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I am studying right now and found this commentary on Jude 1:4-7 by Edward C. Pentecost. He is discussing the fate of the false teachers, who are designated for certain condemnation and destruction; and the example the ungodly serve to us in these days.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
E. Pentecost:
(Source: Pentecost, E. C. (1985). Jude. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 920). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Treasury of Scripture:
These things are written to remind us of what happens to the ungodly, they serve as an example.
if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)
I am pondering the rapid acceleration of individual, national, and global apostasy. It is a great and terrible thing to love the living God. It is a great and terrible thing to hate the living God. Our God is great in mercy and in wrath.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
E. Pentecost:
III. Warnings concerning the Peril of Apostasy (vv. 5–16).
Jude first warned his readers of the peril of apostasy by citing three examples from the past of apostates who were destroyed (vv. 5–7), and then by describing the upcoming judgment on present apostates (vv. 8–16).
A. Examples of apostates in the past (vv. 5–7).
1. EGYPT (v. 5)
Egypt is mentioned as a reminder of the fact that most Israelites who left Egypt were not faithful. An entire generation perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief (cf. Heb. 3:16–19).
2. angels (v. 6)
Among the angels were those who had remained in their first abode and had been obedient to God. But others rebelled and left their first positions of authority and are now in darkness, bound … for judgment on the Great Day.
3. SODOM AND GOMORRAH (v. 7)
V. 7. Jude’s third illustration, of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns, serves as a dreadful example of what happens to those who turn from God to follow their own lustful natures. The fate of the unbelievers in those two cities (Gen. 19:1–29) foreshadows the fate of those who deny God’s truth and ignore His warnings. The punishment by fire on the perverse inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah illustrates the eternal fire of hell, which will be experienced by false teachers.
(Source: Pentecost, E. C. (1985). Jude. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 920). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Treasury of Scripture:
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, 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.
These things are written to remind us of what happens to the ungodly, they serve as an example.
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| The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1852. |
if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)
I am pondering the rapid acceleration of individual, national, and global apostasy. It is a great and terrible thing to love the living God. It is a great and terrible thing to hate the living God. Our God is great in mercy and in wrath.
Elizabeth, the Saints, and the lost,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth ,You write; “I am pondering the rapid acceleration of individual, national, and global apostasy.” I too ponder this and often! It can be shocking as to who next that we hear about that denies the authority of the Bible (one can also deny the authority of the Bible with their actions), and then joins forces with the deceivers building the antichrist apostate church. Frankly, there are some that I have wondered about - at best they are significantly deceived and deceiving others, or worst - going the way of Full Blown Apostasy! It is heart wrenching at times in my humanity, but on the other hand it was foretold in the Lord God’s Word.
We love people enough to warn them about the lies of the false teachings, and the false preachers that are prevalent, and then to proclaim Biblical truth! It sure looks to me that many professing Christians are getting sucked right into the vacuum of doctrines of devils and demons! I believe that if Christians will move through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, along with heartfelt prayer to the Lord God daily, they would thus be armed with God given discernment.
Lastly, notice that I wrote “professing Christians” perhaps some are authentically Born Again. I concur with John MacArhur in that he said “there are far fewer Christians that what we have been lead to believe”. Sorry I do not have his reference on this, but I did hear him say it in one of his older sermon’s some time ago, as well as having made other similar statements.
The Bible speaks of the antichrist and his system controlling global politics, economics, and a one world apostate false religion. What we are seeing, and approaching very rapidly is the precursors of what is to come! Get you house in order folks, the Bridegroom is coming very soon! Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rick
Metro Atlanta
11:59 and counting :--)
Going off of various references in the Bible, I'd conclude that there will be far more people in heaven than we might imagine, and far fewer people making their way in from earthly adulthood than we might imagine.
DeleteAnd taking both lines of thought into consideration, C S Lewis put it this way:
"How valuable time is to us may be gauged by the fact that the Enemy allows us so little of it. The majority of the human race dies in infancy; of the survivors, a good many die in youth. It is obvious that to Him human birth is important chiefly as the qualification for human death, and death solely as the gate to that other kind of life. We are allowed to work only on a selected minority of the race, for what humans call a "normal life" is the exception. Apparently He wants some—but only a very few—of the human animals with which He is peopling Heaven to have had the experience of resisting us through an earthly life of sixty or seventy years. Well, there is our opportunity. The smaller it is, the better we must use it. Whatever you do, keep your patient as safe as you possibly can,
Your affectionate uncle
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