Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them…
One of the most amazing aspects of the Bible is the amount of detail it contains about the past. Of course, whether or not you believe this information depends on your view of the Bible.
As I have mentioned before, my personal view is that God exists. God created everything there is, and if God wanted to get a book published He could. If he did, it would be exactly the way He wanted to it be.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 14a — A Faithful Walk”
They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
I like Jude. He doesn’t mince words! The joke line that goes with a passage like today’s is, “So, Jude, tell us how you really feel.”
Ha!
The thing is that Jude isn’t just some guy at work or someone you ran into at a coffee shop (pre-COVID coffee, of course). Jude is someone who, we presume, knows the risen Lord. He may have even been his half-brother.
In today’s passage, Jude describes the ungodly people as “twice dead.” Why? Why twice dead?
Continue reading “Jude 1: 12b-13 — Twice Dead”
…shepherds who feed only themselves.
Many years ago a young man from a small town went to study at the university. Unsure of what to do with his life, he studied a wide variety of topics. In his sophomore year, a campus ministry group that focused on college-age men discovered him. This group took him under their wing and counted him as one of their own until one day when they found out he was interested in religion.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to them. He had all the signs; a passion for God’s Word, a love of Truth, and a hunger to know more. Thinking of the university as a place to learn he had taken a world religion class and found it very interesting.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 12b — Tossed Sheep”
These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—
What is a “love feast?” Who eats there? Why should anyone have qualms about it?
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11, is a great resource on this question. He describes in detail what the love feast is, who and how to eat it, and why it should be taken very seriously.
What is it?
Continue reading “Jude 1: 12A — Food”
Woe to them! …they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
In this unique passage, Jude does two things at once. He tells us one more thing about the ungodly people who pervert the grace of God. Then, in the same stroke of the pen, he tells us about their fate.
To put this story into context we need to look at a bit of Israel’s history.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 11c — Toast”
Woe to them! …they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;
The story of Balaam has always been a bit of an enigma for me. The parts of the story recorded in the Bible are both amazing and sketchy. Some people might say this is a shortcoming on the part of the Scriptures, but I don’t think so for two reasons. The first, as I have explained before, is that I believe the Bible is exactly the way God wants it to be. The second is that the apparent gaps in the story are consistent with God’s storytelling in other parts of the Bible. All of the Bible, whether Old or New Testaments, is written in a way that requires us to think.
So what do we know about Balaam? What was this “error” that Jude refers to?
Continue reading “Jude 1:11b — Balaam’s Error”
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 continues his discourse on the ungodly who infiltrate the Body of Christ with this: “They slander what they do not understand.” I think Jude is being rather kind here. The implication is that if these people could understand who God is they would change their ways.
I like this view of these ungodly people. It is a view that offers hope. Hope that maybe, at some point, they will come to understand the importance of bowing to God. But Jude is realistic. He knows that if they do not bow to God, they will be destroyed.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 10 — Horse and Water”
But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
There is a danger here.
Jude is teaching us how to identify those who are walking in darkness. What he is NOT telling us to do is pass judgment on their souls. He tells us what God has in store for such people, but nowhere does it say we are to be the ones who condemn them. To illustrate this point, Jude reminds us of the archangel, Michael.
The archangel is understood to be over all the other angels. This angel is unique in relation to God and other angels. The text refers to another angel called “the devil.” This angel would have been known as Lucifer, or Satan. Satan’s power and influence were rivaled only by God in the heavens.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 9 — Discerning Darkness”
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.
What is the defining characteristic of a godly person? What is the difference between the godly and the ungodly?
The answer to these questions is in today’s passage. Polluting the body, rejecting authority, and abusing celestial beings all reflect a lack of humility before God. Put another way, people can make the same mistake as the Wayward Angels posted about a few days ago. We rebel and put ourselves before God.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 8 — Usurped”
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams …
What do people stand on if they are not standing on the Truth? I have heard it said that there are different kinds of truth: objective truth, personal truth, and political truth. But the only truth that matters, after everything else is said and done, it eternal truth.
Personal “truths” are known as opinions. Opinions change. There is no personal truth that survives a person’s lifetime.
Political “truths” are also temporary. The only political “truth” is power. Who has it and how much do they have? If someone with more power comes along, then their “truth” becomes the reigning political truth.
Continue reading “Jude 1: 8a — If Only”