Part 5 (3/6/18)
A Lesson for Today’s believers
The apostasy of these ungodly people was abundantly evident, but Jude urges caution in pronouncing judgment on such ungodliness. Michael, the great archangel, was entrusted with great authority by the Lord Jehovah. According to Jewish tradition found in the book, The Assumption of Moses, Michael was sent to bury Moses’ body, but the devil argued with the angel about the body, claiming the right to dispose of it. Nevertheless, Jude reminds his readers that even Michael, as great as he was, would not rebuke Satan. Instead, Michael said, “May the Lord reprimand you!” This was not Michael’s authority, so he did not presume to exercise judgment on a matter that clearly belonged to the Lord God. Other Scriptures also support the exercise of caution when judging the actions of others. “O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, appear!” (Psalm 94:1). “Don’t take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, ‘I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). “Angels, who have more strength and power than these teachers, don’t bring an insulting judgment against them from the Lord” (2 Peter 2:11). If even the archangel will not exceed his authority, how much more careful should believers be?
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not: Contrary to Jude’s admonition (v. 9), this precept is not followed by those degenerate sinners. It is natural for unbelievers to speak evil of others, but it is distressing that they speak evil about those things of which they know nothing about. “These false teachers insult what they don’t understand. They are like animals, which are creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. So they will be destroyed like animals and lose what their wrongdoing earned them. These false teachers are stains and blemishes. They take pleasure in holding wild parties in broad daylight. They especially enjoy deceiving you while they eat with you” (2 Peter 2:12-13). These people insult things of which they know nothing because they have not been redeemed and do not enjoy the indwelling Spirit of God. These people know nothing about God, His Son Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. They do not know God’s Holy Word, the Bible, but only know what comes naturally born of their sin nature. Consequently, they themselves will perish in the evil they have pronounced on the children of God. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
The teaching about Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection is foolishness to those who have not been called into fellowship with the Creator and Redeemer by His Spirit. Even the wisdom of the smartest men will one day perish unless that wisdom is founded on the truths contained in God’s Word. The Word of the Lord will never perish. The natural man does not know the things of God. He considers himself as little more than the animals and thus is corrupted with this thought. He does not believe there is eternal life for man any more than for the beast. When he enters the doorway of death, he will be surprised to be under eternal condemnation.
Headstrong and brazen, the apostates speak disrespectfully in areas of which they are ignorant. They do not realize that in any ordered society, there must be authority and there must be subjection to that authority. And so they surge forward and swagger around in arrogant rebellion.
The area in which they are most knowledgeable is that of natural instincts, the gratification of sensual appetites. With the mindlessness of unreasoning animals, they abandon themselves to sexual gratification, and in the process they corrupt and destroy themselves.
those things which -- Greek, "all things whatsoever they understand not," namely, the things of the spiritual world.
but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
But what they know naturally. They are destitute of thought; their minds are uncultivated; they follow sheer natural instinct, and are slaves to their animal tendencies. As inconsequential men; as animals; that is, in things pertaining to their physical nature, or in which they are on a level with the brute creation. The reference is to the natural instincts, the impulses of appetite, and passion, and sensual pleasure. The idea of the apostle seems to be, that their knowledge was confined to those things. They did not rise above them to the intelligent contemplation of those higher things, against which they used only the language of reproach. There are multitudes of such men in the world. Towards high and holy objects they use only the language of reproach. They do not understand them, but they can rail at them. Their knowledge is confined to the subjects of sensual indulgence, and all their intelligence in that respect is employed only to corrupt and destroy themselves.
As brute beasts. Like the irrational animals; but, in the indulgence of their animal inclinations, they corrupt themselves, beyond the example of the brute beasts. They live only for sensual indulgence, and sink deeper and deeper in sensual gratifications. A fearful description; and true of many in the present day.
B. Warning of the Apostates. 11–16.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying (opposition, rebellion) of Core.
Woe unto them! They (still talking about false teachers) are doomed as certainly as Cain … Balaam … and Korah. A stinging indictment is pronounced upon them. Woe to them! Because of their stubborn and unrepentant heart, they store up wrath for themselves in the Day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
These false teachers are denounced as being as worthless as spots (blemishes) in your feasts (vs. 12), rainless clouds (vs. 12), fruitless trees that have been plucked up by the roots (vs. 12), Raging waves (vs. 13), and wandering stars (stars out of orbit, vs. 13). “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11:21).
Christendom today is leavened by the sin of greed. If the profit motive could somehow be removed, much of what passes as Christian work would come to a screeching halt. C. A. Coates warns: Man is so base that he makes gain for himself out of God’s things. The ultimate point of man’s baseness is that he will make gain out of God’s things for himself. The Lord has a definite judgment on it all. We can see how Christendom is full of it, and we have to watch for it in ourselves for fear that that element will come in.
The third reason for the woe pronounced by Jude is that these false teachers have perished in the rebellion of Korah. Along with Dathan and Abiram, Korah rebelled against the leadership of Moses and Aaron and desired to intrude into the priestly office (Num. 16). By this they were actually spurning the Lord. For their insubordination, they were swallowed alive in a great earthquake. God, by taking the lives of these men showed His extreme displeasure at rebellion against those whom He has set up as His representatives.
The denunciation of woes, common in the Lord's ministry, is only found here in all of the Old Testament.
for they have gone in the way of Cain. Their career is described as a plummeting fall of ever increasing velocity. First they have gone in the way of Cain. They have run greedily in the error of Balaam. Finally they perished in the rebellion of Korah. Error and apostasy are never static. They lead people pell-mell to the precipice, then over it to destruction. They are haters of their brethren, and as such they are murderers; and by their false doctrine they corrupt and destroy the souls of people. They live selfish lives, full of hate.
The way of Cain is basically the rejection of salvation through the blood of a sacrificial victim (Gen. 4). It is the attempt to appease God by human efforts. C. H. Mackintosh says, “God’s remedy to cleanse is rejected, and man’s effort to improve is put in its place. This is ’the way of Cain.’” But, of course, reliance on human effort leads to a hatred of grace and to the objects of grace. And that hatred eventually leads to persecution and even murder). “But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell” (Genesis 4:5). You probably already know the story; jealousy in the heart of Cain caused him to kill Able. *(Genesis 4:5-12).
*(Gen 4.4-12) 'And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”
For they have gone in the way of Cain. That is, they have envisioned disobedience and rebellion as he did; they have shown that they are proud, corrupt, and wicked. The apostle does not specify the points in which they had imitated the example of Cain, but it was probably in such things as these-pride, haughtiness, the hatred of religion, restlessness under the restraints of virtue, envy that others were more favoured, and a spirit of hatred of the brethren **(comp. 1 John 3:15) which would lead to murder.
**(1 John 3.15) “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,
The error of Balaam—For the sake of personal gain they corrupt the word of God and refine away its meaning, and spoke it so as to suit the passions of the immoral. This was literally true of the Nicolaitans, who taught some of the most impure doctrines, and followed the most wanton practices.
The error of Balaam is the desire to become personally wealthy by making a business out of the service of God. Balaam professed to be a prophet of God, but he was covetous, and willing to prostitute his prophetic gift for money (Num. 22–24). Five times Balak paid him to curse Israel, and he was more than willing to do it, but he was forcibly restrained by God. Many of the things that he said were true and beautiful, but for all that, he was a hireling prophet. He couldn’t curse the men of Israel, but he eventually succeeded in luring them into sin with the daughters of Moab: “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.” (Num. 25:1–5).
Like Balaam, the false teachers of today are suave and convincing. They can speak out of both corners of their mouths at once. They suppress the truth in order to increase their income. The principal point is that they are greedy, seeking to make the house of God a house of merchandise.
and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
And perished. They perish, or they will perish. The result is so certain that the apostle speaks of it as if it were already done. The thought seems to have lain in his mind in this manner: he thinks of them as having the same character as Korah, and then at once thinks of them as destroyed in the same manner, or as if it were already done. They are identified with him in their character and doom. The word rendered perish (ap????µ?) is often used to denote future punishment--“Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Thus, we may conclude that it is not the ultimate wish (or desire) of God that anyone perishes. While God permits man to perish in his unbelief, He does not relogate him to such condemnation against his will. Rather, all of heaven rejoiceth over every lost sheep which is saved. The contrast of the imminent danger to the lost sheep and the safety of those in the fold (of faith) clearly express where the majority of our attention and concentration should be in the ministry and activity of the church as we fulfill our commission to the world.”
(Matthew18:14).
In the gainsaying of Core. Of Korah, Numbers 16:1-30. The word gainsaying here means contradiction, or speaking against; then controversy, question, strife; then contempt , reproach, or rebellion. The idea here seems to be, that they were guilty of insubordination; of possessing a restless and dissatisfied spirit; of a desire to rule, etc. See the account of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their company, in Num. 22. It appears that these persons (those false teachers) opposed the authority of the apostles of our Lord, as Korah and his associates did that of Moses and Aaron; and St. Jude predicts for them a similar punishment.
12 These are spots (metaphor for men who by their conduct damage others morally, wreck them as it were) in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Next Jude chooses five examples from the world of nature to picture the character and destiny of the apostates. Moffatt says that “sky, land and sea are ransacked for illustrations of the character of these men.”
These are spots (False teachers) in your feasts of charity. They are spots in the love feasts which were held by the early Christians in connection with the Lord’s Supper. These men fear neither God nor man, and care for themselves rather than for the flock. They lure others to treat the faith with disrespect.
In your feasts of charity...Your feasts of love. The reference is probably to the Lord's Supper, called a feast or festival of love, because
1. It revealed the love of Christ to the world;
2. It was the means of strengthening the mutual love of the disciples: a festival which love originated, and where love reigned. It has been supposed by many, that the reference here is to festivals which were subsequently called Agapae, and which are now known as love-feasts-meaning a festival immediately preceding the celebration of the Lord's Supper. But there are strong objections to the supposition that there is reference here to such a festival.
The word used for "spots" by Peter is not exactly the same as that used here. Peter uses the word sp????-spiloi; Jude, sp??ade?-spilades. The word used by Jude means, a rock by or in the sea; a cliff, etc. It may either be a rock by the sea, against which vessels may be wrecked, or a hidden rock in the sea, on which they may be stranded at an unexpected moment. The idea here seems to be, not that they were spots and blemishes in their sacred feasts, but that they were like hidden rocks to the mariner. As those rocks were the cause of shipwreck, so these false teachers caused others to make shipwreck of their faith. They were as dangerous in the church as hidden rocks are in the ocean.
It appears that these persons, unholy and impure as they were, still continued to have outward fellowship with the Church! This is strange: but it is very likely that their power and influence in that place had swallowed up, or set aside, the power and authority of the true ministers of the church.
There was so much misuse of, and conflict over the so called love feasts that they were prohibited to be held in the Churches; and, having been abused, they fell into disuse. In later days they have been revived, in all the purity and simplicity of the primitive institution, among the Baptists, Pentacostals, Methodists, Cathlics, and most denominations, excapt today the name has been chagged to "Potlucks." There are people that go to church when there is a potluck that you will usually not see there.
Among the ancients, the richer members of the Church made an occasional general feast, at which all the members attended, and the poor and the rich ate together. The fatherless, the widows, and the strangers were invited to these feasts, and their eating together was a proof of their love for each other; therefore, such celebrations were called love feasts. The love feasts were at first celebrated before the Lord's Supper; but in process of time they appear to have been celebrated after it. But they were never considered as the Lord's Supper, nor any substitute for it.
Feasts in the early Church.
(1.) There is no evidence, unless it can be found in this passage, that such celebrations had the sanction of the apostles. They are nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament, or alluded to, unless it is in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 , an instance which is mentioned only to criticize it, and to show that such appendages to the Lord's Supper were wholly unauthorized by the original institution, and were liable to gross abuse.
(2.) The supposition that they existed, and that they are referred to here in order to provide a proper explanation of this passage is not necessarily the case. The writer wants to show, among other things, is that the early church celebrater the lords Supper and they incorporated into the celebration a diner; a Festival of Love. The words will appropriately apply to that, and there is no reason for supposing anything else in order to meet their full significance.
(3.) There can be no doubt that such a custom existed early in the Christian church, and that it was widely celebrated; but it can readily be accounted for without supposing that it had the sanction of the apostles, or that it existed in their time.
a. Festivals prevailed among the Jews, and it would not be unnatural to introduce them into the Christian church.
b. The custom prevailed among the heathen of having a "feast upon a sacrifice," or in connexion with a sacrifice; and as the Lord'sSupper commemorated the great sacrifice for sin, it was not unnatural, in imitation of the heathen, to add a feast or festival to that ordinance, either before or after its celebration.
c. This very passage in Jude, with perhaps some others in the New Testament, (see 1 Corinthians 11:26 , Acts 2:46 , 6:2 ,) might be so construed as to seem to lend credibility to the custom. For these reasons it seems clear to me that the passage before us does not refer to love-feasts; and, therefore, that they are not authorized in the New Testament.
when they feast with you, Showing that they were professors of religion. “And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;” (2 Peter 2:13).
feeding themselves without fear. Eating, not to fuel the body, but to pamper the appetite. Once in elementary school the teacher asked the class, " Why do you eat?" She asked several students, who gave excellent reasons for why we eat. And then she looked at me and said, "Tom why do you eat?" "I blurted out, "Because it tastes good!" To this day, I can still feel the embarassment and hear the laughter.
When Jude was written, It seems that food was abundant, and they ate like the gluttons they were; they drank wine and their minds became cloudy and dark, and their actions riotous. This was what brought the love feasts into ill repute in the Church, and was the means of their being at last completely laid aside. This abuse is never likely to take place among the Baptists, since they only use bread and grape juice, and the amount of these elements is not sufficient to provide a tenth part of a meal.
Unbelievers (non-Christians), when they observed such uninhibited actions: that is, gluttony, drunkenness and loud foul language, they were led to form a conclusion concerning the state of the Church; it must be very corrupt, to have in its communion such corrupt men, who lack a proper respect and reverence for the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, they treat it like any ordinary feast, and make it an occasion for rioting and gluttony--"When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!" (1 Cor 11:20-22; NLT).
feeding themselves—“tending themselves." What they look forward to is the pampering of themselves, not the feeding of the flock.
without fear—Sacred feasts, above all, ought to be celebrated with fear (Respect for the one being honored and for others). Feasting is not faulty in itself, but it needs to be accompanied with fear of forgetting God, as Job was in the case of his sons' feasts.
clouds they are without water. They are like clouds without water, appearing to hold the promise of refreshment to the parched countryside, but then carried along by the winds, and leaving disappointment and disillusionment. Here Jude compares the doctrine of God is to the rain—“My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:” ( Deuteronomy 32:2), and clouds are the instruments by which the rain is distilled upon the earth. In arid or parched countries the very appearance of a cloud is delightful, because it is a token of refreshing showers; but when sudden winds arise, and disperse these clouds, the hope of the husbandman and shepherd is cut short. These false teachers are represented as clouds; they have the outward appearance and status of the teachers of righteousness, and from such appearances pure doctrine may be logically expected: but these are clouds without water—they distil no refreshing showers, because they have none; they are carried away by their passions, like those light fleecy clouds are carried by the winds. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” (Eph. 4.14). In this verse Paul sets forth the negative results of spiritual unity and maturity. God desires that we be stalwart Christians with doctrinal stability, spiritual perception, responsibility, and dedicated to the goal. Too many are content to remain in weakness and immaturity, spiritual infancy. Tossed to and fro. Cast about as driftwood on the waves of the sea. This is a picture of instability, helplessness, and restlessness. Carried about with every wind of doctrine. Christians should not be whirled around in circles by every shifting wind of false doctrine. If not anchored in Christ, Christians are at the mercy of these ever-changing winds which blow unstable souls in every direction.“Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain” (Proverbs 25:14). Clouds in the sky awaken in men the hope of showers, and disappointment is experienced when the promise is not realized. So, when a man talks of giving gifts to others but fails to fulfill his promises, he is likewise a cause of great disappointment.
carried about of winds;
The oldest manuscripts have "carried aside," that is, out of the right course (compare Eph 4:14 above).
trees whose fruit withereth. They are late autumn trees, stripped of leaves and fruit. They are damaged or diseased trees; which causes their fruit to wither; for although there are blossoms, and the fruit shapes properly, the wound in the trees prevent the proper circulation of the sap, and therefore the fruit never comes to perfection. Hence the apostle immediately adds, without fruit; i.e. the fruit never comes to maturity. This metaphor expresses the same thing as the preceding. They have the appearance of ministers of the Gospel, but they have no fruit.
The idea here is substantially the same as that expressed by Peter, when he says that they were "wells without water;" and by him and Jude, when they say that they are like clouds driven about by the winds, that shed down no refreshing rain upon the earth. Such wells and clouds only disappoint expectations. So a tree that should produce fruit, but whose fruit always withers, would be useless. The word rendered withereth (f????p????a) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, autumnal; and the expression here denotes trees of autumn; that is, trees stripped of leaves and greenness; trees on which there are no fruit. The sense, in the use of this word, therefore, is not exactly that which is expressed in our translation, that the fruit has withered, but rather that they are like the trees of autumn, which are stripped and bare. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:4-6).
• Abide in me (Jesus Christ). In order to be a fruitful Christian, one must learn to depend on Christ and let the power and Spirit of Christ flow through him.
• Christ now clearly states the implications of this story. He is the vine and we are the branches. Note the total dependence upon the Vine. Without that abiding relationship ye can do nothing. In verse 2 it refers to more fruit, and in verses 5 it refers to much fruit.
• Verse does not refer to everlasting punishment in hell. Note that there are results of not abiding in Christ as a branch. The man himself is not the branch; the branch represents the fruits of his relationship with Christ. When the Christian fails to abide in Christ, he withers, dries up, and his fruit or works will be judged by fire “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
" (I Cor 3:12–15 ).
without fruit, What they are. False teachers promise much but produce little, like rainless clouds and fruitless trees. Either they are wholly barren, like the barren fig-tree, or the fruit which starts to grow never ripens, but falls off. They are, therefore, as useless as religious instructors-as much so as a tree is which produces no fruit. Enoch had the best word for them: ungodly.
twice dead, First, naturally and practically dead in sin, from which they had been revived by the preaching and grace of the Gospel. Secondly, dead by backsliding or apostasy from the true faith, by which they lost the grace they had received before; and now likely to continue in that death, because plucked up from the roots, their roots of faith and love are no longer fixed in Christ Jesus. THEY SHALL BE plucked up from the roots—God will exterminate them from the earth.
Another explanation has been offered, which says: That they are seen to be dead in two successive seasons, showing that there is no hope that they will revive and be valuable; or, using the word twice to denote emphasis, meaning that they are absolutely or altogether dead. Perhaps the idea is that successive summers and winters have passed over them, and that no signs of life appeared.
plucked up by the roots. The wind blows them down, or they are removed by the husbandman as only taking up space on the ground. They are not cut down-leaving a stump that might sprout again-but they are eradicated root and branch; that is, they are totally worthless. There is a regular rise in this climax, first, the apostle sees a tree apparently of autumn, stripped and leafless; then he sees it to be a tree that bears no fruit; then he sees it to be a tree over which successive winters and summers pass and no signs of life appear; then as wholly done away with. So he says it is the same with these men. They produce no fruits of holiness; months and years show that there is no vitality in them; they are fit only to be torn up and cast away. Regrettably! How many professors of religion are there, and how many religious teachers, who answer to this description!
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
Jude uses the same metaphor as found in Isaiah 57:20: “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” These false teachers are like the sea in a storm, where the swells are like mountains; the breakers lash the shore producing sound like thunder; and the great deep, stirred up from its very bottom, rolls it’s muddy, putrid sediment, and deposits it upon the beach. That is how it is with those proud and arrogant boasters, those headstrong, unruly, and ferocious men, who swept into their own vortex the souls of the simple, and left nothing behind them that was not symptomatic of their folly, their turbulence, and their impurity. For all their noise and motion, there is nothing to show but the foam of their shame. They glory in what they should be ashamed of and leave nothing of substance and value behind.
Shame—“Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Their glory is their shameless conduct. They boast of liberty, yet are slaves to Satan, sin, and self.
wandering stars--Jude describes these false believers as “wandering stars.” Stars provide light and direction. By virtue of their mathematically precise orbits, sailors can chart their course by them. However, these “stars” that Jude refers to behave erratically. Like shooting stars, spectacular in their dazzling display as they blaze a trail across the night sky, they careen toward their final death, but no one can set a course by them. They are unreliable and temporary. Their brilliance lasts for only a brief moment. Then, they disappear forever in the blackness of the night, which, according to Jude, has been reserved for them, indicating again that none of these things happen outside of God’s sovereignty. These reprobates are bound for hell as Jesus Himself promised. “Then the king will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me! God has cursed you! Go into everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:41)
to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Finally, these false teachers are like wandering stars, for who is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Wandering stars are celestial bodies that do not move in regular orbit. They are worthless as navigational aids. How appropriate a description of the false teachers! It is impossible to get spiritual direction from these religious meteors, falling stars, and comets who blaze brightly for a moment, then fizzle out into darkness like firework rockets.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh (To the Jew there was a sacredness in seven) from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Verses 14 and 15 are quoted from Enoch 1:9 (and 60:8) verbatim. They stress typically the ungodliness of the sinners (ungodly appears four times) and the judgment they deserve and get at the Lord’s coming. These two verses should be studied together.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam. The line of descent is Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahaleel, Jared, Enoch, see Genesis 5:3 .On the character of Enoch: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch was a very unusual man. His devotion to the Lord Jehovah was exceptional. While there is little history about Enoch, what the Scriptures do say is enough to conclude that there was no one like him in regards to godliness. “Enoch walked with God; then he was gone because God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Faith enabled Enoch to be taken instead of dying. No one could find him, because God had taken him. Scripture states that before Enoch was taken, God was pleased with him.
The doom of the apostates was foretold by Enoch [the holiest man in the ancient world] who lived among the seventh generation from Adam. It is a prophecy that is found only in Jude’s Epistle, and there is no mention made of it in any other part of scripture. Some think it is taken from the apocryphal Book of Enoch, a work long lost, but recovered in modern times in Abyssinia. Some believe it was created in the century before Christ. Wherever Jude met it, he was familiar with the prophecy, but there is no proof that that bogus book existed in the time of Jude. Kelly said: It [the Book of Enoch] has every mark of having been written subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem [and therefore after Jude’s Epistle was written], by a Jew who still buoyed himself up with the hope that God would stand by the Jews. I for one do not believe that the Book of Enoch is Holy Scripture, since it is not included in the Bible. The Bible is complete without the Book of Enoch; in fact, that is backed up by Revelation 22.18-19: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” This book may have some value, but it is definitely NOT to be considered on the same level as the Bible.
While we do not know how Jude learned of this ancient prophecy, a simple and plausible explanation is that the Holy Spirit revealed the words to him just as He guided in all the rest of the Epistle. However, there are some who say that this prophecy of Enoch was preserved by tradition in the Jewish church.
The prophecy begins: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints.” The prediction will have a preliminary and partial fulfillment when the Lord Jesus returns to earth after the Tribulation to destroy His foes and to reign as King. It will have its complete and final fulfillment at the end of the Millennium when the wicked dead are judged at the Great White Throne.
Perhaps the word ‘prophesied’ means no more than preached, spoke, made declarations, etc., concerning these things and persons; for without question he reprimand the ungodliness of his own times. It is certain that a book of Enoch was known in the earliest ages of the primitive Church, and is quoted by Origen and Tertullian; and is mentioned by St. Jerome in the Apostolical Constitutions, by Nicephorus, Athanasius, and probably by St. Augustine.
prophesied of these, saying. "These" were the blasphemers. Enoch possessed the ability to prophesy with accuracy the judgment that would come on all those who did not fear the Lord God. The fact that he had a spirit of prophecy is evident from the name he gave to his son, Methuselah, which means “when he dies is the emission,” or the sending out of the waters of the Flood. This cataclysmic event came to pass the very year Methuselah died.
The prophesies spoken by Enoch are applicable to the false Christians we have been studying. But that does not necessarily mean that he had these men specifically in his eye; but what he implies here is, that his predictions do describe them accurately. There is no mention made in the writings of Moses of the fact that Enoch was a prophet; but nothing is more probable in itself, and there is no absurdity in supposing that a true prophecy, though unrecorded, might be handed down by tradition-- “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3.8). Withstood (Gr anthiste¯mi) is forceful and means “to set oneself against.” The boldness of Jannes and Jambres to set themselves against Moses is manifest today in multitudes who adamantly “resist” the truth. (Also see Jude 1:9 ).
The source from which Jude derived this passage with regard to the prophecy of Enoch is unknown. But, I suppose that amidst the multitude of traditions, the prophesies of Enoch were handed down by the Jews from a remote antiquity; although many of them were false, and many of a trivial nature, it is reasonable to presume that some of them were true and were of importance. No man can prove that the prophesy before us is not of that character; no one can show that an inspired writer might not be led to make the selection of a true prophecy from a mass of traditions; and since the prophecy before us is one that would be every way worthy of a prophet, and worthy to be preserved, its quotation furnishes no argument against the inspiration of Jude. There is no clear evidence that he quoted it from any book in existence in his time. There is, indeed, now an apocryphal writing called "the Book of Enoch," containing a prediction strongly resembling this, but there is no certain proof that it existed so early as the time of Jude, nor, if it did, is it absolutely certain that he quoted from it. Both Jude and the author of that book may have quoted a common tradition of their time, for there can be no doubt that the passage referred to was handed down by tradition.
The mention of Enoch’s prophecy being only seven generations from the first man: " And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45 ). demonstrates that this witness of judgment against such ungodly men was foretold from even the earliest moments of Creation. There is no biblical reference for this prophecy by Enoch outside of this single verse, which in itself is sufficient to deem it verifiable. However, the prophecy is also referenced in the non-canonical Book of Enoch (Enoch 1:9). It may be that this prophecy was known by these early Christians either through oral tradition or perhaps even familiarity with the writings chronicled by Enoch. However, I believe that the entire Bible was written by men that wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—Jude’s epistle cannot be an exception.
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. Christ’s coming to be the judge of all those who rejected Him was prophesied as early as the middle of the patriarchal age, and was therefore even then a received and acknowledged truth.—The Lord cometh with his holy army (too numerous to count), including both angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. What a glorious time that will be, when Christ will come with ten thousand of these! And we are told for what great and awful ends and purposes he will come, namely, to execute judgment upon all (see v. 15).
The Lord cometh. That is, the Lord will come. “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” (1 Corinthians 16:22). It would seem from this to have been an early doctrine that the Lord would descend to the earth for judgment.
Ten thousand of his saints. This seems to be taken from Daniel 7:10: “A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” A scene of judgment came into Daniel’s vision next. God the Father was pictured on the throne in all wisdom (white hair), surrounded by countless angels, preparing to judge. The only other place where God the Father is actually seen in the Bible is *Revelation 5:1 and 7, but both occurrences are only visions; for God the Father is spirit.
*(Rev. 5, 7; NKJV) "And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
The passage as found in "the Book of Enoch" is in these words: "Behold he comes with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal, for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him," chap. ii. Bib. Repository, vol. xv. p. 86. If the Book of Enoch was written after the time of Jude, it is natural to suppose that the prophecy referred to by him, and handed down by tradition, would be inserted in it.
With ten thousand of his saints. Or, of his holy ones. The word saints we now apply commonly to redeemed saints, or to Christians. The original word is, however, applicable to all who are holy, angels as well as men. The common representation in the Scriptures is that he would come attended by the angels-"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holyangels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory" (Matthew 25:31), and there is doubtless allusion here to such beings. It is a common representation in the Old Testament also that God, when he manifests himself, is accompanied by great numbers of heavenly beings. (Psalms 68:17) “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.” The chariots of God are thousands upon thousands of angels; and they surround the Almighty God in His holy place, both with reference to the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle on Mount Zion and God’s throne in Heaven. (Deuteronomy 33:2) “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.”
"Lord." “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” (Zech 14:5). And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal (probably located on the eastern side of the city). The prophet compares this future event to an event in past history: "Like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. The earthquake is the same one referred to by Amos more than two hundred years earlier" (Amos l:l ). It must have been unusually severe, for it left an indelible print on the memories of the people of Israel. The important thing about the whole event is that the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Him. Note that the event is so striking to the prophet that he shifts to direct address. This is the great event when the Lord will return to the earth with His saints to set up His kingdom!
This prophesy was first articulated, a long time ago, but even then it is spoken like a thing just about to happen. We observe a great span of time as Jude explains Enoch’s prophecy. As Enoch gazed with clear vision toward the end, he saw the Lord Jesus coming “with countless thousands of his holy angels” to fulfill judgment as explained in the following verse.
