Study in the Epistle of Jude # 42: Verse 9

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. We have to come to verse 9, where we read:

Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

We have been looking at the fact that Michael is Jesus Christ. It is another name for God, another name for Christ Himself. He is the archangel, “arch-” meaning “chief.” In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we find Michael called “one of the chief princes.” Michael is the archangel.

The word “angel” here would be better translated as “messenger.” Wherever we find the Greek or the Hebrew word for angel, which is aggelos (Strong’s #32) in Greek and malak (Strong’s #4397) in Hebrew, we have to determine by the context if we should translate it as “angel” or as “messenger.” We know that Jesus is the chief messenger; Michael is the chief messenger.

In Malachi, there is a verse that we have not yet looked at as we are establishing that the Bible teaches that Michael is Jesus Christ. In Malachi 3:1, it says:

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant…

The word “messenger” here is the Hebrew word malak, which in other places of the Old Testament is translated as “angel.” The Lord will suddenly come to His temple. He is the messenger, the angel, the malak, of the covenant. As we have established, God uses this word in connection with describing Jesus, and He does so again in Jude verse 9. Michael is the chief messenger. He is the chief messenger of the covenant of God; He is the chief messenger of the Gospel. As Christ entered into the world, He established the Gospel, and He commands that it be sent forth into the world so that His elect might hear and become saved.

Here, in Jude verse 9, we find Christ, but we also find Satan. There was a matter of contention, as it says:

…when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses…

There was a dispute. Satan was arguing and bringing up Moses’ body and accusing God, Christ, of wrongdoing. He was accusing God of being unjust and not doing everything obediently or in full accord with His Word. Satan was accusing God of doing something contrary to His Word. This was Satan’s argument.

We have been wondering, “Why Moses? Why was his body in view?” Let us turn back again to Deuteronomy 34 to read the verses concerning the death of Moses. In Deuteronomy 34:5-7, we read:

So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley…

This “he” is a reference to God. God buried Moses. No one else buried him, but God buried him Himself.

…And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

“No man knoweth of his sepulchre” because God is the One who buried him. This confirms the idea that it was God Himself who buried Moses in the earth.

And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

Moses was in very fine health. He was in excellent health for a man of one hundred and twenty (120) years of age. It was not that he could not have lived on, but this was God’s timing. It was God’s timetable that Moses should die at a hundred and twenty years. God simply took the spirit from Moses’ body, and Moses’ body perished and was lying there.

Then God buried Moses. We do not know how that worked out. God, of course, can do miraculous things. He could have quickly opened up a hole in the earth or a cave somewhere. He could have buried Moses and then quickly covered up the ground or sealed the cave. This would have been nothing for God to do.

This reminds us of Christ. Christ died in His full strength when He went to the Cross. It was not the whippings or the nails thrust into Him or the spear thrust in His side that killed Christ, but He simply departed from the body because it was His time. He did so in order that there might be a witness to the fact that He had finished the atonement. That witness would be that His body would rise up from the grave and that He would be resurrected on the first day of the week, Sunday.

Moses was buried. The interesting thing, and this must be what Satan is making his accusation about, is that in the New Testament, we find in the Gospel accounts that Moses makes an appearance. Matthew 17 is one place, and we read there in verses 1-4:

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

This was the glorious “Mount of Transfiguration” as it is called because Christ was transfigured before the Apostles. Peter, James, and John viewed a little glimpse of His glory as His raiment was changed and His face did shine as the sun. This is the brilliance of the glory of God; this is the Lord Jesus in His power and in His glory.

The Mount of Transfiguration is just a glimpse, a preview, of what the world will see on the Day of Judgment. Christ will be seated upon His throne, though not as a King who has humbled Himself and emptied Himself of His glory and entered into the human race to be King of the Jews. That is not the King who will be seated upon that throne, although certainly Christ will continue on as King of the Jews. It will not be the humble suffering servant seated on the throne, but the glorious King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

All of the kings of history will be brought before Him. The princes and the rulers and the lords of man will be brought before Him and caused to bow down before the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be shining certainly with at least the brilliance of the sun, which no man can behold. Mankind will be before this brilliance when they are before Christ on Judgment Day. Their sins will be lightened by His very countenance and all their evil deeds will be seen in the light of God. They will be found guilty of their sins and judged and cast away.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, we get a little look at things to come. We get a glimpse of what will take place on that Day of Judgment when Christ will be seated upon the judgment seat in order to judge mankind who has dared to rebel against God. Yet also on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elias (or Elijah) appear.

The story of Elijah is an interesting one all by itself. It is another whole area that we could look at, but let us just turn to one verse in 2 Kings. In this account, there came a day when Elijah was taken up into Heaven and Elisha took over and began to fill his shoes and to even do much more. In 2 Kings 2:11, it says:

And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Elijah was translated; he was changed in a moment. He was upon earth, a sinful man with a sinful and corrupt body, yet because he was a child of God, his spirit was a new spirit and he had a new resurrected soul. Now God, for His own reasons and intentions and in the perfection of His overall salvation plan, decides that Elijah will be lifted up in this whirlwind into Heaven.

Elijah never died; he never died the death of all men, the death that comes upon every human being. There is only one other man that we read about in the Bible who never died, and that was Enoch. We read that God took Enoch much like He took Elijah (Genesis 5:24). Enoch was translated; he was changed and equipped with a glorious, resurrected body, just as Elijah was equipped with a glorious, resurrected body. That was the only way his body could enter into Heaven. He could not have taken a sinful, cursed body into Heaven. There is no way that the fallen physical body can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:50).

Therefore, Elijah was changed, and Matthew 17 gives us some idea of what Elijah was changed into. He was equipped with a resurrected body; he had a new body to match his new soul. That is how he could dwell in Heaven in the presence of God, and that is how his new resurrected body only made this sight all the more glorious. There was Christ, shining with the brilliance of the sun and His raiment shining as the light. There with Him was Elijah, who never died or experienced physical death, and he likewise had a new resurrected body so that he was like Christ. There he was, shining in his own brilliance—certainly nowhere near the brilliance of the Lord Jesus, but nonetheless he did have a glorious, resurrected body.

In this company, we find Moses. Moses was with Elijah who was translated and with the Lord Jesus Christ who was transfigured. We wonder, “What is Moses doing there?” If it had been Enoch, we could understand. Enoch was also translated and taken up by God just as Elijah was. Enoch had never died. We could, therefore, understand if it was Enoch. However, Moses is found here. Moses died physically and was buried, and what does God say in the Bible? I am sure that Satan reminded God and pointed out that the resurrection is on the Last Day. In the New Testament, we read several times “the resurrection at the last day.” In John 5, it says, “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice.” We read that this resurrection is on the Last Day in John 11, where Jesus says to Lazarus’ sister, “Thy brother shall rise again.” Then we read in John 11:24:

Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

This is repeated elsewhere. The resurrection is simultaneous with the Last Day. It occurs when Christ returns to destroy the world and to judge mankind. At that time, all who are in the grave, as John 5 tells us, will rise, those who are children of God will rise unto the resurrection of the just, and those who are unsaved will rise unto the resurrection of damnation. That is the timing of the resurrection as the Bible presents it—it is the Last Day.

In all probability, the event of the Mount of Transfiguration is looking ahead to that Last Day. It is looking at the time when God will bring judgment, when Christ will make that glorious appearance, and when the body of believers, which is typified by Moses and Elijah, will judge the world with Christ, as 1 Corinthians 6 indicates.

However, Satan is approaching God. He is coming to Christ and he is not bringing up Elijah or Enoch—for whatever reason he is going to bypass them. Possibly because they had never died. For whatever reason, Satan is not trying to accuse God that He did any wrong in those cases. However, Moses died. If you have never died like Enoch or Elijah, you cannot really be resurrected, but Moses died. Scripture says that the resurrection is the Last Day, but Moses was resurrected way before the Last Day, well before the Last Day has come about in God’s timetable for the history of the world. How can it be proper or Biblical or faithful that Moses has a new resurrected body when the day of resurrection has not yet come?

This is what it means when we read that Satan is disputing with Christ about the body of Moses. To dispute means that someone is turning to the Scriptures to prove their case. The word “dispute” is found in Acts 17:2, and it is translated as “reasoned” there. We read:

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

The word “reasoned” is the word “dispute” of Jude verse 9. This word is also found as “reasoned” in Acts 18:4, which says:

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

Again, it is in Acts 19:8 translated as “disputing.” It says there:

And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

How would Paul be disputing? He would be turning to the Scriptures. He would be going from one Bible reference to another. In Acts 20:7, the word “dispute” is translated as “preaching.” Paul preached unto them; he disputed unto them. Of course, we preach from the Word of God.

Satan is no stranger to the Word of God. He is not ignorant of what the Bible has to say. He is probably a chief theologian, an excellent theologian. Let us remember that he comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and he comes looking like Christ. He comes with false gospels that are so close to the truth that even the elect could be deceived if it were possible (Matthew 24:24). Satan comes ready and armed with Scripture. He comes with many Bible verses, and he comes to God Himself.

We can see the arrogance and the great pride of Satan. He is daring to approach unto the Lord Jesus Christ and dispute with the very Word of God Himself and to accuse the Word of God of wrongdoing. Yet as Satan turns to his verses and says, “You see, the resurrection is the Last Day,” Michael, the Lord Jesus, does not bring against him a railing accusation. He does not speak evil of Satan at all. He simply says, “The Lord rebuke thee.”

What is this railing accusation? It is very significant that the word “railing” is translated as “blasphemy” in Mark 3:28-29. There we read the information that God lays out concerning the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit. We read:

Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

To bring a railing accusation is to blaspheme. Christ is the Word of God and He is truth Himself; to come to God and dispute with Him, to reason with Him out of the Scriptures and to show Him that He is wrong is blasphemous. God is not wrong. That insults the very character of God. He is truth and He is holy and right and just; He cannot lie. To come to God and dare to say that God has committed some type of injustice is a blasphemous thing.

Yet Christ did not bring against him a railing accusation. He did not revile in turn. That was Satan’s desire, though. He was railing upon God Himself. He was speaking evil of the Gospel. “Speaking evil” is another way that the word “railing” in Jude 9 is translated. In Ephesians 4:31, we read:

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

That is the railing accusation. We are to put away evil speaking and not to involve ourselves with that at all. We are not to follow the example of the filthy dreamers that we remember from verse 8 who speak evil of dignities—of glorious things. We are not to follow Satan’s example when he disputes about the body of Moses.

Satan is not afraid to speak evil of the most holy things, and he does so by turning to the Scriptures. What an amazing thing this is to read! We do not read that Satan is cursing God as men are able to curse, but he is coming with Scripture. It is this use of the Scriptures in a wrong manner that is blasphemous. To use the Bible in such a way as to cast doubt upon the very character of God is a blasphemous thing. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ does not bring against him a railing accusation. He simply says, “The Lord rebuke thee.”

In our next study, Lord willing, we will continue looking a bit further at this very interesting account in Jude verse 9 of a spiritual battle between the Lord Jesus and Satan.