APOSTATES in the last days
by Louis T. Talbot, D.D. Biola Chancelor
Part two of a special three part series from the Book of Jude
E ver since sin entered the world , Satan has had his false teachers in the world to keep men from God. Jude puts us “ in remembrance’* of judgment which came Upon these apostates of olden times, “ for an example’’ and a warning against all unbelief. He gives us three illustrations of former judgments: (1) Upon Egypt; (2) upon the fallen angels; and (3) upon Sodom and Gomorrha. 1. J udgment upon E gypt , (Jude 5). In Egypt God had given men an opportunity to know Him as the true and living Lord; but Egypt refused to have the knowledge of God in their minds. Pharaoh was even bold and blasphemous enough to ask, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” (Exod. 5 :2 ). All knowledge o f God has been lost. On the night of the first passover Pharaoh and all his army were drowned in the waters of judgment. The glory of Egypt is gone, because Egypt apostatized from God. Today we see only the ruins of a civilization that has passed. Egypt is a striking type of the God-dishonoring, Christ-rejecting, Spirit-resisting world. Satan is “ the god of this world” (II Cor. 4 :4 ). He “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5 :8 ), causing men to turn away from the living God. When Jude wanted to warn believers against apostates, he reminded them of what happened to the glory o f Egypt when that nation forgot God. 2. J udgment upon the F allen A ngels , (Jude 6). Again, Jude puts us “ in remembrance” of the judgment which came upon “ the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,” and are “ reserved in everlasting chains under dark ness unto the judgment of the great day.” How sol emn are these words! How filled with mystery! When that scene took place, I do not know, possibly
before Adam was created, possibly when Lucifer fell from heaven and became Satan. The Lord Jesus, eternal God, said when He was on earth, “ I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). We need only turn to Ezekiel 28:12-19 and Isaiah 14:12-17 to find God’s record of the beauty and position of Lucifer before he fell through pride and sought to be worshipped as God. The Scriptures do not reveal all the story connected with the fallen angels. It may be that when Satan fell, a host of angels who followed him fell with him. However that may be, all these angels had gazed with veiled faces upon the glory of God. Yet they sinned against their Creator, rebelled against Him, and brought upon themselves swift and certain judg ment. Peter also tells us that “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be re served unto judgment” (II Peter 2 :4 ). God will never spare apostates—men or angels—who de liberately turn their backs upon the Light of the World, even Jesus our Lord. 3. J udgment upon S odom and G omorrha (Jude 7). Again Jude reminds us of the fire from heaven which wiped out “ Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them”—cities o f the plain—all of which had given themselves over to corruption. Turn to the record in chapters eighteen and nine teen o f Genesis, and read the solemn story. Not even ten righteous men could the Lord find in Sodom. Those cities were reeking with moral degen eracy. Where are they today? They are, and have been for thousands of years, covered by the waters of the Dead Sea. They rejected the light o f God, “ giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh.” What “ an example” of judg-
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