Wake-up America before it is too late

Jude verses 5-7

“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”

Now I want to remind you, it is impossible to remind a person of something they had not known, and that is why Jude put in  “although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”  From the first grade through middle school, mother would ask, Bobby, have you finished your homework?  It was a reminder of the fact that homework was assigned, but if it was still daylight, trees needed to be climbed and balls needed to be thrown or hit, so I often would ignore the reminder.  I have found that with age it requires a memory check, and my bride is a great one to remind me about things, and if she did not, many events and appointments would be missed. 

But this is not what Jude is making reference to, these people came out of Egypt knowing and seeing the hand of God do amazing things through this man Moses.  Most were smart enough to give God the glory, and he was one of those who always told the people to look to God.  God alone is our source, for the hand of God was clear in the parting of the Red sea, the water coming from a rock, the quail that came by the thousands, and most of all when the death angel killed all the first born, where the blood was not on the door post.

They totally knew that God who spoke to Moses from a burning bush and told Moses to go back to Egypt and bring His people out; it was Yahweh and when Moses ask God who should I tell the people has sent me, God said, tell them I Am has sent you.  So how do you forget something of that magnitude?  The very same question could be ask of you and I, of our culture, how can a people so blessed as the people of the United States, forget the One who has given them so much?  The answer is not shocking, it’s quite simple, they began to believe in other gods, little gods, in leaders, in armies, in wealth, in self, and those gods took God’s place in their mind and heart.

And what has God told us over and over?  He is jealous and when we run to false gods, He will do whatever is needed to bring us back.  The sad news is that we as a people do not listen, do you recall 9/11 and the churches were full for a few weeks, but then back to whatever takes the place of God in our lives.  So Jude is reminding us with an example of what happened to many who came out of Egypt because they would not be reminded of who was their source.  Then he tells us about the people who would not stay within their own position of authority, and how God has put them in chains under gloomy darkness awaiting the day of judgment.  And last of all, Jude reminds us of God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires, a man seeking a man, and a woman seeking a woman.  Wake-up America before it is too late, for God judged them with what Jude calls an eternal fire.  My hearts desire is that you will not be like the people coming out of Egypt, but will return to or come and bow down before our great God and receive His grace and put your faith in the one who has the power of life and death.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice