November 20
“I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,” Jude 5-7.
In the above verses, Jude is giving his readers some examples of the judgment of God. Jude says that he wanted to remind them of something which they once knew. From their knowledge of Holy Scripture, they knew the history of the children of Israel and of Sodom and Gomorrah. Whether any of the readers of his Epistle were in great danger of following the unbelieving Israelites or following the immoral inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, we do not know. However, Jude was moved by the Holy Spirit to remind his readers, then and now, of God’s judgment as it is recorded in the history of the Bible.
In any case, we remember what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: “Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope,” Romans 15:4. All the things written in Holy Scripture have been written for strengthening our faith in God’s promises and also as a warning against going the way of the world, the way of the devil, and the way of our own sinful flesh.
By His almighty power, God led the children of Israel out of bondage in the land of Egypt. However, after they were freed from the tyranny of Pharaoh, they often complained against God and against Moses. As a result, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years, during which time all the adults who had left the land of Egypt died. God’s judgment was visited upon those who refused to believe what God had spoken to them through Moses.
The evil angels who were created holy but who then rebelled against God are forever rejected by God. Elsewhere, Scripture refers to them as the devils. The apostle Peter also wrote of their eternal rejection by God: “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment,” 2 Peter 2:4.
The third illustration to which Jude refers is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities by fire from heaven. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their sexual immorality.
God, through the apostle Jude, is giving every generation a fierce word of warning! Let us, as Christians, lift up our voices with a clear call to people to turn from their wicked ways and to flee to Calvary’s cross where the blood of Jesus has washed away our sins. The call to one and all is, “Flee to God for grace, mercy, and forgiveness! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Son and your Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil!”
“’Yea, as I live,’ Jehovah saith,
‘I would not have the sinner’s death,
But that he turn from error’s ways,
Repent, and live through endless days.’
To us, therefore, Christ gave command:
‘Go forth and preach in ev’ry land;
Bestow on all My pard’ning grace,
Who will repent and mend their ways.’” Amen.