by John Piper
The little letter of Jude teaches us something about the value of
learning history. This is not the main point of the letter. But it is
striking.
In this next-to-last book of the Bible, Jude writes to encourage the
saints to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed
down to the saints" (verse 3). The letter is a call to vigilance in
view of "certain persons [who] have crept in unnoticed . . . ungodly
persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our
only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (verse 4). Jude describes these
folks in vivid terms. They "revile the things which they do not
understand" (verse 10). They "are grumblers, finding fault, following
after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the
sake of gaining an advantage" (verse 16). They "cause divisions, [and
are] worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit" (verse 19).
This is a devastating assessment of people who are not outside the
church but have "crept in unnoticed." Jude wants them be spotted for who
they really are, so that the church is not deceived and ruined by their
false teaching and immoral behavior.
One of his strategies is to compare them to other persons and events in
history. For example, he says that "Sodom and Gomorrah . . . since they,
in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality and went after
strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment
of eternal fire" (verse 7). So Jude compares these people to Sodom and
Gomorrah. His point in doing this is to say that Sodom and Gomorrah are
"an example" of what will happen when people live like these intruders
are living. So, in Jude's mind, knowing the history of Sodom and
Gomorrah is very useful in helping detect such error and deflect it from
the saints.
Similarly in verse 11, Jude piles up three other references to
historical events as comparisons with what is happening in his day among
Christians. He says "Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and
perished in the rebellion of Korah." This is remarkable. Why refer to
three different historical incidents like this that happened thousands
of years earlier - Genesis 19 (Sodom), Genesis 3 (Cain), Numbers 22-24
(Balaam), Numbers 16 (Korah)? What's the point?
Here are three points: 1) Jude assumes that the readers know these
stories! Is that not amazing! This was the first century! No books in
anyone's homes. No Bibles available. No story tapes. Just oral
instruction. And he assumed that they would know: What is "the way of
Cain" and "the error of Balaam" and "the rebellion of Korah"? Do you
know? Isn't this astonishing! He expects them to know. It makes me think
that our standards of Bible knowledge in the church today are too low.
2) Jude assumes that knowing this history will illumine the present
situation. The Christians will handle the error better today, if they
know similar situations from yesterday. In other words, history is
valuable for Christian living. To know that Cain was jealous and hated
his brother and resented his true spiritual communion with God will
alert you to watch for such things even among brothers. To know that
Balaam finally caved in and made the Word of God a means of worldly gain
makes you better able to spot that sort of thing. To know that Korah
despised legitimate authority and resented Moses' leadership will
protect you from factious folk who dislike anyone being seen as their
leader.
3) Is it not clear, then, that God ordains that events happen and that
they get recorded as history so that we will learn them and become wiser
and more insightful about the present for the sake of Christ and his
church. Never stop learning history. Gain some knowledge every day. And
let us give our children one of the best protections against the folly
of the future, namely, a knowledge of the past.
Learning with you, for Christ and his kingdom,
Pastor John
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