Commentary of The Letter of Jude
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A Commentary of the Letter of Jude, Verses 1-7
Introduction to the Epistle of Jude
The Epistle of Jude is part of the accepted canon of the New Testament, and there it stands in the 21st and thus the last and most prominent place of the doctrinal epistles of the New Testament, even in Luther's Bibles, and for an important reason, which we can summarize in one short phrase: "But after this the judgment." As we have pointed out elsewhere, the order of the New Testament epistles is of immense importance; see: Structure of the Bible, Table 3. In this table we have included only the 14 letters of Paul, because the letters of James, Peter, John and Jude contribute nothing to the very building of the spiritual sanctuary, but, as is said in 1 Peter: Be ye also yourselves, as living stones, built up, a spiritual house. This is not a contradiction to what was said before. Not only the actual house belongs to the sanctuary, but also the area on which the house stands, the spiritual temple district.
Now the house still has to be secured and this is done by building a wall with living stones. The aim of the fortification is to prevent unauthorized access to the temple. (But one will come, the coming thief and he will climb over wall. Who builds the wall?) Peter therefore speaks of wall stones, in contrast Paul never speaks of living stones. Only once he uses the Greek word “lithos”, when he speaks of the building materials for the temple, these stones the apostle calls "precious stones", which are used by workers in the temple area. This shows, there is an essential difference between 1Co 3:12 and 1Pe 2:5, which we would do well to note for safety reasons. The verb “build” that Paul uses is in the active voice and the verb “built up” in Peter's letter is in the passive voice, which means now the recipients of Peter's letter are inserted as stones (in the wall). It is different in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, there the apostle describes building workers who build independently. Their materials are, among others, gold, silver and precious stones.
Also the Judas letter does not contribute anything to build, rather it delivers to the recipients in telegram style the most important information to defend the spiritual temple district (with the mending of the wall) and moreover it reminds to save the others out of the fire.
Who are the recipients of Jude's letter?
This is an exciting question, because Jude does not specify an addressee. And yet, the answer is found, as always, in the Word of God itself. Indeed, it comes from the structure of the New Testament as we have discovered it, and it may be hard to believe, but the recipients of the letter are the seven churches of Revelation. Before we get to the content of the letter, we strongly recommend that you read the letter at least once for context at the beginning. Jude 1. Jude addresses his letter to the end-time church and, as we know, it is called Laodicea. This follows, as previously stated, from the structure of the Bible; see Table 2. Now the fact is, Laodicea does not stand alone, but represents the entire Christian witness of the end times, consisting of the seven churches of Revelation. When the term beloved is used, Jude alludes to the youngest brother of Joseph, the nestling of the family, who needs such attention to be sure that the Lord has accepted him without ifs and buts.Reasons for writing the letter?
Actually, Judas had planned to write about, as he puts it, "our common salvation", i.e., he intended to write a circular letter that all Christians of the seven churches should read. Abruptly, Judas puts aside his writing utensils and leaves the letter he had already begun in haste. What had happened? Bad news had been spread, very bad news indeed. From now on, everything must go even faster. Judas feels compelled by the precarious situation to write a circular letter with a completely different content. As a high officer, he calls on all Christians to fight for the faith that was handed down "once". Again the question: What had happened? The hot war has broken out and now Judas calls the soldiers to the front. (Sofa Christianity was yesterday). With his breaking news, he confirms to the recipients that the situation has indeed dramatically worsened. Foreign scouts have previously sounded out how they can bring down the Christian bulwark. They have already crossed the borders in large numbers (in Germany).The worldwide weather change is not to be ignored, the low pressure area of global extent thunders and roars in our ears. It is the devilish attempt to bring about a Climate Change of a special kind and that within the Christian world. The winds are getting rougher, the Zeitgeist (spirits) are storming more and more violently. Truly, an ice-cold wind is already blowing in the face of the Christians. It is winter time. Judas has a sense for it, sees the threatening disaster coming. For this reason he had already begun to write his first circular letter, but it was never completed and thus never went on its journey. Already that letter he had begun in hurry and haste, in the hope that things would not get completely out of hand, at least for the time being. But who could have guessed, not even Judas, that a bolt from the blue would strike the whole world.
Now it is time to put on warm clothing and the whole armor. From now on, we are all called upon to take up the fight to save people and at the same time expose the errors of the Zeitgeist. Those who have been asleep so far, hurry to the front rested, but not without knowing the enemy and what threats Laodicea is exposed to by those and especially what insidious attacks on the end-time church have been planned or already carried out. We will come to the details later. We repeat for the understanding of what has been said: Laodicea represents the entire Christian testimony. The other six churches each form a subset of the end-time church. Here are a few examples: Thyatira represents the Roman Church, Sardis represents Protestantism, and Philadelphia represents the Evangelicals, but together they form the end-time church. See graphic along with description.
Graphic: The last round on the postal route of Asia Minor
The gray circle includes all the churches of Revelation; together they form the end-time church. We have taken the order from Exodus 23. Every year Israel celebrated these seven feasts, ordained by the Lord. The festival cycle begins at 12:00 with the church of Laodicea. It continues with Ephesus, followed by Smyrna, then, contrary to the historical course, it goes to Philadelphia. These four churches describe the four spring festivals.
The prophetic dimension of the Epistle of Jude
History repeats itself, says a standing saying and this is also true for the conditions almost 2000 years ago. Jude and the churches of the first century experienced stormy times, this does not come out as clearly through the 12 apostles as it does with Paul, for he was: excessively beaten, was excessively in prison and excessively in danger of death; beaten fourty times minus one and that five time; three times with sticks on the feet, stoned once, shipwrecked three times, and much more. At the end of his life's journey, Paul could say, "I have fought the good fight as a proper soldier of Jesus Christ. Now his fight and his suffering and also that of the other Christians of the first century should serve us as an example for the end-time conflict.
General information about the structure and the construction of the Epistle of Jude
The letter of Jude is extraordinarily constructed, because the applicable classifications are only possible through the previously established structures. The 25 verses are just not so easy to divide with First, Second, Third and yet, once the structure is recognized, it is easier to divide the letter. While it may be hard to believe at first, we found that Jude's letter borrows from those structures we have already discovered in the New Testament, and here in particular the discovery of the feast cycle in Revelation 2 and 3. Even though we have described one thing or another in other scripts, it is inevitable for the sake of context that there will be repetition. No one should be put off by this; on the contrary, it consolidates knowledge, for it is still true that repetition is the mother of all learning.
In the following table we contrast two chronologies, both based on the seven letters to the seven churches. In the first column we see the course of church history and in the second column the course of the seven feasts of the Lord. The colored dots represent the materials which, taken from Exodus 25, we have assigned in their order to the churches. And the wise master builder confirms us the correct assignments with his 14 letters, in addition three examples: Gold stands for the Epistle to the Romans, subject: righteousness; silver stands for the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, subject: holiness; copper points to the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, subject: service in the court, etc. We will discuss further details at the appropriate place.
In the following table we contrast two chronologies, both based on the seven letters to the seven churches. In the first column we see the course of church history and in the second column the course of the seven feasts of the Lord. The colored dots represent the materials which, taken from Exodus 25, we have assigned in their order to the churches. And the wise master builder confirms us the correct assignments with his 14 letters, in addition three examples: Gold stands for the Epistle to the Romans, subject: righteousness; silver stands for the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, subject: holiness; copper points to the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, subject: service in the court, etc. We will discuss further details at the appropriate place.
Tables: 1. history of the church - 2. The Seven Feasts.
Note: The dates of the historical course of the church we have made on the basis of our own investigations; however, they were not carved in stone by us, especially not the beginning of Thyatira. Only at the end of the 8th or at the beginning of the 9th century the Eastern Church gave up its resistance against the primacy of Rome, therefore we set the actual beginning of Thyatira to the end of the 8th century.
The division of the letter
The letter consists of 25 verses, which we divide into ten sections, which, without prejudice, could be divided differently. But we stick to the concept of the units of seven, which is most conspicuous in the fixed cycle, and which, moreover, reveals to us details that could not otherwise be discerned.
In the first three verses, Jude uses the word love in three ways. We have already mentioned it and we will not tire of pointing it out further: It is extremely important for the recipients of the letter to know that the Lord loves them. Some readers of the letter might think after the Rapture that the Lord no longer loves me because I have fallen behind. Hence the constant assurance: you are loved. It is quite striking how often in the seven letters, which we assign to the time of the post-tribulation rapture, it is affirmed again and again that the Lord also really loves the beloved. 22 times the word agape (Strong No. G026) is found in the seven letters of James, Peter, John and Jude. For comparison: 28 times in the 14 letters of the apostle Paul.
Before we present and explain the structures, a brief word about the systematic. Not every assignment seems to be obvious at first sight. It was necessary to bring the verses or the used terms into a fixed order and to assign them the appropriate place within the seven churches. If at least one detail from the text is clear, we have assigned it to appropriate ones. Before that, we checked the parallel texts. More details below.
Brief overview
The first seven verses form a unit, from them it is quite easy to see that they are ordered according to the festival cycle, which begins with Laodicea and ends with Thyatira. From verse 8 on, however, things get tricky. Only one detail was clear from the beginning, Sardis stands for the fifth feast, the feast of the trumpet hall. The church, as the Lord states, is a sleeping church and must be awakened by the trumpets. With Sardis, then, we have arrived thematically in the autumn, at the feast of the neck of trumpets. The church of Pergamos stands for the following feast, Yom Kippur (Feast of Atonement) and Thyatira for the Feast of Tabernacles.
The verses 11 to 16, that are six in number, are introduced with "Woe to them". But how to assign them and to which church? By examining the words and stories that Jude refers to in the corresponding verses. We found we are constantly moving back and forth, from Sardis to Pergamos to Thyatira and back, and then sometimes quite differently.
Pergamos occupies a special position among the three churches, this is already clear from the order of the three. Pergamos stands between Sardis and Thyatira and thus forms their middle. In this context it should be mentioned: The church of Pergamos is that place where Satan is enthroned and right nearby is the synagogue of Satan.
In the following table we have summarized the division of the letter. The 10 sections are numbered and are shown in the first column. In the second column we indicate the number of verses for the section. In the third column we show the text section and in the fourth column we show which cycle the section refers to or which church is referred to. For the sake of clarity we have entered "all three - S/P/T" if the passage refers to Sardis and Pergamos and Thyatira.
Devision of The Letter of Jude into 10 Section | |||
O | N | Verse | Object |
| 1 | 7 | 1-7 | Festival Cycle: Laodicea to Thyatira |
| 2 | 3 | 8-10 | Fall Feasts: Sardes, Pergamos, Thyatira |
| 3 | 1 | 11 | S/P/T |
| 4 | 1 | 12 | S/P/T |
| 5 | 2 | 13-14 | S/P/T |
| 6 | 1 | 15 | S/P/T |
| 7 | 1 | 16 | S/P/T |
| 8 | 3 | 17-19 | Laodicäa |
| 9 | 4 | 20-23 | Laodicäa |
| 10 | 2 | 24-25 | Praise to The LORD |
From the table that now follows, it is quite easy to read out the fixed cycle by means of the keywords. The first column contains the verse number, the second column contains the verse and in the third column the color-coded keywords are assigned to the corresponding terms of the epistles.
The Letter of Jude - Verses 1-7 | Keywords | ||
| 1 | Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: | Laodicea
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| 2 | May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. | Ephesus
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| 3 | Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. | Smyrna
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| 4 | For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. | Philadelphia
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| 5 | Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. | Sardis
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| 6 | And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day | Pergamos
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| 7 | just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. | Thyatira
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Our concept of interpretation of the Letter of Jude
After getting an overview, we go into the individual verses, taking out the important terms, step by step. First, we visit our library, take out the relevant dictionaries, look for the corresponding entries, note down the words and their translations. Then we look for their first occurrence in the New Testament and then for all other passages. The parallels found in the teaching letters are used by us primarily for the evaluation, they enjoy thus a certain preference, because we look for that church, which is to be identified with the looked for word. We also give priority to the teaching letters because we have already assigned them to the seven churches, in this respect they provide us with a first clue.
Those teaching letters in which the terms can be found again clearly narrow down our search field, provide us with a second clue as to which church is possibly being referred to. We examine the parallel texts as a whole and always ask ourselves: Where does the text agree with the content of what Judas said, does it describe the same subject? If so, we assign the term to the corresponding church of Revelation. Before we make the assignment, however, an important secondary condition must first be checked and met, and that is the references to the Old Testament. They, too, must be both appropriate to the parallels and coherent with what is said by Jude. In this approach we move on the hidden basic structure of the Holy Scripture, which is itself capable of matching and at the same time confirming the correctness of our work or not. In short: We puzzle with terms, either it fits or not.
The interpretation of the Epistle of Jude in detail
Vers 1: Jude, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, and yet a brother of James. To: Those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept safe by Jesus, the Messiah. | Laodicea
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From now on, we will assume that the reader is familiar with the feast cycle of Genesis 23. While reading, one should always keep in mind that Laodicea forms the end-time church. The other churches prophetically describe the course of the last seven times before continuing with the description in Revelation 4.
The first verse must definitely be assigned to the Laodicean church, because the keyword "beloved" leads us directly to Revelation 3, verse 17, where the Lord says: "I convict and chasten as many as I love. Be zealous therefore and repent. Literally, the verse could also be translated: I refute/exhort and educate (in the sense of train) i.e. discipline as many as I love. That sounds like the education of a child by its father, or not? With this we have the next word from the Epistle of Jude that points to Laodicea, the word father, because Jude writes to those whom God, the Father, loves. We can conclude: the beloved preserved in Christ are children of God. This would give us a third word, the word: preserved. The Lord lets His beloved know, I will protect you and keep you, in all that may come, even death is no danger, because Jesus has conquered death. Everyone who believes in Jesus has eternal life; John 3:16. And, he who believes in the Son has eternal life; John3:36. And then Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you: He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed out of death into life.
And now to the fourth term that Jude uses, the word called. The question arises as to what the beloved are called to do. We believe that verse 21 of Revelation 3 gives us an answer. Jesus says, "To him who overcomes I will give to sit with me on my throne, just as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. What does a throne speak of? But first of all about the fact that on a throne sitting majesties are. Even though the idea of ruling is connected with it, it is not further elaborated in the letter to Laodicea. Only the sitting on the throne of Jesus is promised to the overcomer. One cannot be closer to his king. Sitting with him on his throne tells us something else: the queen sits next to her husband.
Vers 2: May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance! | Ephesus
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We assign the second verse to the church of Ephesus. Those who are already familiar with the letter know what criticism the Lord made of her. Ephesus was in and of itself diligent and conscientious, the Lord even certifies this to her in writing in Revelation 2,2: I know your works, your labor, your perseverance, and that you cannot bear evil; you have tested and exposed those as liars. All this was not enough for the Lord, for He too is diligent and exact. And so Ephesus must go to the last round. Verse 1 already makes it clear where Ephesus is. Perhaps the reader will find out for himself. Let us read and listen carefully to what the Lord says: To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: This says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Where is the church located? Is Ephesus among the candlesticks or among the stars? Remember what the Lord once said to her, "Remember now from what you have fallen and repent and do the first works; but if not, I will come to you and will move your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.
Ephesus' candlestick had been moved away by the Lord for a long time, but now it is back in its place. The candlestick is a picture of the righteousness of God described in Romans, but it is also a picture of the seven spirits of God on earth. If its seven lamps burn before the throne of God, then they are called lamps of fire. Ephesus is therefore still on earth. And what about the stars in his hand? The seven stars represent the raptured church. Their lights shine on Ephesus even when it becomes dark on earth.
Now the lampstand is back in its place and so it is all too understandable that Judas in particular wishes that the Lord would give the church much mercy and peace and love. Judas speaks here from his own experience. How he and his brothers rejected the elder as Messiah for a long time. How lovingly and tenderly Jesus must have treated his half-brothers, so that in the end they still believed in him.
What does mercy mean for Judas, what peace and what love for him personally? The first time we find the word mercy is in Genesis 43:14 and who pronounces it? The brother Jacob(us): "And Israel their father said ...bring a present to the man (speaking of Joseph) ... take double money ... Take your brother (Who is the brother? It is Judas Benjamin!) and arise, return to the man. And God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he let you go your other brother and Benjamin. We know the happy ending, and Judas and the recipients of his letter can be just as happy because they have returned to the man they once delivered. The brothers found their peace with Joseph through the mercy of God, which Joseph passed on to his brothers and that in heartfelt love.
But now we still have not explained the word mercy. In Hebrew it is Racham רחם and means: compassion, the word is always in the plural. The word root can be translated as: to caress, to express love, to have compassion, to be compassionate. Joseph loved his half-brothers, but he especially loved Benjamin. On the allegorical level, Benjamin represents Israel in the end times. We conclude: the Lord loves his end-time Church above all else. The story of Ephesus can and will be a great comfort to Laodicea and bring her peace about the things of the past because she has turned back to the Man who loves her.
The Hebrew language always leaves one speechless. The word Racham also means virgin. Laodicea will walk in the end in white spotless garments.
Verse 3: Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write to you and urge you to continue your vigorous defense of the faith that was passed down to the saints once and for all. | Smyrna
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We assign the third verse to the church of Smyrna. The Lord begins his letter to Smyrna with the words: I am the first and the last who died and came to life again. Why does the Lord introduce himself in this way? Hostilities have broken out and now there is war, a conflict that will take on global proportions, so Judas writes even more hurriedly than ever before. We can only interpret his exhortations positively, because they are life-saving. False promises and poor comforts are alien to him.
Jude urges his readers to fight, and all of them. For the final confrontation with the enemies from the synagogue of Satan, many motivated fighters are needed. It is helpful to have role models, and we find such a role model in Jesus. It is quite by chance that the Lord offers himself as a role model in the Epistle to Smyrna. How much pain and tribulation the Lord endured and was even willing to go to his death for us. With this example in mind, Smyrna may bravely go to the front and with the Lord's help they will overcome fear and anxiety and pass the test with flying colors.
It is not for nothing that Judas uses the word love a third time. The third time he uses a term of endearment, he addresses the recipients as: Beloved. Jude himself has experienced being a beloved of the Lord, only for this reason he can write boldly and cheer the church. And how much the Lord loves Smyrna, he makes clear to her by intending to give her a gift. He promises her a crown, and a very special one at that, which is, as it were, the expression of her victory over her enemies; it is the crown of life. What does it matter if the devil harasses and even kills her? Nothing, he even hastens the delivery of the gift, because with death Smyrna passes into eternal life. There the Lord personally puts the crown of victory on her. Remember, this crown is not to be had for free, it only crowns the one who has remained faithful until the end of the test.
Verse 4: For some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. They were written about long ago as being deserving of this condemnation because they are ungodly. They turn the grace of our God into uncontrollable lust and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. | Philadelphia
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The fourth verse is addressed to the church of Philadelphia. The Lord Jesus Christ begins his letter with the words: This says the Holy One, the Truthful One. And Jude contrasts when he calls attention to the unholy and untruthful, for he warns against certain people who have crept in and turn the grace of God into debauchery. Philadelphia did not notice, so Jude must point out those. Holiness and debauchery are mutually exclusive, aren't they? They form an opposite pair, which is shown in dealing with transgressions and sin. A saint falls seven times in a day and gets up again. The debauchees remain in their debauchery and therefore cannot fall. He who is spiritually dead cannot rise.
But how was it possible for the unholy to creep into the church? As we have just read, only he, the Lord, is true; but those impostors deceive and lie, making it difficult for the faithful to distinguish between the two.
The tiny characteristic of the wicked is that they offer the grace of God, but if you look into their bag, you discover cheap stuff. The word "debauchery" is only a rudimentary description of what these cheap sellers have up their sleeves. With the Greek word Aselgeia Jude expresses the following: These ungodly live licentiously. Let us imagine that we had never accustomed a horse to reins and wanted to ride it without the bridle, we would almost certainly be in the saddle for only a few seconds. Not we would steer the horse, the horse would let us feel who is in charge because of its lack of dressage. A well-trained horse that is used to being bridled may get out of hand, but it can be tamed with its reins, but a wild horse that is completely untrained and unrestrained will rebel against any attempt.
When two people do the same thing, it is not the same. The wicked sins because he lives unrestrainedly, the faithful can be restrained in the case. He may fall back into the same savagery, but shortly thereafter gets up again and returns to the path of virtue. The wicked, however, does not even think about repentance, he feels free in free fall. It is not always easy to recognize whether someone is merely weak or fundamentally evil. The weak person must be supported with long-suffering gentleness, but the wicked person must be unmistakably shown the truthfulness of the Word of God. The rule here is: recognize the difference.
Perhaps someone is of the opinion that he has nothing to do with such evil things, to him we give to consider that the disciplining reaches much further and he shows himself in it just now and then unrestrained. The brother of Judas complements in this matter, holds up a mirror to all of us when he writes: If someone thinks he serves God - and we all do, don't we? - And does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart, his worship is worthless. Who among us has restrained himself in such a way that he never sins with his tongue? By disciplining our tongue, we also train our body. You can see how the Lord envisions such training here. https://youtu.be/FVy77q_AJYs
The prophet also suffered from the sins of unclean lips. Only in Isaiah 6, when he confessed the sin to God, did the Lord cleanse him.By the way, one of these enemies expressed on Facebook that what we are writing is dirt, do you think so too?
The godless in the congregation of Philadelphia will be revealed after the Rapture and then clearly identified as a special group, namely as the synagogue of Satan. It is to be presumed that they will convert to Pergamos or, to put it even more clearly, the church will be converted to Pergamos. Signs can already be seen today.
The godless in the congregation of Philadelphia will be revealed after the Rapture and then clearly identified as a special group, namely as the synagogue of Satan. It is to be presumed that they will convert to Pergamos or, to put it even more clearly, the church will be converted to Pergamos. Signs can already be seen today.
Verse 5: Now I want to remind you, even though you are fully aware of these things, that the Lord who once saved his people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe. | Sardis
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The fifth verse is addressed to the church of Sardis. The Lord begins with the words: This says who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Concerning the letter to Ephesus we have already explained that the seven stars in the hand of the Lord represent the raptured church. Now those who are left behind also form His church, and that is the church of the third and final round - Laodicea. And because we have arrived chronologically in Sardis, at the time of the first autumn festival, we must assume that Philadelphia was raptured and with her the Spirit of God. Therefore, there must be a second Rapture. Yes, it is similar for us, one may hardly believe that there is a second rapture. But according to our understanding, things cannot be explained in any other way. In Joh. 5,24, Jesus, according to our estimation, deals exactly with this event. Verily, verily, I say unto you - the end-time church of Laodicea - He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me - the Father - hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment. From the context of the text it can be seen that this cannot be the final judgment, because Jesus adds: But he has passed out of death into life.
The verse from John 5:24 describes in one sentence without transition the four personal spring feasts. At the beginning there is the conversion, i.e. a person must hear the gospel and believe - Passover - it then leads to a life with the Lord - Ephesus - and as at all times, the sufferings and tribulations are added, they test our faith for authenticity - Smyrna - often the sufferings only lead to a real rebirth - Philadelphia - that in turn means that the Holy Spirit then takes up residence in a person. This can happen in stages, but also in a moment.
Not so for Sardis, for the summer is past and the fruit harvest over; and: Philadelphia is with the Lord. Therefore Jesus informs the church that the seven spirits of God are with him and not on earth. The drama of the end-time church can be expressed in one short sentence: You have no oil. Already some time ago we, the authors, determined that we have to assign the oil, which belongs to the material list of the tabernacle, to the letter of Titus and this again to the church of Sardis. See again Table 3 on the page: Structure of the Bible. Now we understand why the Lord speaks of the seven Spirits of God and not of candlesticks. In the fall there are only three assemblies, Sardis, Pergamos and Thyatira. And where there are no lamps, there is no need for oil. It looks dark in Sardis.
At this point Jude starts when he writes, I want to remind you - the sleeping ones - who used to know everything - Sola Scriptura, sola Fide, sola Gratia - of what Martin Luther proclaimed in the name of the Lord. Jude thus completes the words of Jesus: remember and recall - what you received through Martin Luther and repent. We find a second parallel between the words of the Lord and Judas. Jesus warns against the thief and Judas recalls how God destroyed those who did not believe his word. In what does the parallel lie? The white garments suggest it, they stand not only for sinlessness but also for eternal life and this the Lord takes away from them like a thief when Sardis does not repent. For the same reason, the Lord destroyed the people in the desert, because they had not believed him.
And a third parallel we find, also it is not obvious. Jesus says: I know your works, that you have the name, that you live but are dead. Jude recalls the rescue from Egypt, that night when the strangler angel killed all the firstborn. Israel escaped with their lives, but the Lord killed most of them in the desert because of their unbelief. For Israel it was the salvation from Egypt, the Babylon of the West, which in turn stands for the salvation of Sardis from the Babylon of the Roman Church. Through Martin Luther, God had delivered the people of Europe from the rule of Rome. The enemy had taken the sleeping people to spiritual Babylon. Whoever is awakened at the Feast of the Feast of Trumpets and repents receives white garments and will be given eternal life.
Verse 6: He has also held in eternal chains those angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their assigned place. They are held in deepest darkness for judgment on the great day. | Pergamos
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The sixth verse is addressed to the church of Pergamos. The Lord begins with the words: This says he who has the sharp and two-edged sword. What the sword stands for, whose characteristics are particularly emphasized, sharp and sharpened on both sides, we want to look at now. For understanding we quote the most famous sentence of Willy Brandt (former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany), "What belongs together grows together". It will be different in the community of Pergamos, in it grew together what does not belong together and that can be separated only with the double-edged sword.
The wicked of the synagogue of Satan harassed, imprisoned and killed the faithful in the time of Smyrna, then they sneaked into the church unnoticed during the time of Philadelphia. After the Rapture, of course, they remained on earth. With them also remained a second group, whom the Lord calls "the sincere", that is, those who have already been converted but not yet born again. These two are razor-sharp separated on Yom Kippur.
We should remember again, we are describing the last church of Revelation - Laodicea - and it is in the autumn season, represented by the churches of Sardis, Pergamos and Thyatira. And because we have arrived at the second festival of autumn, the great day of atonement, called Yom Kippur, on this festival the rams are separated from the sheep. And this is done in the following way: On Yom Kippur, the priest must take two goats, one for God and the other for Azazel. The first goat for the Lord, who makes atonement for the upright of Pergamos, and the second goat is for Asasel.
Jude alludes to this when he writes: And angels, which kept not their first state, but left their own habitation, he hath kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great DAY. Let's translate the verse to the members of the synagogue of Satan: And messengers who did not pay attention and protect their high position, but left their own dwelling (by means of Kabbalah, occultism and transhumanism), he has sent to the (dark) wilderness (prison) bound with eternal chains for the judgment of the great day. To the sincere, however, the Lord informs that he knows where they dwell, namely in the midst of ravening wolves. But they hold fast and do not deny the name of Jesus. However, the Lord has a few things to criticize. Pergamos could recognize who teaches the doctrine of Balaam and exclude them from the congregation, but they allow the - stranger foreigner - (literally Balaam), to drag the holy into the mud, he despises the Lord's Supper and offers animal sacrifices instead. Thus, those from the synagogue of Satan complete the erection of the abomination in the holy place and commit spiritual fornication.
Man can err, so the Lord addresses things and calls for repentance. To him who repents, the Lord will give of the hidden and veiled manna and a stone on which is written a new name for the overcomer. But those who do not repent, against them he will wage war and completely wipe out the nest of resistance on the day of judgment.
Verse 7: Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. | Thyatira
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The seventh verse is addressed to the church of Thyatira. The Lord begins with the words: This says the Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like shining copper. Already in the first chapter we read about his feet, which are compared to shining copper, but there the copper is still glowing, in the letter to Thyatira only the shine is seen. What does the copper speak of? It symbolizes man, the court with its utensils and the sacrificial service. Because the copper feet of the Lord no longer glow, we must conclude that His service in the outer court is complete. Once Jesus became the Passover slaughtered outside the city of Jerusalem. Since that time, everyone who believes in him is saved, he also has forgiveness for everything, and being born again, he becomes a child of God. But it is judgment day, we are at the beginning of the 1000-year kingdom of peace, and the Lord will separate the rams from the sheep and hand them over to the judicial officer.
Therefore, the Lord speaks not only of his feet but also of his eyes and they are like a flame of fire. It is the fire in the eyes that connects the first verse of this letter with the seventh verse of Jude. Jude 1:7 says in the last subordinate clause, ... suffering punishment of eternal fire. Jude explains why God passes this crushing judgment: like Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, they, the fornicators in Thyatira, have given themselves over to fornication and thus filled the cup of judgment.
What the eyes are, the Lord explains in Luke 11,34. They are lamps of the body and what do the lamps do? First of all they stand on the lampstand, an image for the body, and search every dark room, that means: such a lamp is, you can imagine, transportable, everywhere it can be taken along. And so the Lord has been traveling for a long time, has visited all the capitals of the earth, has been in every village, even in the smallest settlement he has looked around, in order to prove himself mighty to those whose hearts are undividedly set on him. But during the journey he also saw unpleasant things, the prophet Zephaniah makes certain hints and then on his last stage he shone his lamps through Jerusalem and found out: All the men lie idle, are even of the opinion that also the Lord is idle, therefore they speak in their heart: The Lord does nothing good and does nothing bad. Wrong thinking and they should have known better.
The day of judgment comes. As a prophet, Jude especially reminds the church of what the Lord saw during his visit to the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah and the consequences he drew. In a jiffy, gone. And Sodom was no more. The judgment was quickly executed. So also in the late autumn on the journey of the postal route of Asia Minor. Quite a few in Thyatira indulge in the same kind of fornication and will not desist from it. Because they also use violence in the process, this cries out especially loudly to heaven. God gave them time, a lot of time, but now the copper is no longer glowing. The Lord will kill the spiritually dead with death.
Berlin, June 13, 2023
© Copyright 2023 by H. Randy Rohrer
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