JUDE’S EPISTLE:
WARNINGS TO ISRAEL
OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION
JUDE’S EPISTLE:
WARNINGS TO ISRAEL OF
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
JAN LILLEBY
The epistle of Jude was written to the kind of ‘Acts congregation’ in his own time, namely Messianic Israel and proselytes. However, he used examples from God’s judgements against ungodly people in ancient times – so to point forward to what shall be taking place in the Great Tribulation in the end times.
Below I have included his writing, as found in the NAS Bible, and I shall try to guide the reader along, to sort out what is what….
There exist two identifications in circulation today, regarding which one of the Jude’s: One fraction of scholars hold to Jude as the half-brother of Jesus, and the other thinks he was Jude, one of the apostles. He was called Jude Thaddeus.
John 14:22, as Jesus held His last supper,
“Judas (not Iscariot ) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?"
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“1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
In this introduction, we find Jude is addressing the Messianic believers in general, thus this writing was probably made a circular one. It was copied and sent around to wherever groups of believers lived. I think the epistle was distributed inside of Israel, since we know that only Paul was sent out into the Empire’s provinces, and none of the twelve apostles. Verse 4 explicitly points to the unwanted – thus ungodly – people who had entered the congregations/groups of believers and falsely portrayed themselves as real believers. They were enemies of the Gospel….licentiousness….and denying Jesus as the Messiah of God. We can regard these people as anti-Christians. They tried to turn the real believers away from the faith in Him. The words, ...who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation.. are in the meaning of which ‘kind-of-unbelievers’ it warns against. They were not born to go to condemnation. They were unbelievers, rejecting Jesus, and as such they would not get salvation. It had been warned, beforehand, about these unbelievers…but they were not ‘designed’ by God to go lost. Verse 5 below, confirms that thought – in one instance they were saved, but in the next (by unbelief!) they were destroyed.
“5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
Here we have the passage most often noticed by Bible students: that of God’s judgements – first among the freed slaves escaping Egypt, but certain disobedient believers destroyed by Him due to ungodliness; and then we have the horror-show of all horror-shows: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah all the way back in the time of Abraham and his nephew Lot, verse 7. Verse 6 even shows that God also judged fallen angels…to which narrative we would have to open the Book of Enoch (but the Catholic Church had this book ‘removed’ from among the Bible scriptures late in the fourth century.) Many Bible students are using this passage to defend that there exist an eternal hell fire for unbelievers, as in v. 7…undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
But ‘eternal fire’ – this means NOT everlasting fire. But a fire that consumed the ones punished, so that they are dead/gone forever. The fire doesn’t burn forever, but that punishment – death by eternal fire – last forever. Same principle as with the Lord speaking of the Gehenna fire, the burning waste dump outside Jerusalem in the time of Jesus and His apostles: the dump had a constant fire going, as long as there was something to be consumed by it. But take a trip to the city today, and you will not find any eternal fire or dung there, in the Valley of Hinnom (in Hebrew), - image above. Now it is a nice green lawn!
Jude’s mention of ungodly/unbelieving men being destroyed in verse 5, goes entirely into line with Peter’s second speech in Acts 3:22-23,
“22 "Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.
23 'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”
Peter’s words were fulfilled in 70 CE, as the Roman Army took Jerusalem, burnt the temple and killed thousands upon thousands of Jews who rebelled against Rome. Joseph Flavius has it all written in his book ‘The Jewish War’. By the way: hundreds of dead bodies were cast upon the Gehenna dump and burnt in the war when Rome destroyed Israel. Thus Jesus’ warning was not empty words, Mark 9:47, 48; Luke 12:5, NASB,
MARK - "If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,
where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
LUKE - "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
Strong’s Greek lexicon, names hell in these verses as Gehenna or Hinnom, numbered 1067 in Strong’s Greek,
γέενναν | 1067: Gehenna, a valley W. and S. of Jer., also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly. Origin: Hebrew origin gay and Hinnom.
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“8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
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."
16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”
This passage, verse 8 to 16, is quite a harsh and stern warning to the Messianic believers, so to keep them from following these ungodly despicable folk in their life style of lusty arrogant ungodliness. This is summed up as Jesus-rejecters. They not only refuse to believe on Him that God sent them, but they act in an arrogant, sinful and blaphemous way – which stirs up the fiery wrath of God upon them.
Notice that Jude is alone regarding mentioning the archangel Michael and his fight with Satan over the body of Moses, and also the reference to the Book of Enoch (!) Verses 14-15 is in correspondence with Rev. 19:14-16, Jesus coming with His armies of angels,
“14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down 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.
16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
Verse 18 in Jude, explicitly says WHEN to expect these mockers and ungodly anti-Christian people: IN THE LAST TIME. In other words, this has still to be fulfilled in history. It will happen during the Great Tribulation, Mat. 24:20-22. Jesus explained the meaning of Jer. 30:7 to them, which foretells of ‘The time of Jacob’s distress’ – and like Jeremiah telling of the day of the Lord…with judgement, a day which is so great that there will be no day like that day – Jesus used the words, "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will”.
Jer. 30:4-9, NASB, shows us how this is the same as Jesus told in Mat. 24:20-22,
«4 Now these are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:
5 "For thus says the LORD, 'I have heard a sound of terror, Of dread, and there is no peace.
6 'Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale?
7 'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it.
8 'It shall come about on that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.
9 'But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. “
We learn that Jesus spoke, like Jeremiah, of a time of tribulation FOR ISRAEL – and not the entire world, verse 4. And the passage ends with showing the Second Advent, verse 9 – David their king, which is here the same as Jesus Christ. The verse points forward to the millennial reign of Christ.
“17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
18 that they were saying to you, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts."
19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
This final passage – verse 17 to 25 – is mainly an exhortation from Jude to make the Messianic believers in Israel keep on in their faith in Jesus as the Messiah, expecting His soon arrival from heaven. This corresponds very much with what Paul wrote in the epistles to the Thessalonians…..such as: …with regard to the coming of Jesus and our gathering with Him…. 2 Thes. 2:1.
In verses 17-18 Jude is agreeing with Peter in that he expect to see that there would come mockers who followed their own ungodly lusts…thus in blasphemy (!). Peter also added, that these mockers would say - 2 Pet. 3:3, 4,
“3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,
4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
In 2 Pet 2:1-22, he wrote a stern warning, very much like the epistle of Jude. And like Jude, Peter pointed to false prophets and teachers among them, - and to fallen angels, to ungodly despicable men taken with evil lust and all ungodliness….let me end this article with that chapter from Peter’s pen, - as we also must remember that this is NOT things pertaining to this Church dispensation of Grace. The words of Jude and Peter in their time, were concerning the coming of the Lord to establish the promised Kingdom of God in Israel, with Jesus as their king Messiah. And His coming would be preceded by all this ungodliness described. Not that there cannot be found enough ungodliness in our time, but still: the intense ungodliness told by Jude and Peter, is something which will arise especially in the time of the future Great Tribulation in Israel. But it is not very far away; quote,
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;
7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds ),
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,
11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;
15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."
Jude’s epistle, like all other epistles written in the time of Acts – 28 – 62 CE – has nothing to do with the Church, the ‘one new man’ as we find with Paul in Ephesians and Colossians. The twelve apostles had nothing to do with our Church-dispensation. Only Paul had this mission, the apostle to us Gentiles, - see Eph. 3:1-3.
Still, - it is interesting to learn what they wrote, since it also regards the near future – not the least the prophesied Great Tribulation when God shall form a new Israel, to become His nation on earth.
But we, the ‘one new man’ are told by our apostle Paul that we have our hope of salvation in heaven up above, where Christ is at His Father’s right hand.
Col. 3:1-4, NASB,
“1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory”.
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