Do you know how stupid I felt when I pulled a "rookie" boneheaded move?
I've been cleaning carpets since 1989, tens of thousands of square feet. You would think I knew what I was doing, wouldn't you?
It was a beautiful summer afternoon, around 4pm. I had been in Mount Shasta, California, all day and was hot and tired. After work, I want to jump in Lake Siskiyou on Friday afternoon in Mount Shasta or go home.
The tenants were moving into a rental house on Saturday, and the owner was desperate to get the rugs cleaned. I'm a sucker for folks moving into a new place. I agreed to do the job.
The carpet was soiled but primarily white, large looped, olefin Berber. I knew better but was hurrying to get home, so I decided to use a cleaning solution with a high pH. The risk was that it would develop a brown residue as it dried, and the alkalinity would wick to the top of the carpet fibers. I was so hurried that I skipped a post-cleaning mist of an acidic rinse agent. I knew it was a considerable risk.
On Saturday afternoon, the tenants texted me photos of the carpet with brown marks. There's a song with the phrase, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need." I got not only what I deserved but also what I needed.
On Sunday, I had to return to the job to rinse the carpets with an acid rinse. I had acted like an ignorant "rookie." Fixing something that would have taken me 15 minutes on Friday evening took me four hours on Sunday afternoon. I had forgotten the things that I had always known.
"I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though you once knew this."
Jude 5-7
"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. "
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, 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."
Last week, while meditating on these three verses from Jude, I suddenly realized I had missed something. The three records are tied together in the benefits that those judged possessed before their demise.
The first event records Israel's deliverance from Egypt as a nation, or people set free from their bondage, an unprecedented array of the miraculous.
After crossing through the Red Sea with the waters congealed on either side of the millions of Jews and the mixed multitude, they somehow forgot that God had provided for their salvation. The constant cry, "Have you brought us out of Egypt to perish here in the wilderness?" echoed in the ears of Moses and the LORD. What they once knew, they needed to be reminded of daily.
They were struggling with belief, and their faith wavered daily.
What is faith?
What is faith? Suppose you pay attention to some mainstream preachers and cults.
Some say faith is mustering mental fortitude and convincing yourself that something can or will happen.
Some say if you have enough faith, you will never be sick.
Some say if you are ill or have a physical ailment, you are in sin because you don't have enough faith.
How does God define faith? Romans chapter four is a cornerstone in building up oneself in the faith. Towards the end of the chapter, the Lord clarifies the definition of faith in this manner.
"He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. [Rom 4:20-22 KJV]"
Did you read verse 21 carefully? That is perhaps one of the New Testament's most precise definitions of faith. Please allow me to paraphrase it a little.
Faith is you or I being fully persuaded or convinced that God can do what He has promised. I'd take it even further and say that not only is God able to do something, but He is more than likely going to do what He promised.
Faith is you or I being fully persuaded or convinced that God can do what He has promised.
We all like to hear that God will accomplish what He has promised, but only when it concerns His blessings on us. Consider Israel, the Elect of God, who were cut off for a season so that Gentiles might be grafted in.
And why were Gentiles grafted in? So that in becoming the objects of God's salvation, Israel might be provoked into jealousy and once again seek genuine relationship and fellowship with the God of all creation.
"Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. [Rom 11:22 KJV]"
So, what had I overlooked in these three verses from Jude? First, there are three groups of beings mentioned.
Israel, God's Elect people. Chosen to be the lineage from which Christ would come. His special people. They were shown great blessings and fantastic miracles and were taken out of Egypt. Ultimately, only two of the original million-plus refugees would enter the promised land. The rest perished in the wilderness. They forgot what they once knew and lost their faith: "The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." God had accomplished that which He had promised.
The Angels "...which kept not their first estate..." had all the riches of heaven to enjoy, yet they wanted that they were forbidden to have. Christ told us that there is no marriage among the angels in heaven. "And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven." [Mar 12:24-25 KJV]" You can read more in Genesis 6. The angels left their first estate and took wives of the children of men. Their offspring were the giants and Nephilim. The race of giants was primarily found among the offspring of Ham and Canaan. I would posit that the angels once knew these things but doubted the word of God. They may have quit believing God would do what He had promised. They experienced both the goodness and the severity of God.
The Gentiles. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain had it all. If you recall history, Lot and Abraham became wealthy and possessed many animals. Their families and servants were too numerous to be supported in the land God had led them to. Given the choice, Lot chose the region of Sodom. "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD (Eden), like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." The people of Sodom and the plain cities were Canaanites descended from Ham. Ham and his offspring were cursed because of sexual sin. Lot, though he once knew these things, had forgotten the goodness and severity of God. He moved from outside of the city into its very midst. His wife longed for the pleasures of the world and perished.
The Children of Israel, in verse 5, lusted for meat and vegetables and desired sexual intercourse with men and women that God had forbidden them. They perished and failed to enter into the promises of God.
The angels of verse 6 desired the strange flesh of men and are now in "...everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
The men of Sodom and Gomorrah desired the strange flesh of angels and are now not only an example to us but suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.
God is both good and righteous. As a just judge, He treats all of His creation equally.
One of the things that caught my attention in these verses was the distinction of the members of creation mentioned. Too often, the Bible is read through the lens of Western Christianity, and we fail to observe that God has several dispensations of grace.
Consider Adam and Eve. There were no Jews or Gentiles, only Adam and Eve. They had only one law: Don't eat from that one tree! You can have anything else.
They could have eaten from the Tree of Life and lived forever, but they chose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil instead! "The Greeks seek after wisdom," God promised them that if they ate from that one tree, they would experience death. God fulfilled that promise, and death entered the world when sin entered. God gave them animal skins to cover their sin.
There is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. They experienced death and salvation. Their sin was forgiven, but not the consequence of sin.
The first dispensation came to a close with the Great Flood.
Another dispensation began with Noah. God began to distinguish between the descendants of Noah. Shem, Ham, and Japheth became the fathers of all mankind today.
From Shem came the Semitic peoples. From Ham came Egyptians, Africans, and the Canaanites. Japheth overspread the world, becoming the greatest in number of all people groups. Most of you reading this are probably genetically closer to Japheth than either of the other two.
When Abraham came along, God promised that his genetic descendants would be the special people of God. "Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day."
The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, was written first to this special People and then to the rest of us.
That's one reason these three historical events are mentioned: Israel, God's created angels, and the Gentiles. Each of these three groups had been blessed beyond measure. Each of these three groups once knew the truth. Even though they once knew these things, they fell into sexual immorality and lost their faith in God.
I doubt there are any cities in the world where men fail to slap God in the face with their rainbow stickers, flags, and banners.
God destroyed the world in a flood because mankind had become exceedingly wicked. Mankind had corrupted and polluted themselves, and like rabid animals, needed to be done away with. God promised mankind that He would never destroy the world again by a flood, and he gave us the Rainbow as a reminder of His promise.
God has also promised that He will utterly destroy the world by fire. Isaiah 24 hasn't happened yet. "The curse devoured the Earth, and they that dwell in it are desolate: therefore, the inhabitants of the Earth are burned, and few men are left."
God promises eternal destruction, the fires of hell, and the blackness of darkness forever to all who reject his salvation. The destiny of all who do not believe is eternal judgment for the Elect, The Fallen Angels, and The Gentiles.
For the believing ones, there is eternal life and all the riches of the heavens in Christ.
Jude began this paragraph with, "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this." We have a conscience because God gave man a moral law in his heart. We subconsciously know right and wrong.
The godless know it's wrong to steal, or they wouldn't lock their doors at night.
The godless know that adultery is wrong. They don't want their partners to have multiple partners.
The godless know that murder is wrong because they don't want to be murdered.
The godless know lying is wrong. I've never met someone who loved being lied to, have you?
The godless realize it's wrong to blaspheme the only true God. If it wasn't sin, they would equally blaspheme Buddha, Krishna, Shiva, or even their parents or their spouses. No one says, "Buddha Damn it," and maybe it's because we all know deep inside that Buddha doesn't have the power or authority to condemn anyone or anything. Only God has that sort of power.
I use Grammarly to help me write, and even it recognizes this simple fact. Grammarly wants me to insert a comma after Buddha in the slanderous phrase as if the subject of the slur is Buddha and not the one being condemned.
We are nearing the end of the dispensation of the Gentiles. God promises an end to this age. "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." [Rom 11:25]
The next dispensation is not a new dispensation but the final seven years of one that was paused when Christ birthed the Church. The last seven years of human history on Earth as we know it is also referred to as Daniel's 70th week.
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." [Dan 9:24 KJV]
The 70 weeks and 7 years of tribulation are not for Gentiles or Angels. Daniel wrote concerning the purpose and priority. Let's look together.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy (Daniel's) people. (Israel)
And upon thy holy city (Jerusalem)
There's no mention of Gentiles being the subject of the last seven years. Gentiles are saved to provoke Elect Israel to come to salvation. It's one of the reasons you don't find the Church on Earth in the book of Revelation after chapter four and until chapter 18.
In Jude 1:3-4 we're warned about certain men creeping in, and they too once knew these things. You are without excuse, Oh Man. Only when we come to understand and seize upon the truth that God is not only able to accomplish what He has promised but that God will do what He has promised will we come to a saving knowledge and faith in Christ for Salvation.
Do you believe in sin? Do you lie, steal, kill, blaspheme the Name of God, and commit sexual sin? Do you sin and know it's sin? Then, you have faith that sin is actual. God has promised a reward for sin and a reward for righteousness.
I'll mention it again here: We want to believe in God for the blessings but not the severity. We all want heaven, but many are unwilling to depart from sin to gain it.
Some are like Elect Israel, who wanted to go back to Egypt because they missed the pleasures of their lust fulfilled. Some are like the Fallen Angels who ignored the instruction of God and took what was forbidden. Some are like the Gentiles of Sodom, who sought to sodomize the angels of God.
We all want heaven, but what does it profit a man if he were to gain all the riches of the Earth, and yet his soul should perish in eternal torment forever?
Share this post