20161103 Thursday, November 3 2016
Jude 01: Jude's History And Prophecy Lessons

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints"

"Jew" is an abbreviation of the name of the Israelite patriarch Judah. Judah's parents were Jacob, who the LORD later renamed as "Israel" (see A Biography Of Jacob: When Jacob Became Israel) and Leah, one of the four wives of Jacob (see A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria). Judah's full siblings were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun and Jacob's only daughter, Dinah (see Dinah Of Israel).

"35:23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:" (Genesis 35:23 KJV)

"30:21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah." (Genesis 30:21 KJV)

"Jude" and "Judas" are also abbreviated names of Judah. They were common tribal names of the descendants of Judah.

There were two men named Jude / Judas among the twelve apostles - one righteous, the other a traitor.

"6:16 And Judas the brother of James [see Righteous Judas], and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor [see The Long Shadow Of Judas]." (Luke 6:16 KJV)

Another Jude / Judas with a brother named James (James is an English form of Jacob) recorded in the Holy Scriptures was the youngest brother (sons were customarily recorded from eldest to youngest i.e. "James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas") of Jesus Christ (see The Kinsfolk Of Jesus Of Nazareth).

"13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 13:56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country [see also The Cities Of Lake Galilee], and in his own house." (Matthew 13:55-57 KJV)

The author of the epistle by Jude was a "brother of James." Biblical historians have long-debated which of the above men that it was, if not yet another - Judah and Jacob, with their variations, were common names due to the fame and significance of the original patriarchs by those names (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Jacob's Family, Where Jacob Became Israel, Who Were The First Jews? and Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah).

"1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

1:2 Mercy unto you, and peace and love, be multiplied." (Jude 1:1-2 KJV)

"The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not"

Some deny Jesus Christ by saying that He isn't the Messiah. Others deny Jesus Christ, even while claiming to be Christians, by denying the requirement to obey what He actually taught and commanded (see also the Fact Finder question below).

"1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints [see Faithful Doers Of The Word]. 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [see Grace Into Licentiousness], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:3-4 KJV)

The Passover sacrifice, whether the original object-lesson prophecy at the time of the Exodus, or the actual Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, was (and is) valid only for those who accepted (or accept) it - by obeying the LORD: "the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."

"1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not [see Christ Died For Repentant Sinners]. 1:6 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. 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:5-7 KJV)

Jude identified "the LORD God" of the Exodus as Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul stated the same reality in his first epistle to the Corinthians i.e. "that Rock was Christ." So too, "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents."

"10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ [see Who Is The LORD? and Israel In History and Prophecy: Law Of The LORD].

10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come [see The Church In The End Time and Could Christ Return Tonight?]. 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:1-12 KJV)

The greatest threat to true Christians are those who have fallen away from the Truth. The first to do so was Satan.

"1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion [see Satan's Fall: From Conservative To Liberal], and speak evil of dignities. 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves." (Jude 1:8-10 KJV)

"Gainsaying" has become the norm in what calls itself "Christianity" today. Very often, preachers are hired to preach, not the Truth, but whatever their "employers" demand them to spew from their pulpits (see Is Your Religion Your Religion?).

"1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward [see The Miracle Of The Talking Jenny], and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear [see The Messiah's Warning About Christian Charlatans]: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

1:14 And Enoch also [see What Happened To Enoch?], the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 1:15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage." (Jude 1:11-16 KJV)

True Christianity was not a new religion, or a breakaway religion from Israel; it was and is what Jesus Christ originally gave to Israel (again, see Who Is The LORD?).

"1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time [see The Mocker's Folly], who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life [see When And Where Your Eternal Life Will Begin].

1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." (Jude 1:17--23 KJV)

The "Word of God," the written Holy Scriptures and the Messiah (see What Does Word of God Mean To You?) is the only Way to Salvation.

"1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever [see The Church In The Kingdom Of God]. Amen." (Jude 1:24-25 KJV)

Fact Finder: What are the ways that God's Name is blasphemed?
See Blaspheming The Name Of God