Jude—The Most Urgent Bible Message
The biblical book of Jude is an urgent end-time message for God’s very elect. Just one chapter, Jude is packed with power.
Jude mentions Enoch, no doubt because his brother Jesus Christ gave him insight about Enoch. Jude also warns of God’s enemies rising up within His own Church and deceiving the brethren with all kinds of destructive heresies. These false teachers caused a physically and spiritually life-threatening crisis among God’s people.
The disturbing details of Jude’s message are only a type of this end time.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). At first, Jude wanted to write to the Church about salvation, but he was forced by the Church crisis to change his subject. His brother James was martyred in a.d. 62, Paul in a.d. 66 or 67, and Mark and Peter in a.d. 68-69. Peter was the chief apostle and the leader of the first era of God’s Church. Peter’s second epistle is almost identical to Jude’s message, declaring the urgency of his time and also warning us today. Jude added some extra understanding to his book to make the warning even more applicable to us.
Two millennia ago and today, God’s people have fallen away from Him in massive numbers. Peter wrote his second epistle and was martyred soon afterward; Jude wrote his epistle a few months later. What is wrong with this world that people could murder God’s apostles?
Almost no one understands the mystery of Jude. It explains in a general yet epic sweep all the problems we are dealing with today.
God Will Protect
The Apostle Paul wrote this about Enoch: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch pleased God even though he was surrounded by appalling evils. It seems as though Enoch’s life was in danger, so God translated him, or supernaturally moved him from one place to another for protection. This parallels what God will soon do for His very elect. This world has gone mad. Nuclear weapons are proliferating and will be used. We need God’s protection.
God keeps warning us because He doesn’t want to witness anyone going through suffering like the first-century Church did—and much worse. God took the Church to Pella in a.d. 69, preserving His people from the a.d. 70 brutal destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. God’s obedient people escaped cannibalism and mass murder.
History will repeat itself on an unimaginably horrifying scale. Do you see the need for God’s Church to deliver a staggering warning?
Biblical Inaccuracy?
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 14). Jude’s only reference to Enoch appears, at first glance, to be inaccurate! If you study the genealogy, you will notice that Enoch was only the sixth from Adam.
But we must consider the context: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” This is speaking of an event yet to take place in this end time: the return of Jesus Christ! He will be accompanied by 10,000 baptized, converted, spiritually transformed members of His Bride. Could you be one of the 10,000?
Think about this verse spiritually. Christ was called the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). “The seventh from Adam” actually means the seventh from the second Adam, Jesus Christ! When He came to Earth the first time, He appointed Peter as chief apostle over the Ephesus era of God’s Church. We are now in the seventh era, a Laodicean, lukewarm era in which 95 percent of God’s people have rebelled.
The book of Revelation puts all prophecy into a time frame. Revelation 2-3 prove there are only seven Church eras in the span of time between Christ’s first and second appearances on Earth. Time is short.
We will suffer before Christ’s Second Coming if we don’t wake up and understand what He is telling us!
Where Jude writes, “The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” it should actually read, “The Lord came”—past tense, as if this marvelous event has already occurred. God is absolutely confident that it will happen. His part of the deal is secure; our part can be secure if we remain loyal. God believes in His very elect. There should be millions of people in the Church, not merely thousands! But most people, especially today, don’t want to get involved with God.
The Master Sweep
God’s very elect are outcasts (Isaiah 16:1-5). God’s Church will be cast out of our nations. In the place of safety we will possess a throne, and a human king will rule from that throne. (Request my free book The New Throne of David to learn more.)
“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them” (Deuteronomy 33:1-2). Just before he died, Moses spoke an end-time prophecy. Again, we see 10,000 saints mentioned, proving the time frame.
When Jesus Christ returns, He will retrieve the new throne of David from his loyal people in the place of safety. This is a real throne that will produce real, positive results! (Luke 1:30-33). We will be transformed into spirit beings at that time, joining all of God’s saints who have lived and died throughout human history as the only ones raised up during the first resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
As King of kings, Christ will forcefully end all evil on Earth. The book of Revelation describes a 200 million-man army of Gog and Magog that will fight Christ. But they will fail, and it will take seven months to bury the dead. This rebellious world only understands the language of violence.
Christ will bring His 10,000 saints and a fiery law to Earth. To prepare for this glorious future, we must build Christ’s faith in our lives (Galatians 2:20) and fight for our body of beliefs (Jude 3). The Philadelphia Church of God fought a court battle from 1997 to 2003 to win the copyrights to many of Herbert W. Armstrong’s writings. We proved our love for God’s truth by our willingness to fight for it.
Enoch prophesied in the days before the Flood. “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37). How many people listened to Noah’s warning? Eight—that’s it. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives.
How many people will heed the warning today? Just enough to form a little flock. The Laodicean church will be left behind as God’s loyal Philadelphians are transferred to the place of safety (verse 40).
Noah followed Enoch’s example and warned for 100 years before the Flood, but only his family hopped aboard the ark. What a tragic warning for us.
Jude discusses “the last time” (Jude 18), meaning the extreme or most remote time which concludes everything. Jude is talking about a measure of moments. Don’t just look at the last hour; look at the last moments!
Build faith by praying in the Holy Spirit (verse 20). Pray until you know you’re getting through to God. He will answer. Make a difference by supporting God’s Work (verses 22-23). If you stay close to God, He will keep you from falling (verses 24-25).
God is offering us the most rewarding jobs for all eternity—sharing the new throne of David with Jesus Christ.
What is this worth to you?
