Trip Down Memory Lane Part 2 (Jude 11-13)

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Jude continues his trip down memory lane with verses 11-13. Jude is continuing to “contend for the faith” against the false teachers that “have crept in” the body of believers and leading some astray. We can rest assured that the people Jude is writing to know Jewish history and can draw the logical conclusions in Jude’s comparisons. The reason we can assume this, as we seen in part 1, Jude refers to these events and people without giving any background information. Jude assumes or expects his readers to know the stories and the background as well as all the undertones that go with the stories. Let’s jump right into it.

The Way of Cain

When we think of Cain we immediately think about him murdering Abel out of jealousy. But is that the way of Cain that Jude is referring to here? I believe Jude not only wants us to think about what Cain did to Abel, but he also wants us to see how Cain came to God. If you read the narrative again in Genesis 4 we see that Abel brought an animal sacrifice and Cain brought an offering to the fruit of the ground. So what was the deal? Why was Cain’s offering rejected? Abel came to God in “the way” that was prescribed by God, animal sacrifice. Cain came to God in his own way. Many believe that animal sacrifice was instituted in the Garden when God clothed Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel’s parents passed this on to them, and from the beginning we have man attempting and inventing his own ways to get to God.

The way of Cain is manmade religion, man inventing their “own way” to God and denying the “only way”, grace through faith in Jesus. These false teachers were prescribing their own way to God, and in so doing rejecting the only way to God, Jesus. In proclaiming their false gospel they were in effect spiritually murdering their brother by leading them down a false way. Throughout the Old Testament we read many time “obedience is better than sacrifice.” We must in obedience to God, come to Him in the way He has prescribed. There is only one open door to the Father and it is through Jesus.

Greedy Balaam

Jude pronounces that “these people” are not only like Cain, devising their own ways to God but they are like Balaam. Balaam is another infamous apostate in Jewish history. Balak, The king of Moab, wanted to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites, but the Lord had different plans, even using a talking donkey to get Balaam’s attention. Through the Lord’s intervention Balaam had no choice but to speak the word of the Lord to Balak and bless the Israelites. So instead of speaking curses against the Israelites, Balaam and Balak devise a plan to get the Israelites to intermarry with the Moabites and follow after false idols. In the book of Revelation we read this about Balaam;

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. (Rev. 2:14)

You can find Balaam’s account in Numbers 22-25.
Balaam was a greedy prophet for hire influencing others in the wrong way and Jude is pronouncing these false teachers are just like him. The false gospel they are propagating and teaching others to follow was for their own profit or gain. False teachers were and still are selfish by nature, they will promote teaching that elevates man’s wants and needs over the Glory of God.

Rebellious Korah

From walking in the way of Cain, to influencing others in the wrong path for selfish gain like Balaam, we move to an all-out rebellion against the truth and its leaders. Korah lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and it was not just a few people, he led thousands in rebellion, a movement against God and His plan that he put in place through Moses. Korah’s cry “All the people are holy”. Korah was saying we don’t need you Moses or Aaron, forget all this, we don’t need leaders, we are all leaders. Korah in his rebellion led thousands to their death because God in His judgment caused the ground to open up and swallow them all (Numbers 16). God takes false teaching serious and will bring them all into judgment.

The Way, The Truth and The Life

Notice the progression Jude uses when speaking of the false teachers of his day. They walk, involving only themselves, then it moves to abandoning themselves in error for gain, and finally it leads to all out rebellion and ultimately perishing in God’s judgment. False teachers will attack the true way, will pervert the truth and ultimately perish in God’s judgment. On this Good Friday we must remember Jesus claim “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). It is solely through Jesus life, death and resurrection that we have any hope at all. All those who walk in the way of Christ, believe in the truth of Christ, live in dependence in the life of Christ are required to stand up to the false teachings that pervert the truth.
Until Next Week
Rejoice in your Salvation as we Celebrate all that Christ has done for us this weekend.

A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 1 Jude 5-10

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Do you like history? I must be completely honest with you, besides Biblical history, I am not much of a history buff. I have to force myself to read history and the reason I do is because history can be a great teacher. Jude takes his readers on a history lesson of Israel’s infamous apostates and then compares them to false teachers by using the term “these people.” This section of scripture is only eleven verses, but it is jam packed with Old Testament examples that the readers are expected to draw certain conclusion from.

Remember When…

Jude starts off this section with “now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it.” Sounds like Jude is using a little sarcasm here, “church, we’ve be down this road before, remember! But just in case you forgot let me give you some reminders.”

We can also make a valid assumption that his audience was familiar with the Old Testament and would understand the examples and allusions he is using. Mainly because Jude makes vague references to past apostates without giving any details. For example, if you are like me you have watched some of the Olympic coverage. During the hockey coverage they make reference to the “Miracle on Ice” without going into a long drawn out discussion about it. Why? Most people that are watching, know the “Miracle on Ice” is referring to the USA hockey team that beat the Russian team, despite being huge underdogs. The reference also brings certain emotions up in Americans like national pride, joy or remembering where you were when you found out they won. Jude is doing the same thing here. He wants his readers not only to remember the story but also all the undertones that go with the story. So let’s dig in.

The Exodus

The first Old Testament allusion Jude uses is the Exodus. As soon as Jude mentions the Exodus, his audience would think back to God delivering the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt. They would also remember God’s wrath poured out on Egypt through the ten plagues and God’s protection from those plagues. They would remember the Passover. His audience would also think back to the opening and crossing of the Red Sea. They would also remember how that same Red Sea came crashing down on the Egyptians. How could they forget the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day and all the other parts of history that is tied to the narrative.
Jude also wants them to remember after all The Lord did, there were those who still didn’t believe. What Jude is referencing here is when the spies went to check out the promised land in Numbers 14. The spies came back and 10 of the 12 said there is no way we can go in there and conquer that land. The people responded by complaining and started to elect a leader to take them back to Egypt. While Joshua and Caleb said let’s do it, God brought us this far surely He can take us the rest of the way. Can you imagine after seeing all God had done and still doubting? That is the picture Jude wants his audience to see. Jude also wants us to get a picture of the judgement, not one of those that complained was going into the promise land. Every one 20 and older would taste death except Joshua and Caleb. That was a devastating loss and that’s how serious God takes those who lead people astray.

Fallen Angels

From the Exodus we move to the fallen angels, their are a couple of views of what this means. I hold to the view that this verse refers to the fallen angels that rebelled against God. These angels, who lived with God, experienced the very presence of God, but in their pride, wanted to be God and rule over Him. These angels were not satisfied to fulfill the purpose God created them for. They didn’t “stay within their own position of authority” but rebelled and thus have been put in a state of “gloomy darkness” and will stay that way until judgement. I believe the “eternal chains” refers to the fact that they can never again come back to the position they once held. They are forever held in their demonic, gloomy darkness.

I also believe there are some fallen angels that are actually held in “the abyss” till judgement. Remember the time when Jesus sent the demons into the pigs? The demons begged Jesus not to send them to “the abyss” (Luke 8:31) Jude wants his audience to see that these fallen angels, who experienced the glories of heaven. These fallen angels who experienced the very presence of God, can never again return to their previous state and will be judged.

Sodom and Gomorrah

The final example Jude uses in this string of examples is that of Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities in the Old Testament that God destroyed because of their sexual immorality, which includes the sin of homosexuality. The cities were sexually immoral and “pursued unnatural desire” to the point that they wanted to have sex with the angels that were sent to rescue Lot and his family. Abraham interceded for these cities to the point where he asked God to not destroy the city if there were 10 righteous people in it and there could not be found 10 righteous people (Gen. 18:22ff). These cities seemed to reach a point of no return, a point that is only determined by God. There was no hope for them so they serve as an example here of God’s judgement by “eternal fire.”

Yet in Like Manner These People…

Jude just took us on a history tour of some of the most infamous narratives in Scripture and after this tour he says “in like manner these people.” Who are “these people?” They are the false teachers. Jude compares these false teachers to those that complained against The Lord, fallen angels and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Can you imagine how they reacted when this letter was read in their presence?

There is an important phrase Jude uses next, he writes that these false teachers were “relying on their dreams.” These false teachers were relying on dreams, visions or some type of new revelation to base their teachings on. They were taking parts of the Scriptures, twisting them and fitting in their “new revelation” and trying to mislead the people of God. That is why Jude’s declaration to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered” is so vital to understand. Even at the time of Jude’s writing the canon of scripture was closing. No Joe Schmo can come here and spread anything contrary to “the faith.” Sounds like we have the same problem today. Prosperity preachers claiming they have new insight, others claiming “new revelation” and yet others down right teaching doctrines that are out right contrary to Scripture all in the name of Christ. Believers we need to know our Bible “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes ( Eph 4:14)”

Defile The Flesh

Jude points out just like Sodom and Gomorrah “these people” defile the flesh. If you recall in verse 4, Jude states these false teachers were turning the grace of God into sensuality, which refers to some sort of sexual sin. These false teachers were sinning sexually and defiling the flesh. They had no moral restraints and were characterized by immoral lifestyles.

Rejected Authority

Like the Israelites in the wilderness rejecting the authority of Moses thus rejecting the plan of God. Like the fallen angels rejecting the authority of God and rejecting the purpose they were created for. These false teachers reject God’s authority too. They rejected the authority of the church, the Scriptures to correct them thus rejecting Christ. They were so blinded by their new revelation, they thought they were superior to any correction from the Scriptures making themselves superior to God.

Blaspheme the Glorious Ones

When I read this, I was honestly stumped. Thank God for men of God who have studied before me and shared there wealth of knowledge with us. As I began to study what this meant John MacArthur pointed out in his sermon series on Jude (which is excellent) that angels had took part in some way delivering the law;

This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us(Acts 7:36).

you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it (Acts 7:53).”

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary(Gal. 3:19).

These false teachers were breaking the law of God and justifying it by their supposed new found freedom in grace and their new revelation. By breaking the law of God they were blaspheming the angels who were the deliverers and in some ways guardians of the law. These false teachers were blaspheming the governing body God set on earth, the church. They were blaspheming the angels by breaking the law and justifying it. They were blaspheming God himself and rejecting His Lordship.

Satan, Michael the Archangel and the body of Moses

Jude throws us a curve ball here by inserting a portion of a narrative from the Testament of Moses a non canonical book. We can go on tangents here and many have. But we must get to the why, why does Jude insert this here?

The immediate context of the text is stating that the false teachers are blaspheming the angels by their breaking the law and justifying it. Then Jude gives us this example of Satan disputing and contending with Michael over the body of Moses. What was Michael’s response? “The Lord rebuke you.” Michael knew Satan had no authority or claim to Moses’ body why didn’t he say go way “luci.” Michael is not the Judge, God alone is the judge and Michael calls on The Lord to rebuke Satan. No one is a law unto himself, not Satan, not Michael and certainly not the false teachers. Jude is trying to drive the point home, it doesn’t matter if your Moses, Michael or Satan you are still under the righteous rule and law of God and one day you will be face to face with the Judge. In effect God rules in heaven, on earth, and even in hell (Psalms 139:7-12).

Another important comparison we should take note of is how Michael deals with Satan. He doesn’t debate him, fight him, but calls on The Lord to rebuke him. If Michael does not slander a fallen angel, how much worse is it going to be for those false teachers that blaspheme God’s holy angels.

These People

Jude brings this section to a close by a final “these people” and stating that they blaspheme what they don’t understand. They are so far gone, there seems to be no hope for them. These false teachers are led by their fleshly instincts, their sensual desires and that will be their destruction. Jude’s final comparison in this section is to animals that can’t reason and live on their own instincts.

I could imagine if Jude lived in our day he my be labeled a Pharisee, heresy hunter or some other label. But as a shepherd of the flock of God Jude is called to feed the sheep, but he is also called to protect the sheep. Jude in this book is giving us a great example of feeding and protecting God’s flock. May we follow in his footsteps, until next week God Bless.

Just who is Jude?

Here is the 3rd post in Jude series. The 5th is coming 2/21. God bless!

joshnnomi's avatarJosue Aguilar

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Do you remember the TV show Lost? I was a huge fan of the show. There were certain episodes that would start at the end of the story and work their way to the beginning. I feel I kind of did that here with Jude’s introduction. I started in the middle with Beloved, Called and Kept. Then moved on to Jude’s prayer of blessing for mercy, peace and love. Now let’s try and discover just who the author of Jude is.

Jude is short for Judas or Judah, which was a common name in that era. So it shouldn’t surprise us that there is more than one Judas mentioned in scripture. There is the infamous Judas Iscariot, the apostle that betrayed Jesus (Matt. 10:4). We know he didn’t write Jude because he committed suicide soon after his betrayal of Jesus (Matt. 27). There was another Apostle named Thaddeus (Matt. 10:4…

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Blessings Multiplied to You

Yesterday, I posted the first post in the Jude series. Here is the second. The fifth to come on 2/21, sorry for the misprint yesterday.

joshnnomi's avatarJosue Aguilar

Last week, we took some time and looked at how Jude opened his book. Specifically looking at how he described the believers he was writing to, The Called, Beloved and Kept. This week we are going to look at his prayer for them. But before we do let’s look at some background information.

In this digital age we don’t write letters very often because we live in an age where texting, tweeting, Facebook and email rule. However, I remember when I was in grade school, probably around the fourth or fifth grade, we learned how to write a letter. Every letter we wrote had to contain certain elements like an introduction and greeting, next the body of the letter, which would contain the purpose of the letter. Finally we would end it with a final goodbye, like sincerely a comma and then your signature.

The authors of the New Testament…

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Called… Beloved… Kept…

When I wrote this blog post I never intended to do a series in Jude, but in my personal study Jude has enriched my life so much I continued with it. I have written 3 posts that cover 4 verses. I have been feasting on the rest of Jude and ready to write my next posts on verses 5-16, which will be divided in 3 posts. But before I do I want to remind everyone that has been following were we have been so here is the first post.

joshnnomi's avatarJosue Aguilar

When I was younger, in my teens and early twenties, when I would buy a book I would skip the forward and introduction and go straight to the meat of the book. Until one day, my lovely wife, asked me “why do you do that?” I told her “I bought the book for what’s in the chapters not the introduction.” So that day we sat and read the forward and introduction of the book and I was shocked, there was so much good information and material in there that I regretted not reading introductions sooner.

Sometimes the way we treat the greetings sections in the epistles, is the way I treated introductions and forwards in books, just blow right by them without giving them a second thought. Oh what a mistake we make when we do this, especially when we believe in the verbal (every word) plenary (fully authoritative) inspiration…

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Just who is Jude?

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Do you remember the TV show Lost? I was a huge fan of the show. There were certain episodes that would start at the end of the story and work their way to the beginning. I feel I kind of did that here with Jude’s introduction. I started in the middle with Beloved, Called and Kept. Then moved on to Jude’s prayer of blessing for mercy, peace and love. Now let’s try and discover just who the author of Jude is.

Jude is short for Judas or Judah, which was a common name in that era. So it shouldn’t surprise us that there is more than one Judas mentioned in scripture. There is the infamous Judas Iscariot, the apostle that betrayed Jesus (Matt. 10:4). We know he didn’t write Jude because he committed suicide soon after his betrayal of Jesus (Matt. 27). There was another Apostle named Thaddeus (Matt. 10:4; Mk. 3:19), who also went by the name of Judas (Lk. 6:16; Jn. 14:22). We know that it wasn’t this Apostle Judas who wrote Jude because the writer of Jude seems to make a distinction between himself and the apostles (Jude 17). After the Apostle Paul’s conversion, Ananias was told to go to Paul, at that time called Saul, he was at the house of a man named Judas (Acts 9). There was also a Judas, called Barsabas, that was sent with Paul, Barnabas and Silas to inform the Gentile believers of the decision from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:22). I don’t believe either one of these Judas’ were the writers of Jude, mainly because we are never told that they have a brother named James.

The only other Judas it could be is Judas the brother of Jesus. The Gospels provide us a list of Jesus’ brothers, among them is Judas (Matt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3). The writer of Jude doesn’t identify himself as the brother of Jesus, but he does identify himself as the brother of James (Jude 1), who was also a brother of Jesus. James was very well known as the leader of the Jerusalem church and was referred to as a pillar by the Apostle Paul (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19; 2:9). So when Jude refers to himself as the brother of James his audience knows exactly who is writing to them, Jude the brother of Jesus.

The Bible doesn’t give us much information about Jesus’ brothers and sisters. But we do know that he had at least four younger brothers and at least two sisters. So Jesus was part of a large family. There are a couple of places in scripture that we can glean some insights concerning Jude.

Jude the Rejector

We know from the Gospels that Jesus’ brothers did not follow him. Honestly they flat out thought he was crazy (Mk. 3:21). Jesus began healing people, telling them He was God and started to develop a following. He even began to call specific disciples to walk with him. When his family saw all of this, it made them nervous, and quite honestly can you blame them? This is Jesus, the brother that grew up with them. I mean we might have thought the same thing. So what do his mother and brothers do? Yes, you guessed it, they plan an intervention. They go find Jesus and he is amongst a large crowd, people began to tell Jesus that his mom and brothers are here. Jesus answers and says, “whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother (Mk. 3:35). We know that his brothers left that day as unbelievers, they rejected Jesus’ message and claims.

We have another recorded instance of Jesus interacting with his brothers (Jn. 7). At this time in Jesus ministry the crowds began to defect and the religious leaders wanted to kill him. Jesus goes to Galilee refraining from going to Judea because it is not his time yet. While in Galilee he runs into his brothers and they have an interesting conversation.

Now if you have brothers this conversation most likely makes sense to you. His brothers basically tell him, “hey Jesus, why are you hiding out here? If you are who you say you are go to Judea and put your works on display. Show the world who you are.” His brothers are not being supporters here, they are being sarcastic, and may I add that they know fully what would happen to Jesus if he went to Judea. They knew that the religious leaders wanted to kill him, everyone did, it was the talk of the town. Yet at this time Jesus’ brothers are not showing support but sarcastically ridiculing Jesus, their half brother, the Son of God. Jude rejected Jesus’ claims before the cross.

From Rejector to Contender

So what happened? How does Jude go from someone who rejected and ridiculed Jesus to writing one of the books in the New Testament? My friends, the Resurrection of Jesus changes everything!

We know from the Gospels that Mary, the mother of Jesus,watched her son experience a grueling death, death on a cross. The Gospels don’t tell us his brothers were around, but we can know for sure that they knew what was going on, everybody in the region did. We can be sure that Mary would have told her sons what she has seen and experienced. I am not sure what is going through their minds at this time- maybe guilt, sadness or relief that the spotlight is off of their family.

The Apostle Paul gives us one line that is the epitome of grace, “Then he appeared to James” (1 Cor. 15:7). I wonder how that went down, did Jesus show up and give James and his brothers the ultimate, “I told you so.” I doubt it, but Jesus does show himself to James, and we can safely assume that his other brothers and sisters, including Jude, were there. The resurrection of Jesus changed everything.

Now, this must be said, Being the brother of Jesus, Jude and his other brothers and sisters would have known Jesus. They grew up with him. I have brothers and sisters, and I could give a list that could fill hundreds of pages of why they are not God. But his family couldn’t point out one fault in our sinless Savior. That is amazing.

After the resurrection we know that no longer were they rejectors but believers and contenders of the Gospel of Jesus. We see that they are among the hundred twenty in the upper room (Acts 1:14). As we mentioned earlier, James became a pillar of the church in Jerusalem and a leader of the early church abroad. He wrote the book of James in the New Testament. Both James and Jude describe themselves as servants of Jesus Christ (Jas. 1:1; Jude 1). They don’t use the title, “brother of our Lord” as The Apostle Paul does, to describe themselves. This may reflect their humility. It certainly reflects on how they viewed their relationship they now have with Jesus.

We also know that Jude became an avid defender of the Gospel. In the book of Jude we have his great exhortation to “contend earnestly” which can also mean to continually fight. Fight for what? The faith, continually fight against those that pervert the Gospel. Continually fight to proclaim truth in the midst of lies, and false teachings in the church and outside the church. Jude went from rejector to contender because the resurrection changes everything.

But in my study of Jude and learning about Jesus’ family I found this one statement in the book of Jude very enlightening, “and have mercy on those who doubt;” (Jude 22). Could it be that Jude, while writing this line, was reflecting on his days before he was a believer. Not only was Jude a contender for the faith against those that pervert the Gospel, but he also knew that there were some who truly struggled with the truth. What does Jude exhort us to do with these that struggle with the truth? “Have mercy on those who doubt.”

Until next week as we look closer at the false teachers Jude is writing of may we become like Jude, contenders for the truth. May we know and love the truth and be avid defenders of it. May we also have mercy on those that honestly struggle with the truth and walk alongside them explaining and loving them and guiding them to the truth as if we are, “snatching them out of the fire;” (Jude 22).

Blessings Multiplied to You

Last week, we took some time and looked at how Jude opened his book. Specifically looking at how he described the believers he was writing to, The Called, Beloved and Kept. This week we are going to look at his prayer for them. But before we do let’s look at some background information.

In this digital age we don’t write letters very often because we live in an age where texting, tweeting, Facebook and email rule. However, I remember when I was in grade school, probably around the fourth or fifth grade, we learned how to write a letter. Every letter we wrote had to contain certain elements like an introduction and greeting, next the body of the letter, which would contain the purpose of the letter. Finally we would end it with a final goodbye, like sincerely a comma and then your signature.

The authors of the New Testament epistles (letters), used the letter writing genre and structures of their day to communicate God’s truths to their audience and ultimately to us. Most ancient Greco-Roman letters followed a certain form;

  1. Opening- which contained from and to.
  2. Greeting- which was basically the word “greetings” sometimes contained a wish of good health and/or a thanksgiving
  3. The Body of the Letter- which contained the purpose  of the letter. This section can be broken down further, but for brevities sake we will move on.
  4. Final Greetings and Farewell.

The New Testament authors not only used this literary style, but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they expanded it with Christian thoughts and ideas. For example, Jude didn’t just write, “I, Jude write to believers, greetings.” Jude writes, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” Look at all Jude adds here, so rich.

Which leads us to Jude’s prayer of blessing for his audience and ultimately us. Jude writes; “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”  Here again, Jude expands on the simple “greetings” in his letter. Here he prays that God multiply or increase his mercy, peace, and love to us.

In Romans 7, Paul, in agony over his own sinful condition exclaims, “Wretched man that I am!” Paul knew that the Christian, in this world, would be in a constant struggle with sin. Jude knew this too, and because he knew this, he prayed that God’s mercy be multiplied to us. When our struggle with sin is tough and we fall into temptation, Jude’s prayer is for God to multiply his mercy. What exactly is mercy, it is God withholding from us what we deserve. I know I need a multiplication of mercy in my life, how about you?

Jude also knows that we need a multiplication of peace. I am reminded of the words of Jesus in John 16, “in this world you will have tribulation.” Jesus tells his disciples, and us very plainly, you will have trouble. You are going to have problems, struggles and hard times. Then Jesus goes on to say, “but take heart; I have overcome the world.” Before he said this though, he told His disciples why he was telling them all this, so that, “in me you may have peace.” Jesus told them hard times will come, but in the midst of hard times “in me” you can have peace. Why? Because Jesus has overcome the world. Once you were an enemy combatant but in Christ we have peace with God. We have also been made a peaceful citizen of God’s kingdom. That peace can be experienced by us on earth, even in the midst of hard times. Paul describes this peace in Philippians 4, as a peace that surpasses all understanding. This is the peace that Jude is asking God to multiply to us.

Finally, Jude asks for God’s love to be multiplied to us. Last week I briefly wrote about God’s great love for us. In Romans 8, Paul explains to us that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. Paul also tells us in Romans 5 that God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 3 explains what this kind of God love/agape love looks like, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for you.” John doesn’t stop there he continues to say, “and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” John tells us that this is the kind of love we should have for other believers, the same kind of love that God has for us. Jude wants us to experience and live in this love. He wants this love to be multiplied in us.

Can you imagine if we prayed Jude’s prayer for our fellow believers? Now imagine if we lived Jude’s prayer out with our fellow believers. Jesus’ words come to mind from John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Until next week, as we continue to look into the book of Jude; may His mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.