Jude 5-7 says...
Today's verses are Jude 5-7, which read,
v.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.
A reminder that Jude was going to write a letter of salvation to his readers but then was urged to write a letter of warning about false teachers who had "crept in unnoticed" into the church fellowship. He is now going to give three examples of what unbelief can do.
The first is the event of the Exodus and the wandering in the desert. Jude wants us to think of this event and how it all happened. God heard their cry and sent in Moses to speak and act for Him. God showed His mighty power through the 10 plagues and they were released from bondage. He gave guidance day and night; He parted the Red Sea; He provided food and water; He spoke through the 10 commandments; yet when Moses was up the mountain they created the golden calf to worship instead of Him. They believed the report of the 10 spies instead of Joshua and Caleb and God that the Promise Land was theirs for the taking. How could all that have happened after all that God had done? God had them wander in the desert for 40 years, until that generation had passed away and the new one could go into the Promise Land. They listened and followed a false god and look where unbelief got them. Jude is saying remember this event and apply it to today.
v.6 - And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,...
Jude reminds them of another event where some of the angels went against God. The angels had a heavenly home. The angels were in the dwelling place of God. The angels were with God and took direct orders from Him. They had a privileged position to ours. What did some of them do in the face of all of that? They decided that they knew better than God and departed and God responded just as He did with the Jews who had unbelief. Those angels are still being kept in bondage until the final day of judgment. Do you see a pattern here? Unbelief leads to God responding to caring out the consequence of the unbelief.
v.7 - ...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
This example is used over 20 times in the Bible. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and did you notice that it spread to the cities around them, didn't follow God's instructions and ways about marriage and morality. They decided to create their own rules and their own ways that they deemed better than God's. What did it yield? God gave them the consequence of their unbelief and the cities were destroyed.
Three examples, rapid fire, to the readers of Jude of how it can happen that false teachers can come in and turn the tide to everything that God has said and done. Three examples that also show the result of that unbelief. The result of unbelief in God is not just another belief - it has consequences. That unbelief also spreads. Jude is setting up his readers for tomorrow.
"Lord, may this drive me to follow You all the more. May it drive me to have belief spread rather than unbelief as I live my life in light of You rather than in spite of You. May I learn from the past and know I am being reminded of it because God knows my surroundings so much better than I. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.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.
A reminder that Jude was going to write a letter of salvation to his readers but then was urged to write a letter of warning about false teachers who had "crept in unnoticed" into the church fellowship. He is now going to give three examples of what unbelief can do.
The first is the event of the Exodus and the wandering in the desert. Jude wants us to think of this event and how it all happened. God heard their cry and sent in Moses to speak and act for Him. God showed His mighty power through the 10 plagues and they were released from bondage. He gave guidance day and night; He parted the Red Sea; He provided food and water; He spoke through the 10 commandments; yet when Moses was up the mountain they created the golden calf to worship instead of Him. They believed the report of the 10 spies instead of Joshua and Caleb and God that the Promise Land was theirs for the taking. How could all that have happened after all that God had done? God had them wander in the desert for 40 years, until that generation had passed away and the new one could go into the Promise Land. They listened and followed a false god and look where unbelief got them. Jude is saying remember this event and apply it to today.
v.6 - And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,...
Jude reminds them of another event where some of the angels went against God. The angels had a heavenly home. The angels were in the dwelling place of God. The angels were with God and took direct orders from Him. They had a privileged position to ours. What did some of them do in the face of all of that? They decided that they knew better than God and departed and God responded just as He did with the Jews who had unbelief. Those angels are still being kept in bondage until the final day of judgment. Do you see a pattern here? Unbelief leads to God responding to caring out the consequence of the unbelief.
v.7 - ...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
This example is used over 20 times in the Bible. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and did you notice that it spread to the cities around them, didn't follow God's instructions and ways about marriage and morality. They decided to create their own rules and their own ways that they deemed better than God's. What did it yield? God gave them the consequence of their unbelief and the cities were destroyed.
Three examples, rapid fire, to the readers of Jude of how it can happen that false teachers can come in and turn the tide to everything that God has said and done. Three examples that also show the result of that unbelief. The result of unbelief in God is not just another belief - it has consequences. That unbelief also spreads. Jude is setting up his readers for tomorrow.
"Lord, may this drive me to follow You all the more. May it drive me to have belief spread rather than unbelief as I live my life in light of You rather than in spite of You. May I learn from the past and know I am being reminded of it because God knows my surroundings so much better than I. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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