A Look at the Epistle of Jude

“When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.”- Jude 12-13

            The false teachers Jude was exposing to his readers were represented in several highly descriptive terms: “dangerous reefs”; “shameless shepherds”; clouds filled with no rain; doubly dead trees; wild, churning sea waves and “wandering stars”.  As a matter of fact there’s a good chance these charlatans may not have even been Christians. 

            Let’s look at the aforementioned terms: reefsare a strip or ridge of rocks just below the surface of the water. This was a reason lighthouses were first built. Slamming into a reef would completely destroy your ship. Shepherdstended their flocks, taking them to luscious green fields to graze and protected them from their natural enemies, wolves. Those without shame care nothing for their sheep. They pay little to no attention to them and do not go after them should they wander off.Rainis vital in the growth process of vegetation. Without it plants would shrivel up and die. And so on … the picture Jude has painted is a bleak one. False teachers are on a pathway to their own demise. Be very careful not to join them for once you turn your back of the Lord and continue down the wrong path, duped into believing a lie, there is no way back.  If you doubt that remember The Jonestown Massacre, in Guyana at the hands of Spiritual (Cultic) leader Jim Jones back in 1978. Once you were in there was no way out.

            Matthew shows Jesus words regarding how careful his disciples were to be when he states emphatically in Matthew 10:16, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”  Here Jesus is sending them outinto an ungodly world.  After Jesus ascended to the right seat of the Father the wolves came to those inthe church. You didn’t have to go looking for them; they were among you. Therefore, all believers must use the discernment provided by the Holy Spirit within to steer clear of the wolves. rlkeller

Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; The American Heritage Dictionary; Study Notes for Matthew 10:16 NLT from the Life Application Study Bible; p.2026.