Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Jude 1.1 and following. Indeed, a trumpet can resonate for the sole pleasure of those who listen to it. But sometimes it has to sound to stimulate fighters. Jude would have liked to talk to his brothers about the most uplifting subjects. Alas, in the face of the progress of the evil that was already creeping “among the faithful”, his service, a real cry of alarm, is limited to enjoining them to fight at all costs for the truth. How many children of God to whom it is necessary to remind again and again of the ABCs of Christian truth, when the Spirit would like to occupy them with higher blessings (Heb 5:5-14)! “You who know all this once and for all…”. Have we made any progress, or on the contrary retreated since our conversion?
Now, in the epistle of Peter, the men in question are indisputably false doctors [teachers] who themselves go to destruction, who influence in evil and who bring with them to destruction the unstable souls who have professed to be Christians and who have outwardly abandoned the corruptions of the pagan world. In jude’s epistle, wicked men are not considered as clearly as doctors [teachers], but they are in a situation of more marked opposition. They have the characteristics of a classical apostasy, and this is consistent with the fact that it is spoken of angels who await judgment, not only as having sinned, but as not having kept their first state; in other words, they have apostatized. Jude therefore seems to consider a state of affairs where evil is to a more advanced degree than that envisaged by Peter.
The Apostle Paul also warns us of the character of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1 to 4:5, and he instructs the servant of God to do what he announces. Paul and Peter speak of the “last days”; Jude talks about “the end of time.” John, in his first epistle, speaks of the last times, and more precisely of “the last hour”, with a somewhat different meaning attached to this expression, because we were already in the last hour at the time he wrote. No new “hour” was to be interspersed between the time he was writing and the coming of the Lord that will take place when the Antichrist appears. Already many little antichrists had appeared as precursors of the great antichrist to come. Each of the other inspired writers, Paul, Peter, and Jude, sees the Lord’s coming as the time when evil will finally be eliminated. Jude speaks to the “called,” that is, to those who are truly God’s called people, without any particular distinction.
Thus Jude addresses all the saints universally, as called out of the world. All are “beloved” in God the Father, as born of Him, and all are “preserved” as being under the mighty hand of Jesus Christ. The true saints of God are the objects of divine love and, despite all the evil that can invade the Christian domain, they will be preserved to the end. In addition, mercy, peace and love will be multiplied to them, despite the multiplication of evil and wicked people around them. How confident it gives and how much it strengthens! Armed with this force, we can continue to consider the different kinds of evil that are exposed and predicted. Jude had proposed to write a treatise on “our common salvation,” but found himself diverted from his purpose, and instead wrote this short epistle of exhortation for the defense of the faith. This is a remarkable and quite unique confession.
It was now necessary that those who are called to God be exhorted to fight for the faith. It had been given only to the apostles to expose the faith with authority, and to put it in writing in the inspired Scripture. It had been given to a relatively small number to be pastors and doctors and to instruct in the faith. It was therefore very likely that the mass of believers would jump to the conclusion that the defense of the faith and the fight for the faith were the business of only a few. Hence the need for this word of exhortation. Is it not extraordinary and reprehensible that in the presence of such an exhortation, there are so many people today who consider that the fight for the faith does not concern them, and who would like to relegate this activity to a handful of specialists highly qualified by their studies, or having some official status? The value of faith is inexpressible. It brings together all that we know about God in Christ. If it goes, everything is fine, as far as we are concerned. Hence the need to maintain its integrity at all costs, and not only to keep it passively, but to actively fight for it. Faith was “once taught to the saints.” There are three things in this statement to consider carefully.
First, faith was taught, not discovered. It is not something elaborated by men, adding piece by piece as for science, but it is something communicated by God through the Holy Spirit. Science has been built through observation, experimentation and reasoning. Faith has been revealed by God for our faith to receive. Second, faith was taught once, once and for all. This teaching took a little time. It “began by being announced by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who had heard it” (Heb. 2:3). By the time Jude was writing, the teaching of the faith was over: the realm of revealed truth had been completed by the apostolic writings. Men of science are always waiting for new discoveries: they do not have many things that are certain and indisputably settled.
Third, faith was taught to the saints. It was not taught to the apostles and prophets, but taught by them to the saints. The saints are therefore its guardians, and not only eminent or gifted men among the saints. This is an important fact. Faith is for the faith of each of us. Each of us must receive and understand it, and each of us must be ready to maintain it and fight for it as necessary. All this enlightens us to show how disastrous the idea was that it was good to have in the church a special class of men, officially appointed, priests or pastors, dedicated to this activity. This was a masterstroke of the adversary, because where this idea prevailed, the great mass of believers was diverted from the struggle of faith, and kept in a state of spiritual infantilism.
We must fight for faith, build ourselves on it, and work to save others from defilement and condemnation, but we cannot find any rest in ourselves or in our efforts. We may have the grace to keep ourselves in God’s love, at least to an extent, but we can only find rest in the fact that He can keep us from falling, and can present us beyond reproach in the presence of His glory. Since He can, we are the only ones to blame if we flinch along the way. However, if it is true that we may flinch, we will not fall definitively. We will be presented in the presence of His glory when it shines with all its brilliance, and even the light of that glory will find no fault in us. How extraordinary this is! How excellent this is! What a triumph of God’s grace and power!
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Propagators of false teachings:
- Defense of the faith
Gal 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him in the face, because he was reprehensible. Phil 1:17 while those, animated by a spirit of contention, proclaim Christ by motives that are not pure and with the thought of arousing me some tribulation in my bonds. Tt 1:13 This testimony is true. That is why take them up severely, so that they may have a healthy faith, Jude 3 Beloved, as I longed to write to you about our common salvation, I felt compelled to do so in order to exhort you to fight for the faith that was transmitted to the saints once and for all.
- Prescience of Christ
Jn 6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe, and who was the one who would deliver him. Rom 14:9 For Christ died and lived, in order to rule over the dead and the living. Col 1:18 He is the head of the body of the Church; He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, in order to be in all things the first. Hb 3:3 For he was deemed worthy of a glory all the more superior to that of Moses that he who built a house has more honor than the house itself. Rev 1:11 which said: What you see, write it in a book, and send it to the seven Churches, to Ephesus, smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardinians, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
- Eternal fire
Is 33:14 Sinners are frightened in Zion, A tremor grips the ungodly: Who of us will be able to stay by a devouring fire? Who of us will be able to stay by eternal flames? Mt 25:41 Then he will say to those who will be to his left: Withdraw from me, cursed; go into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and for his angels. Rev 14:10 he too will drink wine of God’s fury, poured unmixed into the cup of his wrath, and he will be tormented in fire and brimstone, before the holy angels and before the lamb. Rev 21:8 But for the cowardly, the unbelievers, the abominable, the murderers, the shameless, the enchanters, the idolaters, and all the liars, their share will be in the burning pond of fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
- Glorified saints, the righteous will be glorified
Mt 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let him who has ears to hear hear. Luke 9:30-31 And behold, two men were talking to him: it was Moses and Elijah, 31 who, appearing in glory, spoke of his departure to Jerusalem. Rom 8:17 Now, if we are children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, if we suffer with him, so that we may be glorified with him. Col 3:4 When Christ, your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
From all the above, we note that two traits characterize this epistle: the abandonment of grace, changed into debauchery, and the contempt for authority in all its forms (2 Pet 2:7-14). This last trend is already asserting itself in families, in schools, in social and professional life. But how will a child who is not submissive to his parents later accept the Lord’s authority? You have to get to the penultimate book of the Bible to learn what God had revealed on the occasion of the flood. Enoch’s prophecy contemplates the Lord returning with His saints for the judgment of the ungodly. All sinners will then account for all their works and all their words of provocation, not to mention their whispers. For these people are “men who whisper, complaining about their fate…”. Proof that the impiety and satisfaction of covetousness do not make you happy! Let us be careful not to be ungrateful too, dissatisfied with the lord’s part of us. “But you beloved…!” In the midst of the worst developments of evil, there is always a course of action for the faithful: mutual edification, prayer, waiting for the Lord, fraternal care. The Holy Spirit, God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, are appointed together as if to assure us that, on the divine side, nothing can be missing. If we stumble, we must only blame ourselves. Although we are “preserved in Jesus Christ,” we ourselves have to preserve ourselves in the enjoyment of God’s love. Yes, let us taste this “abundance of joy” now and pay tribute and adoration to our Savior God. All that remains is for us to bow in the presence of this Savior God, through the Lord Jesus, and to give Him glory, majesty, dominion and power, now and for all ages. Amen. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER FOR ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Ghost. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterhole to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and for centuries of ages. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “topic of the book; messages to the seven Asian Assemblies. »
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.