A Warning for Then and Now

Jude’s letter is a strict warning to the disciples of his day about the dangers of ungodly people who do not fear God, and are among them. Jude makes it clear to keep the faith, and admonishes the saints to continue to build each other up in the faith, to pray, and remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said, that there will be ungodly scoffers in the last times. This holds true to this day. We are living in a sinful world and it is more prevalent now as we are connected digitally with social media. We can see the pollution that people do to their bodies, rejecting authority, and heaping abuse on celestial beings, completely mocking God in all they do. 

Jude’s letter reminds me of who I was before, not knowing God and ignoring anything holy or truly righteous. But by God’s immense grace, power and love, He was able to snatch me from the fire, to be called His own once again. In a way, I understand why the wicked are wicked, it’s because they don’t know God, and if they don’t know God, how can they fear Him? They have no fear of God, and that is their destruction as Jude points out using examples from the Old Covenant. This letter is a great exhortation for the faith, and it should encourage us, and myself, to keep believing that God will deliver us from evil, and He will also deliver a just and righteous judgment. 

God has called us to a higher standard than that of the world, a standard of the same righteousness that comes from God, to be merciful to those that doubt, to love our enemies so that they may see the truth in us, and realize that God is very much real, and Jesus is very much the Lord of all.  The fear that we, as Christians, should have of God is not of punishment, for we are saved and are a holy people. The proper fear of God we should have is that of reverence for His awesome power, that God is sovereign, and majestic in all creation, and God is the one who saves through His Son. The Lord’s name “Yeshua” in Hebrew means “Yahweh saves,” and saving by bringing His faithful people to eternal life, to be with God forever. 

(Editor's note: just for Ed Anton, I was tempted add a subtitle this post: “Take a Sad World and Make It Better” :-))