As we
continue looking at the spiritual insight Jude shares, he begins to further identify
characteristics of the false teachers that will seek to destroy the church and
lead believers to turn away from the truth of God’s word.
Jude 1:8 “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh,
despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”
It is very interesting to me that Jude makes a point of
the fact that these false teachers are led by their dreams. The implication is that in light of these
dreams they justify immorality and easily set aside or reject the truth of
God’s word. Both Islam and Mormonism
originated from the dreams of men. There
are books on the bestseller lists that claim to reveal what heaven is like based
on dreams or visions. The fact we need
to embrace is that anything that goes against or is not founded in God’s word
is not truth.
The first two seem quite obvious, but the third gave me
pause—How can we “slander celestial beings?”
Actually, when I looked at the Greek for “dignities,” the KJV made the
best sense. The word is “doxa” and means
“dignity, glory, honor, praise and worship.”
In my mind this means that they spoke evil of good things—things
deserving of honor, praise, and worship—the things of God. That’s what godless men do.
One of my former pastors, Bruce Lackey, once wisely
observed: “Rejection of authority in one
area will lead to the same thing in all areas of life.”
Mark Hitchcock teaches that the reference to
“dignities” is to fallen angels, and this makes even better sense to me.
Even fallen angels still occupy a higher position in the creative order than
man. He pointed out how so much of false teaching today is directed
toward assuming authority over spiritual powers that only God possesses.
Paul understood this truth as recorded in his letter to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “And lest I should be
exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should
be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it
might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
He knew that he had no authority over this
emissary of Satan and that it was to God’s authority that he must appeal for
release—and eventually yield for strength to endure. Even the archangel Michael was careful in how
he rebuked the devil when guarding the body of Moses.
Jude 1:9 “Yet Michael the archangel,
when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not
bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
This would have been important to prevent the people from
making his body an object of honor that in human weakness would have developed
into worship and who knows what after that.
Satan will use anything to take our focus off God.
David Guzik had an interesting thought: “It
is more likely to consider that the devil anticipated a purpose God had for
Moses’ body, and he tried to defeat that plan. We know that after his death,
Moses appeared in bodily form at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3) with
Elijah (whose body was caught up to heaven in 2 Kings 2). Perhaps also Moses and Elijah are the two
witnesses of Revelation 11, and God needed Moses’ body for that future plan.”
Michael was careful not to make his own accusation
regarding Satan’s purpose; he knew that to be God’s prerogative and said
so—“The Lord rebuke thee.”
Michael was
also giving deference to Satan’s position in creation as indicated by the
following verses from Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 28:12-14 Son of man, take up a
lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou
hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the
sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy
tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast
created. Thou art the anointed cherub
that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of
God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
He respected the
position without being deterred from right action. He determined to do God’s will and leave it
to God to rebuke and punish the one seeking to abuse his position of
authority. This is a very important
principle for every Christian to understand when responding to ungodly
authorities in our own lives.
(to be
continued…)
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