Tonight, we are going to get into another teaching that is nowhere else in the Bible as we learn about the arch angel Michael disputed with the Devil over the body of Moses.
Before we get to verse 9, we need to pick up in verse 8.
8In the very same way,
Links back to what he was just saying in the previous verses. We had 3 illustrations of people and angels who rebelled against God, now these false teachers or apostates that are among the church are doing the same kind of things.
on the strength of their dreams
KJV “these filthy dreamers” although stated in the next phrases, the word “filthy” is not literally in the Greek text.
Why call them dreamers in KJV? Apparently, they were teaching the people they would claim to have a dream or vision from God and give some new teaching or revelation. Jude doesn’t believe the dream or revelation was of God, but a way to convince some people a deception.
ESV – “relying on their dreams”
NLT – “claim authority from their dreams”
Dr. Warren Wiersbe says this was the cause of their rebellion – they were dreamers. “They lived in a dream world of unreality and delusion”.
these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.
Jude gives us three examples of the false teacher’s behavior and attitudes:
1. How were they living their lives? To pollute and defile the flesh
NIV- ungodly people pollute their own bodies
KJV - defile the flesh
NLT – live immoral lives
2. How did they respond to those in authority?
NIV – reject authority
KJV – despise dominion
NLT – defy authority
3. How do they treat angels?
NIV – heap abuse on celestial beings
KJV – speak evil of dignities
NLT – scoff at supernatural beings
ESV – blaspheme the glorious ones
NASB – revile angelic majesties
The course of the rebellion of these false teachers was to live a life of defiling the flesh. Verses 8 and 10 warns them against “speaking evil or blasphemy”. This means more than don’t cuss or use 4 letter words; it engages the whole attitude of defying the Word of God as an authority in their lives and unwillingness to worship the Lord God.
9But even the archangel Michael,
There is ranking among the angels. Archangel means Michael is first in rank or chief of the angels.
Even with the authority and position Michael had, he didn’t do what these false teachers are doing. We are not told in the text, but it seems clearly implied the false teachers were claiming to have authority over Satan and saying things like “I rebuke Satan and his sickness over this person”.
when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, 5 And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. 6 He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
Deuteronomy 34:6 tells us about the burying of Moses’s body.
There is an apocryphal book called “The Assumption of Moses” that refers to the story or conflict of Michael with the Devil.
Some historians believe if Satan had the body of Moses, then he would have led the people to worship his gravesite and in effect make an idol out of him.
Not revealing Moses gravesite didn’t limit the Lord God from having Moses appear at the Mount Transfiguration experience.
did not himself dare to condemn him for slander
KJV has “durst not” it is better translated “dare not pronounce against Satan railing judgment.”
but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” d
Michael’s response was simple – he left rebuking in the hands of God rather than taking on himself. The word “rebuke” is a specific word for rebuke that Jude chose to emphasize rebuke to someone who was incorrigible. Jude knew as do we that Satan will never repent for what he has done
10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
Jude uses two different words for “know” in this verse.
KJV - 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.
The first is “know” referring to mental comprehension and knowledge. The second is “know” means “to understand by instinct” – originally used of skill in handicraft making things.
Brute beasts KJV or irrational animals NIV is Jude’s way of referring to these false teachers as unreasoning animals.
The last part of the verse is what the false teachers are doing to Jude says will ruin, corrupt or destroy them.
Let me try to pull together all the details I gave you in verse 10 – all that these false teachers did not understand about biblical doctrine or God, angels and demons, they instinctively understood like animals how to follow their lude emotions, perverted feelings and immoral desires to commit all kinds of sins. This kind of lifestyle will lead to their corruption and ruin.
Spiritual application:
1. Be leery of someone who depends heavily on personal revelations when teaching and preaching.
2. Understand your level of authority over demons. In your prayers you can ask Jesus to bind Satan or remove the blindness of a lost person but be careful in rebuking Satan in your name or power.
3. Do not follow your sinful nature in making decisions – it will lead you to dishonor the Lord God’s values and plans He has for you.
Prayer
