Jude 10-11To: Jude Main MenuTo: Grace Notes Home Page Jude 10"Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals -- these are the very things that destroy them."This verse presents apostate false teachers as slandering that which they do not understand, i.e., anything that is spiritual or that relates to God, and as distorting and twisting anything that they do understand, e.g., sexual relations with another human being. Paul depicts the ignorance of the apostate unbeliever in I Cor. 2:14: "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." And the ignorance of the apostate believer is portrayed in I Tim. 4:1: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." The verb epistamai tells us that what knowledge they do have is gained through their own perceptive abilities; for since they are not filled with God the Holy Spirit they cannot understand spiritual information. And they are called "unreasoning animals;" the term for "unreasoning" is alogos, and refers to patterns of thought whose foundation is in subjectivity, and the lust from arrogance. Zoon is the Gr. word for "animals." In this verse, it refers to human beings functioning in a state where only insensate self-absorption and craving shape their hopes, formulate their values and arrange their thinking. And this method of thinking is brought out by the Gr. term psusikos, which means 'natural instinct.' The three primary meanings of this word (zoon) in the Greek are: 1. To describe angelic beings, as in Revelation 4:6-9; specifically, cherubs in Revelation. The phrase "these are the very things" refers back to the things that they have learned only through subjectivity, arrogance and lust. These things, their very way of thinking (arrogant lust), corrupt and destroy them. The verb is in the passive voice, which means that they receive destruction from their own thoughts. So their ultimate end is the Lake of Fire, if unbelievers, or the "sin unto death," if believers. [1] Jude 11"Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion."This verse is an example of antimereia, which is a figure of speech where one noun governs another in the genitive case; here, it refers to the characteristics of Cain, Balaam and Korah being common to apostates. The first word in the verse is ouai, the particle of interjection; it is onomatopoetic, that is, its spelling reflects the sound a person makes screaming in great pain: Woe! This is what will befall those who poreuomai, 'go from one place to another,' or abandon the concept of grace. These apostates have either rejected the grace of salvation, or, if saved, have rejected the word of God. In either case, they have abandoned grace. And 'to abandon' is the very definition of apostasy. "The way of Cain" is the next phrase. The word for 'way' is hodos, and it refers metaphorically to "a course of conduct, a manner of thinking, feeling, deciding." In other words, it is using the same system of thought that Cain used. And Cain's system of thought was based upon total arrogance and lust for approval. The Way of CainCain was the first baby in the human race, and he was born only once; he rejected salvation through grace and therefore was not born spiritually. He was an unbeliever, and he was apostate, Gen. 4:1; Hebrews 11:4: "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead." Cain attempted to earn salvation by works -- by what he did. Thus he was the first legalist in history. And God found the works of Cain wanting; Gen. 4:3,5,6. The lust of approval cannot endure being snubbed, Gen. 4:7, where the word "desire" refers to the lust for approval. As a result of his lust being frustrated, Cain murdered Abel, Gen. 4:8, I John 3:12. "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous." Abel was sacrificing animals to God; the blood of the animals looked forward to Christ on the Cross. This indicates Abel's belief in Christ as his savior. Whereas, Cain brought only ashen (non-blood) sacrifices. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were analogous to our present communion table; Old Testament believers looked forward to the Cross and remembered. We look back and remember. Death taught death. The death of the animal sacrifice planted an idea in Cain's mind: might not Abel also bleed to death if his throat were cut? And the principle here is this: Apostates do not view grace or its adherents favorably. According to I John 3:12, not only was Cain's lust for approval frustrated, but he was also jealous of the sufficiency of Abel's sacrifice. Cain desired the approval of God based on his rules and his works. He tried to dictate sufficiency to God. After all, though, God makes the rules. And His rule is grace -- Jesus Christ is the only sufficient One, Eph. 2:8,9; Titus 3:5: "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Consequently, "the way of Cain" is the avenue of misery and woe. Note that Cain refused to sacrifice (kill) an animal to depict the sacrifice of Christ, whom he had cast aside. In contrast, though, it was easy to kill a man, his own brother, because of arrogance and a frustrated lust for approval. The error of Balaam and the rebellion of Korah continue the illustration of the characteristics of apostates. The characteristic of Cain was lust for approval. And as we will see, the characteristic of Balaam was lust for money (materialism), and the attribute of Korah was lust for power and rebellion. The story of Balaam is found in Numbers 22, Jude 11, II Peter 2:15 and Revelation 2:14: "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality." Balaam was a believer; he was in apostasy; he was from Pethor, a city in Mesopotamia, and he was a Midian. He possessed the gift of prophecy although he did not hold the office of prophet. Balaam was renowned for his prophecies, and as a result became conceited and arrogant. The date is approximately 1401 BC. The Jews of the Exodus have encamped on the Plain of Moab. Balak, the king of Moab, fearing for his kingdom and his power, wanted the Jews cursed. Therefore, he sent negotiators to Balaam with promises of fantastic wealth, if Balaam would place a curse on the Jews. The narrator of the story in Numbers 22 is Moses. Moses received this information after the fact, from God. So the events surrounding Balaam were unknown to the Jews on the Plain of Moab. Nor did the Jews know that Balak was attacking them spiritually. The Jews were unaware that Balaam attempted to curse them three times from three different mountain tops. Additionally, the Jews at this time were also entering into apostasy, they were discontented. As already stated, Balak was afraid for his power and his kingdom. However, Balak had nothing to fear from the Jews, because of Deuteronomy 2:9, which says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.'" In other words, Balak's kingdom was safe. The name Balaam means "destroyer of the people." Evidence that Balaam was a believer is found in Numbers 23:12; also in the fact that the Angel of the Lord spoke to Balaam; the Lord actually placed words in Balaam's mouth, according to Numbers 23:5,12,16; Balaam calls the Lord 'his God;' and the fact that God the Holy Spirit endued Balaam when he spoke. All these factors assert that Balaam was a believer; he was, however, in apostasy. In the narration of the events of Balaam, the permissive will of God, the prevailing will of God, and the directive will of God are ascertained. The permissive will of God allows Balaam to utilize his free will, and even warns him; whereas the prevailing will of God precludes Balaam from cursing Israel, as this is not in God's Plan for Israel. Note that God did not coerce Balaam's free will, He merely substitutes His words for Balaam's words in Balaam's mouth. God overrules, but does not destroy free will. And God's directive will to Balaam instructed Balaam not to go, and not to curse the Jews. Balaam disobeyed. Balaam and the Will of GodBalaam had decided to accept the fee offered by Balak before he professedly consulted God. Thus, Balaam has already said 'no' to the directive will of God. As noted, God did not coerce or tamper with Balaam's free will; however, God did punish Balaam's disobedience. Balaam even has the colossal effrontery to attempt to persuade God to change His directive will; and, of course, God does not subsidize lust. Thus Balaam's lust for money took precedence over God's directive will. Even so, God graciously attempted to prevent Balaam from traveling to Moab, to the extent of having Balaam's donkey speak. Bamoth Baal This term refers to the "high places" upon which Baal was worshipped in Moab, i.e., on the mountain tops. From these vantage points, Balaam attempted to curse the Jews. Numbers 23:1 "Balaam said, 'Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and rams for me.'" Now why does Balaam ask for seven altars to be constructed? For two reasons: 1) to impress Balak and superficially provide dollar value for services rendered, and 2) because to the apostate seven is a lucky number. Whereas, in truth, seven is the number of grace. The bullock was the sacrifice related to confession of sin in Leviticus, and the ram was the sacrifice utilized in the burnt offering, which offering taught the principle of propitiation. However, in both cases only one offering is required, not seven. Only Christ is required. Thus, in apostasy, Balaam has distorted grace. Numbers 23:5 "The Lord put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, 'Go back to Balak and give him this message." The term for 'Lord,' here, is ruach adonai, God the Holy Spirit. Numbers 23:9 "From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves on of the nations." In this verse Balaam "sees" and "views" the Jews; that is, he sees them twice. This 'twofold' seeing connotes that Israel was unique, and always will be, and that they were different from other nations in their separation from heathenism or disbelief. In Numbers 23:10, the phrase "dust of Jacob" refers to the Jews and the fact that even though they have failed, they were still alive. Just as Jacob failed and died physically, his name was also changed to Israel (prince of God), and though now physically dead he is alive in Paradise; all this through the grace of God. So, also, the Jews. Balaam should have joined the Jews on the Plain of Moab; he should have separated from the heathenism of Moab. However, Balaam's lust for money was more real to Balaam than God. God's Use of Balaam to Prophesy the Truth of ChristNumbers 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth." "The star out of Jacob" is Jesus Christ at the First Advent, or on the Cross. And "the scepter out of Israel" is Christ at the Second Advent, or the restoration of Israel. And the "sons of Sheth" refers to arrogant unbelievers. Numbers 24:20 "Then Balaam saw Amalek and uttered his oracle: 'Amalek was first among the nations, but he will come to ruin at last.'" Here, Amalek is described as the first anti-Semitic nation in history. Numbers 24:21 "Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle: 'Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock.'" The Kenites were a nomadic group of metal workers, who although believers, as designated in the phrase "nest in a rock," were later destroyed by the apostasy of false security in human strength. Numbers 24:23 "Ah, who shall live when God does this?" This refers to judgment from God; and "who shall live?" refers to those who are believers, to those who live because of God's grace; in other words, they will live by grace alone, by the mercy of God. Numbers 24:24 "Ships will come from the shores of Kittim; they will subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin." Kittim refers to the Greek Sea Peoples and eventually Alexander the Great, who destroyed the Persian Empire (Eber), which previously destroyed the Assyro-Babylonian Empire (Asshur). In the end, though, all who live by arrogance and their own might will come to "ruin." Only those who live by grace will survive. II Peter 2:15-19: Apostasy Described and Balaam the Example "They have left the straight way (the way of grace, the way of God's Word, the way of humility) and wandered off to follow (to pursue) the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness (lusted arrogantly after money). 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey -- a beast without speech -- who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness (lust). 17 These men (false teachers) are springs without water and mists driven by a storm (unstable, rootless, not grounded, constantly changing according to whim). Blackest darkness (Torments and then the Lake of Fire) is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error (lustful arrogance). 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity -- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him." Thus the 'error of Balaam' was the lust for money, or materialism lust. In due time, the Jews allowed themselves to be blighted by Balaam. Balaam advised Balak to entrap the Jewish males by intrigue, i.e., first, seduce them sexually with the beautiful women of Moab; second, seduce them spiritually with the cult of Baal. And Balak did this by opening pseudo-brothels in tents and issuing invitations, literally, to the males of the Exodus generation. Balaam's EndBalaam died the 'sin unto death' while fighting for the Moabites against the Jews, Numbers 25:1, 31:16, and Revelation 2:14. Money LustMoney is defined as a "medium of exchange and measure of value." And it is not evil for Christians to accumulate money or to use money. The use of coins was invented by Croesus, king of Lydia, in the sixth century BC. One of Croesus' passions was counting his money; however, he found it awkward to fondle ingots. Then one day he decided to have the ingots cut up into coins, upon which he later placed his own silhouette, thus giving coins 'faces.' When Cyrus the Great conquered Lydia, he confiscated most of Croesus' wealth and admired the coins; he, in turn, began using coins to store his wealth and to commemorate certain events. But the use of coins as a system of exchange was initiated by Alexander the Great. After he conquered Cyrus, he looted all of Cyrus' vaults and found the coins. He, too, imitated the idea, but additionally, he began circulating the coins as payment for debts and as rewards. In Scripture, the first recorded business transaction took place in Genesis 23:9: "Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you." And Jeremiah 32:44 says, "Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah..." These two passages, and many others in between, confirm that monetary transactions took place and are legitimate. In other words, it is not evil or a sin to have money or engage in the making of money. 'Giving' is a part of the concept of money. II Corinthians 8,9, assert that giving is a statement of the saint's royal priesthood, and is done as "unto the Lord." "Love of money," or money as god is indicative of materialism lust, and makes the saint a slave to money lust rather than the master of money. Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:9,11,13. "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." In other words, you may have all the money you want, you may enjoy money, you may use money as your slave, but God must have the place of highest priority in the saint's life. To the unbeliever, money poses the following obstacles: 1. Money cannot buy salvation, I Peter 1:18,19, Mark 8:36,37. "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Indeed, the coin of salvation is the 'blood of Christ.' To the saint, money also poses difficulties: 1. In Jude 11, our passage, the 'error of Balaam,' i.e., the lust for money leads to destruction. The Gr. word for "error" in Jude 11 is plane, and it means 'delusion or deceit.' And there are three 'delusions' associated with money: 1. Money is happiness, Eccl. 5:20 cf. Eccl. 6:2. The third attribute of apostates is now stated thusly, "they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion." The rebellion of Korah was motivated by a lust for power. And the story is related by Moses in Numbers 16. The revolution had three primary co-conspirators: Dathan, Abiram and Korah. Dathan and Abiram were of the tribe of Reuben, the firstborn of Joseph. Korah was of the tribe of Levi; in fact, he was first cousin to Moses and Aaron. Dathan and Abiram, as members of the firstborn tribe, presumed that they should have the civil control that Moses had. Simply put, they lusted for Moses' power. Whereas, Korah lusted for the priesthood, that position that Aaron held. Scripture states that Korah was jealous of both Moses and Aaron, and lusted for their positions of power. Korah's revolution also involved 250 officials, and princes of Israel. These men revolted against Moses for personal reasons, most of which were grudge-related and based on resentment and jealousy. Korah, Dathan and Abiram were judged by God in Numbers 16:32. They were swallowed up by the earth. The 250 sub-conspirators were consumed by fire from God in Numbers 16:35. Note, then, the attributes of power lust: power lust rejects legitimate authority; power lust attempts to displace authority; and obviously, power lust desires power. RevolutionGod does not sponsor revolution against bona fide authority, Romans 13:1-7, Numbers 16, I Peter 2:13,14. And according to Isaiah 1:3-5 and 59:13, revolution stems from apostasy. Too, revolution is described as anti-God in Isaiah 31:6. Jeremiah 5:23 states that revolution occurs among believers because of spiritual apostasy. And Isaiah 11:13, I Kings 12:19 and II Chronicles 10:19, all assert that jealousy is the motive behind revolution. Ezekiel 2:3-10, states that the words of the prophets to Israel were designed to warn the Jews of their spiritual revolt against God. And notably, Romans 1:19-26 teaches that heathenism is the direct result of an individual revolt against the authority and grace of God; the result of this revolt is degeneracy, according to Romans 1:27-32. [3] Notes: [1] The Way of Cain, originally compiled and explicated by Robert Thieme, M.Div.; altered and revised by R.E. Radic, Th.D., S.T.D. [2] Doctrine of Money, originally compiled by Robert Thieme, M.Div.; revised and altered by R.E. Radic, Th.D., S.T.D. [3] Thieme, Robert. Robert Thieme first compiled the data on Revolution; from undated notes; altered and appended by R.E. Radic. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Grace Notes 1705 Aggie Lane Austin, Texas 78757 wdoud@bga.com Grace Notes Web site: http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/ Anonymous FTP site: ftp://ftp.bga.com/vendors/wdoud/ Grace Notes is a ministry of Village Missions International. |
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