What Jesus' Brother Jude Wanted Us To Know | Verses 17-18 | See, They Told Us So
“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” | Jude 17
Up until this point, Jude has pointed out to his readers the erroneous doctrine that had been floating around the church by way of false teachers. Here in verse 17 he shows us that he has not discovered anything new, or pointed out anything that was not to be expected. These errors have long been promulgated within the professing believers’ circles, yet God has always raised up faithful men to counter them.
Jude, here, refers to the apostles themselves—the eye-witnesses and partakers of Jesus’ earthly ministry—as his witness. These were known men, still; immediate and contemporary. These faithful men of God who taught the Word of God stood in sharp contrast to the brazen, immoral men masquerading as angels of light that Jude is currently very concerned about.
Jude has one particular apostle in mind as he is writing and it is none other than Peter himself. If you have read any of the earlier posts in this series then you would have seen how Jude has paralleled Peter’s second epistle in his own warning of false teachers, so the influence of Peter on Jude is unmistakable.
In verse 18, though, Jude does not merely allude to Peter, but quotes him directly. Jude wrote:
“They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’”
This is cited from 2 Peter 3:1–3 where Peter wrote:
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (vv. 1–3).
Jude is showing his readers that what Peter expected to happen was now in fact happening, namely that evil men were influencing the church with unsound doctrine. Jude already identified the false teachers—the mockers—in verse 16 as “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires.”
Interestingly, Peter also did what Jude is here doing—pointing backwards. In Peter’s case it is back to the prophets. The consistency of Scripture’s testimony was clearly believed and upheld by the apostles of Christ. Trusting God’s faithful Word from one generation to the next is what Jude originally called our attention to at the beginning of his letter anyway, i.e. “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Now it is being plainly modeled to us. Jude appeals to the apostles, who appealed to the prophets, who always spoke exactly what God told them to in the first place.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself pointed back to the prophets on many occasions when he confronted the false teachers of Judaism. This whole process should cause us to think deeply on whether or not we use Scripture as our final authority for what we believe and practice. Do we appeal to the Word of God to inform our understanding of theology, or do we appeal to church councils, denominational creeds, articles and confessions? Every false religion in the world has a set of creeds and tenets, so what remains the final arbiter at the end of the day? If it is not Holy Scripture, then we are fools.
Knowing this, then, what were some of the things that the false teachers and scoffers were saying that stirred both Peter and Jude to write?
2 Peter 3:4: “They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Since the second coming of Christ didn’t happen immediately after Jesus ascended to Heaven, the entire event was being called into question by those in Peter and Jude’s day. What is Peter’s response to this?
“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished” (vv. 5–6).
In one breath, as it were, Peter identifies the stumbling block as their own errant preconceptions that God is not the Creator and that there was no world-wide flood that came about as a result of God’s judgment on mankind.
Sound familiar? The arguments made today in the name of science are arguments that scoffers have always made.
To them, the assumption is that all things have been as they are and will always continue as they are. This is still the stubborn position that many people espouse as a result of their presuppositional belief that there is no God, even though the creation itself is an inexcusable testament to His existence and even some of his invisible attributes (Rom 1:19).
This error continues today, thus rendering Peter and Jude as relevant as they ever were. Taken together, Peter and Jude paint a very realistic picture for what the church will always be up against. Teachers inside and outside the professing church will deny their supposed Lord and Master by living lives that pervert the grace of God (Jude 4) and they will scoff and ridicule truths taught in Holy Scripture such as the very existence of God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the subsequent Noahic Flood.
What about the prophets that Peter appealed to?
Even in Ezekiel’s day, the false prophets—random people who simply claimed to speak on behalf of God—would gain a hearing by preaching peace and prosperity. Much like today, a false prophet in Israel could make a good living telling people what they wanted to hear.
Certain ideologies and paradigms were becoming so wide-spread that God spoke through Ezekiel concerning some of them. You will quickly see what kind of ambivalence and presumptuousness Peter was referring to as he undoubtedly recalled words like these in Ezekiel 12:
“The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? (vv. 21–22).
God’s response to this?
“Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say to them, The days are near, and the fulfillment of every vision. For there shall be no more any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord; I will speak the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God” (vv. 23–25).
Historically, God has always been gracious to warn of judgement through faithful men He sent. This was further demonstrated in the arrival of Jesus Christ and His subsequent establishment of the disciples to go out and evangelize the nations.
We must be careful that we do not become one of the grumblers, or malcontents, or scoffers, or mockers when we hear the Word of God preached and taught.
The reality for Israel and Judah is summed up in 2 Chronicles 36:15–16:
“The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.”
In the 21st century we are not without a shortage of scoffers. Even worse, we are not without a shortage of scoffers that exist(ed) within evangelical circles (think: Rob Bell), whether it is an organization with a Christian label, or a music label with a Christian veneer (think: Gungor, the author of “Beautiful Things”).
The two examples I just listed deny the historicity of certain events recorded in Scripture, including a 24-hour, six day creation as outlined in Genesis 1, the inerrancy of Scripture, the blood atonement of Christ to appease God’s wrath, etc. The influence these two names alone have wielded is sadly astounding. Bell’s books and videos have proliferated in church libraries and Gungor’s music has been sung as “worship” by many church bands. Yet, what they deny is only the fruit of Who they deny—they are not believers—thus they await the judgement of God as Israel did.
At the end of the day, our faith relies on God’s inerrant and authoritative Word. If this were not so, then Jude would not have written his letter to earnestly warn us to contend for it. In the midst of a culture of scoffers and doubters, both inside and outside the professing church, he wrote:
“You must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
Let us take heed to this warning and make sure our faith in the Word of God is one that protects us from being the recipient of Jesus’ revealing indictment to the Pharisee’s:
“Have you not read?” (Matt 12:3, 5; 19:4; 22:31; Mk 12:10).
“You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt 22:29).
—and to His disciple, Thomas:
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn 20:29).
In Christ alone,
Ben
