Jude 1:14-15 Judgment and Conviction
This is the 18th lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I look at Jude 1:14-15 and talk about judgment and conviction.
Before I delve into Jude 1:14-15, I’m going to go to a concordance and search for all the passages in the Bible that mention Enoch. Then I’m going to look at those passages to see what the Bible tells us about Enoch. I’m also going to talk a little bit about something called the Book of Enoch. This is an ancient writing that is not part of the Bible, but the quotation in Jude 1:14-15 is from the Book of Enoch. It will help to understand Jude if we understand the book he quoted. At the end I’ll come back to the book of Jude and see what we should learn from Jude 1:14-15.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Hi. Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is part of a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I’m going to look at verses 14 and 15 and talk about judgment and conviction.
When we look at verse 14, we see the name Enoch.
Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam.
We also see the word prophesied. Jude 14 and 15 quote a prophecy that was given by Enoch. In order to understand what Jude was communicating, it helps to know something about Enoch and his prophecy.
Before I delve into Jude 14 and 15, I’m going to go to a concordance and search for all the passages in the Bible that mention Enoch.
Then I’m going to look at those passages to see what the Bible tells us about Enoch.
I’m also going to talk a little bit about something called the Book of Enoch. This is an ancient writing that is not part of the Bible, but the quotation in Jude 14-15 is from the Book of Enoch. It will help to understand Jude if we understand the book he quoted.
At the end I’ll come back to the book of Jude and see what we should learn from Jude 14-15.
A concordance is a reference book that lists, in alphabetical order, every word that is used in a particular text.
The tool we’re looking at here is a concordance of the New American Standard Bible. This concordance lists every English word that is used in the New American Standard Bible, it lists them in alphabetical order, and it lists every verse in the NASB that uses that particular English word.
In this case, I searched for the word Enoch.
The concordance tells me the name Enoch appears in 12 different verses in the NASB.
First, we see the name Enoch was used a couple times in Genesis 4. The Enoch referred to in Genesis 4 was a descendant of Cain. That is a different man than the man Jude was quoting.
Then we see the name Enoch several times in Genesis 5. This chapter is a genealogy that lists the family tree from Adam down to Noah. This is the Enoch that Jude quoted, so in order to understand what the Bible tells us about Enoch, we need to look at Genesis 5.
1 Chronicles 1 is also a genealogy. It starts with Adam and lists the descendants of Adam down to Noah, the descendants of Noah down to Abraham, and then the descendants of Abraham. 1 Chronicles 1 doesn’t tell us anything about Enoch other than his place in the genealogy, so I won’t spend time looking at this chapter.
Next is Luke 3. This is also a genealogy. This genealogy starts with Jesus and traces his ancestors back to David, then to Abraham, and then back to Adam. Luke also doesn’t tell us anything about Enoch other than his place in the genealogy.
Then we see the name Enoch in Hebrews 11. This is the man Jude quoted. This chapter gives us some information about Enoch, so I’m going to look at this chapter later on.
The last chapter in the Bible containing the name Enoch is Jude 1. That’s the passage we are studying in this particular lesson. Let’s start with Genesis 5.
Gen. 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
This chapter goes on to list the descendants of Adam.
Gen. 5:3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Verse six tells us Seth had a son named Enosh. That's Enosh, not Enoch.
Verse nine tells us Enosh had a son named Keenan.
Verse 12 tells us Kenan had a son named Mahalalel.
Verse 15 tells us Mahalalel had a son named Jared.
Verse 18 tells us Jared had a son named Enoch. This is the man we are looking for.
Verses 21-24 tell us about Enoch. Let's read these verses.
Gen. 5:21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
The last verse is interesting. It tells us Enoch walked with God. That is something that was not said about any of the other people in this genealogy. The author of Genesis wanted us to know there was something different about Enoch. Enoch was more righteous than the other men in this genealogy.
Then the text tells us “he was not, for God took him.” Whereas most people live their life and then they die at some point, Enoch never died. One day God just took him up to heaven. He never experienced death. Basically, Genesis 5 tells us Enoch was a righteous man.
Now let's put Enoch on a timeline. This is a timeline of world history with 4000BC on the left, that's when the world was created. Off to the right is 2000AD which is our day. The Old Testament of the Bible tells us about events from 4000BC up to about 400BC. Then the New Testament tells us about events from the first century AD.
Adam lived from 4000BC up to just before 3000BC.
If you look at the numbers in Genesis 5 that we just read and add up all the numbers, you’ll see that Enoch was born roughly 3400BC and he lived several hundred years. He was taken up into heaven right around 3000BC.
Just for context, Noah was born just after 3000BC the flood was roughly 2500BC, and then Noah died around 2000BC.
Abraham lived just after 2000BC.
David lived roughly 1000BC.
As you know, Jesus lived in the first century AD.
Next, I’m going to read a passage from the book of Hebrews, Hebrews is part of the New Testament. The books in the New Testament were written in the first century AD. Most of the books of the New Testament were written between 35AD and 65AD.
This is Hebrews 11. Let's start reading this chapter and see what it tells us about Enoch.
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
We see in verse five a reference to Enoch. This is the man that was quoted by Jude.
We see the word faith. This is Hebrews 11. This is the faith chapter. This tells us Enoch was a man of faith.
Because of his faith, he was taken up so that he would not see death. I talked about that when I talked about Genesis 5.
We see wording here similar to what we saw in Genesis 5. “And he was not found because God took him up.”
Then Hebrews 11 tells us very clearly that Enoch was pleasing to God. The extent of what the Bible tells us about Enoch is that Enoch was a good man. He was faithful to God. He was pleasing to God.
Now let's talk about the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch is an ancient writing that is not part of the scriptures.
If we zoom in on this Wikipedia entry, we see this description. “The Book of Enoch, is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, and prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah.”
If we scroll down a little bit, we see this: “Various Aramaic fragments found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as Koine Greek and Latin fragments, are proof that the Book of Enoch was known by Jews and early Near Eastern Christians.” This tells us the Book of Enoch is part of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Now we know the Dead Sea Scrolls were written before 0AD, so they were written before Christ. Basically, this tells us the Book of Enoch was in existence when Christ was born, which means it was in existence in the first century AD when the books of the Bible were written. That's how Jude was able to quote from the book of Enoch. You may be wondering why Jude quoted from Enoch if Enoch was not part of Scripture. I'll talk about that in a little bit.
For right now, let's read the passage from Enoch that Jude quoted.
Enoch 1:9
And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones
To execute judgement upon all,
And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly:And to convict all flesh
Of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed,
And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.
That's the passage from Enoch. Notice the word judgment. The Lord comes to execute judgment.
He comes to convict all flesh.
We also see the word ungodly several times. Enoch’s prophecy was that God will come to execute judgment and convict the ungodly.
Next, we're going to look at the book of Jude. Jude is part of the New Testament. That means it was also written in the first century AD. That was after the Dead Sea Scrolls were written. We know Jude was written after the Book of Enoch was in existence.
In Jude 4, Jude explained why he wrote the book of Jude. He wrote because certain people had crept into the church secretly. They were turning the grace of God into sensuality and denying Jesus.
In verse eight he told us these men were defiling flesh, rejecting authority, and blaspheming majesties.
In verses 12 and 13 he wrote more about these men who had crept in secretly.
Jude 12-13
These are those who are
stains in your love,
eating together with you without fear,
shepherding themselves,
waterless clouds, being taken away by winds,
unfruitful autumn trees, having died twice,
having been uprooted,
wild waves of the sea,
foaming up their own shames,
wandering stars,
to whom the gloom of darkness has been kept forever.
That brings us to Jude 14-15. We see the word these. The pronoun these refers to the men Jude was writing about.
Jude 14-15
But Enoch,
seventh from Adam,
also prophesied about these saying,
“Behold,
the Lord came with His holy thousands,
to make judgment against everyone
and
to reprove every soul
concerning all their deeds of ungodliness
by which they lived ungodly,
and
concerning all the harshness
which ungodly sinners have spoken
against Him.”
Jude wrote that Enoch prophesied about the men Jude was writing about throughout his letter. The rest of verses 14-15 are a quotation of the prophecy found in Enoch 1:9. You may be wondering why Jude quoted from the Book of Enoch if Enoch was not part of Scripture.
First, this is not the only time this happened in the New Testament. For example, we see something similar in the book of Acts. This is Chapter 17, starting in verse 22.
Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.”
Then Paul started telling the men of Athens about God. If we scroll down to verse 28, we see this.
Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
Basically, as Paul was talking to the men of the Areopagus, he quoted some of their poets in order to make his point. Paul was not saying these poets were inspired or part of Scripture. He simply meant these poets said something that was true. Paul used that as one of his arguments to the Areopagus to try and convince them of the truth of His message.
Jude did something similar when he quoted Enoch. When Jude quoted the Book of Enoch, he was not saying the Book of Enoch was inspired. He was saying the book of Enoch contained something that was true. There are many books in the world that are not part of Scripture that contain things that are true. There are many books outside of scripture that accurately record historical events. Jude was simply acknowledging that the Book of Enoch accurately recorded a prophecy that was given by Enoch. We know from Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11 that Enoch was a godly man, so it fits that he was also a prophet. We don’t know how Jude knew the Book of Enoch accurately recorded Enoch’s prophecy, we simply know Jude knew that.
We see in this prophecy that Enoch said the Lord was going to come and make judgment against everyone.
He also said the Lord was going to reprove every soul.
Then we see a form of the word ungodly three different times. Basically, his prophecy was the Lord was going to come with His holy thousands, make judgment, and reprove ungodly people. Why did Jude quote this prophecy? Why did Jude remind us that there's this prophecy that the Lord is going to come and make judgment on all these ungodly people?
Let’s go back to Jude 4.
Jude 4
For certain people crept in secretly,
those who were long ago
designated into this judgment,
ungodly people
turning the grace of our God into sensuality
and denying our only Master and Lord
Jesus Christ.
In the book of Jude, Jude was writing about ungodly people who were turning the grace of God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude told us in verses 14 and 15 that Enoch had prophesied against these people, saying that the Lord was going to come with thousands of his holy ones and bring judgment and conviction upon these ungodly people. This reminder about the judgment indicates the severity of what these ungodly people were doing. Distorting grace and denying Jesus are serious offenses that need to be taken seriously. So as we go about our lives as Christians, if we find people in our churches who are denying Jesus and/or abusing grace, that needs to be dealt with, because those are significant errors.
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Scripture quotations from Jude taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.
“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
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1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
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