Jude 1: 7a — The Undiscovered Country

In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.

Jude is talking about ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality. This passage is EXHIBIT “A” in the world’s case against Christianity. The world’s point of view is that everything is okay unless everyone agrees that it is not okay. The judge of what is okay and not okay is the imaginary collective conscience of the entire world.

What has the entire world ever agreed on? Can you think of one thing? No, I can’t either. This argument assures than nobody will ever be able to accuse anyone else of doing what is wrong.

Wait! That’s not right! People tell Christians that they are wrong all the time.

Maybe it just boils down to people who feel that they are more right than others. If enough of them get together and agree that something is okay, then by gum, it must be okay! And if Christianity believes in a dusty old book that says something is not okay, they must be haters.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what they think or even what I think. What matters is what happens after we die. Shakespeare, in his play, “The Tragedy of Hamlet,” writes:

To sleep- perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death-
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns- puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

The world cannot answer Hamlet’s question. The world has no means for finding truth except for what we stumble upon in the dark. The world is afraid of this undiscovered country that we as believers look forward to.

I have seen a once noble church organization taken over by people who do exactly the kind of things Jude warns against. Sexual immorality is deemed good in their eyes, and they argue viciously for their view. The Bible calls this a perversion and for that, we are accused of hating those we want to see saved.

Application: There are many techniques the world uses to silence the followers of Jesus. It is good to study them and learn to recognize them. I recommend a book on the topic called, ‘‘In Sheep’s Clothing” by George Simon, Jr., Ph.D.

Food for Thought: How do churches who do what Jude warns against view the Bible? What value does such a Bible have?