Read with Me
Jude 14-16 (HCSB)
And Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about them:
Look! The Lord comes
with thousands of His holy ones
to execute judgment on all
and to convict them
of all their ungodly acts
that they have done in an ungodly way,
and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners
have said against Him.
These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.
Listen with Me
This section of Jude’s letter has confused some people over the centuries, because Jude quotes the apocryphal Book of Enoch. So, people wonder if by his quote here, and by his attribution of the book to the Enoch who God took to heaven without his tasting death (Genesis 5:21-24), Jude is actually attributing authorship to Enoch, and if he is declaring this apocryphal book to instead be canonical.
Such questions miss the point that Jude is making. He has just has just finished roundly criticizing the false teachers who were bringing gnostic philosophy into the Church, declaring their condemnation by God, and the eternal doom that is hanging over their heads, because they were not only condemning themselves by their false beliefs that removed the divinity of Jesus, turning him into a mere man, but they were also turning Christians aside from faith in the finished work of Jesus to a pagan philosophy that promised salvation through “enlightenment” instead of through faith, thus shipwrecking their souls.
The Book of Enoch was widely known among the Jews of Jude’s day, and many believed that it contained authentic prophecies by this godly man. So, Jude quoted a short passage from it that condemns ungodly men who had turned aside from God’s truth and promises, declaring that God Himself will avenge the wrongs they have done. The repeated word “ungodly” tolls through this short verse like a funeral bell, foreshadowing the horrible fate that awaits these “wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) on the day of God’s judgment.
In all, these verses are designed as a strong warning not to the false teachers, who would not respond to that kind of warning, but to those who are tempted to follow them and their sophisticated-sounding arguments. If they do, they will share their horrible faith.
Pray with Me
Father, it is very easy for us to get distracted and to miss the whole point that is being made in a passage like this. But Jude’s point is clear, and it is a clear warning to us all to not follow those who stray from the clear teachings of Your word, twisting, reinterpreting, and “updating” what You have clearly said, and thus corrupting Your message. You never change, so Your word needs no updating or adapting to modern times or modern sensibilities. Thank you, Lord, for Your clear, consistent, eternal truth. Amen.