. By failing to submit to divine authority and to recognize His law above their own conscience or religious views, they also “revile angelic majesties.”

Michael’s Dispute with the Devil
Jude 9 says,
⁹ But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

This is widely understood to be a reference to an apocryphal book known as The Assumption of Moses. This was a book written in the early first century shortly after the death of Herod. Scholars date by its internal evidence from 3-30 A.D. Today we possess only a fragment of it, but originally it was written in two sections:

Book 1: The Testament of Moses
Book 2: The Assumption of Moses

It is quoted by various early Church writers of the first few centuries, giving us some idea of its contents, but the story of Michael’s dispute is not found in the fragment that exists today. By piecing together the comments of those who quoted from it many years ago, we can say with some certainty that the book claims that Michael was commissioned to bury Moses and that Satan opposed his burial on the grounds that he was the lord of matter and that Moses was guilty of murder.

On the first assertion, Michael refutes the idea that the devil owns matter by right of creation, for that was a Greek doctrine. Genesis 1 tells us that God Himself created matter, and hence God owns the material world.

On the second assertion, we are not told how Michael refuted the charge that Moses was guilty of murder. This was probably a reference to the time when Moses killed an Egyptian in defense of the Israelites (Exodus 2:12). If we assume the story to be true and in need of a response, we should note that God had already brought judgment upon Moses by exiling him for 40 years. 

When Cain killed Abel, Cain too was exiled. Exile was a merciful alternative to the death penalty. Hence, the devil could not use it against Moses, for he had served his sentence and received mercy and grace by the time God came to him at the burning bush.

Other writers quoting The Assumption of Moses also tell us that Michael then accused the devil of inspiring the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve. The final outcome of the dispute, according to the author, was that in the presence of Caleb and Joshua, Moses’ spirit ascended to heaven (Hence, the Assumption of Moses), while his body was buried in an unknown part of the mountain.
The Bible itself says nothing of such a dispute, but apparently, Jude took this account seriously.

The Question of Inspiration
Does Jude’s quotation imply that The Assumption of Moses was “inspired” and perhaps ought to be treated as Scripture? I do not believe so. First, if it were Scripture, how is it that God would cause part of His Word to be lost to us? We only have a small fragment of this old book, and even this fragment was only recently discovered and published in 1861.

Second, the New Testament books were written by the apostles or under their direction, with the exception of Luke, who was Paul’s companion and scribe. A high standard was set in determining the inspiration of Scripture. The Assumption of Moses could not have been written prior to 30 A.D., and its author was believed to be a Quietist Pharisee, that is, a branch of Phariseeism that believed that Jews should submit to the rule of the Romans.

Thirdly, the book also contains errors, even in the small fragment that we possess today. It has Moses prophesy that the Kingdom would be established 1,750 years after his death, which, by my reckoning would have been about 343-344 A.D. Likewise, it prophesies about King Herod that the reign of his sons would be shorter than his own, whereas this was true only for Archelaus, in whose day the book was written. Philip and Antipas reigned longer than their father Herod.

Hence, we know from today’s perspective that the book contained errors in prophecy. As time passed, the early Christians recognized this, and so few, if any, would have considered the book to be on par with the gospels and epistles.

Paul himself quoted Aratus, a Greek philosopher, when he spoke at Mars Hill in Acts 17:28,

²⁸ for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we also are His offspring.”

This was a quotation from Aratus’ book called Phenomena. Paul acknowledged the truth of that statement and one might even attribute some level of inspiration to it, but that does not mean we should include it in Scripture—especially since the rest of Aratus’ book certainly contained teachings that were inconsistent with Scripture.

The same is true with The Assumption of Moses. Just because Jude quotes from it does not mean that the book itself is inspired Scripture. The most we might say is that this particular portion of the book (i.e., the dispute) actually occurred. We believe, of course, that Jude was inspired to write what he did, and so we may have confidence that a dispute did occur. But even then, since Jude was not led to give us any further details from the book, we need not take it further than he did. In other words, we need not treat either the whole book or any portion of it as inspired, other than what Jude actually acknowledged.
It is the same with Paul’s quotation from Aratus. We need not treat as inspired anything beyond what Paul himself quoted.

Jude’s Warning
Jude’s warning was to those who might “revile angelic majesties,” that is, those who might disrespect the authority of angels. Jude 10 concludes,

¹⁰ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

The lesson is that we ought not to be like “unreasoning animals.” We should be reasonable, then, which specifically means that we ought to be discerning and not simply to be driven by instinct, lest we be “destroyed.”

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 7

Jude 11 says,

¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

The word “woe” comes from the Greek ouai, which is a primary expression of grief and means “alas, woe.” It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew owy or howy, pronounced in a similar way to the Greek. The translation “woe” implies denunciation, but the word has a broader meaning that includes lamentation or admonition. Jude used the word not merely to denounce the Gnostics but to lament their error, to express his disagreement with their course of action, and to admonish them to repent.

Jude refers to three sad examples of men’s errors into which the Gnostics had fallen.

The Way of Cain

Cain was the first murderer in biblical history. Genesis 4:8 says, “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

Cain was a farmer, while Abel was a herdsman or shepherd (Genesis 4:2). They had been given the revelation of offerings and sacrifices, even at that early date, being acquainted with the laws of labor that were given later in greater detail under Moses. So Cain offered “the fruit of the ground,” and Abel offered one of the “firstlings of the flock” (Genesis 4:3, 4).

Some have found fault with Cain’s offering because it was not a blood sacrifice pointing to Christ’s death on the cross. However, the boys were offering the first fruits of that which they were producing. In the laws of Moses, both types of offering were required. Yet we find that God accepted Abel’s offering but “had no regard” for Cain’s offering (Genesis 4:5). In other words, God did not send fire to consume his offering. The Genesis account gives no specific reason.

We are given a reason in 1 John 3:11, 12.

¹¹ For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹² not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

So Cain’s “deeds were evil,” and apparently, he was jealous of his brother’s righteous character. He resented his brother when God accepted Abel’s offering but not his own.

Jesus too had something to say about this in the “Sermon on the Mount.” Matthew 5:23, 24 says,

²³ Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Even before Cain offered, his heart was not right with his brother. He did not rise up and kill his brother on a sudden surge of hatred and jealousy. His murderous act was the outworking of what was already in his heart. Hence, his offering was defiled and profaned by the disease in his own heart.

Many years later, the prophets denounced Israel’s offerings for the same reason. Isaiah told Israel, “Bring your worthless offerings no longer” (Isaiah 1:13) because “your hands are covered with blood” (Isaiah 1:15). In other words, their deeds were evil, and their lawless hearts defiled their sacrifices, even if those sacrifices met the physical requirements of the law.

The way of Cain, then, is to be religious without a cleansed heart. Jesus pronounced “woe” upon the Pharisees for doing this. Matthew 23:25-28 says,

²⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. ²⁷ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus was telling them to cleanse their hearts so that their deeds (temple service) might be acceptable to God. The temple priests had killed the prophets for the same reason that Cain had killed Abel (Matthew 23:31, 34, 37). In Jesus’ day as well, these religious men followed the way of Cain when they crucified Jesus Himself (Acts 2:36; 7:52).

Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-44 shows that they crucified Jesus, not because they failed to recognize Him but because they knew that He was the Son of God. Matthew 21:37-39 says,

³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.” ³⁹ And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

By this parable, Jesus revealed that the chief priests would recognize that He was indeed the Son of God and would crucify Him in order to usurp the “vineyard” (Kingdom) for their own use. Abel was but the first of a long line of martyrs that reached a climax with Jesus’ martyrdom and has continued until today. So we find that Cain knew who Abel was, and he killed his brother accordingly, motivated by hatred and jealousy.

To our knowledge, the Gnostics had not killed any Christians in the first century, but yet they were following “the way of Cain” by pretending to be true believers while having unclean hearts.

Jasher’s Account

There have been at least two spurious books in the past, claiming to be the original book of Jasher. However, there is also one that is at least more authentic. A very old copy of Jasher, very nearly illegible by that time, was found in Venice in 1613 in a rabbi’s office. It was translated into English and published in 1840. Though I believe it contains portions that were added later, I believe that this copy is authentic, because it contains details of chronology and events that establish the principle of Cursed Time. In those days the author probably could not have known about 414-year cycles of Cursed Time, and certainly any recent forger would not have had this revelation. For this reason, I give credence to this version of Jasher with only a few reservations about certain passages. I treat it as a credible history book but would not try to insert it into the Bible nor give it the same level of inspiration as Bible books.

The book of Jasher (mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and again in 2 Samuel 1:18) tells us in Jasher 1:16,

¹⁶ And unto Cain and his offering the Lord did not turn, and he did not incline to it, for he had brought from the inferior fruit of the ground before the Lord, and Cain was jealous against his brother Abel on account of this, and he sought a pretext to slay him.

Bringing “inferior fruit” to God as an offering is the equivalent of bringing blind sheep (Malachi 1:8) as an offering to God. Sacrifices were supposed to be unblemished, because they represented the perfect offering that was yet to come in the Person of Jesus Christ. To present an inferior sacrifice was to testify falsely in the divine court that they wanted or preferred an imperfect messiah. Such a desire also exposed the defiled condition of their hearts and revealed their own blindness. In other words, blind people offer blind sacrifices to God.

Jasher also says plainly that “Cain was jealous against his brother Abel.” This is consistent with the apostle’s suggestion of Cain’s jealousy (1 John 3:12).

The Gnostics were clearly jealous of the apostolic power to impart the Holy Spirit to believers. Simon Magus, the founder of Gnosticism, was proud of his own power (Acts 8:9, 10), and when he saw the works of the apostles, he offered them money to be given the same gift (Acts 8:18, 19). Peter renounced him, of course, because he saw in Simon “that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity” (Acts 8:23).

It is not difficult to see in Simon a spirit of jealousy toward the apostles, especially after his offer was rejected. This spirit of jealousy later characterized the entire Gnostic movement, for they attempted to supplant true Christianity as if the Holy Spirit had been imparted to them. Jude saw this spirit in them and attributed it to “the way of Cain.”

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 8

Jude 11 speaks of counterfeit Christians who have gone the way of Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Cain’s jealousy sparked hatred which caused him to kill his brother Abel. Gnosticism was founded on the jealousy of Simon Magus. But Jude goes on to link Gnosticism with “the error of Balaam” as well.

Balaam, the Classic False Prophet

Balaam’s error was that he had subjected his prophetic gift to the flesh rather than to God. The evidence of this was seen in his attempt to gain money and prestige by going against the will of God. He was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to use his prophetic gift to curse Israel, which was contrary to the will of God.

Scripture never refers to Balaam as a false prophet. He is presented to us as a prophet who used his gift to benefit himself and to establish the will of the flesh. Yet God spoke with him, and he heard God’s voice clearly. When the king’s men came to request Balaam’s services, we read in Numbers 22:9-13,

⁹ Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ¹¹ “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them, and drive them out.” ¹² And God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people; for they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

God spoke to Balaam, and Balaam heard God’s voice clearly. That was never the issue. But Balaam had never dealt with the idols of his own heart, which caused him to desire something other than the will of God. For this reason, when Balak sent higher officials to add more prestige to his request, Balaam said in Numbers 22:18, 19,

¹⁸ … “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ And now, please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.”

Balaam clearly understood the constraints of his prophetic gift. To inquire again of the Lord was not necessarily a problem, since the request had come the second time. However, God knew his heart and saw the idol hidden there. Balaam’s desire for greater rewards (offerings) showed that while he was being obedient to God, he was not in agreement with God. So God appeared to him that night, as we read in Numbers 22:20,

²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If them men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

Just because God tells someone to do something does not necessarily mean that it is the real will of God. When one has an idol in the heart, God speaks according to the idol of his heart. This proved to be the case with Balaam, for as Balaam rode his donkey to go with Balak’s officials, God opposed him. Numbers 22:21, 22 says,

²¹ So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab. ²² But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary [Hebrew: satan] against him….

God told him to go, and Balaam obeyed, but God was then “angry because he was going.” From this we can see that hearing God’s voice is not always what it seems. We must ask ourselves why God told Balaam to go with Balak’s officials. What was God’s motive? It appears that God was allowing Balaam to do what he wanted to do, but that this was still contrary to the will of God.

In other words, it is not enough to obey God’s directions. One must also know the mind of God and be in agreement with Him. Many have obeyed God, only to stumble and fall.

The Result of Heart Idolatry

The underlying principle is revealed in Ezekiel 14:3-5, where the elders of Israel came to hear the word of the Lord from the prophet.

³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and tell them, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet [to inquire], I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through their idols.’”

In other words, God will indeed speak to those who come with idols in their hearts, but He will tell them what they want to hear. He will appear to confirm what is already in their hearts, so that they will fall and be destroyed (vs. 8). The result is that when they obey the command of God, they will not succeed but will be led into disaster. Ezekiel 14:9 concludes,

⁹ But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the Lord, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

Ezekiel himself was made to understand this principle, and because his desire was to know and speak the will of God, he was not destroyed with the Israelites and their elders. However, Balaam was quite different. Balaam was blinded by his own heart idolatry, and so he was given the word of the Lord that would eventually kill him.

The Angel was Balaam’s Adversary (Satan)

God was “angry” with Balaam for obeying His word that allowed him to go with Balak’s officials. Balaam should have been suspicious that God would allow him to go, and he should have inquired further. In fact, the primary purpose of prayer is not only to hear God’s voice but also to know the mind of God. When the angel of the Lord appeared as a satan to him, having a drawn sword to kill him, he should have stopped immediately and repented of heart idolatry. When God becomes our satan (“adversary”), it means that we are no longer in agreement with Him. That is a dangerous position.

Balaam Judged Himself

Balaam’s donkey served Balaam well by running off the path to avoid the drawn sword of the angel. Balaam beat his donkey three times for doing this, and finally God opened the mouth of the donkey, allowing it to protest and to give Balaam the word of the Lord (Numbers 22:28).

Balaam then argued with the donkey, apparently not realizing how unusual it was for a donkey to speak in tongues. In his anger, Balaam said, “If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now!” (Numbers 22:29). In other words, he rejected the counsel of the donkey and thereby sealed his own fate. Numbers 22:31 says,

³¹ 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 all the way to the ground.

God often allows men to judge themselves. David judged himself (2 Samuel 12:5-7). The temple priests judged themselves (Matthew 21:40, 41, 43). Balaam too judged himself, and so we read later in Numbers 31:8, “they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.”

Balaam Recognizes His Sin

After Balaam’s eyes were opened, the angel told him, “I have come out as an adversary [satan] because your way was contrary to me” (Numbers 22:32). Neither God nor the angel was actually Satan, for it was a matter of perception rather than reality. When our ways are contrary to God, we view God as our adversary. Often we want something, and so we pray hard to get it, believing that God is our adversary, standing between us and the object of our desire. Hence, instead of praying to know the will and desire of God, we demand our own will and desire, often persisting until we get our way.

In other words, we perceive God as being stingy and stubborn, whereas Jesus said in Matthew 7:9-11,

⁹ Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will he give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall you Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Further, Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-33,

³¹ Do not be anxious then, saying, “What shall we eat?” Or “What shall we drink?” or “With what shall we clothe ourselves?” ³² For all these things the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

It is not wrong to ask or to make requests of God (Philippians 4:6), but where possible it is better to first seek the mind and will of God so that our requests align with His will and plan for our lives.

Numbers 22:34, 35 says,

³⁴ And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not known that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back.” ³⁵ But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I shall tell you.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.

Balaam recognized his sin and volunteered to return home, but the angel told him to continue his journey, speaking only the word of the Lord.

Balak then made sacrifices upon seven altars. Numbers 23:4 says,

⁴ Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”

Balaam then blessed Israel according to the word of the Lord. Balak, of course, objected, for he wanted his money’s worth, and he had not hired Balaam to bless Israel. Balak was trying to win a war. He was not trying to know the will of God. He was trying to manipulate the will of God, much like men continue to do to this day. So Numbers 23:13 says,

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them… and curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

The fact that Balaam agreed to go to another mountain indicated that he still hoped that God would change his mind, or that he could find a way around the will of God. He wanted to be paid, after all. But he could only bless Israel again. Even so, his actions reveal that Balaam was obedient but he was not yet in agreement with God.

Balak then took Balaam to the top of another mountain (Numbers 23:28-30), but once again he could only bless Israel. At that point, Balak fired Balaam (Numbers 24:11, 25).

Once again, Balaam’s attempt to curse Israel confirmed the presence of an idol in his heart. Although he was gifted as a prophet, he had a heart problem. God dealt with that idol by leading Balaam to act out his heart idolatry, and this ultimately killed him.

The lesson for us today is seen when we understand that donkeys are Pentecostals in Scripture. Any story involving donkeys are revelations of Pentecost in some manner. In this case, the donkey was the first to speak in tongues, and Balaam was the classic Pentecostal prophet who was afflicted with a hidden idol in his heart.

Just as faith is the key to justification (Passover), so also obedience is the key to sanctification (Pentecost), and agreement is the key to glorification (Tabernacles). Balaam was obedient—hence, he was a Pentecostal; but Balaam was stuck in obedience, refusing to move to the next level in his relationship with God.

Jude’s Application

Jude says that the Gnostics infiltrating the church had “rushed headlong into the error of Balaam” (Jude 11). This had been seen most clearly in Acts 8:18-21,

¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.”

The error of Balaam in general is the condition of heart idolatry which attempts to use spiritual things as tools to establish one’s own will and desire. It is seen today most clearly in those who try to use positive thinking and fleshly declarations to manipulate the heavens into making them prosperous.

The Gnostics in Jude’s day believed in spiritual things but used them manipulatively to establish their own will and desire. The problem of the first century was never eradicated, and today it has resurfaced more openly. It is a false spirituality which sees no difference between faith and positive thinking. True faith is spiritual, for it originates in one’s spirit that is saturated by the Holy Spirit; positive thinking originates in the fleshly soul, i.e., the carnal mind. True faith rests in the sovereignty of God and the wisdom of His will; counterfeit faith (from the carnal mind) treats God's will as an adversary and seeks a way around it in order to obtain one's own desire.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 9

Jude 11 compares the Gnostic infiltrators to Cain, Balaam, and Korah. We have discussed Cain and Balaam. We turn now to Korah. Jude 11 says that they “perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

Background

Israel had already failed to enter the Promised Land in Numbers 14, having lacked the faith necessary to take the land. God judged the nation, telling them that they would have to spend a full 40 years in the wilderness, and that the entire generation would die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:29, 33, 34). Some of the people then changed their minds and assembled an army to conquer the Canaanites after the divine verdict had been issued. Numbers 14:39, 40 says,

³⁹ And when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.”

Moses warned them not to try to take the land without the blessing of God, but they refused to listen. Numbers 14:44, 45 says,

⁴⁴ But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.

In Numbers 15 Moses interceded for the people to obtain forgiveness for the nation, but in chapter 16 we find that many of them were angry with Moses for not going with them and for not allowing the ark of the covenant to accompany them in battle. They blamed Moses for the loss of the battle and for the casualties suffered.

Korah, a Levite, then took advantage of the situation. He desired the priesthood and was angry with Moses for appointing Aaron and his family alone to be priests. He then allied with Dathan and Abiram, who were disaffected leaders from the tribe of Reuben (Numbers 16:1). Apparently, the tribe of Reuben had suffered the most casualties in the failed attempt to conquer Canaan.

Dathan and Abiram later blamed Moses for not bringing Israel into the Promised Land, for when Moses summoned them to the Divine Court to resolve the dispute, they refused to respond. Numbers 16:12-14 says,

¹² Then Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us? ¹⁴ Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

In other words, instead of agreeing with God’s judgment and admitting their lack of faith, they blamed Moses for their own failure. They did not like the prospect of dying in the wilderness without receiving the promises of God.

Korah then saw his opportunity to lead a revolt against Moses and Aaron.

The Korah Revolt

The story comes from Numbers 16, where Korah, son of Kohath, son of Levi, led a democratic revolt against Moses and Aaron. Numbers 16:3 tells us their complaint:

³ And they assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation [edah] are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly [kahal] of the Lord?”

Their argument was that Moses had assumed leadership over Israel and that he had appointed Aaron to be the high priest. Korah insisted that “all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst.” Therefore, all are equal, and so Moses and Aaron had no right to exalt themselves above the assembly (church).

This was a challenge to the authority that God had given Moses and Aaron. In other words, they claimed that Moses and Aaron had given themselves this authority and that God had not truly given them authority over the church. Their argument was based on the democratic principle that all of the people were “holy,” that is, set apart, since the nation itself had been called out of Egypt and set apart as a priestly nation.

It is likely that they cited Exodus 19:6, where God had said, “you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” If the entire nation was holy and was to be a priestly nation, then why would God give authority to Moses and Aaron? However, Korah and his 250 followers failed to recognize the calling of Moses and Aaron. Callings are seldom announced by God verbally in a public setting for all to hear. The people are expected to discern callings and to watch for confirmations based on actions and abilities.

Korah’s assumption was that Moses was claiming authority based on his own personal, subjective revelation which could not be verified. Moses was acting in his own self-interest and was self-called, he claimed.

Moses’ Response

Numbers 16:8-10 gives Moses’ response:

⁸ Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi, ⁹ is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also?”

Korah was a Levite but not a priest. The tribe of Levi was called to represent all of the first-born in Israel being given to God for the service of the people, but only a small portion of them were priests. Levites ministered to the people in the outer court, but one had to be descended from Aaron to minister to God in the tabernacle. The exception was when one was of the Order of Melchizedek, such as Moses and (later) David and (still later) Jesus Christ.

In later times, the Jews also considered Nazarites on par with the priests. Hence, Nazarites such as James, the brother of Jesus and the head of the Jerusalem church in the first century, were allowed to enter the temple to pray. It was after one such prayer vigil, as James was leaving the temple, that he was stoned to death for bearing witness that Jesus was the Christ.

In the story of Korah, Moses recognized a hidden motive, couched in genuine truth, but motivated by the desire for a calling that was not his. He was not content to minister to the congregation but wanted to minister to God as a priest as well. His argument was based on the democratic idea that because all were holy, authority was unnecessary and even harmful. But Moses understood that callings came from God and that callings were based on authority.

Moses said further that Korah and his company had “gathered together against the Lord” (Numbers 16:11). To reject authority (apart from the abuse of one’s authority) is to revolt against the one who had authorized it—in this case, God Himself.

The Divine Court Ruling

When one’s authority is challenged, one must appeal the case to the source of the authority. In this case, God had given Moses and Aaron their respective authorities, so when challenged, it was appropriate to appeal to God Himself.

Moses understood that this was a case for the Divine Court, so he presented the case to God in Numbers 16:5. God instructed all of the dissident Levites to take their censers and place them at the door of the tabernacle to see if God would accept their prayers (Numbers 16:17). Censers were used to burn incense, which represent the prayers of the people (Revelation 8:3). In this case their censers were used to present their case before God.

When they did so, “the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation” (Numbers 16:19). The judgment went against Korah and his co-conspirators. God told Moses to tell the people to separate themselves from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:24, 27) so that they would not be judged along with these leaders.

The ground then opened up and swallowed up the conspirators and their tents (Numbers 16:31, 32, 33). A further judgment then came upon the rest of those revolting. Numbers 16:35 says,

³⁵ Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.

Afterward, the brass censers of the dissidents were hammered into some sort of plating for the brazen altar in the outer court (Numbers 16:38, 39) “as a reminder to the sons of Israel that no layman who is not of the descendants of Aaron should come near to burn incense before the Lord” (Numbers 16:40).

Jude’s Lesson

Jude 11 pronounces the same judgment upon the Gnostics as occurred in the rebellion of Korah. In other words, Jude implies that Simon Magus was another Korah questioning the authority of the apostles. As in the days of Moses, the Church too had failed to enter the Promised Kingdom shortly after being redeemed from the house of bondage at the feast of Passover when Jesus died on the cross.

The pattern set by “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV) was repeated in the Church under Pentecost. The key event in this case was the stoning of Stephen, where the people again showed their lack of faith by stoning Stephen instead of believing His good report. If we compare Stephen with Caleb and Joshua, we see the similarities.

Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:59), and earlier, the Israelites attempted to stone Caleb and Joshua for their testimony (Numbers 14:10). In both cases the glory of God appeared. The difference is that the Lord prevented the people form stoning Caleb and Joshua, whereas He allowed it to proceed in the case of Stephen.

For prophetic purposes, the stoning of Stephen showed that the Church’s entry into the Promised Land was to be postponed for 40 Jubilee cycles (40 x 49 years), even as Israel had to spend 40 years in the wilderness.

Like Korah, Simon Magus took advantage of the situation and claimed to be a better leader who could bring the people into the Promised Land. But his leadership was based on rebellion and jealousy of apostolic authority. The same judgment of God thus applies, and the same admonition also applies to us today. We are to separate ourselves from the Gnostics, lest we too be swallowed up by the ground when the judgment occurs.

A secondary lesson to be derived from this is to be patient and submit to the judgment of God. Even as He decreed that Israel should spend 40 years in the wilderness, so also has He decreed that the Church in the Pentecostal Age should remain in the wilderness for 40 Jubilees without receiving the promises.

There are many who do not accept that judgment and who attempt to enter the Promised Land without regard to this divine judgment that was decreed long ago. They are under the illusion that they may receive the full promise of God as individuals, apart from the rest of the body. But even Caleb and Joshua—the overcomers—had to wait for the rest of the body before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

There is indeed the matter of one’s individual relationship with God to consider, but there is also a broader context that is equally important, one which individuals cannot escape or overcome. While we, as individuals, may indeed live according to the promises of God, we do so within the overall context of the Church’s wilderness experience. To understand that wilderness experience, one must respect the judgments of God, which are based upon timing—in this case, 40 Jubilees, which was the sentence imposed near the beginning of the Age of Pentecost.

Not accepting or respecting the judgments of God may cause us to run the risk of being caught up in the Korah rebellion.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 10

Jude 12 and 13 uses multiple metaphors in describing the Gnostics infiltrating the early Church:

¹² These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts [agape] when they feast with you without fear, caring for [poimaino, “feeding”] themselves ; clouds without water, carried along by winds, autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars [planetes aster], for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever [aion, “eon, age”].

Jude uses five analogies to describe the Gnostics. The first involves the Eucharist.

Communion: the Love-Festival

By pretending to hold true knowledge of God, the Gnostics had infiltrated some of the early Church congregations, readily partaking of communion with them as if they were genuine Christians. The communion (“common union”) was called agape, “love, or love-feast,” because it was meant to express one’s love for God which was the basis of union with Him and with each other. Communion apart from love of the brethren violates the spirit of the love-feast.

The Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek, which was the standard Greek version in use in the first century, renders Song of Solomon 2:4, “His banner over me is agape.” Isaiah 56:6 reads, “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love [agape] the name of the Lord…” The concept behind “love” was to express one’s love of God and God’s love for us.

The Gnostics partook of communion “without fear,” Jude says, in spite of Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-30,

²⁷ Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord… ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. ³⁰ For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

Jude says that they were “feeding themselves” but were not truly taking communion. That is, they could go through the act of partaking of the bread and wine, but they were not truly in fellowship with God or even with the Church, because they did not truly love God.

Perhaps, too, Paul was referring to a Gnostic corruption of communion when he says in 1 Corinthians 11:34, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment.” It has been suggested that the Gnostics had turned the love-feasts into a counterfeit love according to their own beliefs.

In other words, they may have attempted to turn it into a gluttonous orgy. This may have been what Jude had in mind when he wrote earlier in Jude 4 about “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness.”

Waterless Clouds

Jude’s second analogy is that of clouds that do not produce any rain. In Scripture, rain was symbolic of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hence, Gnosticism was a waterless cloud promising the Holy Spirit but coming up empty in the end. No doubt this refers to Simon Magus’ attempt to purchase the power to confer the Holy Spirit upon others (Acts 8:18, 19). The Gnostic desire to be the source of the Holy Spirit did not produce the latter rain at Pentecost, nor will it produce the former rain at Tabernacles in the future.

There were two seasons of rain in Palestine. The “former rain” occurred in October and November at the time of seed planting. The “latter rain” occurred between Passover and Pentecost in May, and it was necessary to ripen the wheat for harvest after Pentecost. The latter rain normally ceased by Pentecost, allowing men to harvest their wheat. So when Saul was crowned on Pentecost, the day of wheat harvest, Samuel prophesied of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, saying in 1 Samuel 12:17, 18,

¹⁷ Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king. ¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

Saul represented the church under Pentecost during the interim leading to the feast of Tabernacles and the second coming of Christ. So we find that Saul prophesied and was “changed into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6, 9, 10).

So the latter rain represented the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, while the former rain represents prophetically the final outpouring of the Spirit that is yet to come at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Joel 2:23 says,

²³ So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in the Lord your God; for He has given you the early [moreh] rain for your vindication [tsedaqah, “righteousness”], and He has poured down for you the rain, the early [moreh] and latter rain as before.

The Hebrew text contains an interesting double meaning which gives us another layer of prophecy in regard to the outpouring of the Spirit. It could just as easily be translated, “for He has given you the Teacher of Righteousness… as the former rain and the latter rain.” The Hebrew word moreh means “an archer, teacher,” as well as “former.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H4175&t=NASB

In Hebrew metaphors, a teacher was like an archer hitting the bull’s eye in regard to truth. In bringing “rain,” a true teacher was a dispenser of truth through the Holy Spirit. The Sadducees translated this verse as a reference to the Teacher of Righteousness, applying it to their own founder named Zadok (tsedaq). Hence, they called themselves followers of Zadok (Zadok-ees, or the grecianized spelling, Sadducees).

As Christians, we know that the true Teacher of Righteousness was Jesus Christ, for He alone was able to ascend to heaven in order to send the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost. John 16:7 and 8 says,

⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper [Comforter] shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment.

The Holy Spirit is the Enforcer of God’s standard that measures truth. The Gnostics, however, had placed their faith and trust in Simon Magus, whom they called “The Great Power of God” (Acts 8:9, 10). He functioned as a counterfeit Teacher of Righteousness (as did the Zadok of the Sadducees), and he pretended to be the only one who could lead the people into all truth by his teachings. However, Jesus contradicted that in John 16:13, for He spoke of the Holy Spirit that was to come at the feast of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit had already come in Acts 2 before Simon Magus even came on the scene in Acts 8. That occasion, of course, was the latter rain. The former rain, associated with the feast of Tabernacles, will be a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, for it will prepare the ground for a much greater harvest in days to come.

Carried by a Tempest

Jude 12 also says that the Gnostics were waterless clouds “carried along by winds.” The Greek word anemos, “winds,” is a strong tempest or storm, as we see in Matthew 7:27,

²⁷ And the rains fell, and the floods came, and the winds [anemos] slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall.

Normally, a tempest would produce a great deal of rain, but the Gnostics were like a great tempest that promised floods but provided no rain. By contrast, on the day of Pentecost we read in Acts 2:2 says,

² And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind [pnoa], and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

This “wind” (pnoa) was the Holy Spirit, bringing the latter rain, which bore fruit in the wheat harvest that followed. The word pnoa is from the root word pneo, which is also the root word for pneuma, “spirit, breath, wind.” Although the wind came into the upper room like a tempest, it was not devoid of rain, for the Spirit of God was indeed poured out as prophesied. The book of Acts tells us how the power of God worked in the early church as a direct result of Pentecost.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 11

The next analogy that Jude 12 presents in regard to the Gnostics is that they are like “autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.”

Fruitless Trees

At the autumn season fruit trees ought to be full of ripe fruit, for that is the season of harvest. But the Gnostics are like fruitless trees, much like the fruitless fig tree that Jesus cursed in Matthew 21:19,

¹⁹ And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer will there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

Later, Jesus explained further prophecy about this fruitless fig tree, saying in Matthew 24:32-34,

³² Now learn the parable from the fig tree; when its branch has already become tender [green, coming back to life after winter], and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

The prophecy tells us that the Jewish state, represented by the fig tree, had failed to bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom, having a great show of righteousness (“leaves”) but no fruit. Jesus then prophesied that it would never again bring forth fruit. Yet this “tree” was to come alive once again in a new season, bearing more leaves and thus deceiving men into thinking that it might bear fruit after all.

The point to note, however, is that Jesus’ curse would prevent it from ever bearing fruit again. The Jewish state began to put forth more leaves in the modern Zionist movement, culminating in 1948. This caused many prophecy teachers to proclaim that the Jewish state would soon accept Christ and, in essence, bear fruit to God. While there have been a number of individual Jews who have accepted Christ, the nation itself (that is, the tree) will remain fruitless, as Jesus said.

Fig leaves are a false justification for sin, based on works and outward show of religious fervor. Fig leaves were unable to cover the sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:7), and leaves cannot cover any sin, not even sin committed by a Jew.

Jude’s Lesson

Scholars are agreed that Jude was a Jewish Christian living in Judea or Galilee in the first century. As such, he was probably the leader of a local congregation of Christian Jews or Galileans. No doubt he had written his epistle primarily to other Jewish congregations to warn them not to re-graft themselves to the old system of Judaism which the nation itself had continued to practice in the Jerusalem temple.

Gnosticism claimed to be spiritual, but it was based on a counterfeit of Pentecost. It was unfruitful, and any believers who were deceived by it would, in the end, be unfruitful. In other words, having escaped from the unfruitful fig tree of Judaism, they were now in danger of following the Gnostic path toward unfruitfulness. Without producing the fruit of the Spirit in one’s life, it was only a “fuel” tree could be chopped down and used in time of war to construct “siegeworks” (Deuteronomy 20:20).

The danger in the first century, which concerned Jude, has again arisen in the past century. There is a powerful Gnostic faction in the hierarchy of the Roman Church, which has come out openly through the publication of Laurence Gardner’s books and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (book and movie). Hence, Jude’s warning applies specifically to Roman Catholics today.

Secondly, the principle of unfruitfulness is being played out in Christian Zionism as well, mostly because non-Catholic believers have been deceived by the great show of fig leaves without truly believing Jesus’ words in Matthew 21:19. They have mistaken leaves for fruit.

The key is to understand the difference between Judah and Israel. Judah was a nation of two tribes, while Israel included the ten tribes that were supposedly lost in Assyria. Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem through the metaphor of the old earthen jar that was to be broken in the valley of the son of Hinnom (Jeremiah 19:1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12). On the other hand, the house of Israel was compared to wet clay which, after being beaten down and destroyed as a nation, was to be remade into a new vessel (Jeremiah 18:3, 4, 6).

By understanding the difference in calling between Israel and Judah, we can see that there is no contradiction between Jesus’ curse on Judah and the blessing upon Israel that we find in Isaiah 27:6, which says,

⁶ In the days to come, Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout; and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.

Israel was to be fruitful, while Judah was to be fruitless. For individuals to become fruitful, they must be grafted into the tree of Israel, not into the fruitless fig tree of Judah. For further understanding of this, see my two books:

Who is a Jew?

Who is an Israelite?

The Doubly Dead and Uprooted Tree

Jude 12 also says that the Gnostics were like trees that were “doubly dead, uprooted.” Can a tree die twice? Was this a meaningless metaphor? The implication is that the tree died but was not uprooted. Hence, it came back to life until it was uprooted, killing it permanently.

This might be a reference to the cursed fig tree in Matthew 21:19 which was supposed to come alive again at the end of the age as prophesied in Matthew 24:32-34. But we have another biblical example of this in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the mighty tree that was defoliated, chopped down, leaving a stump with its roots intact so that it could regrow.

The king related his dream in Daniel 4:10-15, saying,

¹⁰ Now these were in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst o the earth, and its height was great. ¹¹ The tree grew large and became strong, and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. ¹² Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all, the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it. ¹³ I was looking in the vision in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven. ¹⁴ He shouted out and spoke as follows: “Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. ¹⁵ Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground”….

In the time of Daniel, this applied to the king himself, who became insane and lost his throne for a season, but afterward he was restored and gave glory to God (Daniel 4:31, 32, 36). It shows that the tree had been chopped down but that it was able to come back to life. Secondarily, the tree represented Babylon itself, the first of four kingdoms that were destined to rule the earth after the fall of Jerusalem in 604 B.C. Daniel 2 and 7 give details about these four kingdoms.

The successive kingdoms imply that each would fall in turn, including Babylon, which fell to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:30, 31). That was when the kingdom of Babylon itself was defoliated and chopped down. It left a stump, however, because it was to rise again in the future under the prophetic name, “Mystery Babylon” (Revelation 17:5 KJV). Yet once again, this prophetic “tree” was to be destroyed, this time being uprooted so that it could not regrow.

Mystery Babylon was to be cast into the sea, as we read in Revelation 18:20, 21, and 24

²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. ²¹ And a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer”… ²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth.

The four world empires technically concluded their time from 1914-1917 at the end of “seven times” (7 x 360 years). But then Babylon arose the second time in a new form called Mystery Babylon, and this dominated the past century until 2014-2017, when the time came for it to be uprooted and fully destroyed.

Connecting the Two Trees

The Babylonian tree was to be cast into the sea as a great millstone (Revelation 18:21), after which time it would be seen as the entity that had slain the prophets and saints all the way back to the beginning of time (Revelation 18:24).

This is strangely similar to Jesus’ prophetic condemnation of Jerusalem and Judah in Matthew 23:33-37,

³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell [gehenna]? ³⁴ Therefore, behold I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!....

Jesus said that Jerusalem would be charged with murdering all of the prophets and saints dating back to “righteous Abel.” John said that Babylon would be charged with “the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth.” What is the connection?

In Matthew 21:33-40 Jesus told a parable about the vineyard and how Jerusalem had killed the prophets throughout history, culminating with the murder of the “son” of the vineyard owner (i.e., Jesus Himself). He then let the religious leaders judge themselves in Matthew 21:40, 41, asking them what the vineyard owner ought to do to those murderers.

⁴¹ They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

Jesus agreed with them and then rendered His own verdict in Matthew 21:42-44,

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? ⁴³ Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to a nation [Israel] producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

Jesus was referring to two stones in prophecy. The first was “the stone which the builders rejected,” which was a reference to Psalm 118:22. In other words, Jerusalem had rejected Him as the Messiah. The second stone was a reference to Daniel 2:34, 35,

³⁴ You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

This “stone” fell upon the feet of the statue which represented the four world empires. The stone then ground it to powder and the wind carried the dust away. Jesus referred to this, saying, “it will scatter him like dust.”

The point is that Jesus was warning the leaders of Jerusalem not to be found sitting on the feet of this image at the end of the age when the stone was ready to crush its “feet.” The Jewish leaders, however, believed that it was their destiny to rule the world, and so in the past 200 years they gradually took power through money and banking until they were able to usurp the power of Mystery Babylon.

So when the stone crushes Mystery Babylon (as it is now doing), Jerusalem too will be destroyed, as Jeremiah 19:10, 11 has prophesied. And because the law of authority makes leaders liable for the sins of the entire entity, Jerusalem has been made liable for the murder of all the prophets, saints, and even the apostles themselves (Revelation 18:20). Their liability dates back to the murder of Abel, Jesus says, even long before the city of Jerusalem was built.

Jesus warned them, saying, “How shall you escape the sentence of Gehenna?” (Matthew 23:33). This was a reference to Jeremiah’s sentence (Jeremiah 19:2) upon Judah and Jerusalem when he was sent to the valley of the son of Hinnom (Gehenna in Greek). Gehenna is the prophetic place of divine judgment upon Jerusalem.

Summary of the Two Trees

Jude 12 spoke of a tree being “doubly dead, uprooted.” This was first a reference to an unfruitful tree, and so we find that the fig tree of Judah was unfruitful. Jerusalem “died” in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed it. It came back to life in 1948, bearing leaves, just as Jesus prophesied. But because it was yet under the curse, it could bear only leaves but no fruit. Hence, the day will come when the city is destroyed, just as Jeremiah prophesied.

Jesus said that a generation would arise that would tell this “fig tree” and “mountain” (i.e., Kingdom) “Be taken up and cast into the sea,” and “it shall happen” (Matthew 21:21).

At the same time, the tree of Mystery Babylon will also be uprooted and cast into the sea. Only then will the true immoral and murderous nature of Babylon be exposed for all to see, for Babylon will be charged with the liability for all the blood shed on the earth.

It is clear that Babylon is also Jerusalem, as is suggested in Revelation 11:8,

⁸ And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city [Babylon] which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified [Jerusalem].

When these prophecies are fulfilled, then will Jude’s word be fulfilled when he describes the fruitless tree as being “doubly dead, uprooted.” Never again will it rise to rule the earth, for the Stone Kingdom will be ruled by those who bear fruit to God, or as Daniel 7:22 KJV puts it, “the saints of the Most High.” Their Kingdom will be the New Jerusalem, not the old city. Hagar-Jerusalem will be cast out, and Sarah, the New Jerusalem, will be established (Galatians 4:25, 26, 30).

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 12

The next analogy is found in Jude 13, which says,

¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever [eis aiona, “for an age”].

Here Jude compares the Gnostics with “wild waves of the sea,” because waves leave foam and debris along the shoreline, even as the Gnostics expose “their own shame.” The word shame is used in the Hebraic sense, not only of being ashamed but, by implication, an idol. The Hebrew word is bosheth.

An example of this is found in Jeremiah 3:24, “But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth.” Again, we read in Hosea 9:10, “But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame.”

As Jude was of Judah and was writing primarily to his fellow countrymen, his audience would have understood the implication of bosheth. Jude was telling them that the Gnostics were not true followers of Christ but were worshiping other gods in the temple in the guise of worshiping the God of Israel. In Jeremiah 2:28 the prophet asks,

²⁸ But where are your gods which you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.

The prophet denounced this pretense, but the people themselves appeared to be blind to what they were doing. Jeremiah 2:35 puts words in their mouths, saying,

³⁵ Yet you said, “I am innocent; surely His anger is turned away from me.” Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, “I have not sinned.”

The purpose of Jude’s epistle was largely the same as Jeremiah’s writing in this way. Both of them saw the problem, but there were many in their audiences that were blind to it. In fact, such is the nature of idolatry, for men do not recognize idols in their hearts until they are overthrown.

Wandering Stars (Planets)

The next analogy that Jude uses compares the Gnostic teachers to “wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved for ever” (i.e., “for the age,” as The Emphatic Diaglott correctly reads).

In the terminology of the day, there were “fixed stars” and “wandering stars” in the heavens. The wandering stars were called by the Greek term, astares planetai. They are the planets, which appear to move in the heavens. In those days the moon and sun were considered to be the closest planets, followed by five (genuine) planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. These formed the basis of the mystery religions in those days.

It is evident that Jude gave no religious credence to the planets. His analogy suggests the Gnostic view involved pointless wandering (speculations and mythology) that went nowhere.

The Gnostic Gospels

Gnosticism, however, had found fertile ground in Egypt, giving rise to the so-called Gnostic Gospels of that era. Many of them were discovered by archeologists in 1945.

That is why and how the Gnostic gospels were created. The Gnostics fraudulently attached the names of famous Christians to their writings, such as the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip, the gospel of Mary, etc. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in southern Egypt in 1945 represented a major discovery of Gnostic gospels. These Gnostic gospels are often pointed to as supposed "lost books of the Bible."

https://www.gotquestions.org/Gnostic-gospels.html

These Gnostic Gospels were never accepted outside of Gnostic circles. It was a common literary tactic in those days to write under a pseudonym, and in order to give books credence, men often attributed their writing to a more famous person. This tactic was well known in the early Church, and for this reason they were more discriminatory than many Christians are today. For good reason the Gnostic Gospels were excluded from the canon of the New Testament.

In my view, the Apostle John was charged with formalizing the canon, as I explained in chapters 23 and 24 of my book, Lessons from Church History, Vol. 1. Before Paul died, he charged Timothy with the responsibility of delivering his epistles to John for inclusion in the canon. John’s mission was complete only after finishing the book of Revelation in 96 A.D., just before his death in the year 100.

In later years the Church Councils examined the evidence and formalized the canon that had already been adopted and used by the majority of the early Church. There are no “lost gospels” as such. There are some letters that Paul did not see fit to include in the canon, of course, such as a third letter to the Corinthians. There were also many other writings in the early Church which did not attempt to use pseudonyms to deceive the people. The Gnostic Gospels specifically engaged in deception, as part of its overall character, and so we ought not to think that their writings were “lost books of the Bible.” God did not lose any inspired writings.

The Fate of the Gnostics

As mentioned previously, Jude 13 tells us that the Gnostics were like “wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved for an age,” that is, the Age of Judgment that was yet to come. The idea of a Messianic Age had been long established in Judaism, often referred to as “The Age.”

αἰών aiṓn, ahee-ohn'; from the same as G104; properly, an age; by extension, perpetuity (also past); by implication, the world; specially (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future)

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G165&t=KJV

Judaism understood “The Age” to be the Great Sabbath Millennium, the 7^th thousand year period since creation, wherein the Messiah’s Kingdom would rule the earth, and wherein the Jews would essentially enslave all other ethnic groups. Their basic concept of the Sabbath Millennium was not refuted in John’s treatment of this Age in Revelation 20. John only disagrees with the Jews insofar as who is the Christ and who will actually rule and reign with Him. 

The Jews looked for another messiah who was better suited to their nationalist agenda, whereas John saw only mature believers in Jesus as being qualified to rule with Him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4, 5, 6).

I discussed this more fully in The Revelation, Book 8, chapters 2 and 3.

The Age of Judgment

John also distinguishes between the Messianic Age and the Age of Judgment that begins at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:7-15). The Great Sabbath will give rest to the earth as the great “stone” grows until it fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). At the start of the eighth “day” (millennium) all of the dead from past generations will be raised for judgment. They will then be enslaved under the judgment of the law for that final Age, ending only with the Creation Jubilee that sets all creation free from slavery (Romans 8:20, 21).

The carnal Jewish belief that non-Jews will be enslaved to Jews is based on the idea of self-interest, no different from the slavery that has been practiced among the nations since the beginning. Biblical slavery is different in that it is ultimately for the benefit of the slave. Biblical slavery is imposed as the result of sin (Exodus 22:3) in order to make payment on a debt. Such slaves are sold to redeemers who are willing to take responsibility for the sinner’s debt. The spirit of the law also makes those redeemers responsible to be like Christ to the slave and to bring him to spiritual maturity and the place of forgiveness and restoration.

Hence, when John speaks of the Age of Judgment in terms of “the lake of fire,” he was not intending this to be a torture pit but an application of the “fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV) coming from the throne of God as a “river of fire” (Daniel 7:9, 10). This judgment is whatever the law prescribes, including payment of restitution (Exodus 22:3), or flogging (Luke 12:48, 49). The “river of fire” is the judgment being meted out, while the “lake of fire” is the outworking of that judgment over time. The fire is not to be taken in a literal sense but as a metaphor for the law of God itself by which all judgment is rendered.

Jude’s point was to show that the Gnostics would be judged for “an age.” Though he does not take the time to distinguish between the ages to come, we understand from many other passages that there is more than one age yet to come. For example, Revelation 11:15 speaks of “the ages of the ages” (aionas ton aionian). These are the culmination of the ages in general, the greatest of the ages. John defines these ages more specifically in terms of the Sabbath Millennium and (afterward) the Age of Judgment.

Jude’s reference, then, states that the Gnostics will be brought to judgment in a coming Age. He was not telling us that this judgment would last “forever,” as the KJV, NASB, and some other translations indicate. The word aion is simply an age. For this reason, Young’s Literal New Testament renders it, “to whom the gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept.”

Rotherham’s The Emphasized Bible renders the same passage, “for whom the gloom of darkness age-abiding hath been reserved.” Ivan Panin’s Numeric New Testament reads, “for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved unto the age.” The Concordant Literal New Testament reads, “for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept for an eon.” The Emphatic Diaglott reads, “for which has been kept the gloom of darkness for the Age.”

So while Jude did not refrain from telling us that the Gnostics would be judged, he did not say that their judgment would be endless. All divine judgment is limited. Floggings are limited to 40 stripes (Deuteronomy 25:3) and slavery is limited to the time prior to the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:54).

The merciful judgments of God are thus remedial and corrective in nature, designed even to bring the Gnostics into alignment with the mind of Christ and to win their love.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, PART 13

When Jude compared the Gnostics to “clouds without water,” “autumn trees without fruit,” and “wandering stars” (Jude 12, 13), he may have been influenced by the book of Enoch, which says in chapters 2 and 3,

Chapter 2:

¹ Observe ye everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, and the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and ² transgress not against their appointed order. Behold ye the earth, and give heed to the things which take place upon it from first to last, how steadfast they are, how none of the things upon earth ³ change, but all the works of God appear to you. Behold the summer and the winter, how the whole earth is filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it.

Chapter 3:

Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the new comes.

http://hiddenbible.com/enoch/online.html/

These short chapters allude to the same themes found in Jude 12 and 13, including the reference to the fixed stars that “do not change their orbits.” This, of course, is contrasted with the planets, which appear to “wander” in the heavens.

Having finished making a series of analogies about the Gnostics, Jude then quotes directly from the book of Enoch, saying in Jude 14 and 15,

¹⁴ And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

This is a direct quotation from Enoch 1:9, which says,

⁹ And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones
To execute judgement upon all,
And to destroy all the ungodly:

And to convict all flesh
Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed,
And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

The passage in Enoch is about the end of days when God comes upon Mount Sinai (verse 4) to judge the whole earth but to preserve and bless the saints. The book opens this way:

¹ The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be ² living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. 

Scholars debate whether Enoch himself wrote this or if someone later used his name as a pseudonym. Jude appears to treat it as a genuine prophecy from Enoch himself “in the seventh generation from Adam.” In other words, Jude was quoting the man and not merely the book, and he believed that Enoch had prophesied about Mount Sinai many centuries before the Israelites arrived there under Moses’ leadership.

If we accept the view that the book of Enoch is genuine, a secondary question is how much of the book of Enoch was actually written by Enoch himself. It was common for men in those days not only to write entire books under a pseudonym but also to embellish existing books, claiming that their version is a “complete” copy previously hidden from the public.

So most scholars believe that the later chapters were greatly influenced by the religion of Babylon and thus conclude that it was written or embellished by a Jew during or after the Babylonian captivity. Whatever the case, Jude apparently believed that the first few short chapters were authentic prophecies from Enoch himself. Yet because we cannot study the complete text used by Jude, we can only draw conclusions from those early portions of the book that Jude actually quoted or referenced.

The Biblical References

If Enoch was genuine, it then prophesied of the event in Deuteronomy 33:1-3, which says,

¹ And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. ² And he said, “The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. ³ Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand; and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.

This is quite similar to the opening statement in the book of Enoch, where we read: “The words of the blessing of Enoch.” Deuteronomy 33 is the blessing of Moses upon the twelve tribes. Whereas Enoch speaks of the judgment of God upon the ungodly, Moses speaks of the “fiery law” by which judgment is rendered. However, Moses says little about the ungodly, focusing primarily upon blessing “all His saints.”

Both the “fiery law” (esh dath) and the saints are said to be in God’s hand, which shows that the saints themselves are those in whose hearts the law of God is written by fire. By being in agreement with Him and showing forth the divine nature, they become agents of divine judgment upon the ungodly. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:2, “do you not know that the saints will judge the world?”

More than that, Paul says in the next verse, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” We cannot help but wonder if Paul too had read the book of Enoch, which says in 1:5,

⁵ And all shall be smitten with fear
And the Watchers shall quake,
And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth.

Later, we read in chapter 10 of Enoch that the fallen angels were called “Watchers” and the Nephilim were called “children of the Watchers.” We cannot say if Paul was referring to these “Watchers” or if he had some special revelation about judging angels. Nonetheless, we note that Paul’s belief was identical to that found in Enoch.

We should also note a contrast between Enoch and Moses (Deuteronomy). Moses blessed the twelve tribes and prophesied of their destiny but says nothing about Sinai being the place of the final judgment. Enoch, however, implies that Sinai will be the place of the Great White Throne judgment.

In Daniel 7:10, where the Ancient of Days comes to judge the earth, there is no mention of any specific location. The same is true when John refers to the same scene in Revelation 20:11. For Enoch, the gathering place for divine judgment is Sinai; but Hebrews 12:22 KJV says it is Mount Sion, the place where Jesus was transfigured. Sion is not Zion, as the NASB would have it, but Mount Hermon (Deuteronomy 4:48).

Mount Sinai is in Arabia, Paul says in Galatians 4:25—not in the Sinai peninsula, which is part of Egypt. Paul should know, since he went there to receive his revelation of the law and the New Covenant (Galatians 1:17). No doubt he sat in the cave where both Moses and Elijah met God (1 Kings 19:8, 9). But Sinai was also the inheritance of Ishmael, not of Isaac, and its Mount represented Hagar, not Sarah. The glory of God’s presence, then, moved from Sinai in Arabia to Zion in Jerusalem and ultimately to Sion, or Hermon.

Nonetheless, Jude 15 (quoting Enoch) tells us that Mount Sinai was the place of divine judgment—at least in the days of Moses.

The Grumblers

He says further in Jude 16,

¹⁶ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

The “grumblers” were the Israelites in Moses’ day, those who complained whenever their faith was tested in the wilderness. Exodus 15:24 says,

²⁴ So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

Again, we read in Exodus 16:2,

² And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

In Numbers 14:29 God judged Israel for their grumbling, or murmuring,

²⁹ Your corpses shall fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

It is clear, then, that the grumblers being judged were the Israelites, also known as “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV). They all had faith in the blood of the lamb (Passover), which sent them on their journey to the Promised Land, but their faith was insufficient to finish their journey. When God tested their faith, they failed every time (Numbers 14:22).

This is much like the Church today, which, as a body, left “Egypt” when Jesus died on the cross as the Passover Lamb, but which again failed the wilderness tests. They did not understand that “God causes all things to work together for good” (Romans 8:28). And so, when trials hit, most of them murmured and complained once again, finding fault with God and with those called to lead them to the Promised Land.

Injustice through Bribery

Jude 16 also condemns those who “speak arrogantly, flattering people [i.e., judges] for the sake of gaining an advantage.” Scholars suggest that Jude here was referencing another book called The Assumption of Moses (or The Testament of Moses), which reads in chapter 5,

And many in those times shall have respect unto desirable persons and receive gifts, and pervert judgment [on receiving presents]. And on this account the colony and the borders of their habitation shall be filled with lawless deeds and iniquities: those who wickedly depart from the Lord shall be judges: they shall be ready to judge for money as each may wish.

This book condemns those who give gifts to judges (usually, priests) as an offering to the Lord, hoping to gain favor in the courts. No doubt Jude was familiar with The Assumption of Moses, but he would not have needed to quote from it, as God gave clear instructions to judges in the law. Exodus 23:8 says,

⁸ And you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.

Injustice has always been a problem in the world. As long as there are judges who desire wealth, power, or prestige more than justice, the courts will favor the rich and powerful and pervert the cause of the poor and helpless.

Jude tells us that those who seek an unjust advantage will be brought to judgment in the end.

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, FINAL

In Jude 17-19 the author addresses his readers directly to admonish and exhort them to follow the truth and to reject the Gnostic teachings.

¹⁷ But you, brethren, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ that they were saying to you, “In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” ¹⁹ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.

Jude may have been referring to the Apostle Peter, who wrote in 2 Peter 3:1-3,

¹ This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up in your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. ³ Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.

The Mockers

Peter and Jude were the only New Testament authors to use the Greek term empaiktes, “mockers.” The word was used once also in the Septuagint rendering of Isaiah 3:4, 5,

⁴ And I will make youths their princes, and mockers [empaiktes] shall have dominion over them. ⁵ And the people shall fall, man upon man, and every man upon his neighbor; the child shall insult the elder man, and the base the honourable.

 Here we learn that the rabbis used empaiktes as the equivalent of the Hebrew word ta’aluwl, which pictures a child about to throw a tantrum in order to get his own way (i.e., a tyrant). The prophet tells us that God’s judgment upon Israel for its lawlessness is that He will put such childish tyrants in positions of authority over them. They will not be ruled by those having spiritual maturity and love but by those who demand that others serve them and give them everything that their capricious hearts desire (or “their own ungodly lusts”).

It is interesting that Isaiah’s use of the term t’aluwl (or empaiktes) suggests that he himself was engaging in some level of mockery—or at least some irony—by telling them that their leaders would act like little childish tyrants. When such children throw tantrums, they are quite serious about getting their own way. They are not “mocking” anyone.

Perhaps this is the prophet that Peter was referencing when he wrote about “the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets.” Jude omits any reference to the prophets but appeals to the apostles (i.e., Peter).

Jude himself mocks the mockers in Jude 19, for the Gnostics considered themselves to be very spiritual, but Jude says that they are “devoid of the Spirit.” The lawless Gnostics did not follow “the law of God” but “the law of sin” (Romans 7:25; 8:2). Thinking themselves to be superior to the laws of God, they had cast aside restraint and had sanctified licentiousness.

The Gnostics are Soulish

When Jude calls them “worldly-minded” in Jude 19, the Greek word is psychikos, “soulish.” It is the word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:14 describing “a natural man,” in contrast to “he who is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:15). When men follow the desires of the soul, they are acting according to their Adamic nature, for Adam was made a living soul (1 Corinthians 15:45). Such people identify with the inner “man” that they received from their earthly parents.

However, those who have been begotten by God have transferred their identity from the soul to the spirit—which is the “new man,” or new self. These are no longer the sons of Adam but the sons of God, and hence they are led by their spirit, which in turn is saturated by the Holy Spirit.

Jude tells us that the Gnostics were psychikos, “soulish,” because they had not been begotten by the Holy Spirit. Their claim to spirituality was merely an attempt to make the soul spiritual. But the soul was already condemned to death at the time that Adam sinned, and it will never be an inheritor of the Kingdom. Paul says that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

True Believers are Spiritual

Jude continues in Jude 20 and 21,

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Jude exhorts the true believers to continue to build and grow spiritually. That holy seed which has been begotten by God is yet an embryo that must grow and mature until it is able to be brought fully to birth as a manifested son of God, visible to the world. When Jude speaks of “your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,” uses the metaphor of the temple. The “most holy faith” is the level of faith that corresponds to the Most Holy Place in the temple, where the Holy Spirit resides between the cherubim.

Most prayer was made at the altar of incense in the Holy Place as the priest approached the veil. It was there that Zacharias was praying as he offered incense when Gabriel appeared to him (Luke 1:11) and prophesied that he would have a son and that they should name him John. Yet once a year the high priest went into the Most Holy Place, where he met God face to face. We are currently like John as we minister to God in the Holy Place, building up our faith to prepare for the day we see Him face to face.

Meanwhile, Jude says, the faithful are to keep themselves in the love of God. In other words, they are to rest in assurance that they remain in God’s love for them, for that love is the basis of fellowship with Him. Building one’s faith cannot be separated from increasing one’s love of God, for “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love responds to His love and causes us to draw closer to Him in the Most Holy Place, even as we await anxiously for His coming and His presence (parousia).

The goal is “eternal life” (zoein aionian). The goal is not merely the quality of life that comes with immortality but specifically to receive this immortal life at the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5, 6). Those who are given life in the first resurrection are the overcomers who will reign with Christ for “The Age,” that is, the Messianic Age.

Jude calls this “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ,” substituting the word mercy for reward given to the true believers. Because these true believers are the recipients of such mercy, Jude 22 and 23 admonishes them, saying,

²² And have mercy on some, who are doubting; ²³ save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Mercy is a lawful option guaranteed to all victims of injustice. We call it the law of victims rights, because a victim of injustice is given the right to receive justice or mercy according to his discretion. Jude admonishes believers to have mercy on “some who are in doubt” (Panin’s Numeric New Testament).

Why would Jude tell us to have mercy on those who are doubting? Were the objects of such mercy in a state of doubt? The Emphatic Diaglott reads, “discriminating” or “making a difference.” It seems to me that Jude was saying that the victims of injustice had the power to discern the situation and to discriminate in the application of justice and mercy. The “doubt,” then, was not due to a lack of faith but to the uncertainty of how to apply justice and mercy. Hence, “some” ought to receive mercy, implying that others may not be deserving of it.

This is contrasted with others who ought to be saved, “snatching them out of the fire” of justice (i.e., the “fiery law” in Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). In other words, some ought to be saved (delivered) from the fire of justice. Still others should be granted “mercy with fear.” The term fear has a wide range of meaning from outright terror to healthy respect.

In this case, Jude defines the term by saying, “hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” The overall message is that one should hate the sin without hating the sinner.

Jude may have gotten his metaphor from Zechariah 3:2, where the Lord tells Satan, “Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” God was talking about Joshua the high priest, who was dressed in filthy garments and was in need to new clothing in order to minister to God properly.

In that case, Joshua received mercy in spite of his dirty clothing (i.e., unrighteousness). So also, we ought to hate “the garment polluted by the flesh,” but not the one in need of clean, white garments, which are “the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8).

The Doxology

Jude concludes his letter in Jude 24, 25,

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude does not want the believers to stumble, either from Gnostic teaching or through sin and “ungodly lusts.” When we stand in the presence of God, we need to be dressed in the fine linen which is righteousness, rather than the filthy, soulish garments of the flesh.

Jude’s doxology is similar to the expression of praise from all creation in Revelation 5:12,

¹² saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Jude’s final statement, “before all time and now and forever,” is better translated as “before every age and now and unto all the ages” (Dr. Bullinger). Even the NASB margin informs us that “forever” (pantas tous aionas) ought to be translated “to all the ages.”

Amen means “so be it.” The word is often used as agreement of a double witness.

The end.