Jude Chapter 1 Verses 6 - 7

 Ok, so what does all this mean. Jude, Peter, Luke in collaboration (as

we discussed last week), there are a group of angels, that crossed a line

beyond even the realm of sin and transgression towards God, that

changed them from their original domain, place, form, whatever, (Jude

says abode), and as a result, they are chained in the abyss until the

final judgment.

 AND, Jude connects verses 6 and 7, tying what happened with these

angels to what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which was going

after strange flesh, or different flesh. What are we to do with this?

 Most see this explained in the account given to us in Genesis 6:1-4.

“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the

earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the

daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for

themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall

not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be

one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in

those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the

daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the

mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

 This is arguably the most mysterious passage in all of scripture

because no matter how you explain or interpret this, there are

important questions for which the text offers no answers. One

perspective, (perhaps the most popular perspective), is that somehow,

something other than a man began in some such way to intermarry

with human females producing what the Bible calls nephiyl, mighty

men who were of old, men of renown. (That is if you connect the

giants with the mighty men, men of renown which really the text does

not do…)

 So, the main question, although there are a few BIG questions, but the

main question is, who are these sons of God? Some say that they are

the sons of Seth and the daughters of men describe the daughters of

Cain. And therefore, we have the intermarrying of the sons of God

who call upon the name of the Lord and the daughters of Cain who

have altogether turned from walking with God.

 Another perspective given on this scripture is that these “Sons of

God” are angels and that angels, or more appropriately said, fallen

angels, begin to have physical relations with human women. This is

what most aligns with what Jude has said. It’s staggering and yet it

could be feasible given that if it would have to be a Man, born under

the law, fully man and yet fully perfect, to fulfil the law and break the

curse of sin and death. Muddy the blood line…, no more men. Now

only these nephiyl…

 But, (and this is a big but Sir Mixalot), but, there are major problems

with this theory. For example, the word “giant,” or nephiyl actually

shows up again after the flood. So, these nephiyl also came from the

line of Noah. Nephiyl show up in the Bible here in Genesis 6 and then

again in Numbers 13 when the Bible describes giants in the land of

Canaan. Decedents of Anak and even later in the Bible we encounter

the most popular or well-known descendant of Anak, Goliath.

 In addition, the “sons of God” descriptor doesn’t need to be an angel.

If they were angels, why not just say, “Angels?” The word “angel” is

given to us in Genesis 19 when we track the account of what happened

in Sodom. But that’s not the word used here…and folks say, “Well this

phrase, “Sons of God,” is used three times in scripture and each time

it’s talking of angels.” But that’s not entirely correct because Jesus

said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of

God…”

 Further, Matthew Chapter 22:30, Jesus says, “For in the resurrection

they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of

God in heaven.” Angels don’t marry. They don’t reproduce. They are

singular in gender or gender neutral and they don’t have the capacity

for human-flesh-relations.

 Finally, folks say these are sons of Cain that are demon possessed, or

simply men that are demon possessed. And in their possession, they

have some sort of selection knowledge to choose the right two people

to create “men of renown” or some sort of other ability to alter the

DNA or something. At any rate, this would be the first biblical

account of demon possession which could be what Jude is talking

about as well as corroborated by the expectation of Legion in the

Gospels…, who seemingly expected to be thrown into the abyss.

 So, what do we get from all of this? A bunch of unanswered

questions! HA! But at least now you know the full gamut of thought

around what Jude has said and you can save yourself 400,000 hours of

YouTube watching! HA!

 Here’s what we know, Jude is warning and he is warring, contending

earnestly for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the

saints!

Jude Chapter 1 Verse 8

 Jude offers three, (really its four), things to watch out for in terms of

folks headed for confrontation in the church. And recall, the examples

of confrontation that he has given are folks confronted by God

Himself! The first is watch out for dreamers!

 This isn’t like folks that have dreams of doing big and good things.

Having hopes and dreams and goals and drive, all of that is good and

not what Jude is talking about here. This is men that don’t live in

reality. Taken in context, it’s like a driver that runs red lights. “Not my

truth!” HA! You won’t last long! Defies stop signs… Goes the wrong

way down one-way streets. (I may have a quick story about this)

 Jude says these dreamers, in their dreaming, their altered reality and

twisting of the gospel, defile the flesh. This speaks of folks that care

nothing of holy living and expect God and everyone else to be ok with

it. If that is your understanding of Christianity and the grace of God

then you definitely have it twisted! The Bible says that it’s the

goodness of God that leads us into…, repentance! 1 Peter 1:15 says,

“He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct!”

Romans 12:1, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and

acceptable to God, which is your worship in the spirit,” as rendered

by the ESV.

 A general lack of holiness is a sure sign of someone not actually in

fellowship with God. Oh, but try to lead them, Jude says they reject

authority. Why? Because they are the authority. BUT, here’s the

thing, in the church, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the boss, the jeffe,

and then those that are called to pastor the flock, these are the

underbosses. Sorry to break it to you but it is the design of the church

given in the Bible. Paul wrote clearly to Timothy that there are

overseers in the church and Paul wrote clearly to the church of Corinth

that God has given and anointed pastors in the family of God.

 The church, the family, the workplace, the highways, the city squares

work very well and best when the authority that is there is accepted.

(Skirt story) Today we have, and this is very VERY particular to

America, we have crowds of people that gather to riot against the

police and they call it peaceful protesting when it is anything but

that…

 Jude says dreamers, unholy, rejecting authority and speaking evil of

dignitaries. Things to watch for that are almost so everywhere that

they are common place. In the darkest days of Israel, the descriptor of

the time was everyone doing what was right in their own eyes, which

is the overall culture of America. It should not be the culture of the

church. We should be doing what is right in the eyes of God.

Jude Chapter 1 Verses 9 – 11

 Ok, a couple things here. First the low hanging fruit. When we open

our mouths in negativity, we corrupt ourselves. See that in the end of

verse 10? It’s like creating a poison and then ingesting it. It’s just that

simple.

 The word or corrupt here means to introduce shrivel. I love that. It’s

the thought that aligns with the mind of Jew when something becomes

unclean. If someone brought a pig into the temple, same thought…

Not only does it not belong there, it’s disgusting morally, culturally,

spiritually and physically.

 Woe to them, in other words, woe is ahead for them and Jude gives us

three examples of the same spirit in which they are operating. They

have gone in the way of Cain. Deep fried chicken and fries. HA!

That’s Caines Chicken! No, Cain brought to God that which God

never asked for… He brought the work of his own hands rather than a

true sacrifice.

 Maybe that wasn’t even the problem. The problem is that Cain

rejected the authority of God. God rejected what he brought. Cain

could have just corrected his behavior. Instead, he ends up cursed.

 Balaam. All about me. Knows the power of God and yet doesn’t

honor God. This spirit is alive and well in the church! And then the

rebellion of Korah. Moses was imperfect and for many reasons unfit

for leadership. And yet God called him to lead. Korah didn’t care

about God’s calling; he only sized Moses up and concluded that he

was a better fit. Could have been. But God didn’t put Korah there, He

put Moses there… So, Korah got buried!

 Ok, high hanging fruit. Michael the archangel contending with the

devil about the body of Moses. Oooooook. First of all, there is only

one archangel in the Bible and the title simply means the leader. He is

the king of the angels if you will while the devil is the king of the

demons. These two battle over the body of Moses. Very odd portion of

scripture and an account that only appears here.

 Early church commentators remarked that Jude either got this

information because it was somehow known or it came from a writing

known as the Assumption of Moses, of which we only have a small

portion. The early Christian theologian and philosopher Origen lived

between 185 and 254 AD and in his writings, he references this text to

explain the archangel Michael’s dispute with Satan. It’s not considered

heretical, its considered historical or legendary and not divinely

inspired and therefore not inerrant.

 Jude may be pulling from the Assention of Moses but he may not be

and what he says is mysterious. Why battle over the body of Moses?

Only speculation here… But it was Moses that appeared alongside

Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration. Perhaps Satan was trying to

stop that… And it is interesting that during The Great Tribulation, two

witnesses appear in Jerusalem with specific abilities. One has the

ability to shut down the sky so that no rain falls, sounds like Elijah.

While the other has the ability to turn water into blood, sounds like

Moses. So this argument could be about that as well.

 In truth, we don’t know because we are not told. All we know is that

the devil wanted the body of Moses, maybe he was buff, ha! But in the

dispute, even Michael wouldn’t personally bring a reviling accusation.

Say something negative or accusatory against even the devil! The

phrase in the Greek is blasphemia krisis! This is how strongly we

ought to care about controlling our tongue! Ok, why… Holiness,

yes. But also, Michael knew and, in all ways, acknowledged that God

was the authority, not him! The mark of maturing in a Christian walk.