MESSAGE IN JUDE – THE ENOCH PASSAGE – Jude 1 v 13-16
We are steadily working through the book of Jude who was the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is defending the faith being destroyed by false teachers. Much of his letter is spent exposing these reprobate men who preach false doctrine and make shambles of the faith once delivered to the saints.
{{Jude 1 v 13 wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 1:14 About these also, Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones Jude 1:15 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.” Jude 1:16 These are grumblers following after their own lusts, finding fault. They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage,}}
This message today will be in 4 sections and they will be - The “wandering stars” or “comets”; “The Book of Enoch”; “The Second Coming”; “the ungodly”. In the last message we covered “wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam”. Next time we do the wild waves of the sea.
We are continuing the series through Jude which has great emphasis on false teachers. Jude describes them in various and pointed ways. This is one of the smallest books of the bible but it has a great impact.
[1]. THE WANDERING STARS
This is the last of the metaphors Jude uses to describe the false teachers. The Greek word is the description for “planets” - “p?a??ta?” (planatai). It was used because the planets seem to have a very irregular motion, being sometimes stationary and sometimes retrograde. “Wandering stars” is a very proper emblem of persons unsettled in their principles, and irregular in their behaviour, such as these men were. The word for planets comes from the idea of “wanderers” as they come and go. The planets, which shine for a time, have no light in themselves False teachers are to expect the worst punishments in this world and in that to come. They glare like meteors, or falling stars, and then sink into the blackness of darkness forever. The word can also be used of comets and meteors that come and fade away. The false teachers had nothing enduring or substantial in the values of heaven. They wandered in location. They wandered in doctrine. They wandered in behaviour. They wandered in spiritual blackness.
Christians are not expected to have a failing light or to be wanderers with no fixed purpose. We are to remain steady, unmovable, with our feet fixed on the Rock of Ages. We must not wander around doctrine, coming and going, believing and disbelieving; or believing one thing, then another. We are to be consistent. False teachers are always the opposite of God’s declared righteousness.
[2]. THE BOOK OF ENOCH
We come now to the second point. This description of wandering stars or comets, most likely came from an ancient document that Jude used, called “The Book of Enoch”. ?st??e? (asteres). This is borrowed from Enoch (chapters 43 and 44.) where it is said that some of the stars become lightnings and cannot part with their new form, [[ib. lxxx, “In the days of the sinners, many chiefs of the stars will err, and will alter their orbits and tasks, ib. lxxxvi,]] where the fall of the angels is described as the falling of stars,
{{CHAPTER 44 – “Also, other things I saw in reference to the flashes of lightning; how they arise from the stars, and become lightning and can leave nothing behind with them.”}}
Now, what is the Book of Enoch? It was composed around 150 to 200 BC by an author who sought to hide its authorship, and the period of composition, and the object of writing, among other things. It is known as an Apocryphal book. The book has 108 chapters, and some of those are very small, like just two sentences. The Church Fathers all, with the possible exception of Tertullian, deny the canonicity of the Book, and regard it as apocryphal, some of them even denying the canonicity of Jude because he dared quote from it.
After the time of Augustine, the period of literary death robbed the church of many of her noblest monuments of literature. Most of the great writings were destroyed. The Book of Enoch, too, was lost, and later investigations had to be content with references in the Church Fathers. No one knew of it except from the odd mention of it. In Jewish literature, the Book of Enoch did not stand in such high regard as it did among Christian writers, and consequently, was not so extensively used.
Then an English traveller, James Bruce, discovered 3 copies of Enoch in 1773 in Ethiopic in an old Abyssinian church, and took them to Europe, but very little happened to the texts until 1821 when Professor Laurence published an English translation. Since that time there have been many editions and translations and revisions.
NOW A LITTLE BIT OF TRIVIA. Ancient literature and Apocryphal literature has made Enoch the bearer of all kinds of secrets concerning nature and its operation and laws. This is partly due to his age of 365 years, and the 365 days in a solar year. Later Jewish tradition has made Enoch the father of arithmetic and astrology, and the inventor of the alphabet and the first author of books. Among Moslem writers Enoch stood high as an inventor and literary character. In addition to the discoveries attributed to him by the Jewish traditions, Islam honours him with the invention of sewing, and is mentioned once in the Koran, in Sura 19.57 under the name of Edris, ie, the learned, and is called a prophet. Beidawi, the best Arabic commentator on the Koran, remarks on this passage that no fewer than 30 divinely revealed books were ascribed to his authorship.
The book is not the work of one man but there have been interpolations and additions. Most agree that chapters 1-37 and 72-105 are by the same man. The Book features much on the sons of God in Genesis 6 and their fall and the nephilim. It focuses on the giants that came from the intercourse of fallen angels and earthly women. [I personally reject that that happened. We covered that in an earlier message,]
Let us look at the connection to Jude found in verses 14 and 15. What does Jude actually say? He says Enoch is the 7th generation from Adam. Matthew lists these generations as well. Jude says that Enoch was a prophet and prophesied about the coming of the Lord in judgement with “many thousands of His holy ones” – NASB. (The KJV says “ten thousands of His saints” – ESV “ten thousands of His holy ones” NIV “thousands upon thousands”)). I will read from Chapter 1 of Enoch to see what is actually said - (the whole chapter)
1.1 These are the words of the blessing of Enoch; according to which he blessed
the chosen and righteous who must be present on the day of distress, which is
appointed, for the removal of all the wicked and impious.
1.2 And Enoch began his story and said: - There was a righteous man whose
eyes were opened by the Lord, and he saw a Holy vision in the Heavens, which
the Angels showed to me. And I heard everything from them, and I understood
what I saw: but not for this generation, but for a distant generation that will come.
1.3 Concerning the Chosen I spoke; and I uttered a parable concerning them:
The Holy and Great One will come out of his dwelling.
1.4 And the Eternal God will tread from there upon Mount Sinai, and he will
appear with his Host, and will appear in the strength of his power from Heaven.
1.5 And all will be afraid, and the Watchers will shake, and fear and great
trembling will seize them, up to the ends of the earth.
1.6 And the high mountains will be shaken; and the high hills will be laid low and
will melt like wax in a flame.
1.7 And the earth will sink, and everything that is on the earth will be destroyed,
and there will be judgment upon all, and upon all the righteous.
1.8 But for the righteous: He will make peace, and He will keep safe the Chosen,
and mercy will be upon them. They will all belong to God, and will prosper and be
blessed, and the light of God will shine on them.
[[1.9 And behold! He comes with ten thousand Holy Ones; to execute judgment
upon them and to destroy the impious, and to contend with all flesh concerning
everything that the sinners and the impious have done and wrought against Him.]]
There we have the problem. Jude quotes a non-inspired book as if it was inspired. I will not now enter into all the discussions of this. It truly would take us all day to look at the opinions of Christian writers through the centuries about all this. Also, I will not enter into a full teaching of the Second Coming as it took us many months in the Revelation Study just on that, but I will say some things.
[3]. THE SECOND COMING
For me, the most important – critical - aspect is to understand the difference in the three comings of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don’t do that there will be confusion. The first one is the ADVENT when He came as the Saviour 2000 years ago. The second one will be the RAPTURE which is the blessed hope of the Church, when the Church which will be caught up to the Lord in the air as detailed in 1 Thessalonians 4, and 1 Corinthians 15, and Revelation 6 v 1.
We have just mentioned the first two. The third of these is the Second Coming when Christ comes back to destroy all the forces of evil (the world’s armies gathered in Israel to destroy the nation) at the Battle of Armageddon, then comes to stand on Mt Olivet (not Mt Sinai as Enoch said) which will split in two, and then to set up the Millennial Kingdom. The two most prominent New Testament references to this are Matthew 24 and Revelation chapter 19. It is these two passages which explain what Jude is quoting from Enoch. Let us turn to Matthew 24 reading from verse 27 -
{{Matthew 24 v 27 Just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Matt 24:28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather, Matt 24:29 but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, Matt 24:30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Matt 24:31 He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Matt 24:37 The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah Matt 24:38 for as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, Matt 24:39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away - so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”}} (In that Matthew passage the Lord gives the signs immediately before His Second Coming, and the “taking away of the ungodly”. They are not signs for the last days of the Church age. Neither are they signs for the Rapture.)
Let us turn to Revelation chapter 19. This is the Lord coming from heaven with all the hosts of heaven (angels) to end the seven year Tribulation and He will be accompanied by the Church (His Bride). He comes for the great battle of Armageddon which is why the language of this chapter is judgement language. The armies of the world gathered in Israel will be destroyed and the Antichrist and False Prophet seized and thrown into the lake of fire, the first persons ever to enter that place. Listen to that account –
{{Revelation 19 v 11 “I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. Rev 19:12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called The Word of God. Rev 19:14 The armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. Rev 19:15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He may smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. Rev 19:16 On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev 19:17 I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, Rev 19:18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” Rev 19:19 I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army, Rev 19:20 and the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone, Rev 19:21 and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”}}
When the Lord comes back in that Second Coming, we, His saints also come back with Him as His Bride and this is like the honeymoon, for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will have just taken place. It is not a nice time. Almost every prophetic book in the Old Testament teaches about this Second Coming, and connects it with The Day of the Lord, a frequent description. Prophecy takes up one-quarter of the bible. So much more can be said about the Second Coming, but that will do for today. The Lord comes in judgement against the ungodly sinners of the Tribulation age.
[4]. THE UNGODLY
(The last part of this message). The word “ungodly” is used 4 times in verse 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.”}} There is ungodly conviction and judgement; there are ungodly deeds; there is an ungodly manner; and there are ungodly sinners in speech and blasphemy against God. Verse 15 is not unlike Enoch 1:9. The world that goes into the Tribulation that is coming after the Church is removed, will be an evil world and will become even more wicked during those 7 years of The Tribulation. It will be very much influenced by Satanism and drugs. Paul reminded us that in the last days of the Church age, conditions in the world will become more lawless and ungodly. Think of each of these and see how “not of God” each one is –
2Timothy 3 v 1 “Realise this, that in the last days difficult times will come,
2Timothy 3:2 for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 2Tim 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 2Tim 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”}} Peter also mentions the fact of the destruction of the ungodly in his parallel chapter 2 of his letter – {{2Peter 3 v 7 “but the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”}}
Jude names five traits of these ungodly men in verse 16. They are grumblers; they walk in lusts; they are fault-finders; they are arrogant in speech; and they flatter people to gain something, the equivalent to bribe taking and paying bribes.
AGAIN THE ANTONYMS
As I have said to you before in the Jude studies, what the false teachers are, Christians must be the opposite. We are to be godly as opposed to the world and the false teachers. Paul said, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Instead of grumblers, be encouragers. Instead of walking in lusts, be under the control of Christ. Instead of fault-finders, do the work of building. Instead of arrogant in speech, speak decently and obey what Paul said in {{Colossians 4 v 6 “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”}} Instead of flattery, let your yes be yes, and your no, no. Do nothing to, and for another person with the aim of getting something back. Follow what Paul said to Titus - {{Titus 2 v 12 “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”}}
The wonderful truth that applies to every one of us is this verse – {{Romans 5 v 6 “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly,”}} but if you want to live a godly life for God then be aware of this verse also – {{2Timothy 3 v 12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2Tim 3:13 Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”}}
We stand at the very door of the Rapture. All is in place and the world is hurrying towards the “difficult times” – “times of hardship” that Paul alludes to in 2 Timothy chapter 3, the times he further says in the chapter when “wicked men will proceed from bad to worse.” The Rapture is our blessed hope and let us look forward to that with the words John used at the end of Revelation – {{“22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”}}
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
