Are You Out of Touch with Spiritual Reality?

The devil is Satan, Lucifer, the greatest of all God’s creatures (Isa 14:12-15; Ezek 28:11-19) who fell from heaven due to his pride. Apparently he carried one-third of the angelic host with him (cf. Rev 12:4). These are the demons who do his bidding.

Moses is the great leader of Israel. The record of his death is found in Deuteronomy 34. We are told the Lord buried him and that no one knows where his grave is (Deut 34:6).

This verse then describes an event not recorded in biblical revelation. Scholars believe the story may have been found in a noncanonical book called The Assumption of Moses or The Testament of Moses, though the account has not been preserved in any writing in our possession today (Moo, 2 Peter, 246). Our best guess is that the story shows Satan wanting the body of Moses as a potential relic for idolatry, or perhaps he challenged Moses’s right to be buried by God because he had murdered an Egyptian.

Before we move to apply the text, it will be helpful to raise the important question of how we should respond when biblical authors cite nonbiblical sources. The first response we must have is to recognize that this actually occurs. Here in JUDE 9 The Assumption of Moses is cited, and later in verse 14 Jude alludes to the book of Enoch. The most famous example is that of Paul in Acts 17:28, where the apostle cites pagan poets and philosophers. So it is clear that some extrabiblical material and even non-Christian material is informing the biblical author’s writings as the Holy Spirit guides him.

We must also recognize that all truth is God’s truth, wherever it is found. Whether it is found on the lips of a pagan or a saint, truth belongs to the Lord. Next we must recognize that the sixty-six books of the Bible, though true, do not contain all the truth there is in the world. For example, 2+2=4 is true, but it is not in the Bible.

Moreover, we believe that the Holy Spirit may have and likely did direct the biblical writers to a variety of sources in writing their books (cf. Luke 1:1-4). We must also keep in mind that to cite or quote a part of a nonbiblical source does not require one to believe that all of that source is correct or that it is inspired by God. Speaking truth is not the only requirement to qualify someone as divinely inspired. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the early church came to recognize and compile the books of the Bible that truly belong. This means books not recognized as inspired were excluded. The sixty-six books of the Bible belong not because the early church declared that they belonged, but rather they in fact belong (i.e., were divinely inspired) and the early church recognized this to be the case.

Since we can trust the Holy Spirit’s inspiration as Jude wrote, what did he want us to learn from this fascinating account?

Michael is an archangel, a warrior angel, the greatest angel, but he is still just an angel. He is a creature, not the Creator; a servant, not the sovereign Lord; a minister, not the Master. As great as he is, he knows his proper place in God’s plan—something false teachers have failed to grasp. He is not his own authority, master, or lord. He does not set policy and make up the rules as he wishes. No arrogance, haughtiness, rebellion, or pride runs through his angelic veins. If this is how Michael sees himself, we would do well to follow his example and accept our place in the Lord’s economy.

Michael, as you would expect, is an excellent student of the Word of God. Knowing the Word, he is ready for war. He engages the devil in battle; and following the model of Jesus shown in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 when he was tempted by Satan, Michael quotes the Word of God.

“The Lord rebuke you” comes from Zechariah 3:2, another occasion when Satan made accusation against one of God’s servants—a man by the name of Joshua who was at that time the high priest. Just as the Lord rebuked Satan and vindicated Joshua, he also rebuked Satan and vindicated Moses and gave victory to Michael.

Our authority for spiritual warfare is in God, not in ourselves. In our own strength the devil will defeat us every time. Perhaps Michael could have taken on the devil, given who he is, but he did not because he knew the true source of his authority. In our case, to battle Satan without help is sheer folly. If we want to have victory over the evil one, we must know that our power is in God’s authority and nowhere else. We can overcome him, as Revelation 12:11 says, “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [our] testimony,” a testimony that says our confidence is in Christ, even in the face of death.

JUDE 10

At the heart of false teaching is wrong thinking. Human depravity does not prevent us from using our minds, but it does prevent us from using them correctly. Animals think, but they think like animals. False followers of Christ think, but they too think like animals, and eventually they live like animals. In what they say and what they do, they plummet to the level of “brute beasts” (KJV) or “irrational animals.” If we want to avoid the seductive and enticing traps that would enslave us and bring us to the level of an animal, what must our spiritual strategy be?

Jude addresses first the fruit rather than the root of wrong thinking and living on the level of an animal. They “blaspheme” whatever they do not understand. Arrogant and ignorant, they slander what they do not even know or understand—a reference to the angels of verse 8. Talking without thinking, without all the facts, and from emotion, pride, and selfish desires, they make themselves look like fools as they talk like fools.

Their example is a good reminder to us all that just because you think something does not mean it is smart to say it. If you don’t say it, you won’t have to apologize for it. The tongue is an organ of the body that is vitally connected to another organ of the body: the heart. It betrays what is inside of us, which is most truly who we are. As Proverbs 23:7 so importantly reminds us, “For as [a person] thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV). So when it comes to guarding our mouths, we must be diligent not to speak from evil intent or ignorance.

Not only do we guard our mouths; we must also guard what controls the mouth.

False followers of Christ do not think biblically; they think naturally (cf. 1 Cor 2:14–3:3). They do not think in moral categories but live by their emotional impulses, just like an animal.

Whatever they “understand” naturally, like an unreasoning (aloga) animal, they use to corrupt and destroy themselves. Jude’s irony is striking. Claiming a higher spiritual understanding, their knowledge does not rise even above that of the animals. Claiming liberty and freedom, they are slaves and prisoners of their own lust and basic instincts. Claiming to be right, they could not be more wrong. Claiming to live for God, they live for themselves. Claiming to rise higher, they actually sink lower. Saying, “We are free in Christ,” they become chained and shackled by their own selfish desires, wants, and passions. Professing to exalt Christ, by their lives they embarrass him and bring shame to his name.

Thankfully, God’s Son did not die for us to express ourselves in such a debased way. God’s Son did not die so we could live for ourselves. God’s Son died so that you and I would exalt him. He died to make us look like him. He died so that you and I would live for him (Phil 1:21), and this will require that we are transformed by the constant renewal of our minds (Rom 12:2). Thanks be to God that he did not leave us in our ignorance!

Do you want to get in touch with spiritual reality—with true, genuine reality? Then you must be zealous and passionate for high moral standards, personal purity, and biblical holiness. You must run from the works of the flesh, which, Paul says,

are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. (Gal 5:19-21)

Yes, let’s run from these, and let’s then run after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility, and Spirit control (cf. Gal 5:22-26). Let us say with the great apostle, “I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). For the true reality of God’s saving work in this world is that Christ himself died to make for himself a people who would die to sin and live to righteousness in him (1 Pet 2:24). This is the privilege and responsibility of all who are called by his name into his reality.