Murph
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Jude
Aug 3, 2006 18:34:29 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 3, 2006 18:34:29 GMT -6
Around the year 66 AD or so, Jude, the brother of James, the writer of another Book of the New Testament, and half brother of Jesus our Lord, sat down to write an Epistle on Salvation. Instead the Holy Spirit thru Jude hurled a thunderbolt from Heaven that has traveled down thru the ages to us today. It is a picture of Apostacy.
There have been several periods of apostacy since the Church was born in the upper room. Times when the Faith burnt down to a smoldering ember. When it did, Jude became the focus again. Following on the heels of the apostacies The Holy Spirit moved and brought revival and the Church would once again burn brightly in time.
Question is, will He do it this time?
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 3, 2006 18:35:16 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 3, 2006 18:35:16 GMT -6
Jude has been called the Vestibule of the Book of Revelation and Jude's voice the last we hear in the Bible before the Apocalypse.
To read this book as it was intended, we as believers can picture ourselves standing on the edge of the end times. We can hear the roll of distant thunder and see the storm clouds massing on the horizon. Darkness is beginning to envelope the world. A storm of immence magnitude is on the way.
But we know we will be gone before it breaks...still we stand and watch it's approach with awe. We know it heralds the end for the unsaved.
This time from what we are seeing and hearing, we are sure...this time the Holy Spirit will not bring revival...He will step aside...
Jude was alarmed at the apostacy that he saw in the Church in his day near the close of the Apostolic age but the Church recovered from that in the persecutions that followed. We live in the age of the church of Laodicea with it's lukewarmness, apostacy in the membership of the churches, apostacy in the seminaries, in the pulpit.
A great book of fiction opens, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." So it is today for us. We look to the unsaved and those slipping deeper and deeper into the apostacy with great saddness. At the same time we look to the East with great happiness and anticipation.
Jude is a short book of 25 verses, but oh! it is packed with facts and illustrations. It is the picture of apostacy. Is today like the days that Enoch saw and that Noah saw?
I pray for this study. I pray we can learn from it what the Holy Spirit has to teach us. Amen
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 3, 2006 18:36:17 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 3, 2006 18:36:17 GMT -6
The first 4 verses of Jude contain the introduction and the reason Jude writes.
"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: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
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.
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, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." vs. 1-4
There has been some discussion about the writer of Jude. We are going to claim it is Jude, brother of James and half brother of Christ, son of Mary and Joseph and most probably one of the youngest of their children, and let it go at that.
Neither James nor Jude believed Jesus was God till after the Resurrection. Jesus appeared to James. We read about that in 1 Corinthians 15:7. Shortly thereafter we read about the Lord's half brothers in fellowship with people who were Apostles and believers, Acts 1:14. It would not be a stretch to imagine that James was instrumental in the conversion of Jude and maybe others of his family.
Jude was married as we read in 1 Corinthians 9:5. We read that Jude describes himself as "the servant of Jesus Christ' and make no mention of his closer family relationship to Jesus. He must have understood that the ministry, death, resurrection and ascention of Christ changed all human relationships. Jude was there with his mother and other siblings when they asked to see Jesus based on family relationships. Jude couldn't have forgotten the words he heard,
"While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Matthew 12:46-50
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 3, 2006 18:37:48 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 3, 2006 18:37:48 GMT -6
A side note.
"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ..."
Whenever the two names Jesus Christ are mentioned in combination, the order is important. The former is always emphatic by reason of its position, the second subsidiary and explanatory. In the Gospels, the name Jesus Christ usually means "Jesus, the Messiah." In the Epistles, it means Jesus, the One who humbled Himself but who is now exhaulted and glorfied as the Christ, the anointed One. The opposite order, Christ Jesus, points to the exhauled One who humbled Himself.
Jesus is His human name. Christ is His Heavenly name. Jesus points to the man and Christ to His ministry.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:25:56 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:25:56 GMT -6
Next Jude underlines three great truths for us,
"to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called..."
We are sanctified, secured, selected...
Although we are not sure which of the churches or who Jude was writing to he describes them as being "sanctified by God the Father." Sanctification is that relationship with God into which we enter when we put our trust in Christ. Sanctification carries the idea of being set apart for God, of being made holy, and being made like God. We are seperated from evil.
We are not only sanctified but also we are "secured." We are "preserved in Jesus Christ."
Brings to mind another Jude or Judas, who was not preserved.
Judas was one of the 12 chosen Apostles of Christ alright...John 6:70, but he was also an apostate. He betrayed our Lord for 30 peices of silver and with a kiss, and committed suicide.
Jesus had made every attempt to win him over, short of forcing his will. He told Judas to his face that he was a demon, Jesus warned him repeatedly that He knew about Judas' decision to betray Him. Jesus gave Judas sop as a plea to his conscience. As Judas left, Jesus told him to hurry up and make quick business of what the was about to do. Even as Judas approached Him that night to betray our Lord, Jesus tried one last time by calling Judas "friend."
Judas Iscariot is a stark example of a person who was chosen but not preserved...some people use the word "kept" instead of "chosen."
"Kept" gives us the image of being watched over, taken care of, guarded and defended. That is how He takes care of us and would have cared for Judas too. But Judas removed himself out of our Lord's watchful love and care. Judas is an example of how near a person can come and how far a person can go.
The Lord watches over us, takes great care of us, keeps an eye on all of us, and watches everything that concerns us. We are "preserved in Jesus Christ."
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:26:34 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:26:34 GMT -6
We are sanctified, and secure, and "selected." We are "called."
God's call is for everyone and is universal. Paul, in his sermon in Athens, said that God"now commandeth all men everywhere" to repent, Acts 17:30. One of our favorite passages, and one Red quotes often, tells us that, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
The call becomes individual when it is brought to us and personal when we accept it. Paul calls it a "high calling," Philippians 3:13, a "holy calling," 2 Timothy 1:9, and a "heavenly calling," Hebrews 3:1
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:27:02 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:27:02 GMT -6
Jude is the only Epistle that mentions "love" in the salutation.
Have heard it put this way. Jude mentions mercy, peace, and love. Mercy, that's the upward look, peace, that's the inward look, and love is the outward look.
Jude's letter is very harsh in what it says so it is no wonder that he asks the multiplication of mercy, peace, and love on the church in these times of Apostacy. We can never have too much mercy, peace, and love
Amen?
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:27:52 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:27:52 GMT -6
As we said before, Jude sat down to write a letter about our "common Salvation." That was his original plan. Jude's intention was to take the genuine believers back to Calvary, but the Holy Spirit had other plans. What was needed was not another Gospel, but rather for someone to sound alarm...to wake the church up!
Jude writes,
"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."
Jude felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to write to sound that warning to true believers everywhere to urge us to wage a real fight for the Faith! What Faith? "The Faith which was once delivered unto the saints"
The Faith "once delivered" does not refer to some creed or articles of belief as some would have us believe. It refers instead to the complete teaching of the Bible and especially the New Testament teachings concerning the Gospel and the Church. That faith was delivered "once." It is the sum total of everything we should believe. It is something to which we cannot add and we cannot take away.
The "Book of Mormon?" Reject it bold outright! It is a sad attempt by the Mormons to pass it off as another testament of Jesus Christ. But it is a lie!
"The faith...once delivered unto the saints" was complete and is complete. It is not defective nor is it deficient. It did not and does not require the additions of the Roman Catholic religion. Roman Catholic dogmas and the Doctrines of the New Testament are as far apart as east is from west. Anyone who is a true believer reading and comparing the teachings of the Roman Catholic religion and the Teachings of the Bible can plainly see how Rome's additions have corrupted Christanity. Reject the teachings of the Roman Catholic religion!
The liberals on the other hand, go in the opposite direction. They subtract. They see the teachings of the Bible as repulsive, and foolish. They want to throw out the Doctrines and substitute humanism, psychology, and a dukes mixture of the world's religious philosophies. Reject that too!
So before Jude begins to deal with apostacy he ties the true believers, "beloved" to "the Faith which was once delivered unto the saints" to the "common salvation" that ties together all true believers from all the ages from the early church to today's Laodicean church.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:28:25 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:28:25 GMT -6
Some of those liberals say, "swollow the meat and spit out the grissle." Horsefeathers! Show me where in the Bible it says that.
The Apostle Paul says to reject it...and those who come teaching lies embeded in the truth. Modern liberals like Rick Warren look good and sound pretty, but pay real close attention to what he says...it doesn't line up with what the Bible says. Reject it, meat, grissle and all!
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:28:52 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:28:52 GMT -6
Lord Jesus has made it plain as day, "He that is not with me is against me..." Matthew 12:30
Jude tells us to "earnestly contend" for the Faith. Some say the problems in the Middle East between Israel and Lebanon signal the dawn of WW III. Not so...it began long ago. The war started when the devil fielded his dogs of war in the early church and it raged hotter and hotter until it is beginning to reach a fevor pitch today.
Compromise and tolerance is out of the question! For true believers the question of whether to become involved or not is not an option. Neutrality is impossible.
So running away is not an option and neither is pretending that there is no problem. When people like Rick Warren and other liberals who deny the great fundamentals of the Faith invade the churches, seminaries, and the pulpits someone has to come forth to wage war against them. Jude puts that responsibility squarely on the shoulders of all who believe...all Jude addresses as "beloved."
The phrase "earnestly contend" appears only in the Book of Jude and no where else in the Bible. It means to contend about an issue as a combatant. Earnestly adds to the intensity. When the great truths of the Bible and Christanity are attacked it is time for us to "Stand" Ephesians 6:13 and do battle.
Jude sounds the call to battle.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:30:45 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:30:45 GMT -6
"... 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, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." v 4
These men "crept in unawares" or slipped in secretly, or got in by the side, or used stealth, any of the aforestated or all of the aforestated. In others words, these people don't come in by the front door talking about what they really believe or about their real lifestyles. They come in by the side door. They use all the right words...and on face value seem to be saying what we believe but they have redefined all of the words.
Their motive is to be accepted and to infiltrate the hierarchy of the church. Once they achieve this goal...they bring in others until gradually they take over and begin to control the decision making processes.
By the time the rank and file members figure out what is going on, it is too late. The liberals are too deeply embedded to be routed without a fight.
Jude calls these people "ungodly men." What Jude is saying is that these are people who deliberately do things that God has forbidden. They have no reverance, awe or fear of God nor the things of God. They deny the Holy Scriptures and live life as they please They are ungodly and unbelieving by deliberate choice. They are not backslidden Christians or Christians who have fallen into error. They are people who deliberately deny and oppose the truth.
I have witnessed this first hand in the church in which I grew up. In the end I had to leave that church. It was one of the toughtest decision I have made in my life but we couldn't get them to see and were in a minority, and couldn't go where they were going. I now call it a recreation department with a steeple.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:32:07 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:32:07 GMT -6
These people are not only "ungodly" but also "unholy" because the turn the Grace of God into "lasciviousness" They actually prevert the teaching about the Grace of God and use it as a platform to sin. They claim that if God's grace is greater than all of their sin then the more they sin the more God will exhibit His grace...
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 6:1-2
"...turning the grace of God"... Jude is saying these people actually turn God's grace into something else and use it as a license to sin.
Lasciviousness pretains to having a lack of moderation, the absense of restraints, wantonness. In other words , once a person becomes an apostate...they will stoop to anything, condone anything, no matter what it is...even to the point of homosexuality, abortion, euphanism. The list is long and filthy.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 4, 2006 15:32:45 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 4, 2006 15:32:45 GMT -6
The apostate is not only ungodly, and unholy, he or she is also "unruly." They deny "the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." The apostates deny the authority of the Living God and they openly deny the the Son of God is Lord and Savior.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 6, 2006 18:27:13 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 6, 2006 18:27:13 GMT -6
Jude in verses 5 to 16 begins to deal with what was happening in the churches of his day, apostacy, and is even more prominent and rampant in the churches of today.
Jude was probably writing to converted Jews. The Jews had great knowledge of the Old Testament and would have known what Jude was saying with the examples he used in this section of verses. People today who study the Bible seriously primarily read the New Testament and not the Old. We don't have the indepth knowledge of the Old Testament they had. We will go thru them one by one and try to discover what Jude tells us both about Apostacy in the churches and in the individual.
"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.
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.
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.
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
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.
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.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 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.
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." vs. 5-16
Trumpet might sound before we get through all of it, but we will take it verse by verse and example by example.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 6, 2006 18:30:00 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 6, 2006 18:30:00 GMT -6
"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." v. 5
For reference you might want to read Exodus 1-19; Numbers 1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-14.
Two kinds of people left Egypt. First there were those who were genuinely saved, "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..."
However there was a second kind, they were those who were supposedly saved, "afterward destroyed them that believed not."
Those who were genuinely saved God had put under the blood, blood of the lamb on the door posts. He brought them through the water and they were seperated. He brought them through the Res Sea and they "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." 1 Corinthians 10:2 These Hebrews, God gathered around His table, fed them with bread from Heaven, gave them water to drink from the riven rock, and they waged successful war with Amalek.
God had brought them to Sinai and taught them how redeemed people must live. Then God came down and pitched His tent among them. Their education included the entire sacrifical system, the law, and ordinances, the feasts, and fasts.
It was all in elementary form but it was all there, all the truth. It was there in picture, type, shadow, symbol and ritual. These were the genuinely saved that came out of Egypt.
We today look back on the Cross, on Calvary. The Hebrews of that day, in however a hazy and limited way...looked forward by faith to the Cross...to Calvary.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 6, 2006 19:40:15 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 6, 2006 19:40:15 GMT -6
Then there were the others, those who were supposedly saved.
"The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."
The Holy Spirit in Exodus 12:38 and Numbers 11:4 calls them "a mixed multitude" These were the people who caused most of the trouble. They criticized and complained. They accused and attacked Moses and Aaron. At Kadesh-barnea they refused to enter the Promised Land.
The "mixed multitude" joined the Hebrews after the destruction of Pharoah and his armies. The knew nothing about redemption by the blood of the Passover Lamb. The amazing thing is that the truth of God was all around them but they appear to have been blind to it and uneffected by it.
They were wordly, carnal, rebellious, and self-willed. What was worse they infected the true believers. Finally at Kadesh-barnea they pushed too far and God ran out of patience and pronounced the death sentence on them.
When they heard about the giants of Canaan they cried, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness," Numbers 14:1-2. God's answer came swiftly, "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness," Numbers 14:28-29
The unbelievers had so infected the ranks of the true believers that the death sentence fell on all who were 20 years of age and up. Only Joshua and Caleb were spared and did enter into Cannan.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 6, 2006 19:41:16 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 6, 2006 19:41:16 GMT -6
There were two classes of people pictured in this example and two kinds of death. The unbelievers perished forever and the backslidders died physically.
This stands out as a warning to us today. The very solom lesson from this is the sure and certain judgment to come. For the unsaved...beware, at any moment the unseen line might be crossed and the death sentence pronounced...althought the actual date of the execution of the judgment is being delayed at present, it is coming!
For the backslidders, the grave lesson is that it is possible to have a saved soul but a lost life.
Remember the letter was most likely written to converted Jews and Jude is reminding them, "I will therefore put you in rememberance, though ye once knew this" or it is called to mind. Though you knew this all along, may be another way to say it.
Jude wanted to remind the readers of his letter of something that they already knew about an Old Testament incident written "once for all." God expected them to be familiar with it. We are learning more about it so we will also.
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 23, 2006 21:42:20 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 23, 2006 21:42:20 GMT -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" v. 6
At first reading you wonder how Jude got from mumurings and complaiming of the mixed multitude and their followers in the wilderness, to the fall of the angels from their high estate? And what was their high estate? And those are just a few questions that occur to us.
Over the past two or so years I studied the Doctrine of angels so began to try to apply what I had learned. At some time in the distant primeval age, a very special angel named Lucifer, "the son of the morning," became prideful and led a rebellion of angels against the Throne of God. We can read about some of this in Ezekiel 12:19 and Isaiah 14:12-19. Revelation 12:3-4 may refer to the same incident. One-third of the angels were involved in Lucifer's fall. Jesus witnessed the fall...
"And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Luke 10:18
Lucifer fell to earth and took from Adam his principality over the earth. It was given to him at creation...
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26
"But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.
For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him." Hebrews 2:6-8
Once Satan had taken Adam's sovereignity over the earth he put his own angel princes over various nations of the earth and they ruled over those nations from the spirit world...
"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia" Daniel 10:12-13
"Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince." Daniel 10: 20-21
Jesus, as the Second Man, over came them at Calvary, redeemed both us and our property. But the angel principalities of Satan still remain active over human affairs and will till the end when Michael and his angels will kick them all out of Heaven...
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Revelation 12:7-12
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Murph
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Jude
Aug 23, 2006 21:47:34 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Aug 23, 2006 21:47:34 GMT -6
There are other angels who owe their allegence to Satan. These angels are not free to roam but are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day." Four of the angels are temporarily incarcerated in the Euphrates River and others are in Tartrus. The angels now incarcerated in the Euphrates, when released, are going to ignite a future war involving around two million men. At the same time the bottomless pit is going to open releasing locustlike demons who will plague mankind and drive people to the edge of madness...read Revelation 9:1-11. These demons don't appear to be the angels Jude is talking about as they are incarcerated until the day of judgment.
Dr. Willmington, learned alot from him and thank the Lord for good Bible teachers...
So who are the fallen angels Jude is referring to?
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Murph
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Jude
Sept 6, 2006 19:57:54 GMT -6
Post by Murph on Sept 6, 2006 19:57:54 GMT -6
Haven't worked on this study for awhile. We were asking who the fallen angels were that Jude refers to and what did they do to cause God to lock them away till "the judgment of the great day"?
Jude compares the sin and apsotacy of these angels with the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sin was "going after strange flesh." The most logical explanation to me would seem that Jude is referring to what happened in Genesis 6:1-6. The "sons of God" appear to be angelic beings.
Peter in 2 Peter 1:4-8 also puts the sin of these angels in the same league with Sodom and Gomorrah.
There is another mention of these beings that occured after the flood in Genesis 6:4. The are the "giants" of Canaan. Israel's fear of those "giants" resulted in the rebellion at Kadesh-barnea described in Numbers 13:28, 33; Deut. 1:34; 2:10-11, 20-23; and 3:11.
So these angels are those who "left their own habitation" or dwelling place. They "kept not" their first estate.
These angels fell a second time. They fell from heaven when they followed Satan into sin and they fell from the heavenlies where they had a seat of power.
The second fall took place when they went after "strange flesh," after the daughters of men. In other words they lusted after beings that were of a different order of creation from them.
It is for this they are kept in chains...it is by decree from God Himself.
Further more they are kept in darkness. God's darkness...is gloomy, murky, thick. I always think of the dark in a cave.
There are other interpertations of this passage but this is the one I think most closely fits.
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