Jude
By Richard P. Joseph
8/29/2023
The epistle of Jude is packed with important issues that represent its historical, as well as current, events. Jude was probably the last book of the bible written. According to Ed Stevens, in his book “Final Decade before the End”, he dates the book at about AD 64. This letter is important in many ways as it was the closest book written to the Parousia, which began in AD 66. In this short article I would like to point out a few interesting passages in Jude, understanding that every word is important but for the purpose of this short study we will examine only a few areas concerning eschatology.
One of those verses is Jude 1:3 where Jude exhorts the church to contend earnestly for the faith which was “once for all” delivered to the saints. This is a matter that I brought up in my other writings as well. Here Jude is confirming that the faith has been sealed. There is nothing else to learn about our salvation. It has been completed and delivered. The only thing left was the second coming which occurred about two years later. This confirms that there is no “new” revelation after this time. Any new “prophet” after the parousia is blatantly false. Islam, rabbinical Judaism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses etc are all man made religions and are to be discarded as cults. This is something that our modern churches need to understand in a bad way. Christianity is not a religion and has no competition. Jesus is not the “founder of the great religion of Christianity” like our textbooks teach, he is El Shaddai, God almighty, who is not bound by religion. Then Jude describes a problem of his day that is still with us today.
In verse 4 he describes a group of people holding a problematic doctrine usually associated with the Nicolaitans. These are people who ate meat sacrificed to idols and were sexual predators. Ironically, this problem still exists today; on steroids. Sexual perverts of all sorts have taken over many churches. They are people who eat meat (secular doctrine) that has been sacrificed to the god of secular humanism. They are those that have already been condemned but just don’t know it yet. Gay churches of all sorts are a common site today as they proudly display their sin on their church signs instead of a Christian type symbol. Nothing new here, this problem has been there from the beginning and it is still sin and an abomination to God, and a clear rebellious act to the Apostles' clear declaration condemning such lifestyle. Even during the rebellion of AD 66-70, drag queen soldiers plagued the city of Jerusalem which was about to be overthrown by the Roman army. The modern day Western cultures are in the same throes of being overthrown as perverts of every sort are dominating our political landscape. The United States military has become a hotbed of sexual perversion that is the laughing stock of the world. There is no escaping judgment from this heinous sin. In historic times kings castrated little boys to prevent them from harassing the king's concubines and to be slaves of the king. Same thing today as our government is currently promoting child transgenderism. This is the new eunuch. Young men losing their God ordained gift to be warriors and protectors of society. Now our young boys running around in dresses have become fodder for every form of licentiousness for perverts to use and discard. And many churches either say nothing or are actually part of the disease.
Jude reminds us in verse 1:5 that those freed from Egypt got destroyed within 40 years before they even reached the promised land due to their lack of faith in God. In 1:11 he says that they perished in rebellion. This was a type of what was currently happening in Jude’s day. Jude knew that they were in the last days and understood clearly that, just like the transition period from Egypt to Cannan, he was living in the new transition period from Pentecost to Parousia. And just like the rebellious Israelites in Moses’ day, those that rebelled against Jesus Christ were about to be wiped out before they entered the promised land of the New Jerusalem in AD 70. In 1:18-21 Jude confirms that he was living in the “last days” and encouraged his flock to “keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life”. It would be silly for Jude to remind them to be Anxious about something that would be thousands of years hence. It is obvious in all of the New Testament writings that the second coming of Christ was imminent. There is never a mention of a prolonged waiting period anywhere in the New Testament. He once again in 1:24 reminds them that they will soon be standing in the “glory” of Jesus Christ. Either Jude was an uninspired liar or he was right. I believe he is right but that isn’t hard to do being that history confirms Jude’s prophetic utterances.
