“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Jude 5
Beginning in verse 5 and continuing through verse 10 Jude presents examples of those who have fallen away from a valued position of favor and salvation before God, and then suffered judgment for their apostasy (falling away) from the truth. The historical context of verse 5 is found in books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy–the story of Isreal’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
The Hebrews were a nation of redeemed, saved people who had been rescued from bondage in Egypt, miraculously delivered from Pharaoh, formed into a whole new people under the provisions of a covenant that they entered into with God. The covenant (otherwise known as the Mosaic Covenant) established a relationship in which they were now to be known as God’s people, and He was now and forever to be known as their God. Wow! What an opportunity! What gratitude and joy would mark out these former slaves who now were God’s special, chosen, redeemed people, right?!?! Not so fast… Instead of rejoicing in this life of favor and deliverance that they had been given, this new opportunity to live out a life of faithfulness and intimacy with God—what did they do? They created a golden calf to worship instead of God Himself (for the full story, see Exodus 32). Things went south pretty quickly from there, including repeated instances of betraying their loyalty to God, grumbling against Him and their leader, Moses, complaining about their living conditions as they traveled in the wilderness, and persistently pursuing idolatrous worship (see Paul’s summary of what not believing looks like in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12). So, having been saved out of Egypt by the gracious, redemptive action of the Lord, these people soon fell away from their relationship with Him. (In fact, the Bible only tells of two men who were part of the original nation that left Egypt and actually entered into the Promised Land forty years later, Joshua and Caleb.)
- Note the fact salvation of those who fell away—they had participated in the rite of the Passover, and entered into the covenant relationship with God at Mt. Sinai. God refers to them as His people numerous times, and treats them as such.
- Note the nature of their unbelief: Despite their experience of God’s faithfulness and goodness and power—they deliberately rebelled against Him.
- Note the nature of their judgment: They were allowed to live with the choice they’d made, and to die natural deaths in the wilderness. Paul writes that “…with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” (1 Cor. 10:5) In short, they left no legacy but one of warning to the people of God of the crucial importance of faithfulness to Him, especially as we make our way to a promised future.
In the same way, false teachers in the Christian church are presented as people who have defected from an initial relationship that they had with God. I realize that there are many who would question whether or not a true false teacher ever really had a relationship with God (and was, therefore, truly saved). But I think the implication may be even graver–the awful, chilling truth seems to be that it is possible to enter into a saving relationship with God, and then to conduct oneself in such as way that one suffers judgment, and even leads others into defection from God and subsequent judgment themselves.
Application: In verse 5 Jude answers a basic question that you may have asked regarding the ministry of a leader in the church who seems to have fallen far away from his or her initial commitment to live as a servant of God, tenderly and wisely caring for the people of God—can a leader really be that bad, and be a part of the people of God? The answer serves as a warning for all who lead in the church: Yes, a person can begin very, very well in ministry, and end in utter ruin and failure, his ministry forgotten and disdained by the faithful—lost under the sands of the harsh wilderness of self-indulgence and refusal to repent of sin.
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