Study in the Epistle of Jude # 50: Verse 11

by Chris McCann

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

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. We are in the book of Jude, the one-chapter Epistle that is found right before the book of Revelation. We have come to verse 11, which says:

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Balaam is an Old Testament prophet who is found in the book of Numbers as he makes his entrance in the stage of history. He is the prophet who was hired by Balak to come and curse Israel. We can see why the reference is to money here, because it says “they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.” Balak’s messengers came to Balaam with money to hire him to bring a curse upon Israel.

Later on, we will look at the historical account in the book of Numbers, but first, we want to address the question of whether or not Balaam was a saved man. There are many people who are under the impression that Balaam was a child of God. That is not all that surprising because some of the language that is very closely identified with true believers, we find describing Balaam. For example, we see this in Numbers 22:18. Men from Balak, the king of Moab (they were princes of Moab themselves) had just come to Balaam to hire him, and Balaam’s response was:

And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

That sounds very faithful, does it not? Would we not desire to have that same kind of attitude? No matter how someone came to us with money, no matter how much they offered us or how much pressure they put upon us to do something contrary to the Word of God, if only we could answer as Balaam did and say, “I cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.” In other words, whatever the Lord said, we would do. We are going to be faithful to the Word of God. We are going to hold to the Scriptures. We are not going to give in and compromise the Gospel on any point. Therefore, we can see how someone could read this verse and get the idea that Balaam was perhaps a child of God.

Again, look at Numbers 23:11, which says:

And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

What happened here was that the princes of Moab, whom Balak the king of Moab had sent, came a second time to Balaam. Balaam went to the Lord seeking His will. Finally, the Lord relented and said, “Go with them.” Balaam went—apparently in obedience to God’s will, yet he was going to curse Israel. We know that something strange is going on. He has been hired to pronounce the curse, yet when he tries to curse, he blesses them. Then he says in verse 12:

And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?

Once again, was not Balaam a true prophet? He is only speaking the words that the Lord hath put in his mouth. That sounds like Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Isaiah or any true prophet of the Lord—they would declare the Word of God because God had placed His words in their mouth. Why then is it that we say Balaam was a false prophet? Why is it that God includes him in this unholy list of Jude verse 11 along with Cain and Korah? Why is Balaam found there? According to these verses, was he not a saved man? Was he not a child of God?

Also, let us look at verse 26. Once again, he went to curse Israel and instead, he ends up blessing them. Beginning in Numbers 23:25, we read:

And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

Balak was getting very upset. He had spent good money to bring this man Balaam to curse his enemies, and here he comes and pronounces blessings upon them. He felt that he was betrayed and robbed by Balaam. After all, Balaam was hired to do a job and he was failing to do it according to how his employer Balak wanted him to. Balak was becoming increasingly upset at the situation. Then it says in verse 26:

But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?

Again, could it be that Balaam was a true child of God who just found himself in the wrong setting and among the wrong crowd? Sometimes that does happen to true believers—we end up in places and with people that we really should not be associated with. Is it possible that this was the case with Balaam? Has he maybe gone astray slightly, but after all, is a saved man and a true believer?

That is not the case, unfortunately, for Balaam. He was an unsaved man and he was a false prophet. One thing that we can learn from his language, which seems to be so faithful, is that we have to be very careful with those who are teaching and those who are claiming to be true children of God. We have to examine what doctrines they are bringing. They can sound as faithful as anything—they can sing God’s praises and say, “Praise the Lord!” and declare their desire to be faithful and obedient to God, but in actuality, they may be anything but faithful and obedient. They may be in complete and total rebellion against God, and they may be disobedient prophets just as Balaam.

I say that Balaam was not a true child of God for several reasons. There are many Scriptures that indicate this is so. For instance, in Deuteronomy 23:4-5, where God is explaining why the Ammonite and the Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord unto the tenth generation, we read:

Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

In other words, God is saying that Balaam tried his best to pronounce a curse. He desired to curse Israel, he was paid to curse Israel, and he wanted to curse Israel. He went there with the full intent of his heart to curse Israel. Yet as he began to speak, it was God who changed his words. It was God who turned the curse into a blessing. In other words, Balaam was saying things that he did not want to say. God was forcing him to bring a blessing upon Israel when he really wanted to bring words of a curse. The same language is found in Nehemiah 13:1-2, which says:

On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water…

By the way, this bread and water is pointing to the Gospel. There is a spiritual picture that God is drawing here in which the Ammonite and the Moabite typify the corporate church. Now here are the Israelites coming out of Egypt. The picture is that they should have been met with the Word of God; spiritually, provision should have been made for them. Instead, we read:

…but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.

The idea is that instead of giving them the true Gospel represented by the bread and the water, they brought a false gospel when Balaam came forth to bring a curse. Every false gospel is a curse; Balaam’s seeking to curse Israel is the same thing as someone bringing a false doctrine or a false gospel because those who do are seeking to curse the people of God. They are seeking to curse the elect of God, because the elect cannot be saved by a false gospel. It takes the true Gospel to save a sinner. It takes the bread and water of the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, to save a sinner, yet Balaam came with a curse. He is a portrait of those that come with other kinds of gospels and other kinds of doctrines.

Howbeit, God turned the curse into a blessing. How powerful and mighty and merciful God is to do this kind of a thing, to change the words of a man’s mouth. He did not change the intents of Balaam’s heart—Balaam always intended to pronounce the curse from his heart since he remained an unsaved man—but God definitely changed the words of his mouth so that there poured out a blessing instead of a curse.

Back in 2 Peter 2, a parallel chapter to the book of Jude, we read more information regarding Balaam. In 2 Peter 2:12-16, it says:

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption…

This relates to Jude verse 10. Then it goes on:

… And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

We see clearly, without any doubt whatsoever, that there is no possibility that Balaam could be a saved man. God is saying that he was going the wrong way and that he forsook the right way. All who are unsaved in the churches likewise have forsaken the right way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6); He is the right way. Therefore, to forsake the right way is to forsake Christ Himself. It means that you have forsaken the truth of the Word of God and gone astray. You are still following a way, though. You are still traveling a path, only it is the way of Cain. We have seen that God speaks of the way of Cain, and now He is speaking of the way of Balaam, which is another false way. This way, likewise, will lead to destruction, as 2 Peter 2:1-2 says. We read:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

These false prophets have forsaken the right way. They have followed their pernicious ways; that is, their damnable ways. Again in this passage, that way of truth is Christ. Christ’s way is evil spoken of. The true Gospel is spoken of as though it were a shameful thing. “It is an evil thing to talk about Sunday as the Sabbath; it is a harmful thing to say aloud that God elects only a few out of the total population of man.” That is how these false prophets look at it. They speak evil of the right way of the Bible.

Likewise, they are ashamed over the whole idea that the Church Age has come to an end. “Oh, we ought not to utter that too loudly,” they think. Well, why not? This is what the Bible teaches. We ought not to be ashamed of any part of the Word of God, of anything that is found within the Bible. Let them be ashamed who transgress without cause (Psalm 25:3). Let them be ashamed who have overcome the churches and are teaching everything under the sun but the truth.

These have forsaken the right way; they speak evil of the way of truth. Instead, they allow pernicious ways. They permit every other way possible. Everything is acceptable today, no matter what kind of a gospel it is. Many in the reformed churches would dare not say that those who speak in tongues have added unto the Word of God and therefore are subject to the plagues written therein (Rev 22:18). They would not speak evil of that pernicious way, but they would dare to speak evil of those who seek to follow the true ways of the Word of God and who seek to do things God’s way and to be obedient to whatever God says.

This is the same thing as going in the way of Cain or going in the way of Balaam. It is the same thing as going in these pernicious ways. As we read in 2 Peter 2, many will go in the way of false prophets.

In Matthew 7:13, we read:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction…

Oh, how broad it is. There is room enough for everyone. Every doctrine is accepted; every manner of gospel is included. “We want to be all inclusive,” they say. No one is left out—unless, of course, you happen to be one of those extremists who seek to be exceedingly faithful to the Word of God. Besides that, every other thing under the sun is widely welcomed. “Come, follow our way, and we will join hands together.” However, the only thing that they are not saying, the only thing that they are not explaining, the only thing that they dare not tell anyone is that the way that they are going leads to destruction. Matthew 7:13 continues:

…and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Later on in Matthew 7, Jesus addresses that fact as He says in verse 22:

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?

Many have gone down that road, for it was an easy road to travel. There was no persecution; there was no real trouble. There was no affliction for the Gospel that they held because only those who hold to the truth of the Word of God are persecuted and afflicted. It was an easy road to travel. It was a road that they claimed would take them to Heaven, a road where everyone could fit. They said, “Come, just accept Christ, believe on Him, say the sinner’s prayer, and walk down the aisle. Join us on this road. We are going to a celestial city; we are traveling to Heaven. We will forever be with the Lord. Here—you accepted Christ, so you are a child of God.” They grant assurance. They grant faith and salvation with their mouths to all kinds of individuals who follow them down this road.

Nonetheless, this is a road that leads to destruction. It is a road that leads to the Lord Jesus Christ pronouncing these words of Matthew 7:22 on the Last Day, on the awful Day of Judgment: “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Off into Hell they will go. They will be cast into the pit of Hell.

That is why this is such a serious thing that we are studying in this Epistle of Jude. God is warning of those who have gone in the way of Cain and those who have gone in the way of Balaam. This is not a light thing; it is not something to be glossed over at all. We have to take a look at this. We have to see and recognize that the vast majority, if not the totality, of those in the churches today are going in these ways. They are traveling down this road that leads to destruction, and they will perish in their pernicious ways.

We can only pray. We can only bring the true Gospel and pray that God might bless it, that He might draw someone out of these other kinds of gospels and draw them as far away as possible from the church of our day. The church is the house where these things are put forth. The church is the place where all manner of evil teachings have been developed during this time of Great Tribulation. It is no wonder that God wants His people to come out of the churches and congregations of the world today (Revelation 18:4). It is for our own benefit, and it is certainly a blessing in itself just to remove oneself from such false teaching.

In our next study, Lord willing, we will look further at the prophet Balaam. He is an interesting character, and there is much information in the Bible concerning him. Especially, we will get into the matter of Balaam’s ass, the donkey who spake with man’s mouth and forbade the madness of the prophet.