Today’s reading: Jude
With approximately 460 words, Jude is the fifth shortest book in the entire Bible. Jude, the brother of Jesus, didn’t mince his words when he was warning Christfollowers about the danger false teaching and apostasy. Don’t gloss over his message, as it is just as timely today as it was in the first century.
Apostasy – the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief; turning away from God’s truth and embracing false teaching.
False teachers during this time (approximately 65 AD) claimed that Christfollowers could do as they pleased without fear of God’s punishment. Jude’s response was twofold, reminding his audience that – 1) God punishes rebellion against him, and 2) they needed to persevere and continue to build their lives on faith in Jesus Christ.
Jude supports his first point by giving three examples where God punished rebellion against him in the Old Testament:
- The nation of Israel, whom God rescued from slavery in Egypt, refused to trust that he was going to give them the Promised Land. They grumbled and rebelled. Instead of delivering them into the Promised Land, God punished them. They wandered in the desert for 40 years until the entire generation of rebellious people had died off (see Numbers 14). Then God, being true to his promises, delivered the next generation of Israelites into the Promised Land.
- Some angels gave in to pride and joined Satan to rebel against God. Even though at one time, these same angels were pure, holy, and lived in God’s presence, God did not spare them when they rebelled. Rather, he sent them to Hell to await final judgment (see 2 Peter 2).
- Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were so full of sin that, when they did not heed God’s warning to turn from their sinful ways, God wiped the whole city from the face of the earth (see Genesis 19).
If God harshly punished his chosen people, sent rebellious angels to Hell, and wiped entire cities off the map for rebelling, consider how much more harshly he would deal with false teachers who are leading his people astray.
The second part of Jude’s message is the call for Christollowers to persevere and build their lives on the truth of Jesus Christ. The antidote for apostasy is staying in God’s word. Continually seeking to know God’s truths in new and refreshing ways helps us to easily identify, and steer clear of, false teaching. Those who refuse to learn sound, Biblical doctrine are susceptible to false teachings because they are not fully grounded in God’s truth.
I’ll be honest, writing for the Bible Journal has been a blessing in my life over the past 3.5 years. Understanding God’s word deep enough to write a 500-600 word message summarizing how the reading of the day spoke to my heart has been a recipe for spurring me on to know God’s truths in new and refreshing ways. I admit that some weeks have been harder than others, but for 3.5 years, God has spoken to me in ways I would never have imagined.