Study in the Epistle of Jude # 28: Verse 7

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. We are currently going through the book of Jude. In our study, we have come to verse 7, which speaks about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah being an example of eternal fire. As we have been considering what the Bible has to say about Sodom, we have seen that God uses the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as a picture of the New Testament corporate church. This can be shown to be the case in several places.

We have also been looking a little more closely at Ezekiel 16, which speaks of Sodom as Judah and Samaria’s sister. In the Bible, God uses Sodom as a representation of the New Testament church just as He uses Israel and Judah as pictures of the New Testament church. We have seen in Ezekiel 16:49 that God indicates which iniquities caused Him to bring about judgment on Sodom, and the first one listed was pride.

Because of this, we have been looking at how pride can be a failure in the church, especially when it relates to the gospel that a church is sending forth. We see this when a church has a gospel that is not a true gospel, but is a gospel that caters to the pride of man, a gospel that is suited and developed by men and for men in order that they might exalt themselves in a spiritual manner to salvation.

This is the number-one and chief sin that God identifies as He is speaking of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah—pride (Ezekiel 16:49). When it comes to the Gospel, pride ought not to be found. God hates the proud (James 4:6). The Gospel that He has developed, the true Gospel of the Bible, is one that insists upon humility (Luke 14:11). It demands brokenness and contriteness (Psalm 51:17). It demands that mankind be brought low due to their sin. From that point, God is the One who will exalt the sinner (1 Peter 5:6). God will, if He so pleases, lift up that individual to salvation. Then on the Last Day, He will exalt that person (Psalm 37:34), if they happen to be one of His elect (Ephesians 1:5), to dwell with Him in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Isaiah 65:17). Never does God allow man to be in charge of this process (Psalm 140:8). Never should man’s decisions and man’s dictates lift him up (Ephesians 2:9).

That is exactly what has happened with the church today. The church of our day is extremely proud, just as Sodom was, except more so. The church of today’s world is terribly proud in the sight of God. They have taken to themselves the wonderful Gospel, the Bible’s Gospel of grace, which says that man can do no work to earn or achieve or obtain his salvation, and they have placed that Gospel in the hands of man. They have said, “Here it is. God has done most of the work, and now it is up to you to finish it. You must complete the transaction and bring salvation to yourself.”

Man, when he hears this kind of gospel, tries to reach out and accept Christ. Immediately, he is “exalted unto Heaven” in a spiritual sense (Matthew 11:23). He thinks that he believes and is a child of God. How proud they are who have developed this type of teaching! How proud they are who follow this kind of a gospel! They have lifted themselves up to high and lofty heights that man is not able to dwell in. Mankind cannot lift himself up to the heavens with his own bootstraps. He cannot do any work that can immediately raise him above the clouds and into the skies.

This is what God says the sin of Edom was. In Obadiah 1:3, He says:

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

We must listen to this. God is speaking to anyone who professes to be a Christian and who thinks that they have become saved because they have done some kind of work. He is speaking to those who think that they have done something by accepting Christ or taking some other action. God goes on to say in verse 4:

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars…

Where does the eagle fly, but high up in the sky to the mountains? He is a high-flying bird. Where do the stars shine at night, but way up in the heavens, in space? Those stars typify something. They spiritually represent the true believers, the elect of God. This can be shown from several places in the Bible (Daniel 12:3)

Edom is exalting himself to make his nest as the eagle amongst the stars. That is, he has lifted himself up to a lofty height where he is cohabiting with the true children of God, with the elect of God that God has lifted up into the high position of salvation. The pride of Edom’s heart, the pride of the unsaved in the churches and congregations, is what has brought them to such heights. It is their own imagination. It is the deceitfulness of their own proud hearts that has lifted them up to such levels.

God says in the last part of verse 4:

…thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

When will God bring Edom down? When will God bring down those who think they are saved from their high and lofty position of an apparent salvation? We know the answer, because in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This will be the casting off of these poor souls into Hell forevermore. This is the bringing down of Edom from “the stars.” God will reach up there and take hold of each and every one who is pretending and behaving himself as a child of God, yet in his heart is not a child of God and has never experienced salvation.

A little later in the Epistle of Jude, in verse 13, we are going to look at the idea of stars. In that verse, God is describing false prophets. He says that they are like:

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

This is the same picture that we saw in Obadiah, where God indicates that He will bring Edom down. This is the same as when the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of Capernaum in Matthew 11:20-23. We read there:

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell…

This is again falling in line with the same picture that we saw in Obadiah, where Edom is as the eagle making his nest amongst the stars. It is also the same picture that we saw in the parable of Luke 14, where some, when they are are bidden to a wedding, naturally take the highest seat and the most honored room. In verse 9, God indicates what can happen. We read there:

And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

Will it not be a shameful day, a time of tremendous and awful shame, when on the Day of Judgment all the sins of man are exposed and all his filthy deeds are revealed in the very presence of God in all His holiness and purity and righteousness! God’s perfect light is shining upon that sinful individual. The light is shining not only upon the outward deeds that that man has done, but the searching light of God’s truth is shining upon the heart of the sinner and revealing all that has been within him. All of the wicked and rebellious thoughts and the intents of his heart are coming to light to be exposed on the Day of Judgment.

This person thought that he was a child of God. He thought that his sins were forgiven. Yet God is revealing to him on that day that no, he is not a child of God. His sins still remain upon him; therefore, he is subject to spend an eternity in Hell. The wrath of God will be upon him.

What shame to go from the highest room, the position of being someone blessed beyond degree! They were blessed to be a caretaker of the Oracles of God. They were blessed to be owning a Bible. They heard many sermons and teachings and had read the Bible numerous times. They had spent many hours, in vain, reading the Scriptures, but it was to no profit all, because the individual—in his pride and in his arrogance—thought that this Word was no longer for him. He thought that he was a saved man, someone who had been “exalted unto Heaven.” What did he need a Gospel of grace for? He was someone who did not need a Physician (Mark 2:17). He was not sick any longer, so he did not need this Gospel that calls to the lowly and the brokenhearted and the downtrodden. He was someone who was cleansed and made righteous by his own act of accepting Christ or doing some other good work. He lived his life in that way.

However, now it is the Last Day. It is the hour of God’s judgment, the time when everything is being revealed. The Lord Jesus Christ reveals that this sinner was never saved. Therefore, with terrible shame, he goes down into Hell where he will stay forevermore.

This is the principle that God is laying out for us in Luke 14:11, which says:

For whosoever…

We see here that it does not matter who we are, it does not matter what our background is, and it does not matter how many years we have professed to be a Christian. It does not matter what church we attended, whether it was a Reformed church or a Protestant church. None of that matters. “Whosoever”—God is speaking to anyone, no matter where they are in the world, no matter who they are. They might be a pastor or an elder or a deacon or a doctor of the law—it does not matter. God says:

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased…

This is the Biblical principle; this is God’s decree. If you lift yourself up in any way, then you will be abased. The example in Numbers 15 of a man who picked up a few sticks is a prime example of how serious God is regarding this matter. That act of picking up a few sticks on the Sabbath Day was a clear picture of someone who was attempting to add just a little bit of his own work to his salvation. He was someone who would acknowledge the grace of God, but yet there was still something that he thought he had to do. This is the picture of someone who thinks that they have to repent in their own power or do this or do that. This man thought that he had to add just a little bit, and it cost him his life. He was stoned to death (Numbers 15:35).

“Whosoever exalteth himself”—this refers to anyone who takes salvation upon themself and speaks to their soul, “You are a child of God” when God has not said that. God has not spoken those words, and the Spirit of God has not born witness with the spirit of that individual (Romans 8:16), but a deceitful spirit has lied to the spirit of that individual. “The heart (of man) is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Numerous multitudes of people are deceived by the deceitfulness of their proud hearts. They thought that they had brought salvation to themselves, yet they will be abased. They will be abased and they will be brought down to Hell.

However, God says in the last part of verse 11:

…and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

It is the humble who takes the lowest room. It is he who hears the message of the Gospel and understands that he cannot do anything to save himself. It is all in God’s hands. Forgiveness is with God and it does not rest with men at all. God is the only One who can save them.

They hear the call to the wedding feast, and they go, but they do not even believe they are worthy to go. Who are they? They are such sinners because God has shown them their sins. They are the ones who will beat upon their breast saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). They are the ones who will cry out for mercy as King David did, saying, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness” (Psalm 51:1). They are the ones who will beseech the Lord as blind Bartimaeus did on the roadside, saying, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:47). Even though many that despise the true Gospel of the Bible will indicate to them that they ought to be quiet, they will cry all the more in their humility and they will beseech the Lord all the more, “Have mercy upon me” (Mark 10:48). They know that they are blind. They know that they cannot see, never have seen, and never will see unless the Lord Jesus Christ grants their request and has mercy upon them.

This is the manner that God has prescribed for every sinner to approach unto Him. We must come humbly and not arrogantly. God resists the proud, the Bible says, but gives grace unto the humble (James 4:6).

In 2 Kings 1, we have a vivid historical illustration of this principle. There Elijah, who is typifying God, is dwelling upon a mountain. Let us read 2 Kings 1:9-11, which says:

Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

Do you see the arrogance here? Do you see the proud nature of man, as Elijah is upon this hill representing God? Who is man to command God? Who is man to insist upon anything that God should obey? Man is the creature, and God is the Creator. Therefore, God rains down fire from Heaven and destroys these captains and their fifties. We go on to read in verse 12:

…And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

Now, notice the third captain. Verses 13-14 say:

And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

This third captain approaches Elijah with fear and trembling, with respect unto the fact that he is in a dangerous situation. He is in a very terrible predicament, and he knows that fire could fall down and destroy him at any moment as the former captains and their fifties were destroyed. Therefore, he comes humbly to Elijah.

If this captain and his fifty came humbly to Elijah, how much more humbly ought a man come to Almighty, Everlasting God, the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords (Revelation 19:16)? If literal fire was so terrifying to this captain and his fifty, how much more should “Hell…the (eternal) fire that never shall be quenched” be fearful unto men (Mark 9:43)? Therefore, we must come as humbly and meekly as anything, and we must approach very tenderly unto God. We must approach very gently unto Him beseeching Him for mercy. God says that He resists the proud, but that He gives grace to the humble.