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Jude: Pt. 3
by Don Costello Jude 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 1. "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this," a. putin remembrance (Zodhiates) (5279 * hupomimnesko) To remember, perhaps after hints or suggestions, to put in mind of, bring to remembrance. b. 2 Peter 3:1, 2 "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way a remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:" c. Verses 5 on to the end of the epistle is written in light of what he said in verses 3 & 4. As Jude gives the examples of apostasy and rebellion of the past, he is also showing us that the same deceptions and evil practices are characteristic in those fallings away of his day and of the day immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. 2. "how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. a. This is a reference to what happened to Israel when they sent out the 12 spies to spy out the land of Canaan. It is one of the saddest days in their history because they ended up wandering in the desert for forty years because of their sin. Their sin was they "believed not". b. believed (Bullinger) (4100 * pisteuo) Be persuaded, to rely upon, N.T. faith: 1. Fully convinced acknowledgement; 2. Self-surrendering fellowship; 3. a fully assured and unswerving confidence. (E.W.Vine) The main elements in faith: 1. A firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God's revelation, or truth. [His word]. 2. A personal surrender to him. 3. A conduct inspired by such surrender. All this stands in contrast to belief in its purely natural exercise, which consists of an opinion heldwithout necessary reference to its proof. c. People who believe in God but are not Christians, are believing in a purely natural exercise. The faith that these people have is not Biblical faith. True Biblical faith will have the three elements mentioned above. Even the devil believes in God. 1). James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble." c. The sin that Israel was guilty of was not that they didn't believe in God for He was manifesting himself right in front of them in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. d. Numbers 13:1, 2 "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search THE LAND OF CANAAN, WHICH I GIVE UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them." 1). Here it says in very plain language that God said he was giving the land of Canaan to them. 2). In Deuteronomy 1:22, 23 we see that the original idea to send out spies was not God's; the people came to Moses with the idea and apparently he went to the LORD about it and he said do it. All the men though had to be a leader among the people. e. Numbers 13:17-14:11 "And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 13:18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 13:19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 13:20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. 13:21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 13:22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 13:23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 13:24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 13:25 And they returned from searching the land after forty days. 13:26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 13:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sendest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 13:29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshopper, and so we were in their sight. 14:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! 14:3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return unto Egypt? 14:4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 14:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 14:8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 14:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 14:11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? 1). Numbers 13:32 says that 10 of the 12 spies brought an "evil report" of the land. They were basically calling God a liar. The LORD said that He had given them the land, but the spies said they could not win the wars necessary to conquer the land. 2). 1 John 5:10 "he that believeth not God hat made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave" 3). They believed IN God, but they did not believe what he said. 4). Hebrews 3:18 "And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not. * believed not (Zodhiates) (544* apeitheo) Not to allow oneself to be persuaded or believe, to disbelieve, be disobedient. * They refused to be persuaded. f. They would not be persuaded by Joshua and Caleb and not by Moses. 1). Deuteronomy 1:29-33 "Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all tha he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God. Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day." g. Because they refused to believe what he promised them, God was so angry he was willing to kill everyone of them except Moses [and of course Joshua, Caleb and Aaron], approximately 3 million people, Numbers 14:12. h. In Numbers 14:13-19 Moses intercedes for them and God in his mercy forgives them. i. As a punishment for their refusing to believe God, the whole nation had to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the generation that refused to believe were all dead. The 10 men who caused it all for bringing an evil report, were struck dead right then. 1). Numbers 14:36-38 "And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the sand, Even those men, that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still." Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 1. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," a. There are two classes of fallen angels. 1). Some are loose: Revelation 12:7-9 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found in heaven anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." 2). Some are bound: 2 Peter 2:4 "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" b. God is no respecter of persons, if they all fell, why are some in hell and some still loosed? 1). kept (Jude 6) (Zodhiates) (tereo * 5083) To keep an eye on, watch, and hence to guard, keep, obey 2). first estate [Zodhiates][746 * arche] (In Jude 6, "angels who did not keep their own eminence" [a.t.] or original status). [Ben Adam, Origin of Heathendom: "The Ephesisan context is clear as to these 'principalities' being companies of angels occupying positions of great power and authority among the world rulers in the heavenly places; and we learn from Jude 6 that a portion of them failed to keep their positionin the heavenlies.] 3). habitation [3613 * oiketerion] [Zodhiates, A dwelling, habitation, abode, e.g., of angels, who supposedly relinquished heaven out of love for the daughters of men (Jude 6; see Genesis 6:2). [Ben Adam, Oigin of Heathendom, "on the generally accepted principle of interpretation of explaining the unknown by the known, we can explain the word in Jude by the meaning that it undoubtedly bears in Corinthians. Thus we learn that these angels not only left their heavenly home, but they left their spiritual bodies alsoin other words they exercised that peculiar power that according to Scripture seems to inhere angel nature---the power to materialize at will, in order that they might correspond with their earthly environment and at the same time be physically capable of intercourse with the daughters of men." [Ruckman: Psalm 82 refers to the physical death of the angels at the flood. Some how and in some way, they gave up their spiritual bodies???] c. The additional sin that some fallen angels committed was having sex with human women, and giants were the result. 1). Genesis 6:1-4 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that his also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." 2). In Deuteronomy 3:11, Og, king of Bashan's bed was "nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man." [Unger's Bible Dictionary: cubit=18 inches.] Hence, his bed was 13 1/2 feet long and 6 feet wide. In 1 Samuel 17:4 Goliath was 9 feet and 9 inches tall. 3). Only the angels that are bound [2 Peter 2:4], committed this sin. Both groups followed Satan in his rebellion. It's just that one group committed the additional sin of sexual relations with women. 2. "he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." a. 2 Peter 2:4 "but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." 1). 1 Corinthians 6:3 "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" My name is Don Costello. Ever since I received Christ in November of 1976 I have had a passion to study and know God's word.My wife Melissa and I have 5 children. My e-mail address is [email protected] I have a blog located at: www.theophilus-loverofgodsword.blogspot.com/ Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |