The letter from Judah (Jude) is one of the shortest yet richest books in the Bible.
Jude comes from the Greek Ἰούδας, which we also get the English names Judah and Judas. In the translation I prefer to keep the same English name consistently for the Greek name so I have translated Jude and Judas as Judah. So when the Gospels say Judas betrayed him (Jesus), in the Greek this could also be taken to imply that Judah betrayed him. For those that don’t know Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, so effectively, but indirectly the scriptures are saying he was betrayed by his brothers, his own people.
In verse 3 Judah says that we must earnestly content for the faith. Judah also highlights how certain men crept in unnoticed, which is talking about the unfaithful creeping into the congregation of believers. So yes we are to actively struggle on behalf of the true faith to keep the congregation pure and uncorrupted.
Verse 4 talks about ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly this has happened throughout the history of the Church and happens today. Don’t think these things are always obvious, it takes some discernment. Most of the Church today have taken the spiritual faith that is Christianity and turned it into earthly wisdom by isolating parts of the scripture and using it to give authority to their own teachings, rather than taking the whole council of God as we are commanded to do.
Verse 5 really backs this up too! It gives the example of the Israelites who God saved out of the land of Egypt and then went onto destroy because of their unbelief. Now it seems strange to say that they didn’t believe, as they saw the ten plagues God caused in Egypt and the parting of the Red sea. How could they not believe after seeing all this?
The problem is in the translation of the Greek word πιστεύσαντας, which doesn’t just mean to believe, it means to have faith, to trust God. The great sin the Israelites where condemned for was that God told them he would deliver the people living in the promised land over to them in battle. But the Israelites did not trust God to do as he promised, effectively calling Him a liar! They trusted their eyes when they saw the people in the land were much bigger than them, they did not have faith to trust God to go into the battle with them as He had said.
Judah give this example as it applies as much today, to us, as it did to them. If we do not trust in the words of God and His promises to us, we are effectively calling Him a liar as they did, and there will be no salvation for anyone that treats God in this way.
Judah also goes on to give us the example of the Angels who sinned by cross breading with women, giving rise to the Fallen (Nephilim). This is what is being talked about in chapter six of Genesis. When the sons of God (Angels) saw the daughters of Adam (women) that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves as they chose.
God at this time also stated that his spirit shall not strive with man forever and that his days would be 120 years. Most people take this to mean God was shortening mans lifespan, however there were plenty of men who lived to well over 200 after the flood. What it is actually saying is: that in 120 years God would destroy man, hence 120 years until the flood.
Most translations of the Bible then go onto say that Noah was a righteous man of his time and found favour in the sight of God. While this is true, what the Bible is really saying is that Noah was pure in his genealogy, meaning his DNA wasn’t crossed with the fallen Angels.
You also have to remember that in Genesis 3, God told of the seed of the woman, which is a prophecy of Christ. Satan understood that it would take a man to redeem the world (which is made clear to us in the book of Revelation), hence Jesus later coming as a man to die for our sins and to redeem us. Satan knew if he could cross bread man with the Angels it would not be possible for God to accomplish his plan of redemption. Hence God wiping out the old world and starting again with Noah.
The fallen also were on the Earth after the flood due to more cross breading, however in smaller numbers. When you read of Giants being in the land, this is the Fallen, who were also generally Giants like Goliath. So Satan’s plan after the flood was to fortify the promised land with Giants (the Fallen) so that God’s people would not be able to enter the land as God promised to Abraham. When you see God commanding the Israelites to destroy every man, woman, child and even the livestock of certain tribes in the promised land, these were the descendants of the Fallen. It wasn’t that Israel was righteous and God was dispossessing people for Israel’s sake, God was using Israel to execute his judgement of these Godless and evil people.
Verse 6 also goes onto talk about the Angels who did this being reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness for the judgement of that great day. This is clearly talking about them being reserved for the day God will judge the world at the end of the age, judgement day in other words.
Verse 7 also tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah exist as an open example to the Godless, so it is a model in a way of the judgement and what will happen to the Godless on judgement day.
Verse 9 is also very interesting. It talks about the Archangel Michael and the Devil contending over the body of Moses after he died. Why was everyone fighting over his body? I believe that the two witnesses talked about in Revelation are Moses and Elijah. The plagues talked about in Revelation seem to be a combination of the powers that both Moses and Elijah had while on the Earth. Remember Elijah didn’t die, rather was taken up to heaven in a chariot. And Judah gives us the clue of there being something important about Moses in his death.
This is a very brief summary of this rich book. Please read it carefully as there is so much more insight given to us by Judah.