Deceptive Nature of False Teachers
November 19, 2023
Jude 1:12-15
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Read Jude 1:12-13
1. In verse 12 and the first part of verse 13, Jude provides four images from the Old Testament that help his audience understand how dangerous the false teachers are. How do each of the following passages help us understand the images Jude provides: Ezekiel 34:2, Proverbs 25:14, Jeremiah 8:13, Isaiah 57:20?
2. Which of those images resonates most strongly for you personally? Why?
3. Various scholars have suggested that the “wandering stars” in verse 13 is a reference to a) the five planets visible to the eye, b) shooting stars, c) fallen angels. Of these three options, which seems most likely to you? Why? In what ways does each of them connect to the overall point of Jude’s letter?
Read Jude 1:14-15
4. It appears that Jude is referencing a passage in the extra-biblical account of Enoch. How does the prophecy as Jude relates it here compare with Revelation 19:11-21? Do you think these two writings refer to the same event? Why or why not?
5. What is the ultimate end of those who oppose God?
6. Find any scriptures you can that might explain why God seems content to allow some evil doers to go so long before they experience judgment.