In this sermon, the speaker discusses the topic of apostasy and highlights three basic marks of apostasy: defiling the flesh, despising dominion, and railing at dignities. The sermon also mentions the structure of the book of Jude and refers to a prophetic insight about the Son of man coming in his kingdom. The speaker then talks about an event where Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, leaving them impressed. The sermon concludes with a reference to a different incident involving Moses and the instruction to speak to a rock to bring forth water for the congregation.

Tonight we're going to study a very interesting verse. We're in verse 9 of the book of Jude. Now it's interesting, a very curious fact about this particular passage is that it's almost impossible to find a sermon or an article on it. No one wants to touch this one with a ten-foot pole. It's a strange, strange allusion by Jude. Here we have the brother of James, both of them apparently brothers of our Lord Jesus Christ, writing this very interesting epistle. Each writes an interesting epistle, but Jude particularly focusing on apostasy. When he gets to verse 9, he makes an allusion that if you're reading your scriptures, it can really throw you because you will not find any direct support for where Jude gets this. But here we have a dispute between the chief of the angels and the chief of the wicked spirits. So you've got the two top guns at each other. If that isn't bad enough, the subject of their dispute, the more we think about it, the more disturbing it is. Why should they care, either one of them, about the body of Moses? Jude sort of just tackles this as if you all remember this, don't you? And he makes a point from it, right? Verse 9, Jude continues. We're picking up at verse 8 just to give you continuity from last time. In like manner also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. We should probably review that. Titus tells us in his epistle, chapter 3, verse 2, that we should speak evil of no man. You and I have no problem with that. It seems like good sound advice. You don't speak evil of anyone. You and I wouldn't think of applying that admonition to Satan. By the time we're through tonight, you'll understand why I get so uncomfortable when we sing certain songs. You know, I'm so glad the devil's so mad and all that sort of thing. After seeing what Jude says, you'll get perhaps a little uncomfortable. But verse 8 summarizes the previous verses in highlighting three basic marks of apostasy. Defiling the flesh, despising dominion, and railing at dignities. And we have talked a lot about that. Verse 8 actually is a summary that stands between verses 5, 6, and 7 which summarize corporate illustrations. And we're going to discover when we get down to verse 11, we have three individual illustrations. The structure of Jude, we've talked about that before, so I won't review it now because we'll talk more about that next time too. But basically, it's interesting. The whole thing is symmetrical, conceptually, around verse 11. But the point is that we've had in verses 5, 6, and 7 three examples of apostasy that are corporate or collective in nature. Remember we had Israel, we had the angels that sinned, and we had Sodom and Gomorrah. Each one of those ideas was a collective group that we dealt with. Israel is God's people. The angels that sinned is another supernatural group. And then just secular society, Sodom and Gomorrah. But three different corporate groups. When we get to verse 11, we're going to have three individuals. That's next time. I don't think we'll get at it tonight. And that's Cain, Balaam, and Korah. That'll be your homework for next time. In the middle of all of this, we're going to have a very strange... Oh, also, we have three marks. Defiling the flesh, despising dominion, and railing at dignities. We've talked a lot about that. Defiling the flesh, we've talked a lot about that. We'll talk some more, so I won't go into that anymore tonight. Despising dominion, being iconoclastic, being rebellious, at authority of whatever kind, is another mark of apostasy. But this railing at dignities is not only a mark of apostasy, it apparently is so important that it is distinguished from the other in having a special example, so that we don't miss the point. And that's what verse 9 is all about. And as you recall, when Jude opens this thing, he indicated he was going to write just a general epistle, but he was compelled, he was pressured by the Holy Spirit to change his whole style. And so this whole thing is a response to tremendous pressure on the part of Jude by the Holy Spirit. So it's a very directed epistle, structurally and the message and everything, every detail about it. And the Holy Spirit has singled out verse 9 as an additional example on this issue of railing at dignities. Before we get into the point he's going to make, we stumble at first because we're not familiar with the content. You know, if I was going to make some point with you, it would be normal for me to take some illusion, some idea that you're all familiar with, and use that as an example to make some point. It would be a little strange if I drew some example and make a point that you weren't all aware of. And I've got a double problem. I've got to make you aware of the background before drawing the interest of the background. So normally a writer or a speaker speaks of an illusion that is a point of common ground between he and his audience. And that apparently is what Jude was doing to his readers. Because his readers, you know, he took for granted that his readers understood verse 9. And it's only our own lack of a background here that causes us to really stumble. So we've got to take step one and find out what verse 9 is talking about before we jump in and have any real grasp of the point Jude's making. We actually can probably infer what the point he's making, but let's see what we can find out about. It says, Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. He dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Now this has to be the strangest example that Jude could pick. Because if you were going to rail at dignities, you could think of lots of examples that you'd certainly agree with probably are inappropriate. But surely the archangel of God, who's on a mission assigned by God and being opposed by Satan, would have some basis to let him have it, right? But even here, Michael dared not bring against him railing accusation. Michael, despite the fact he's dealing with his adversary, has to recognize his rank. Interesting. I don't think we do that. I think we have two enormous errors with regard to Satan. One is to ignore him and pretend he ain't there. That's a big mistake. The other mistake is to go the other way. Okay. There are two mighty angels in conflict here. They disputed over the body of a creature lower order than them, namely a human being, and specifically in this case Moses. Now it's interesting that the angel, who was faithful to his creator, Michael was not in any kind of left field here. He was apparently on a mission, on an assignment. We're going to look into Michael here a little bit to see what kind of missions he takes on. And even though he was doing the will of God in obedience to divine command, and even though the devil opposed him seeking to avert God's purposes, in spite of all those facts, Michael did not yield to the temptation to bring accusation, railing accusation against Satan, but simply said, The Lord rebuke thee. A couple of things here. First of all, you may be troubled by the idea that here in the book of Jude we gain some new information, so to speak. You and I probably, other than this passage, would have no insight that Michael and Satan ever had a war over the body of Moses, certainly. And the fact that Jude sort of gives it the back of the hand, I want to point out to you that this is just one of many cases in the scripture where this kind of thing happens. We're going to see it happen again in Jude later on, in verse 14 and 15. That'll probably be in our meeting after next when we'll talk about Enoch. Most of us don't think of Enoch as a prophet, and yet he was a prophet before the flood, and Jude talks about that. We'll deal with that. But that's, in effect, a new insight, even though it's given in a historical context. How many of you knew that Noah was a preacher? You can read Genesis 6 and 7 all you like, 8, whatever. You will not find any allusion that Noah was a preacher. Certainly he found grace, and certainly he had a mission assigned to him by the Father. But it's interesting that it's in 2 Peter 2.5. We have the reference made. Peter tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Where did Peter get that? Well, from his ministry with Christ. Somehow it was revealed to him. It shows up in his second epistle, chapter 2, verse 5, for those of you who want to make a note of it, that Noah was a preacher. So, there's another example. How many of you have heard that it's more blessed to give than receive? Have you heard that? That's fair. That's a good comment. You know who said that? Jesus Christ did. Where? Acts 20. Acts 20, verse 35. Paul tells us that. By the way, in his letter to 2 Timothy, Paul tells us something else. Do you remember when Moses was before Yule Brenner there and had the snakes, and the two magicians turned their rods into snakes? Remember that? What were their names? Janice and Jambres. Right, exactly. You won't find that in the Torah. You won't find that in the five books of Moses. But you will find it in 2 Timothy 3.8. Paul, in writing to Timothy, mentions Janice and Jambres, the two magicians that Moses confronted, that withstood Moses, is the way it's expressed. Where did that come from? Here again, it's a historical illusion that we get the insight, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in the epistles. Now, Elijah, do you remember under Ahab, there was drought for three and a half years? And Elijah predicted it, and it was for three and a half years, and it's a famous event in the ministry of Elijah during the days of King Ahab. But it isn't but for the epistle of James that we discover that it was a response to Elijah's prayers that they had the drought. We don't get that from, if you will, 1 King 17. We get that from the epistle of James. Now, I'd say the Lord makes reference to the same incident in Luke 4.25, but the linking of the drought to Elijah's prayers is done by James in chapter 5, verse 17. So James apparently had the same kick that Jude did. That is, he would sort of make things, mention things historical that you should know, and yet you won't find in the Old Testament. So I mention that so you won't be troubled by that. Another place, by the way, and we won't take the time tonight, but just so you get comfortable with these ideas, if you really want to understand a lot about Moses and Pharaoh and that whole bit, in addition to what you find in Exodus, I commend to you Acts 7, when Stephen is speaking before the Sanhedrin. Stephen will give you all kinds of insight into Abraham and to Moses that you won't get by digging through the Torah or the book of Genesis. Example, it's Stephen's remark that tells us that the Pharaoh at that time was not Egyptian. We get that from Isaiah, if you know where to look, but it's very technical. The fact that Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians. We don't get that out of... Moses doesn't point that out for us in the five books of Moses, but Stephen tells that. Oh, that's all in Acts 7. So Acts 7 is a very interesting commentary of the Old Testament, and you probably make a list of a lot of things that are revealed there that you would have a tough time unraveling in the Old Testament. So here, Jude does the same thing. He gives us an insight of something that he presumes we know. Let's first of all approach this with what we do know about Michael and some of the issues here. Michael is, of course, the archangel. Incidentally, chief angel, it's always singular. There are not archangels, plural. There is one, uno. His name is Michael. Now, some people theorize that prior to his appointment, Satan may have had that role because of the anointed sheriff remark in Isaiah 14. But the point is, in any case, at this stage, Michael is the singular archangel, only one. His name means he who is like unto God. That's what the word Michael means. It's a very, very high name. Those of you that may carry the name Michael have a very proud name, a very exciting name. It's interesting that Michael's name is the opposite of Satan, which is adversary. Now, the first reference to Michael is in Daniel chapter 10. And just to refresh your memory, we won't take the time to go there, because if we do, we'll spend too much time on it, probably. But in Daniel chapter 10, you might make a note of that. It's one of the spookiest chapters in the Scripture. Daniel is led to fast. He's praying and fasting for 21 days. And at the end of 21 days, he gets a visit. Or maybe we should look at it, because it's important. It's too good to ignore, and yet if I do it from memory, I'll probably screw it up. So let's skim through here. In Daniel chapter 10, it opens up in the third year of Cyrus, the king of Persia. He is in prayer, and he was in mourning, that is, in sackcloth and ashes and fasting and so forth, for three full weeks. And it describes that. He gets visited. Verse 10 on. Behold, a hand touched me, and it set upon my knees, upon my palms and my hands, and so forth. He says, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words I speak to thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. He says, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself unto God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. In other words, he was dispatched to see Daniel 21 days ago. And he was held up. Verse 13. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. Now the prince here is not the king of Persia, i.e. Darius or Cyrus or whatever. This is a spiritual prince, behind the scenes, an invisible power, that was obstructing this messenger on his way to Daniel. This is one of those glimpses that gives you creeps, because before the chapter is over you're going to discover there's apparently a prince of this type behind every major government, every major era, every major... Is there a prince of the United States? Apparently. And we infer that, we don't know that, we infer that from the whole structure here. But it's interesting that this prince is one of Satan's emissaries, the ruler of the darkness, the ruler of this world, if you will. He said, withstood me one and twenty days. But what allowed this messenger to make it through this battle? He says, but lo, Michael... And it says one of the chief princes, that's not correct. It's the first of the chief princes. The translation is unfortunate. He is the singular senior of the chief princes. So again, the word prince here is implying an angel. There's an opposing angel, one that's focusing on Persia. But Michael, the chief prince, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. And then he comes and he's going to go on and then he's going to explain how he's going to give Daniel a series of visions. In fact, chapters 11 and 12 are really the result of this visit. But he goes on here before the chapter ends here. Verse 19, O man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, Daniel says. And let my Lord speak, thou hast strengthened me. And verse 20, then said he, knowest thou why I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight the prince of Persia. And when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. Many years after Persia, the next major empire was the Greek empire. And here already we see a prince of Greece is going to rise to power. Verse 21, the last verse of the chapter. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince. Now here we see Michael introduced first time by name as the chief, the first of the chief princes. And his specific identity is Daniel, he's your prince. Daniel personally, not exactly. We'll discover as we learn about Michael that he appears to have the mission to fight for God's people collectively, specifically the nation Israel. You almost always see him associated with Israel. Another angel that goes by name is Gabriel. And you'll notice if you study Gabriel carefully that his role is almost always messianic. Gabriel showed up in Daniel 9 to give him the 70 week prophecy, but that was messianic. Gabriel shows up with Mary that we're celebrating in the Christmas season. That's Gabriel, again his mission is messianic. That's the main ideas there. Now, oh, another place that you see a image of Michael, a very important passage, is Revelation chapter 12. Oh, before we do that, I'm sorry, before I get you out of here, turn to Daniel chapter 12, as long as you're this close, verse 1. I want you to pick up something in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 12, verse 1, is quoted, a phrase of it is quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 24. When the four disciples, Peter, James, John, and Andrew come to our Lord privately and ask Him some questions, He gives them a prophetic briefing that's two chapters long in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 24 and 25 in Matthew, 12 and 13 in Mark, and 21 and 22 in Luke. The so-called Olivet Discourse, but in that He uses a phrase that all of you know, but He draws that phrase, if you will, from Daniel chapter 12, verse 1, which says, At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people. The children of thy people, that's Israel. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Now it's interesting that Jesus uses that phrase, there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was to this time, nor ever would be again. But for the lexic, there would be no flesh saved, and so on. That phrase is drawn from Daniel 12. Michael shows up again, very prominently, in Revelation chapter 12. We've looked at this several times, I think it behooves us to look at it again. Revelation chapter 12, which describes these personages that surface. There's a woman, and we've reviewed this before, the woman is clothed with the sun and the moon on her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and she's with child, and so forth. Many people try to make that woman the church, that's wrong, she's Israel. She's not the church for lots of reasons, she's well identified from Genesis. And we won't get into all that tonight, you can get that from the Revelation tapes, if that's unfamiliar to you. But she is in effect Israel, in the sense that it started with Eve, from Genesis 3.15 on. She's the woman bringing forth the man-child, the deliverer. Now, the opposition to all of this, verse 3 and 4, is a red dragon. We don't have to speculate on the identity of the red dragon, he's identified in verse 9. The great, great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. We've looked at that before. And his tail, verse 4, his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman, who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born. She brings forth a male child to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and we all know who that is. And we get down to verse 7, we see, this is now going yet, so far it's past, verse 7 is future. And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was there place found anymore in heaven. And it goes on, and I won't fall into the trap of trying to explain all of Revelation chapter 12 tonight, but I want to highlight that the key adversary here again, the head of the host, the senior angel in charge, is a guy by the name of Michael, commissioned to fight on whose behalf? Israel. Now, another synonym for the great tribulation period that we so glibly talk about in prophecy is the time of Jacob's trouble. So it's kind of important to recognize that this tribulation period that we're talking about is really a focused tribulation on Israel. And that's when Michael goes to bat. Now, we've looked at Revelation 12 before, we recognize several things out of it, not the least of which is Satan's ambition and focus and goal and strategy is to attempt to thwart God's plan. And so we have Michael as the agency to go to battle here, and Satan as an attempt to thwart him. Satan seeks to thwart God's program, and Michael is God's agent, appointed agent, to overcome Satan's purpose. So that's the biblical background. We could spend more time, but I've highlighted the key places where Michael and Satan show up. So far, so good. We're not troubled now with Jude talking about Michael and Satan contesting. But where we stumble is, what is this about the body of Moses? Why are they, either one of them, interested in the body of Moses? There are over 500 Old Testament references to Moses, but only one reference to his body. And so you say, what on earth is going on? Well, the first place to start, I guess, is to turn to that reference, which is Deuteronomy 34. It's almost at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, and it shows up in verses 5 and 6. There's a preamble, we'll look at this a little bit, but Moses is scheduled to die. Moses has his ministry interrupted, and he does not get to go into the promised land. Because of the children of Israel listening to the ten spies back in Kadesh Barnea. They didn't listen to Joshua and Caleb, who had the good report. They listened to the other ten. They lost their nerve. They didn't cross over when they had the opportunity. So God says, okay, you're going to wander in the wilderness for 38 years. Nominally 40, but precisely 38 years. And so it's at the end of that period, but Moses, and we're going to examine that in a minute for other reasons, Moses blows his mission. He doesn't do what God tells him, and God puts him in the penalty box. Has him superseded by Joshua. Moses is allowed up on the high hill, Mount Pisgah, or Nebo, it's the same area, to get up there and see, look over the Jordan, and see the promised land from a distance. He can see the promised land, but he's not allowed to enter it. And he dies. And this is what's recorded here, verses 5 and 6. Now there's all kinds of scholastic debate. Did Moses write this prophetically, or did some other scribe add it to the... I mean, here it's in the five books of Moses, I thought he died. Well, if you really need to talk about, if you're trying to reach to create problems, either way, I have no problem that Moses wrote this by inspiration before it happened. That's an approach. Or some faithful scribe added this as an appendage. I can't make a big thing one way or the other. I'm not getting into that debate. But the point is, in verse 5 it says, So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab. This is across the Jordan, it's on the east side. In the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. In other words, the Lord had said this was going to happen earlier. And he buried him. Who buried Moses? God did. Now right away, that gets your attention. I'm always interested when God personally does it without going through an agent of some... I love you like Noah's Ark. Who closed the door on Noah's Ark? Noah didn't. God did. I love that, because I always like to ask questions. Could Noah have gotten out? I don't think so. I make a big thing on eternal security out of that. If you want flaky grounds, that's as flaky. Anyway, here God, for some reason, God personally, if I can phrase it that way, appears, buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over and against Beth-Beor. And no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. Strange remark. God personally takes care of Moses' body, buries it. The sepulcher is a secret. It's not on a mountain. It's at the valley, at the base of the mountain, presumably. Somewhere around there. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dimmed, nor his natural force abated. And so on. And the children of Israel wept for Moses. The plains of Moab, 30 days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And then it goes on, Joshua takes over, and that leads us into the book of Joshua, and on it goes. And they cross over, and they go into the conquest of the land. But Moses didn't. Now, from this singular passage, there's all kinds of traditions. And it is widely believed, or was at that time, for lots of reasons, that not only, obviously, Moses, you know, the Torah tells us that Moses was buried by God. But also, out of this background came some traditions. That Michael and Satan fought over Moses' body. You find that in some interesting places. The Targum of Jonathan. I'm sure all of you are diligent readers of the Targum of Jonathan. It's an obscure book that I wouldn't have gotten except by, you know, some footnotes. But this is a, you know, a Jewish commentary. Targum of Jonathan on Deuteronomy 34.6. The grave of Moses was given to the special custody of Michael. Ancient Jewish traditions speak of a contest about Moses' soul at the time of his burial. Now, these are traditions. But these traditions appear to have a root of truth, because Jude, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes reference to it. So don't misunderstand me. We're not basing this on the basis of some tradition. I'm just letting you know that there was that tradition. It was widely believed among Jewish scholars of this, that there was a contest. Now, we know there was a contest, because Jude tells us that. Which raises, really raises another question. Why did God, why does it record that God personally buried the body of Moses? That's, you know, I can't think of any place else in the Scripture that that is spoken of that way. Why is the place of the sepulcher a secret? Why is Satan interested in it? Now, we know he's cursed. His food is what? Dust to the ground, and you can get into a big spooky thing if you want, is what happens to the body, and so forth. I won't get into that tonight. Why is Michael, then, dispatched to oppose? Now, if you start to put together the various, and there's been many, speculations about this, you'll find that they fall into two essential ideas, or groups of ideas. One is what might be called, what I call, the fetish risk. In other words, had Moses' body and or the sepulcher been known, or findable, it's highly likely that they would become an object of worship. And none other than Josephus makes reference to this. In his Antiquity of the Jews, Volume 4, Verse 49, for those of you who want to track it down, he points out that Moses was so venerated by Israel, that if they had awareness where his sepulcher was, it would become a fetish, a place of worship. Now, this would be encouraged by Satan, because Satan's desire is to deceive and thwart God's purpose, and a form of false worship would be his ambition. We find him doing that very thing in Revelation 13, Verses 3 and 4, where he has a false worship of a leader. Satan's whole goal is false worship, a counterfeit situation. We're going to find out a little later, we're going to get into Deuteronomy 18, where it talks about a prophet being promised, that by association the Jews look to as Moses, and I'll come back to that. So, that's very reasonable. Now, to give you an example of where this kind of thing happened, you might turn with me to 2 Kings 18.4. In 2 Kings, we have a king by the name of Hezekiah, undertaking a reform. He's one of these kings, one of the few kings, that really took his spiritual opportunities seriously. And in Verse 4, it speaks about how he removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the idols, and broken pieces, the bronze serpent that Moses had made. Really? If you recall from Numbers Chapter 21, God sent a plague, but he also provided a remedy. Moses made a brazen serpent, put it on a cross, and held it up, and everyone that looked to the serpent, the brass serpent, was saved from the plague. And those that didn't died. A lot of them died. And we know, because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ makes reference to that incident in Numbers 21, because he says, As Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up. It was a model of Jesus Christ. You mean Jesus Christ was modeled by a brazen serpent? Yes. Brass speaks of, it was a metal that was capable of handling heat, so it spoke of fire. Brass is a Levitical symbol of judgment. And of course, the serpent of sin. So sin being judged is a model of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was made sin, that's exactly what Paul tells us in his epistles. He was made sin for you and I. Hard idea to get across. Now, whatever happened to that brass serpent? It served a purpose in the wilderness? Plague went away, everybody got healed? What happened to the serpent? They saved it. 690 years later, they're worshiping it as an idol. So Hezekiah has to put an end to it. It says that he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan. Brazen. So that's an example of how some of these things can become fetishes. The Shroud of Turin is an example. Poor example, perhaps. Noah's Ark. They're finding bits and pieces of it and they become big deals, you know. So that's one theory. You can build a whole case on that. But there's another idea that I'd like to share with you. And that, why is his body relevant? And that is because I think, I personally believe there's a future role for it. And that role for it, you can say, gee, well, it's a resurrection body. Yes, I guess so, but I don't pretend and understand the physics of what's involved, and God seems to have felt it important enough that He took care of it. I'd like to talk about two ministries in the Old Testament that were interrupted, that were incomplete. First of all, if we go to John 1, we have the story of John the Baptist. And we discover that John the Baptist had quite an active ministry, so much so that the temple heavies sent out a delegation out to the desert to find out what was going on. And in John 1, verse 19, it says, Is this the witness of John that the Jews, that means the leadership of the Jews, sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? Now, you'll discover there's three people they thought he might be, and he was none of these three. He says, I am not the Christ. John the Baptist did not make any pretense of being a Messiah. He made that clear right up front. Verse 21, they asked him then, What then, art thou Elijah? What a strange question. Not really, because the Old Testament, the last two verses of the Old Testament, we'll look at that in a minute, predict that Elijah is going to precede the second coming of Jesus Christ. He says, I am not. John the Baptist says, I am not Elijah. There's some confusion, because Jesus makes a remark about the spirit of Elijah, so to speak. And it causes a lot of confusion. But John the Baptist is right here, and there's another place I'll show you. He is not Elijah. He came in the power of Elijah. He came with a similar kind of mission. But he's not Elijah. It says, Art thou that prophet? That's the third person. That's the prophet of Moses, spoken of Deuteronomy 18. The leadership at that time felt that this pretender out in the desert could be claiming to be one of three people, the Messiah, Moses, or Elijah. And he said, I'm none of those three. Well, wait a minute, that's kind of interesting. Where does he get the... You mean these people are expecting, yes. You might turn, if we will, to the last two verses of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 4. It's the last chapter of the book of Malachi. It's only six verses long, the last two verses. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Oh, not before his first coming. John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, but that's another thing. There's a very specific express promise that Elijah will come before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. If you observe Passover with the Orthodox home, you find that there's an empty chair left. For whom? Elijah. Should he show up? Interesting. Take it seriously. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. The promise of Elijah. Now, there is a passage in Matthew 11, 14, where the Lord says, if you could accept it, he was Elijah. But they didn't accept it. It's a contrary to fact reasoning. And in Matthew 17, which we'll look at later for another reason, he makes it clear that he is not, John the Baptist is not Elijah. He came in the spirit of Elijah, and in a royal sense, but not in the literal sense. John the Baptist was John the Baptist. Now, I'd like to turn, and so we have Moses and Elijah being expected. That's kind of, that intrigues me. You might turn to Numbers chapter 20. I'd like to explore a little bit as to what Moses did to get himself in trouble. In Numbers chapter 20, we have an incident starting about verse 7 that merits our study. Now, so you don't get confused, back in Exodus 17, there was an incident where Moses was instructed by God to strike the rock and water came. Recognize there's two different incidences. The first time, the rock was, he was instructed to smite the rock. Okay? This is a different incident. Verse 7, the Lord said unto Moses, Take the rod and gather the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak, underline the word speak, speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. In each case, they needed water. In this case, in the previous case, he was instructed to smite the rock, and he did, and water came. Who is the rock? Jesus Christ. Authority is 1 Corinthians 10, we looked at that before. Verse 9, so Joseph took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him, and Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, now notice what Moses does. Moses is a neat guy, did a lot of right things, but this is one place where he's on an ego trip, and it's good for us to look back and watch this. I don't want to speak casually of a guy who was one of the most incredible human beings in the Old Testament, but here's a case where he blew it. He says, hear ye now ye rebels. Moses is upset. Was the Lord upset? The Lord wasn't upset, Moses was. That's called being a false witness. If the Lord's upset, and you don't present him as being upset, you're being a false witness. If the Lord's not upset, and you present him as being upset, you're being a false witness. Hear ye now ye rebels. Now notice what he does here. He and Aaron are standing there. Must we fetch you water out of this rock? Who's taking credit for this? Big mistake. Verse 11, And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice. Not once, but twice. The water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. Now if you're reading this far in the story, you don't probably pick up the fact that this is really 180 degrees out of step with what God intended Moses to do. God wasn't upset with the people, Moses was. Notice what happens in verse 12, it's a very important verse. And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron and says, Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Moses is going on the penalty box. A heavy penalty too. He's over. He's through. Out of the game. Call time. Send in a substitute. This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he sanctified of them. And this is where Moses' ministry is over. Lest you think that that's Chuck Missler's interpretation, turn to Deuteronomy 3. Deuteronomy chapter 3, verse 26. Moses here is telling what's going on. This is from his own lips. It starts in verse 23. But I besought the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand, for what God is there in heaven and earth, who can do according to thy works, according to thy might. I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. He's speaking of. Verse 26. Notice what Moses is saying about this. But the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and would not hear me. And the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter. Enough's enough, Moses. Get thee into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes, for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. And so we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor. So Moses, that's it. He is not only, he dies, and the Lord buries him, but you need to get the sense that hey, it's, he blew it. Okay, so much for this. Turn with me to 1 Kings. I'd like to examine another ministry that I read as being interrupted. 1 Kings 19. 1 Kings 19. Now we all love, we all love 1 Kings 18. That's Carmel. Elijah challenges the priests of Baal. We all know the story. Big, incredible success. Calls down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice and so on. With a handicap. What happens after that? He slaughters the 450 priests of Baal, and that doesn't impress Jezebel too much. She's after him. He gets panicked. So we get to verse, chapter 19, and we'll pick it up, oh, about verse 8 on. He's at Horeb, and the Lord is starting to minister to him. And the Lord, this is a famous place where it's the still, small voice. Remember? Pick it up by verse 13. And it was so that Elijah heard it, and he wrapped up his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, slain thy prophets with a sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Elijah has this view that he's the only one left. There ain't anybody else pulling the oar, Lord. The Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, when thou comest anoint Hazel to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shapheth, and other names I can't pronounce, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy stead. Elijah, you're over. Neat guy, did a lot of neat things. Eight major miracles, but he's on this trip. I'm the only guy. He says, we're going to anoint Elisha in your place, verse 17, It shall come to pass that he that is escaped with the sword of Hazel shall Jehu slay, and him that is escaped with the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, even every mouth that has not kissed him. In other words, Elijah, you're not alone. I got seven thousand back there. So where are we placing you, Elijah? You don't normally get this tone here, but I'm going to suggest to you that there's some sense, even though the Lord is ministering to Elijah at Horeb, it's my personal view that he's being, it's also a penalty box. Now I want you to notice something else. Turn to 2 Kings 2. Move on a few chapters here. And we get to 2 Kings 2. And by now Elisha is ready for the job. Elisha wants to take on Elijah's role. Chapter 2, verse 1. It came to pass when the Lord would take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. This is coming. In other words, Elijah is going to be caught up into heaven, right? He's not going to die. He's going to have a very special deal here. He went with Elisha from Gilgal. Now what happens here is Elijah tries to shake this kid. He can't do it. Elijah, he went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said to him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. From Gilgal to Bethel, right? Anyway, the same thing happens to Jericho, and the same thing happens to the Jordan. In other words, Elijah keeps telling him, You stay here, I've got to go. Elisha says, No. Elisha says, You can't shake me. I'm staying with you. And so they get to verse 4. And Elijah says to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they, that is both of them, went to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, Knowest thou that the Lord shall take him away, the master of... In other words, they know, they know something's about up, see? And he answered, Yes, I know it. Hold your peace. And Elijah said to him, Tarry, I pray thee here, for the Lord hath sent me to the Jordan. To make a long story short, they crossed the Jordan. Now, it's important to get a picture of the geography here. Because, Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, that's all familiar to you from the Joshua study. But it's all, obviously, west of the Jordan. But they wind around, get to the Jordan. And here, they stand by the Jordan, verse 7. And verse 8, Elijah took his mantle, wrapped it together, smote the waters, and they were divided to one side and to the other. And so they, two of them, went over on dry ground. Now, if you had a map here, and you saw them cross the Jordan from that area, you're going in the Jordan Valley. And just to the east, slightly south, is Mount Pisgah. Okay? And this, of course, is where, verse 9, It came to pass that when they were gone over, Elijah said unto Elijah, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken away from thee. And Elijah says, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Now, that guy is ambitious. Here's Elijah, the guy that called the fire down at Carmel, and made it not rain for three and a half years, and so on. Elijah says, I want twice as much. And he said, Thou hast to ask a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. If not, it shall not be so. It came to pass, as they went on, they talked, and behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and separated them. And Elijah went up, and a world went into heaven. And Elijah saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, and the chariot of Israel, and his horsemen, and so he gets the mantle, and so forth. By the way, if you do a study of Elijah, you'll discover there's eight major miracles that Elijah pulls off. If you do a study of Elisha, there are 16. Isn't that interesting? Why are we surprised, right? It's the precision that fascinates me. You know, not 17 or 21. Twice as many as Elijah. Okay, so he got his double portion. Now, why am I making a big thing of this? Because my basic hobby, as you all know, and I think all of our hobbies here, is the book of Revelation. So let's turn to Revelation 11. With this background, let's talk about another issue. Revelation 11 is an interesting chapter. The first two verses have to do with the Temple Mount. And I can't get into that without talking about Asher Kaufman's hypothesis, and that will take us all evening, so I'm going to skip right away verse 3. And it says, I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and three score days, clothed with sackcloth. And verse 5, If any man hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must, in this matter, be killed. They shall have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over the waters, turn them to blood, and smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when the two shall have finished their testimony, See, their testimony isn't finished yet. My premise is, just my premise is, that Moses' testimony isn't finished yet. Elijah's testimony isn't finished yet. They're both interrupted. They're finishing here. Look what happens. When they finish their testimony, the beast that is sent out of the bottomless pit shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. The word overcome here is prevail. Jesus told Peter that the church, the gates of hell, shall not prevail against it. Are these two members of the church? No, they're Jewish. They are Old Testament saints, raised here. When Joshua fought Jericho, what did he do before he started? Sent two witnesses in. The whole model of the book of Joshua is a model of the book of Revelation. And just as Joshua sent two witnesses in to get Rahab out, we have these two here. And their dead bodies shall lie on the street of that great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord is crucified. And they're there for three and a half days, kind of interesting. And verse 10 is the only place there's rejoicing on the earth in the book of Revelation. They that dwell upon the earth, that very special category, shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth. These two prophets were not very popular. They did not have a popular ministry. But I love what happens in verse 11. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and a great fear fell upon them who saw them. Boy, I can imagine that was an event. I imagine it was primetime TV. I can imagine the world getting coverage on that one. And that's got to be interesting. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they ascended up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. This isn't some secret thing. It's out. Big deal. The Lord knows how to do a PR stunt when he wants to. That's great. And there's a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and on it goes. Now, it's interesting. Who are these two witnesses? And everybody has their theories. Well, if you examine verses 5 and 6, you discover that they have four gifts. Specific powers. They can call down fire from heaven. They can shut the heavens so that it does not rain. They can turn water into blood and call all manner of plagues down. Well, it's kind of interesting. If you study about calling fire down from heaven, there's one guy in the Old Testament who did it three times. A guy by the name of Elijah. Did it at Mount Carmel, quite impressively. And he did it twice again. Well, we didn't take the time now, because time is getting short. But 2 Kings chapter 1. Twice, they send 50 guys there to come, and he brings down fire, consumes 50 guys. They send another 50. Finally, he agrees to come, but he causes him a little attrition before that happens. The second thing that Elijah is famous for is that he shut the heavens so it would not rain. Now, it says here that he's going to do it again. That they have the power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. How long is their prophecy? Back in verse 1. 1,203 score days. That's three and a half years. How long was it that Elijah shut the heavens in the days of Ahab? Three and a half years. How do we know? Because James tells us and the Lord tells us in Luke 4. Twice in the New Testament, by two witnesses, it's confirmed. It's not only that he did it, but he did it for a very, what I think is a very interesting period of time. That's James 5.17 and Luke 4.25 for those of you who may want to chase that down. The Ahab event was in 1 Kings 17. So that's two of the four. Water into blood. Who turned water into blood? Everybody knows that. Charlton Heston did it there in front of you. Okay. Exodus 7.19 for you want more, if you want a non-demil reference for that. All manner of plagues, Exodus 8-12. You all have that. Okay. Now, some people say they think the two witnesses are Elijah, because he didn't die. And Enoch, because he didn't die. And that's fine, except we got a problem. Oh, they base the logic on Hebrews 9.27, which says, It is a point of demand, but once to die and after this the judgment. And the only two people that didn't die were Enoch and Elijah. Therefore, they're the two witnesses. I have a problem with that. I think the principle in Hebrews 9.27 is a principle. It's a denial of reincarnation. Any of you have reincarnation yearnings, read Hebrews 9.27. It's a point of demand, but once to die and after this the judgment. Are there exceptions? Yes. Lazarus. How many times did Lazarus die? Twice. Twice. Remember, the Lord raised him once. And after that, the Pharisees had to make sure that he was put to death. There's a plot. You can dig that up in the Gospels. Widow of Nain's son. How many times did he die? Twice. He was raised once and down. So forth. There's another observation. Incidentally, so that's why I think Enoch, we're going to talk about Enoch in another session or so. But there's another thing about Enoch that doesn't qualify him for this ministry. He wasn't Jewish. Interesting, huh? So you can run with that one if you like. Now, what's my final proof that these are the two witnesses? They had a staff meeting. Matthew 17. They met to talk about it all. Now, by the way, I'm sort of having fun up here. I don't want to sell this too hard. Good scholars have all kinds of opinions. Scholars better than I have different views. So I'm not really trying to sell it this hard. I'm just having a little fun. But I do have the view, but it's just a view, that it is Moses and Elijah. It will probably turn out to be two other guys, and I'm all wrong. So, you know, Acts 17.11 still pertains, you know. Luke told you not to believe anything Chuck Missler tells you. But check the Scripture yourself. And what's fun about this isn't that I'm right or wrong. Your search will be in the Scripture. So if you're interested in this thing, you find it interesting, dig into the Scripture. And that's really what I would not have you accept my view. I would have you search the Scriptures daily to prove whether these things would be so, because you'll get a blessing whether or not I'm right or wrong. The Lord shall see to it. Okay, and Matthew 17 actually starts a verse early. The chapter breaks, unfortunately. Matthew 16.28 says, Verily I say unto you, there shall some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. So they're going to see a prophetic insight here. And after six days, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John. These are always the inside three. Peter, James, and John. Up into a high mountain. And he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine like the sun. His raiment was as white as light. So something happens to him that is extremely dramatic that leaves them all very impressed. So impressed that Peter in his epistles makes reference to this. If you want to find out what happened here, you can read Peter's letters. He makes reference to this. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. How do they know they're Moses and Elijah? I have no idea. There's no comment on how they recognize him. Would Peter and James and John have known Elijah walking down the street? I don't think so. But somehow they knew. That's not an issue. They all recognized Moses and Elijah somehow. Then answered Peter and said, Peter, you know, he's the foot and mouth disease guy. If you don't understand it, speak. Peter says, Lord is good. He's one of these ready, fire, aim guys. Then Peter said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt, let us make three booths or tabernacles. One for Thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Now that's clumsy for lots of reasons, not the least of which it implies they're equals. And that's where he's really got a faux pas here. Your wife spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud. What's the cloud? The Shekinah glory, right? Said, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. So he made, you know, he got rank pulled on there a little bit. What's interesting about this is, if we turn to Luke 9.31, and maybe we should do that, keep your place here because we'll come back to this, but Luke 9.31 is a reference to this. The Matthew reference is full, but it misses a few subtle things. In Luke 9.31, 9.31 says, Behold, the two talked with him. It's the parallel account in Luke of the Transfiguration. The two men talked to him, Moses and Elijah, right? Who appeared in glory, and what? Spoke of his decease, or departure. It's not really decease like dying. His departure. Exodus. Which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. So we don't know whether it's crucifixion or his ascension, but the point is it's certainly his, it's a prophetic discussion. It's a prophetic discussion between Moses and Elijah and the Lord. They're speaking of what's about to happen shortly thereafter. So this little staff meeting is prophetic. What's also kind of interesting to do is turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter. Peter was there. Let's see what he says in his letter. 1 Peter 1. And this is hard to really get it all out of here. The whole first chapter is on this, but I'm just going to focus on verses 10, 11, and 12. Where Peter says, Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. If you study this passage, you'll see that what he's talking about is that event. And he's talking about his sufferings and the glory that shall follow. Turn over to 2 Peter 1. And Peter in his second letter is also preoccupied with this event that he witnessed in the transfiguration. And we'll pick this up about 2 Peter 1, let's say verse 15. Moreover, I will endeavor, Peter says, that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the point he's talking about, the second coming. But were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him with the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. What's Peter talking about? His baptism with the Jordan? No, he's talking about the transfiguration. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. So my point is, is not only did Moses and Elijah appear with Christ in the transfiguration, the discussion had to do with the second coming. That's why I see them as having a relationship. Now, I'm going to now share with you, since this is... I used to love to share this because I thought it was speculative. At this point I'm so convinced that I think it's solid. I have to go out a little bit further. I'm indebted to a friend of mine, so I'm going to label what I'm about to share with you, because it's not original with me, as the Wetmore Hypothesis. So if it's right, I'll be glad to take credit for it. If it's wrong, we'll blame Doug for it. He pointed out to me an interesting idea, because where was Moses buried? At the foot of Mount Pisgah. Where was Elijah taken up by the whirlwind? In the valley that's before Mount Pisgah. Is it possible that the Mount Transfiguration isn't up in Galilee where the tourist guides always point. It's Mount Pisgah. Is it possible that this staff meeting took place with our Lord on the very mountain that Moses saw last, and that Elijah was there last, and they're meeting with the Lord there? And how interesting it is, remember I told you to keep your place in Matthew 17? I hope you did. Because it's in Matthew 17, after the Transfiguration, that the Lord says in verse 20, they have an incident where they're very powerless, and He has to take care of it, and they ask Him privately, why couldn't we not cast out this particular situation? In verse 20, Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, move from here to yonder place, and it shall move, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Which mountain was He pointing to? The mountain they were just on. Kind of neat. Now, everybody knows that Mount Transfiguration was in Galilee. Oh really? Turn with me to Mark, chapter 9. The Transfiguration is recorded in Mark 9, and then they have this powerless disciple incident, just like Luke shows, and you get to verse 30, you notice something. They departed from there, and passed through Galilee. That's to the north and to the west. My premise is they couldn't be in Galilee and depart and go to Galilee. They had to be someplace other than Galilee. And my suggestion to you is that they're east of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, where both Moses and Elijah made their departure. But it's just a suggestion. Elijah's translation is across the Jordan, east of Jericho, 2 Kings 2. Moses' sepulcher is at Beth Peoria, the base of Mount Nebo or Mount Pisgah. Deuteronomy 34, we looked at that. Is that the same mountain? I don't know. I'll leave that with you as just a little teaser. But let's get back to business. What's Jude's point? Does he really care about Revelation 11? Not at this stage. Jude is really making a point. We have at least now, if we haven't really given you any insight, we've at least trampled to death the Michael, Satan, Moses issue. There seems, in my own mind, there's some kind of a link between Moses' body and his future role. I think we have the law. I think we will see two witnesses surface. They will represent the law and the prophets in a uniquely Jewish ministry, which is what the time of Jacob's trouble is all about. And God is setting the stage for that. And Satan understands that. And so anything you can do to thwart that would be in his interest. And none other than Michael staves him off. But Jude's point through all this isn't to get into these byroads. Jude's point is, here is Michael on a mission for the Lord, contesting with Satan over the body of Moses, and Satan's opposing the Lord's mission. Even there, he doesn't bring railing accusation against Satan. That's got to be the most extreme example Jude could have presented to us for humility. And what does Michael do here? Dared not bring against him railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. See, it's after this kind of thing I get uncomfortable with some of these casual songs that are popular within the Christian community that tend to not treat Satan as a dignity. You say, Chuck, you've got to be kidding. Well, my authority is Jude 9. In that Satan is Satan. We shouldn't make him bigger than he is. We shouldn't treat him trivially. We also shouldn't fear them only because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. That's our only basis for not trembling before that personage. I think it's a terrible warning against speaking evil. Now, we live in a time where it's very fashionable to speak evil against God's people. Bringing accusations against institutions that honor the Lord and that are honored by Him. And these are acts that point to falling away from the gospel rather than being in subjection to it. And that's basically why we're dealing with this. Earlier in Jude, he says we should contend for the faith. But he doesn't say be contentious. They're different issues. Now, incidentally, Michael said, The Lord rebuke thee. Always in the mouths of two witnesses are things established. In Zechariah 3.2, there's a phrase. It's a little different situation, but I'm fascinated that the Holy Spirit has chosen to be as precisely structured as we are here. Zechariah 3.2, And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Interesting phrase. The Lord rebuke thee. Same phrase. Putting it where it belongs. Okay. Michael's words, getting back to Jude 9. Michael's words were restricted. Another aspect of this. Michael's words were restricted to his adversary alone. If you bring criticism, do you do it privately, one-on-one? First? Hope so. If words are publicized, no one can tell how far it will go, how twisted it will become, or what harm it will ultimately do. The minute it's public, it's out of your control. You make a criticism, is it private, one-on-one? I can squeeze in verse 10, and that will prepare us for a wild time next time. Verse 10 is really a continuation of this, because verse 10 is a wrap-up. But these speak evil of those... These being the apostates that Jude is railing about here. These speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally, as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves. Summary thing. There's one thought that links verses 8, 9, and 10. Railing at dignities. We have the archangel who was dealing with Satan himself, possessing a more perfect knowledge than ours, who dared not speak in judgment. These guys rail at whatsoever things they know not. An apostate does not hesitate to speak out in condemnation concerning matters which he does not know enough to make him a judge over others. The word rail, by the way, we speak railing at dignities. The Greek word is blasphemeo, transliterates blaspheme. That's what the word rail means. It means to vilify, speak reproachfully, to calumniate, to insult. Now these guys, it says they speak of things they know not. And we've already seen 1 Peter 3 and 2 Peter 2, so we'll take the time for that right now. Also in this verse, there are two words for knowing. The word oida, which is a deep, intimate knowledge, and the word episteo, which means perception by, like by animal senses or faculties. Unreasoning beasts have a knowledge of the natural world, but not an understanding thereof. That's the premise. Only a superficial understanding. And so here we have, these speak evil of those things which they know not, the oida not. But what they know naturally, that is what they episteo. They have the physics inside of a pet or something. Three marks of apostasy are here again. They defile and they're corrupted and so forth. So what Judas is saying is the apostate limits himself to mere natural knowledge, he rails at the truth, and finally perishes eternally at his own corruption. These speak evil of those things which they know not, and as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves. Well, that leaves us now, that's great, that sets me up, say, for next time, for verse 11, that is your assignment. But verse 11 structurally is the pivotal verse of the whole epistle. There's a downward acceleration that we've noticed here in terms of the, you know, the three steps. And here we're going to find three examples. Now these illustrations that we're going to see here are between illustrations from the supernatural realm, that was verse 9 that we just looked at, and illustrations from the natural realm, which will be verses 12 and 13. Verse 11 is between 9 and 12 and 13. It's also preceded by apostasy in history, that was verses 5, 6, and 7. Remember? The Israel and the angels that sinned in Sodom and Gomorrah, apostasy in history, and it's going to be followed by apostasy in prophecy. So that's the structure there. It gives us personal, individual examples to follow those that we already have in a corporate sense. And that's going to involve three interesting studies. Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Three individuals are mentioned here. Those of you that have the time and the inclination of the Lord if the Spirit leads you, do your background on Cain in Genesis 4. We all know the story of Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd, offered a lamb, Cain was a farmer, offered his fruit. Cain wasn't accepted, Abel was. Cain got upset, killed Abel. Is it that simple? Why was Abel a shepherd? I thought, didn't think they ate meat then. Didn't eat meat then, that comes after the flood. So what's the shepherd doing there? What made Abel's offering an offering of faith that Cain's was not? Those are issues we'll deal with next time. Balaam, now here is a character. You want to read an interesting story, get into the numbers, 22 through 25 and 31 are the main chapters on this character by the name of Balaam. Balaam was a prophet. How much of a prophet? He prophesied the Christmas star. We're celebrating Christmas. We talk about the star of Bethlehem. There are some scholars that believe that the star was first prophesied by Balaam. But Balaam's a character. He's greedy. Does it for hire. And you talk about getting put down. The Lord has his donkey put him down. Now that's a put down. Balaam, interesting character. And we have the error of Balaam, the doctrine of Balaam, and so forth. There's different dimensions of this. He shows up in the book of Revelation as an illusion by our Lord in one of his letters. Several times, I believe. Balaam. What is Jude talking about Balaam? What's all this about? And how does it affect you and I? Because Cain and Balaam do mistakes that you and I have a high likelihood of being guilty of, at least in part. So you want to understand what that is. Cain's easier. Balaam's tougher. Maybe. And then there's a guy by the name of Korah. You all remember Edward G. Robinson. Anyway. I can't use those illusions anymore. It's before your time. Korah. Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Korah shows up at number 16, for those of you who want to dig into that. We'll also get into we won't stay just with verse 11. We'll carry it down through these five word pictures. There's five fascinating, mystical, strange word pictures that follow these three characters, but I won't have you do homework on those. It's too complicated. And we'll get into, what do you mean twice dead? And so forth. There's some five interesting word pictures in verses 12 and 13. And then we'll get into Enoch. That's a whole other thing. Let's stand for a closing word of prayer. Those of you that have time, gee, I almost have time to take you to Jeremiah 10, but I don't really want to spoil your Christmas. If you haven't read Jeremiah 10, put your tongue in your cheek and read it to your kids at Christmas. No, don't do that. Jeremiah 10 talks about bringing a tree in the house and trimming it and bowing down to it. And he's obviously talking about idol worship. I think having a little indulgence in nostalgia is not quite the same thing. So in answer to some of the questions I'll get after you break up, yes, we have a Christmas tree in our house. So I don't want to put anyone on a serious guilt trip on that stuff. It is kind of fun to get around. And I may be wrong. It may be very serious. And maybe you shouldn't have a Christmas tree. I'll let you search the Scriptures daily to prove whether those things are so. Very strange lesson tonight. We've had a little fun with it. But it's kind of important, I think, that we not leave without recognizing that Michael is a real person. He's not some abstract concept. A label for some broad force or something. He's a person. Has a name. He does things on command. He has successes. Maybe some setbacks. He's live and real. Happens to be an angel. And he has some very bizarre missions. But he's real. So is his adversary. His adversary is extremely powerful. The contest we read about is not an abstraction. It's real. The body of Moses is a tangible body. The whole thing has a reality. It's easy to lose as we get into ideas and concepts. It's easy for us to not appreciate that the reality is here. Moses and Elijah, if I'm correct, are going to return to the planet Earth. It may not be far away. It may not be the day after tomorrow. But I have lots of reasons why I have a perception it won't be many decades. It's in the near term horizon. The message that Jude has for us is as we increasingly become aware, is an end time message. Yes, he spoke about apostasy throughout the last 19 centuries of the church age. But a specific message, as we will see, especially when we get to Enoch, is for our day. And what you and I need to do is pray, get in the word, and be extremely sensitive to what the Lord would speak to us individually about these times. Let's bow our hearts for a word of prayer. Father, we praise you that you loved us so much as to provide for our salvation and further to make available to us your insights about our predicament and where things are going. We thank you, Father, that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We thank you, Father, by your supernatural power and by your grace and by your interest in us that you have provided this salvation for us. We thank you too that you have given us this instruction. We would ask you, Father, to just minister to each and every one of us that we might increase in our appetite for your word, that we might be increasingly sensitive so that we might be better prepared to contend earnestly for the faith. Equip us that we might be profitable stewards of these gifts. We just ask your very special blessing on all here tonight. Walk with us in the time that we are apart. Help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.