Our teacher Jude has been sharing with us the characteristics of false teachers and prophets who were present in his day. Jude's initial desire was to write about the “common salvation” however because of these intruders with false doctrine, he had to write concerning earnestly contending for the faith. Jude used examples such as the unbelieving children of Israel after being delivered from Egypt, angels who kept not their first estate, and Sodom and Gomorrah's proclivity to sin as examples of the traits within these teachers. Now Jude shares how these teachers are so filled with themselves that they defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, and today Jude gives an example of a high ranking angel who would not dare do such a thing. Jude wrote in verse nine:
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you.
Somehow Jude was privy to this awesome information, and Jude believed it important enough to use as his example of how wrong these “filthy dreamers” were. Michael, the archangel or chief of the angels, contended with the devil. Let's think about that for a moment. What was that contention like? A battle? An argument? A discussion? Whatever it was the fight over the body of Moses was the topic. We read in the book of Deuteronomy chapter thirty-four and verses five and six:
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
After leading the children of Israel through the desert for forty years, Moses died outside of the promise land, and the dispute that Jude writes about is between Michael the archangel and the devil over what should happen with Moses' body. I'm sure there is much that we do not know about this whole scene, but suffice it for now to focus on this part of Jude's statement, “dared not bring against him a railing accusation.” Though Michael had the capacity to rebuke the devil, he did not use it. The question is “why not?” The implication from Jude is that there is a high respect for authority. Michael is a created being, and so is the devil. Both Michael and the devil held high rank in the spiritual beings of God, and rather than openly rebuke the devil himself, Michael said, “The Lord rebuke you.” We should remember that Jude is using this as a contrasting behavior to the ways of these false teachers of whom he writes. Michael the archangel would not speak evil of dignities, but these itinerant false prophets would.
Today there seems to be many people who deem themselves worthy enough to openly rebuke authorities and dignities. Some of them feel themselves capable and high-ranking enough to rebuke the devil himself, however, if we stop a moment and think about what Jude has just written, perhaps our more beneficial and proper position would be to defer our rebuke to the Lord. Rather than say “I rebuke you”, our words should be “the Lord rebuke you,” lest we align ourselves with those who are the false teachers of whom Jude writes.
Next time we will look at how these false teachers speak evil of things they know nothing about, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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