Praise the Lord! The Lord has been good to us all during the past week and has enabled us to draw closer to Him more than ever before. The Scripture states that there is no other God except the Lord God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, including mankind whom He created in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:1-31; 2:7; Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:39; Psalm 24:1; Isaiah 44:6; 45:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4), as it is mentioned: For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods (1 Chronicles 16:25; also refer to: Psalm 86:10; 95:3; 96:4; 145:3). Moses, whom the Lord God chose to be the leader of His people Israel during their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, stated out of his personal experience with God (Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalm 24:1; 89:11) that For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes (Deuteronomy 10:17).  Apostle John, whom the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ chose to be one of the Twelve apostles to preach and teach the Good News of the Kingdom of God after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, worshipped Him, saying: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being (Revelation 4:11). Therefore, it is high time for us to seek the Lord God Almighty earnestly and praise and worship Him for who He is and for all the blessings He has showered upon our lives. Let us invite ourselves into the throne of Grace and praise His holy name and worship before Him, as king David did:

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits-Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, Who satisfies your desires with good things, so that Your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:1-5)

The Lord has blessed us with a very hopeful Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from the Epistle of Jude 1:20-21. Jude, the writer of this Epistle who introduced himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James (Jude 1:1a), is widely accepted and identified by many as the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Although, Jude, like his other brothers James, Joseph and Simon, did not believe in Jesus Christ [as the Anointed One or as the long-awaited Messiah, the promised deliverer of the people of Israel or as the Savior of all mankind from our bondage of sin and to give us eternal life] while Jesus was living with them in the same household (Mark 3:21; John 1:11; 7:5), they all believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God either during the last days of His earthly life and ministry (at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, arrest, crucifixion, death) or after His resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven. Jesus’ mother Mary and His brothers were present with the apostles and other disciples of Jesus Christ in the upper room in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12-14; Acts 12:17). Apostle Paul mentioned about James and Jude on several occasions and identified them as brothers of Jesus (Acts 21:18; 1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19; James 1:1; Jude 1:1). Both, James and Jude became prominent ministers in the early church and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem and beyond. Both, James and Jude called themselves the servants of Jesus Christ (James 1:1; Jude 1:1) instead of calling themselves as the brothers of Jesus Christ.

With Jude’s unwavering trust/faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the Most High God and knowing the truth about the gospel of the Kingdom of God, Jude is writing this Epistle to encourage everyone who has been called and who is loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ (Jude 1:1b). From the contents of the Epistle, many of us can understand that Jude was troubled with the crisis the church was facing due to the intervention of ungodly people (false teachers) who infiltrated the church and were teaching false doctrines (Jude 1:4). Also, he was worried about the struggles the believers were going through in order to safeguard the faith that was once and for all entrusted to them as well as to all God’s holy people (at that point of time, most of the church members were first-generation believers). In the light of all the ungodly things that were going on in the early church, which threatened the smooth functioning of the church and its expansion within and beyond, Jude wrote this Epistle (i) to encourage the believers to hold on to their faith; (ii) to encourage the believers to stand firm in their confession and conviction and their trust in Jesus Christ; (iii) to urge the believers to defend their faith in Jesus Christ in the context of widespread evil activities and apostasy; (iv) to inspire the believers to be faithful in their walk with Jesus until the end of the age; (v) to warn the believers and bring awareness about the false teachers who had infiltrated the Christian community and were spreading heretical teachings among them by denying Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 1:4); and so on.

Jude noted some examples from the Old Testament regarding people’s sin and rebellion against God and God’s judgements upon them (Jude 1:5-11), for instance: (i) God punished and destroyed some of His people whom He delivered from the bondage of Egypt because they did not believe/trust in the Lord fully (v.5); (ii) God punished the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling and He kept them in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day (v.6); (iii) God sent His judgement upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion (v.7); (iv) God judged the ungodly people who pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings (v.8); (v) God judged Moses, whom God has chosen to be the deliverer of the Israelites from Egypt, (v.6; also refer to: Numbers 20:10-13; Deuteronomy 3:26; 32:51-52; Psalm 106:33); (vi) God judged the slanderers (v.10); (vii) God would judge those who have taken the way of Cain (v.11a; also refer to Genesis 4:3-8); (viii) God would judge those who rush for personal profit just like Balaam’s error (v.11b; also refer to Numbers 31:1-16); (ix) God would judge those who rebel against the godly leadership like the way Korah and his followers did (v.11c; also refer to Numbers 16:1-3, 31-34). It is not only just Jude who mentioned such ungodly people who denied Jesus again and again by their words and deeds (Jude 1:5-11), but others like Apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:1-3), Apostle John (1 John 4:1-3), Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 3:1-9), also warned that false teachers and preachers and ungodly people would arise and they will distort and misinterpret the gospel of Christ wrongly for their own gain or personal benefit. Jude made comparisons about such ungodly people as well as everyone who does such things (Jude 1:12-13, 16) saying … 

• • They are blemishes at your love feasts (v.12a)
  • They eat with you without the slightest qualm (v.12b)
  • They are shepherds who feed only themselves (v.12c)
  • They are clouds without rain (v.12d)
  • They are clouds blown along by the wind (v.12e)
  • They are like autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead (v.12f)
  • They are like wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame (v.13a)
  • They are like wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever (v.13b)
  • They are grumblers (v.16a)
  • They are faultfinders (v.16b)
  • They follow their own evil desires (v.16c)
  • They boast about themselves (v.16d)
  • They flatter others for their own advantage (v.16e)

Jude also quoted the prophetical utterance of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, regarding God’s judgement upon such people who claim to be worshippers of true God and genuine ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ but, in truth, they are not – they are absolutely ungodly people who mislead even the elect for their own benefit: See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him (Jude 1:14-15).

In the light of the infiltration of ungodly people (false teachers and preachers) into the community of God’s faithful people with their ungodly words and deeds that can even deceive the elect (Matthew 24:24), Jude wrote to the first century Christians with great enthusiasm that the faithful followers of Christ ought to live a life worthy of their calling.  He said that a believer’s life: (i) must glorify the Lord God Almighty who has created us in His own image and likeness; (ii) must honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has redeemed us from the grip of sin and death and promised us eternal life; and (iii) must abide in the Holy Spirit who continually comforts us in our sufferings and strengthens us in our day-to-day walk with Jesus. Jude’s words are still speaking to each one us who is faithfully following Jesus Christ today. Although we are currently living in our body which is made out of the mud from this earth, our ultimate life [eternal life] is yet to be revealed. God will definitely reward everyone who lives according to the righteous laws and decrees He has given us. Believe that God’s rewards and blessings for His faithful ones are not according to the standards of this world but according to the standard and abundance of heaven. We, the faithful followers of Christ, are looking forward to a life that is yet to come (eternal life) and we are currently working towards it. Jude earnestly urged the believers saying But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life (Jude 1:20-21). Through such encouragement, Jude urges the believers of all-times to build their life and ministry in and around their most holy faith, which means, the faith that is derived from (i) their belief in the existence of the Lord God Almighty who created them in His own image and likeness, and (ii) their hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ (His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the hope of His return), and (iii) their trust in the works of the Holy Spirit. Jude kept on encouraging the believers to keep such a faith active through praying in the Holy Spirit and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. Jude also invites the believers to help each other to build up (increase) faith in God while being faithful to God and His people and be a willing party to preach and teach the truth of the gospel of Christ to everyone else. In addition, Jude exhorted the believers to Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh (Jude 1:22-23); and he concluded his Epistle with a doxology (Jude 1:24-25):

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen!

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, we have read, studied, and meditated upon the passage the Lord God has blessed us with (Jude 1:20-21) and we have seen how much damage the ungodly and false teachers/preachers caused in the early church. They could cause such an extensive damage in the early church only because they neither knew the Lord God Almighty (God the Father) nor knew Christ personally (God the Son) nor knew the works of the Holy Spirit (God the Holy Spirit). Such ungodly people willfully denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and His Lordship over the Church. In addition, they caused divisions within the church and followed their own heart’s desires in order to distort the grace of God and the truth of the gospel of Christ as a means to carry out their personal interests for their own gains instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to do good works in the church as well as in the world for the glory of God. Also, we have learned about how God is going to deal with such people and that, because of their actions, the final outcome of their life will be worse than they can imagine or think of. The Scripture very clearly states that For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30-31; also refer to Deuteronomy 32:35-36; Romans 12:19). Therefore, such people and everyone else has to give an account before God for all that they are saying and doing, as Apostle Peter stated: They will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5). Of course, as faithful followers of Christ, we have struggles in this world but Jesus warned His followers beforehand, saying: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33b; also refer to Isaiah 41:10). Let us willfully trust in the Lord who has overcome the world and overcome the world with the help of the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul stated: … in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37). God is the one who helps us to move on in our spiritual journey on earth and He is the one who justifies us in all life-circumstances. Apostle Paul stated:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly … God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:1-8)

In the light of our meditation, let us submit ourselves before the Lord our God who judges the living and the dead (Matthew 12:36; John 5:22; Acts 10:42; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; Revelation 20:11-14a); and pray to the Holy God to strengthen us to overcome all the struggles in this world and finish our spiritual race victoriously!

May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!