A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on February 4, 2024.
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage (Jude 14–16).[1]
Jude begins this passage quoting from the apocryphal book of 1 Enoch, a saying attributed to the seventh descendent from Adam, the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:18). We often remember Methuselah for his age, but it is Enoch we should remember, for in the list of Adam’s successive progeny, Enoch is the only one of whom it was said, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). But in our passage today, Jude emphasizes neither Enoch’s piety nor his mysterious rapture but instead his prophecy. Translating Enoch’s words into a New Testament context, Jude emphasizes the imminence of Christ’s return and the certainty of divine judgment. Even the tense of the verb, “the Lord comes,” connotes the ever-present reality of our Lord’s second advent, not as the sacrificial lamb but as the Lion of Judah.
Jesus said that on that day, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne” (Matt. 25:31). And our Lord will judge the world, sending out his holy ones to “gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mark 13:27); and, to gather “all causes of sin and all law-breakers,” to be thrown “into the fiery furnace” (Matt. 13:41-42). Judgment Day will come, and all the injustices of this world will be called into account. And those “certain people,” as Jude calls them, “[who] have crept in unnoticed [into the church] 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” (4) shall be judged for their demonic deception. Jude says they are “designated,” or predestined for eternal punishment. It’s a hard description, given not for prescription but for us to know that our merciful God, who keeps “steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin … will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Ex. 34:7).
Jude’s words should frighten those who deceive Christ’s church, but they aren’t listening. We are and so find encouragement in the fact that God is just and will punish the wicked. Until that day, we must not lose heart, for we are “waiting for,” as the apostle Paul calls it, “our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13). Our blessed hope then is summed up in the words of Enoch, “Behold, the Lord comes.”
The Imminence of Christ’s return
The problem is whether in times of affluence or suffering, it is easy to forget the imminence of Christ’s return. When times are good, we are easily lulled into complacency, and when times are bad, we think the days will never end. But they will, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52). Theologically, we refer to that “moment” as imminent, meaning that it is likely to happen at any moment. Listening to those who twist and contort Scripture into a timetable of arrival is a fool’s errand, as Jesus made crystal clear, “concerning that day and hour no one knows” (Matt. 24:36), a semitic expression including years, decades, and centuries; no one knows. He who holds the future has chosen not to disclose to us “times and seasons” (Acts 1:7) fixed in eternity past but will come “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2). We must then be ready, as Jesus commanded, “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:44).
But this does not mean we won’t know when he comes. Jesus said, “as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:27). And the apostle John records in Revelation, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him …” (Rev. 1:7). There will be no secret rapture, no one left behind, but every soul in heaven and on earth will know of Christ’s coming instantaneously, and then judgment. The church will not be whisked away to leave the nation of Israel here on planet earth to return to works of the law, but he who saves us by his grace through faith in Christ will come on the literal last day, and he will judge the living and the dead. And no one, whether Jew or Gentile, will have merited salvation from the wrath of God; no one.
The Certainty of Divine Judgment
The apostle Peter describes Judgment Day not only as coming “like a thief in the night” but also of cosmic consequence: “the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Pet. 3:10). It’s a fearful description of what awaits the ungodly and a certain reality for all. The judgment our Lord will execute will be final and the pronouncement of conviction complete. Jude says that our Lord comes “to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (14-15). Note Jude’s repetition of the word “all”: “judgment on all,” “all the ungodly,” “all their deeds.” On Judgment Day, divine judgment will be comprehensive, all-encompassing. Not only must we “all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10), but every sin shall be judged. As Jesus said, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).
Note also Jude’s repetition of the word “ungodly”: “all the ungodly,” “deeds of ungodliness,” “ungodly way,” and the intentionally redundant “ungodly sinners,” a noun, a verb, and an adjective describing a disregard or lack of reverence for God. Such a description echoes Jude’s introductory accusation against the deceivers, as “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God” (4). They are revealed by their deeds, such as “the way of Cain,” “Balaam’s error,” and “Korah’s rebellion,” but also “harsh things…spoken” (11,15). They not only act in ungodly ways, but their graceless words reveal their lack of reverence for God and denial of “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (4b). It is no wonder Jude declares like the prophets before him, “Woe to them!”
The Hope of Resurrection
But what of us? Are we not sinners too? And how can Scripture direct us to see Christ’s return very differently from the unrepentant? I love the way the Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes Scripture’s teaching on this:
“At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”[2]
When Christ returns and we are resurrected, body and soul in glory, there will be no question of who or whose we are, for our glory is in his glory. To say that we are “in Christ” will reach its consummation, and we will be found not guilty, acquitted by the Judge, whose blood was shed for us and in whose righteousness alone we stand. In the perfect blessedness of glory, we will glorify and enjoy God forever. This is the essence of our blessed hope.
Satan, however, hates this, seeks to undermine it, and so sends forth deceivers who do not fear God’s judgment and seek to deceive his church. Satan’s strategy is subtle and therefore insidious. Once inside the church door and comfortably accepted as one of the members, deceivers become “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires” (16). If you think about it, it’s a brilliant strategy to undermine our hope in Christ’s coming. If I am encouraged in the church to align with a grumbler and malcontent, to succumb to my fleshly emotions rather than be led by the Spirit, I will quickly lose hope in Christ’s coming and fixate on myself and my circumstances.
The words translated “grumblers” and “malcontents” are a pair, because malcontents grumble. The topics vary but their unhappiness doesn’t. Discontented with their lives, they consistently complain about their lot in life. One commentator says, they are bitter people who “feel like victims.”[3] And so, they grumble in hopes of gathering other sympathetic grumblers. But their grumbling has a bite to it, because under it there is animosity, directed toward the church’s elders, like Korah’s rebellion, or toward the church at large, like Balaam’s error, or toward another, like the way of Cain. Ultimately, they are angry with God; they cannot, they will not, accept his providence.
Part of the reason for this is they are enslaved to their emotions and desires, which is revealed in their boasting and favoritism. The Greek words Jude uses mean essentially “arrogance” and “flattery.”[4] The deceivers’ arrogance is exhibited in their disrespect for and dishonoring of authority in the church, and their flattery is put to work to gather a following. As one commentator explains, flatterers go after those who can help them accomplish what they lust for, using “others while pretending to be their friend.”[5] All they want is what they want, and they will manipulate others to get it.
Discerning Christians will not be deceived by such flattery, because we hear the grumbling and recognize the malcontent. We know that flattering words may tickle the ears but can deceive the mind. And we know that malcontented grumbling is incongruent with the gospel we believe. Rooted in the gospel, we know that though the deceiver comes to steal, by God’s grace, he pardons all our sins and accepts us righteous in his sight, “only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”[6] Rooted in the gospel, we know that though the deceiver comes to kill, by God’s grace, “we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of, the [children] of God.”[7] Rooted in the gospel, we know that though the deceiver comes to destroy, by God’s grace, “we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”[8]
Not giving an ear to the grumbling malcontents and their arrogant flattery, we direct our focus to Christ alone in whom and through whom we have “assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance … to the end.”[9] For, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly” (14b-15a). So, we look not with fear but hope to that day, our blessed hope, for at the resurrection we will be “raised up in glory … openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”[10] Amen.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 38, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 378.
[3] Gene L. Green, Jude and 2 Peter (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 108.
[4] Ibid., 109-111.
[5] Ibid., 110-111.
[6] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 33, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 376.
[7] Ibid. Q. 34, 376.
[8] Ibid. Q. 35, 377.
[9] Ibid. Q. 36, 378.
[10] Ibid. Q. 38, 378.
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