PART ONE OF A SPECIAL THREE PART SERIES
Apostates in the Last Days
by Louis T. Talbot, D.D.,
Biola Chancellor
of the Holy Scriptures. Jude is an illustration of the servant of God who goes to Him for his mes sage, unpopular though it may be among unregen erate men who sorely need just such a warning. He had intended to write of “ the common salvation” (Jude 3 )—perhaps such a letter as that of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, or one of the doctrinal epis tles. But the Holy Spirit guided him to change his theme, and to exhort Christians earnestly to “ con tend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3 ). Why? Because of “ certain men crept in unawares”—apostates (Jude 4). Here we have an evidence of the verbal inspira tion of the Bible. Jude is not left to himself as to the form or subject of his letter. The Holy Spirit directed his mind along the line of exhortation. No doubt it would have been more pleasant to write such a letter as Colossians. The minister of the Gospel today would rather preach on heaven than hell, on the eternal city rather than the lake of fire, on the glories of Christ rather than the wiles of Satan. But the man of God is led by the Holy Spirit to warn men to flee from the wrath to come, as well as to point them to that “ city which hath founda tions, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). Jude was led to pen such a message of warning, as the Holy Spirit guided him to urge all true believers in Christ earnestly to “ contend for the faith.” THE PERSONS ADDRESSED It is beautiful to note how all born-again souls are addressed in the opening verse of this letter: “ S anctified by G od the F ather .” The word “ sanctified” used here is the same term as that found in Hebrews 10:10, 14; and it means “ set apart” unto God. In His great intercessory prayer for believers, the Lord Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven, saying, “ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul con- 21
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. W ith these beautiful WORDS, Jude opens his brief, but highly significant epistle. As “the servant,” or “bondservant,” o f the Lord Jesus Christ, he fearlessly warns all true believers o f all ages against apostate teachers and their satanic doctrines. His message is not addressed to a local church. It is a general epistle in a very special sense, for from the beginning, apostasy has crept into professing Christendom. As this age of grace draws to a close, an ever-darkening blindness to spiritual truth will manifest itself in the church universal. Because the Epistle of Jude sounds a warning of impending judgment upon all false teachers and their followers, it is a fitting preface to the book o f Revelation. Describing the apostates who will be much in evidence at the end of this age, it is a kind of prologue to the last book of the Bible, which goes on to tell o f the purifying judgments to come upon the earth, sweeping it clean of all apostasy just prior to the visible, bodily return of Christ in glory to establish His millennial kingdom. In other words, Jude presents a shadow of the overwhelm ing judgments which are yet future. What a sol emn message it is! Nowhere else in the Word of God are so many grave warnings packed into so small a compass as in this little book. The illustra tions o f judgment which overtook apostates of olden times are “ set forth for an example” of the certain, eternal doom of all who reject the only Saviour of sinners. , My friends, Jude would not be a very popular preacher in certain circles today. He does not spare men. He does not mince words. His diction is star tling, because he is writing of a day when men deliberately harden their hearts against the truth
JUNE, 1966
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