The Pulpit Commentary — Jude — Section 40

toward God being founded on an unworthy conception of God). To the adopted into the family of God tho grnce of our God is most sacred; but these treated it irreverently, turning freedom from tho condemning power of the Law into freedom from the regulative power of the Law. Especially was their antinomianism associated with la.~ciuio11sness. 'l'he adopted into the family of God acknowledge Jesus Christ as their only ,·J,/asler and Lord, i.e. as having alone power to sway and direct them; these are antichristinn, in refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ ns having the sole swaying and directing of them. Ill. 'fllREE EXAMPLES OF' JUDGMENT. l, The pevple redeemed/r(JITTI, Egypliat1 bondr1ge. "Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, how that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not," '£hey had got once for all in the knowled~e of Christ the key to the interpreta.tion of all things; he might therefore have left them to find out examples for themselves. He would only put them in mind of a few. He takes his first example from the generation of Israel th'lt came out of Egypt. The Lord Rtood forth a first time, and it was to eave a people. He stood forth a second time (this is the literal rendering of the word which is translated" afterward "), and it was not to save, but to destroy. It might have been expected thnt the generation who bad seen the gre'.lt works of the Lord in E:::ypt, for whom the Red Sea was parted, would have believed; yet this was the generation that perished in the wilderness for their unbelief. If the Lord works deliverance for us, it is that we may believe; if we show a disregard of the Divine works, an insensibility to their importance, we can only expect that the Lord will stand forth some day when we may not be thinking of it, and this time not to deliver, but to destroy, so that we never reach the hea.,enly Canaan. 2. The angels tliat appreciated not their rule and their abode. "And angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper- habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness until the judgment of the great day." We are here given to understand that these angels had their own rule, i.e. under God, and their own habitation, i.e. a place in heaven. '!'heir rule, though necessarily circumscribed in comparison with Divine rule, was important in ways that we cannot clearly define ; their habitation wa.s light and peace and joy. It might have been expected that they would have been content with what they possessed ; but no; there was something else which appeared more desirable to them, and for it they kept not their own principality, but left their own habitation. And what an irony in the exchange they made! Instead of keeping power, they were kept in bonds. Instead of having an abode of light, they were kept under darkness. They are to be kept in everlasting bonds(" everlasting" having here a limited sense) until the judgment of the great day, when their false preference is to be adjudicated on. If wo appreciate not the position of influence God means us to fill, and tbe light and happiness he would appoint for us on earth, but prefer something else, there are certainly bonds and darkness for us until the great assize. 3. Sodo,m and Gomorrah. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities a.bout them, having in like m.1.nner with these given themselves over to fornication, and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire." The inhabitants of these cities gave themselves over to fornication, and went after strange flesh, i.e. other than human, 'l'hey did this in like manner with the angels, there being an unnatural- ness in the sin of the angels, but not the same unnaturalness. Their abominations did not escape the notice of God; they suffered for them the punishment of fire. 'l'he fire is regarded as eternal, inasmuch as its consequences remain. The Dead Sea covers the sites of those cities. It is said in ver. 4, "They who were of old set forth unto thi~ condemnation;" or it is said here " are set forth as an example." ,ve a.re intended to learn from the inhabitants of those old cities, or from the buried cities themselves. If we give ourselves up to forbidden pleasures, will not the judga::ent-day bring punish- ment as of eternal fire? IV. 'l'wo CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTRUDERS. "Yet in like manner those also in their drcamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities." Their first characteristic was defiling the flesh (corresponding to "lasciviousness" in ver. 4). They did this in like manner with the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, by whoS3 fate they were not warned. Their second characteristic was setting at nought dominion and railing at dignities (corresponding to " denying our only Master and Lord" in ver. 4). 'l'hey did this in like manner with the Israelites who believed not, and with t.be  40 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDE. [1-25.