Study in the Epistle of Jude # 63: Verse 11

by Chris McCann

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

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. We have been going through the book of Jude, and Jude has led us into the Old Testament book of Numbers. In Jude 11, God warned, “Woe unto them that perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Consequently, we have been looking at Korah in Numbers 16. We have not been going through Numbers 16 verse-by-verse; rather, we are just getting the basic idea of the rebellion that took place and was spearheaded by Korah. Korah was the leader of these men who rose up in opposition to Moses and Aaron, and in real opposition to God Himself. Numbers 16:23-30 says:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.

We can see how this situation is developing. God is bringing this rebellion to a certain point. He has already spoken that they were to take censers. Now these wicked men are standing in their tents, and Moses is relaying the Word of God and stating what God is about to do. The Lord will make a new thing—the earth will open its mouth and swallow them up. It will be like an earthquake. The earth will divide asunder and split right about the tents of these men. They and all that appertain unto them, all their families and all their possessions, will go down into the pit that is newly created by God.

We wonder, “What is going on here spiritually?” We do know this: when God warns in Jude 11 of those who perish in the gainsaying of Core, and when we see this new thing that God is causing to happen in Numbers 16, the vivid picture that God is giving us is one that points to the end of the world. When the earth opens its mouth and these men go down into the heart of the earth, it is definitely a clear illustration, a clear representation, of the final judgment of man when God will cast them into Hell. I say that because “the heart of the earth” is language that the Lord Jesus Christ used in Matthew 12:40. We read there:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In other words, as Jesus was paying for the sins of His people, accomplishing the atonement, and enduring the wrath of God for each one of His elect, it was as though the earth opened up. It was as if He was swallowed whole and went down into the heart of the earth. That did not literally happen in Christ’s case, but it did happen spiritually. From the time He entered into the garden of Gethsemane, to the time when He would cry out on the Cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), Jesus was bearing the wrath of God for the sins of His people; He was in the heart of the earth.

In Numbers 16, God is historically bringing about a judgment upon these wicked men who were led by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. They had rebelled against God, and historically, in this judgment, the earth literally opens up its mouth. They are swallowed up and go down quick into the pit, into the heart of the earth. This is a definite figure of eternal damnation. We can be absolutely sure that in this context, this is dealing with the end of the world, with the end of time, and with Judgment Day itself. That is why what we read in verse 26 is so significant. It says:

And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

Another aspect of this judgment is that the men in view, who were led by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were not people out there in the world. They were not the Gentiles or the heathen nations at all. Rather, they were Israelites. They were Levites and Reubenites. They were princes of Israel, leaders of the people of Israel. Some of them, as the Levites were, were ministers of the tabernacle. These men were very much related to the whole worship and ministry of God Himself. In other words, they are figures of professing believers. They are types and figures of those who are in the churches and congregations of the world; they are a representative of the corporate church.

That is why there is a mention of the tents of these wicked men. The Hebrew word that is translated as “tents” is also commonly translated as “tabernacle” or “tabernacles.” It is often found in connection with the tabernacle that would house the Ark of God. That was used as a prefigure of God’s dwelling among His people before He had commissioned Solomon to build Him a house. God dwelt in tents; He dwelt in the tabernacle. Therefore, that tabernacle or tent represented the church, just as much as the house that would later be built represented the church.

Here these men are dwelling in tents—they are Israelites. The idea that God is getting across is that these tents represent churches. These wicked men are inhabiting these churches; in other words, they are the members, they are the congregation of the church. They have their leadership, their pastors and deacons and elders, who are typified by these princes of Israel. Yet when you really examine them, they are in rebellion against God. They were never saved, and God therefore speaks of them as wicked men.

We see a similar verse in Psalm 84 in regards to the tents of wicked men. In Psalm 84:10, we read:

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

There are the tents of wickedness, the tents of wicked men. Here in this Psalm, the Psalmist, the child of God who is writing under the inspiration of God, is making some true statements. Certainly, a day in the courts of God is better than a thousand anywhere else upon earth because there is great blessing in that court of God, whereas there is only vanity and emptiness anywhere outside God’s courts.

Then he goes on to say, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.” Let us notice that it says “a doorkeeper”—what does that mean? We might have the picture in our minds of the hotel. When someone gets out of their car and approaches the hotel door, there is a doorkeeper there that the hotel hires. He opens up the door and the guests go in. The next car arrives, and he is someone who opens up the car door, perhaps, as well as the hotel doors. He is welcoming and greeting those who are arriving. This is a doorkeeper. Certainly, rich men of old may have had something similar in their tents, someone to greet their guests and to help them feel welcome and comfortable.

Here we read, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.” Spiritually, are believers doorkeepers? The answer is yes. Jesus says in John 10:7, “I am the door.” He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is the way that leads to salvation. He is the door that a sinner must pass through in order to find grace and order to have their sins forgiven.

Believers who have already been saved are ministers of the Gospel. We are sent forth to share the Word of God with the people of the world. As we do so, it is as though we are a doorkeeper. That is all we are; we are nothing important, nothing spectacular. We are only servants, and unprofitable servants at best (Luke 17:10). We have been saved by God’s grace as He has done everything in the matter of salvation; we cannot glory in any of it. Even as we go on to work and to occupy in the Gospel, it is God who wills and works through us to accomplish His purposes (Philippians 2:13). Therefore, we are very humble servants. We are nothing in and of ourselves; we are just like a doorkeeper. We are the stewards of the mysteries of the Gospel, the stewards of the Word of God.

As we share that Word, the door is being shown and the way of salvation is being revealed. It is a spiritual door and it is a spiritual way. God, from time to time, is pleased to open up the door and allow someone to enter into the Kingdom of God. As He does so, we have the great pleasure and blessing of being the doorkeeper. We have been able to welcome that person by handing them a tract, by sharing a tape or a CD, or by pointing the way to where they can hear the true Gospel. We have simply acted as a doorkeeper in the house of our God.

Now God does refer to the corporate church as the house of God. We know that from the New Testament, where we read, “Judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). However here, the door is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Once someone enters through that door, they are added as a living stone. They are added as someone who has been added unto the spiritual house of God, and they become a part of the New Jerusalem. They are in that house “whose house are we,” as we read in Hebrews 3. Christ is the Son over that house, and that is the house that is in view here in this verse.

This child of God is saying, “ ‘I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God’—I had rather be involved in the true Gospel and with its persecutions and afflictions and all of its humbleness—’than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.’ “ “In tents of wickedness”—we can see this, first of all, with the things of this world. All the pleasures of sin that are in this world, all the glories that man tries to glory in, all the riches that the men of the world occupy themselves with—men fill their tents with these things. We can, of course, look at that this way. We can see that these are tents of wickedness, and we would rather be on the outside of that. We would rather be modest doorkeepers than to dwell in these tents of wickedness and to be busy with the things of the world.

However, I think that there is more than that. What is in view are the churches and congregations that are unfaithful and that, even during the Church Age, were apostate and not true to the Word of God. Yet the believers would have had some kind of relationship with them. The child of God would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. This is a similar verse to Matthew 24:17, which says:

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

“On the housetop”—the believer is to preach the Gospel. The Bible speaks of the housetop as a place of intense spiritual activity. Preaching was to be from the housetop; praying was done on the housetop. We remember that when the house was full and Jesus was in the midst of it, some men took a palsy man to the housetop, opened up the tiles of the ceiling, and dropped the man down through the housetop into the presence of Christ, where he found healing (Mark 2:1-5). That is what believers do—we share the Gospel from the housetop.

However, we do not go down to take anything out of the house during the Great Tribulation. The house has become a house of wickedness. As the Lord Jesus said when He overturned the tables of the moneychangers, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).

That is what is in view with these tents of wickedness in Psalm 84 and Numbers 16. As God says in Numbers 16, “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.” We remember the context here—it is soon to be the judgment. The earth is soon to open its mouth and swallow up Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families. In other words, it is soon to be the end of the world. Right before that end comes, right before that final judgment, we find God once again dealing with the church. God is pointing out that the judgment is upon the church and that now it is time to get out—”Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men.”

Once again, God is indicating that if you do not depart, if you do not remove yourself from their tents, then you will be consumed in all their sins. You will be destroyed; you will die the death that they will die. You will perish along with them. That is the warning of Jude—”Woe unto them that perished in the gainsaying of Core.” We read “woe” because God is emphasizing the final judgment of eternal damnation. That is how important it is as we speak about the end of the church, and this is why God places so much emphasis upon this doctrine of coming out of the midst of the church. Luke 21:21 says:

Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

Judaea is a figure of the church. This is the exact same truth, the very same thing, that we are reading in Numbers 16. We remember from Matthew 24, which is a parallel chapter to Luke 21, that the disciples’ question that Jesus was answering here was, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” The Great Tribulation comes right up against the end of the world, and that is what we see here.

We also see God taking the time to give a warning. He did not need to do this; He did not need to warn anyone to depart from the tents of these wicked men. He could have simply destroyed them immediately—they certainly were deserving of the judgment of God. He could have destroyed all who were in association with these men, yet He did not. He spake unto the congregation through Moses. In verse 26, God said:

…Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men…

God is beseeching those who were in association with these men. He is speaking to them and pleading with them, “Depart from the tents of these wicked men.” These men are going to go down to Hell. The only hope for any that are connected with them is to get away from them. As God continues:

…and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

Does that not sound familiar? Do we remember Revelation 18? In Revelation 18, God is speaking of Babylon; yet as we have learned, Babylon is another type of the church that has gone apostate and has been involved in spiritual fornication against the Law of God. God is speaking to the church in Revelation 18:4-5. Again the time of Great Tribulation is in view as we read:

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

That is what is going on in Numbers 16. It is a time of the judgment of God upon the sins of these rebels, these men who have risen up in opposition to the true Gospel of the Bible. It is just like what is going on in our churches today with all these false doctrines. What is a false doctrine but one made by those who are against the truth. Christ is the Truth—they are therefore against God Himself.

Finally, God brings judgment, as He is doing in our day. He is warning us and He is warning everyone in a church to “depart out of the midst,” to “come out of her, My people,” to remove themselves from the tents of these wicked men.

Then Numbers 16:27 says:

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side…

This is encouraging—some obeyed God and listened to God. Some did get themselves up on every side. That is encouraging; it is telling us that there will be some believers who do come out of the churches. We have already seen this. Now it is not going to be a great multitude—it will be very few, a remnant—but there will be some whom God is working in who will obey the voice of God. The verse goes on to say:

…and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

This is sad; it is horrible. We can say that these men—Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—are in clear and total rebellion against God. Certainly, they are just asking God to bring judgment upon them. However, their wives and their sons and their little children are also there. Their families are there. Some of them are only there because one of these men is their husband or their father. A little child does not maybe even know what is going on. There could be a baby in his mother’s arms. Yet the earth is about to open its mouth and swallow them all up, as it goes on to say. Let us read verses 31-33, which say:

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

The wives and the sons and the little children went down into that pit. This is giving us a look at Judgment Day itself. In the final judgment, God will cast unsaved people into Hell. There will be the adults, and there will be children.

Sadly, this is looking more intently at the judgment upon the church and those in it who profess to know God and to be the people of God. They have led their families into this situation. The parents are the leaders of their households, but they will not listen to God when He tells them to come out of the church. They think that they know better, that they are the ones with whom wisdom rests, that they possess all knowledge. They are going to remain, and they are going to keep their sons and their daughters and their children there. How horrible as the whole family goes down into the pit of Hell!

In our next study, Lord willing, we are going to pick up at this point and look a little further at Numbers 16. It is not pleasant, but this is part of the Word of God.