The Defense against Apostasy - Jude 9

JD08-02

You remember that angels are spirit beings, and angels are divided into various ranks similar to a military organization. The highest rank among the angels is the archangel and there is only one archangel at a time. The first Archangel in history was Satan. That was his original military rank, and he was alone the archangel. However, after he sinned and rebelled against God, and led about a third of the angelic hosts in this rebellion with him (these who are now his demon agents), he was demoted. He was replaced in his position as archangel by Michael. Satan leads his rebel gang of angels today, therefore, as Michael leads the elect and the holy angels. There are other various angelic ranks to which the Scripture refers. Colossians 1:16 tells us about that. These various ranks have specific functions to perform.

Angels

There are angels in the room with you now at this moment. The angels are constantly learning from the performance of God's people. When Christians gather, especially when Christians are gathered on the proper ground where believers are gathered in public assembly for the dispensing of the knowledge of the Word of God, angels are present. The elect angels are present, and they rejoice at what is being done. So around this room right now, there are angelic beings, though we cannot see them. By the same token, there are these demonic beings which are present in your life day-by-day, though you can't see them. Yet, we have this constant assault from this spiritual world of darkness.

These demonic angels are the source of apostasy and of all the deluded thinking concerning which we've been reading in this book. Job 38:47 tell us that these angels were created by God. They have been created relative to man in a position above man. They were created in an order of being that is a little higher than humanity (Hebrews 2:7). It seems that all the angels were created at one time. There are probably millions and millions of angels. It may be that there are as many elect angels created alone as there are human beings who will ever have lived throughout all the history of mankind. Daniel 7:10 and Revelation 5:11 indicate the multitude of angels and their creation.

Angels have bodies, and these bodies seem to be of some kind of a light-like substance. They are not omnipresent. They do not have the quality of deity. An angel can only be in one place at a time. That's why Satan cannot be everywhere. He can only be at one place at one time. Satan very very seldom gives you his direct personal attention. We are inclined to like to think that way and speak that way. When something goes wrong, we say, "The devil made me do it." Well, the devil may have made you do it, but it was probably only through an agent. You have to be a pretty high priority Christian who is stirring up quite a bit of problem for the kingdom of darkness before you get the personal attention of the head angel himself.

We find from the Word of God that they do have this light-like substance. Therefore, they can make themselves visible. When they are visible, they usually are in the form of some human form or some human shape. They are recognizable as a being, and they have this glory that exudes from them. These angels who were involved in the Genesis 6 crossover of categories from humans and angels that produced the hybrid race, are in Tartarus, and apparently what God has done to them is that He has switched off their ability to illuminate themselves, because the Word indicates that Tartarus is a place of utter intense deep darkness.

So these angels have bodies. They can be in only one place at a time. They have great strength--tremendous strength (Psalm 103:20, 2 Kings 19:35, Acts 5:19). They have great strength but, again, they are not omnipotent as is God.

It seems that all of the angels, as we read of them in Scripture, are of the male gender. There may be some debate about this. We are told that the angels do not marry, and this may indicate that they do not now marry. That certainly is true. It may not indicate that they did not at one time marry, and that at one time they did not have the same capacity that all of God's creation has of reproduction. They would be a very unusual breed of beings, because they would be the only one that we know of which cannot reproduce. We have no way of knowing that. You can conjecture about that all you want, but we can't come up with any answers. We do know that they do not appear as women. So all of these pictures that you see at Christmas time of little children flying around with wings (that is, cherubs--angel-like children), that's not true. Angels are all adult beings. There isn't anything such as the littlest angel.

They have the ability to travel at great speeds, probably the speed of light or more (Daniel 9:21). They have been brought into a position (a relationship) with God now (since the fall of Satan), where they cannot sin. There apparently was a time of testing. The elect angels passed the point of testing. They had no capacity apparently to fall into sin as the other angels did. So they're going to spend eternity in heaven, as will human beings, with all the holy angels of God (Hebrews 12:22). The lost people, those who are unbelievers, are going to spend eternity with the demon angels (Matthew 25:41). You remember that hell was not created for human beings. Hell, as a place of torment and of punishment for sin, was created strictly for Satan and for his demon angels. Human beings had to, by deliberate choice, choose to enter that place with those demons angels.

Angels are not omniscient, though they know a great deal. They are still learning by observation. This is why the demonic world knows a great deal, but it does not know everything. You can go to a medium. I trust that you won't, but people who do go to a medium find that they have fantastic information. Where do they get it? From the demon spirit with which they are in contact. That demon spirit is able to pick up information in many many ways. He listens to your conversations. He observes what you're doing. He is party to your plans because he knows what you're going to do. He can anticipate. He can judge. He can know a great deal about your habits, and so on. He can research with other people and find things about you from them. The result is a tremendous amount of information that flows to a demonic angel that he can pass along to the medium. However, they do have to learn (1 Corinthians 11:10, 1 Peter 1:12).

Michael the Archangel

This information was sent by an angel, but this elect angel, who was of a certain angelic rank, was met out in space by a demon angel who had a superior rank. He outranked the angel who was coming to Daniel with a message. Consequently, the superior angel had greater strength and greater capacity. And for three solid weeks, he hindered passage of the elect angel with the information to Daniel.

Satan had dispatched his demon and said, "Don't let the information get through. Don't let Daniel know this. He's going to record in Scripture that will become part of the Bible. Then humanity will know exactly what God is doing, and those who are oriented to the Word of God will know where to put their efforts. They'll know how to evaluate national movements. They'll just be with it, and it'll be a devastating blow to our plans to frustrate God's program of bringing in the kingdom with Christ as ruler upon this earth." So finally the problem was resolved by Michael himself who, as archangel, was at the top in capacity and strength. He came to the aid of his angel, his elect angel assistant who was carrying the message. He overcame the demonic angels so that the information got through.

Michael, we are told in Scripture is the angel who will announce the return of the Lord in the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Probably one of the first dramatic things you will hear will be the voice of the archangel Michael announcing to you that here it is, "Christ has return," and you'll be caught up to meet Him in the air. He is also the guardian angel of the nation of Israel (Daniel 12:1).

It is this magnificent archangel Michael who has all these tremendous wonderful qualities that characterize an angelic being, and an angel who remained faithful to God in the face of Satan's rebellion and conspiracy against God. It is this angel Michael who finds himself in contention with Satan who also bears the rank of an archangel. Now you've got two contenders, two antagonists, who are of equal rank, who can square off with one another.

Jude 9

Christians may be prone to give up in the face of Satan's slander and attack. There are some Christians who just cannot take criticism. Did you know that? There are some people who cannot walk into church and find somebody criticizing them. There are some people who sit in church, and they're the kind that if somebody during the service leans over and says something to somebody next to them, they just know that they're talking about them. There are some people who just cannot take somebody who is sounding off about them.

Now, that's a bad thing to do: badmouthing a believer, and especially a leader. It is, of course, a sign of apostasy, and it is a very grievous thing to do. However, I don't mean to imply that if what the leader, spiritual or otherwise, is doing is contrary to the Word of God and is wrong, that you don't have a right to say, "I think that that is not right. I think that what is being done is wrong." It may be a question as to whom you should say that. Most of the time you should say that to the Lord, and to the Lord alone because it is the Lord's vengeance and it is the Lord's duty to make judgments and to get people straightened out. It is not your business to be doing this. You want to be very careful that the leadership is wrong.

You people know a great deal about the Word of God. Therefore you're in great danger of doing this. I have enough experience to know that people who study the Word of God are the greatest patsies for badmouthing leadership and for objecting. You know enough about the Word of God to think that you have a frame of reference for an opinion. You may be wiser to realize that you may possibly not have gone as far along as you think you have and that your insights may not be as deep as you think they are. After all, you may be caught up in some background of your own viewpoints and attitudes that are actually hindering your understanding of the Word of God.

Or you may be attacking something that happens to be a little farther out than where you have arrived yet in your own spiritual progress, and therefore you're going to oppose it. You should probably first just wait and say, "Well, at this moment, that does not seem right to me. At this moment, that doesn't seem what that means." As a matter of fact, people who object to what they hear, especially in church, usually make the mistake of not attending church. If you're smart, and you find something you don't like that you think is wrong; some exposition that you don't approve of; or, some line of thought that is not satisfactory to you, the first thing you want to do is keep attending church. What will probably happen is that you will ensure at least that you will get the full picture, and you will be certain then, if you are right, that you are right. But usually people cut themselves off from getting a full picture by evaporating.

So don't be too indignant if somebody comes along and says something unpleasant about you, because Satan had no hesitancy of doing that to Michael himself. You are your own priest and you should let other Christians live out their own priesthood. If they say bad things about you, you commit them to the Lord, but you don't get all broken up about it. If you do get broken up about it, then you need to work on the relaxed mental attitude facet of your spiritual maturity structure. When you get to that, nobody will be able to get to you.

I'll tell you right now, here's what you will be told. When you get to that point, you will be told, "You are insensitive. You're unloving. You've got an elephant hide." I know all of it. So don't let it throw you. A spiritual battle will intensify around you as you get close to doing the will of God for your particular life. I guarantee it. The spiritual battle will intensify, and that is no time to decide to shove off and find some other activity. If you are doing God's work, you're going to be surrounded by conflict. When the conflict rages, you may be sure that as you commit yourself to the Lord, and you are open to His Word, either you will get straightened out, or the people who are opposing you will get straightened out one way or another.

There are a lot of trained ministers who have moved up from the ministry and are in work that is a great deal less demanding in callings of social and business work simply because they could not take the slander and the abuse that came to them when they were sincerely seeking to lay out the truth to God's people. They weren't appreciated. They weren't kindly received. They were abused, and they cracked up. That's satanic. There is a danger in just moving around trying to find someplace where you'll be happy. What that does is that it leaves your spiritual gifts idle. When you find a place in which you think you're happy, and you think you're in agreement, and you really start using your spiritual gifts there, you are going to discover you're right back in conflict. That is Satan the slanderer's way. Often, we're not led away from some taxing combat for the Lord. Instead, we just give up and turn tail and run. And that's unbecoming of a soldier of Jesus Christ.

So, the Word says, "Yet Michael the Archangel went contending." Michael squared off with Satan. "Contending with the devil, he disputed." The word "disputed" here means to argue. It is in the imperfect tense which in the Greek means that in the past he kept doing it and kept doing it and kept doing it. In the past, Michael kept answering back to Satan every time Satan came with an attack. It's in the middle voice which means that Michael benefited himself by his persistent stand. It's in the indicative mood which is a declaration of reality. This debate is not a myth. This actually historically took place.

The Assumption of Moses

Moses

God said, "Because you did that, Moses, in your response against the people of God, you're not going to be permitted to enter the Promised Land." He was permitted to go up to the mountain and look on the land, and then he died in Moab. God sent Michael to bury him (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). Now why Satan showed up right at that time and wanted the body of Moses is not revealed. Perhaps he wanted to use the body as some kind of sacred relic in order to lead Israel into idolatry because they were great for idol worship. What would have been better, especially in the habits that they had developed in their stay in Egypt? The Egyptians had become so proficient in taking a body and preserving it so that we have some of them with us still today. What would have been more natural for Satan to come along and preserve the body of Moses in such a fantastic way that he could have held it up and said, "Now here is your leader? Here is Jehovah your god in a visible form." Well, we don't know.

In any case, it was perhaps even to prevent the reappearance of Moses as one of the witnesses in the tribulation period in Revelation 11. It seems that Moses is one of those two witnesses. There was a contention between them over the body of Moses that Satan was trying to secure.

Well, what's the defense of Michael? We're told that while they disputed back and forth, that Michael dared not bring against Satan a railing accusation. It wasn't that he was merely wasn't interested in doing so. It was that he feared to do so. It was a definite attitude on the part of Michael. It was a permanent attitude that he would not bring railing accusation, that is, to speak evil. That is the same word that we have up in Jude 8 where it says, "Speak evil of dignities." Michael refused to do this which is characteristic of apostates. He refused to speak evil of a celestial being--in the case of Satan, and of one who was a leader at one time.

So he does not resort to abusive language. He does not meet what Satan says by countering him with other abuse. Rather, he deals with him on the basis of the Word of God. He had ample provocation to respond with contemptuous speech to Satan. Yet, he honored the position of leadership that Satan once held. So what did he do? Well, we read that instead he called upon the Lord to rebuke him. He left the judgment of Satan in the Lord's hands. He left it up to God, "The Lord rebuke you." In the Greek language, this is in what is called the optative mood which means that it's a possibility. It was not that God necessarily will, but he left it up to God to decide what to do with Satan; what to say to Satan; and, how to handle him. That's our clue also when we deal with apostates, whether among believers or unbelievers.

So it is best to leave direct rebuke of human viewpoint to God Himself. Abusive speaking against people and organizations is not honored by the Lord. It's better to stick with the issue; express your mind; and, leave it there. The right course is to deliver your opponent to God's divine viewpoint. God's judgments are reliable. Ours are not. Sometimes when we are opposing somebody, we ought not to be opposing that person. He's just as right as rain. We're just a little off beat, and we don't realize how right he is. God's rebuke is through the Word of God. That's effective. Our rebuke is not effective. There's a difference between contending for the faith and being contentious. Being contentious is really beneath our dignity. But to sound off; declare the truth; and, clarify the issues, that's in order. So the answer of the defense against apostasy is very simply the Word of God. The answer is with the Word of God.

Apostasy

2 Timothy 3:1-5

So this is not to interpret from the slanted viewpoint that you hear on your news media. Remember that our news media are dominated by liberal-thinking liberal viewpoints. If you listen and you know something about what God thinks, it's very easy to pick up the little words and the little implications that are conveyed by the newscaster. Nor are we to interpret the movements of our day on the basis of the distorted interpretations of some racial, geographic, economic, military, or academic power groups. All of these have a point of view and a slant that will distort what is actually out there in society. Man is forever pretending that things are something better than they are.

What we're looking for is objectivity that comes when doctrine is applied. Our national leaders make decisions that are often going to bring grief to millions of people and perhaps bring disaster into your lives. Yet, these men--national leaders--are upheld as benefactors of mankind. Throughout history and throughout your lifetime, we have had leaders who have made decisions that Christians, who are oriented to the Word of God at the time those leaders made that move and made that decision, these believers said, "That's wrong. I know it's wrong because the Bible lays down this principle. What this national leader is doing--what he has decided--is violating this principle on the Word of God. Therefore, I know that's wrong, and that's going to lead to troubles." Now that is objectivity. That's the point that Paul is saying here, "You get to know things, as a result of having a base of reference in your souls from the Word of God, to be able to judge our society." Here are the things he says to look for.

In the last days, that is, the final days of the church age when national entities are declining, and Satan is preparing for his one-world combination of nations, there will come perilous times. The word "perilous" means "hard to bear." This means times which are very painful times and which are hard to deal with. The word for "time" is the Greek word "kairos." "Kairos" means time as an era, as opposed to a moment in time. So he says there is going to come, in the days as we approach the return of Christ, an era of human history. Those times will be very difficult to bear. This time shall come--in the future. It will set in, and it will be a time of great peril to Christians.

2 Timothy 3:2 says, "For men," and then he proceeds to list these characteristics of apostasy which you may now read and evaluate, on the basis of this scriptural revelation, how far we've moved along. The words for "men" is "anthropos," the Greek word for humanity. "Anthropos" means "mankind," or human beings. It does not mean simply "men" in the sense of a male person. When it says, "For men," it means, "Men and women (as a social group) shall be." This is the destiny of societies and, consequently, of national character. As the souls of the citizens are hardened and darkened, apostate thinking moves in. This is what happens. A series of characteristics take over.

Characteristics of Apostasy

1. Lovers of Self

   He says, "Mankind (men and women) shall be lovers of their own selves." This is an adjective. It is the Greek word "philautos." You can see the word "feel" from our Greek word "philos," the word for love in the emotional sense. This is a love which is expressing a feeling of the emotions of the soul.

   And by the way, if you want to understand the difference between "phileo" and "agapao" (between "philos" and "agape" love), then I would suggest you find a little volume called Trench's Synonyms, and you'll find a very excellent explanation of this great Greek scholar's discovery relative to the meaning of these two words on the basis of the Latin Vulgate--the Latin translation of the Scriptures which the Roman Catholic Church uses as its basic Scripture. Also, if you have Thayer's Lexicon, at the very end of it there is a summary after one of these words of the findings of Trench. It is Trench who discovered the very significant meaning of these two words. And it is true. That's what these words mean, so don't be stymied because some person who hasn't caught up with reality comes along and tells you that it's questionable that that's what these words mean.

   This word "philos" is the word with emotional attachment, and the Greek "altos" means self. So here's a person who's got warm feelings toward himself. He is interested in gratifying himself, and only himself. He makes love to his own soul. He does this with various means of self-gratification. The soul is in darkness from the spiritual calluses, so there is no doctrine to guide the affections. This person turns inward. Lovers of self will tolerate no rivals, and this causes a nation to decline. This often is dignified, by the way, as humanism.

2. Covetous

   A second characteristic is covetousness. The Greek word is "philarguros." Again, we have the word "philos," an emotional attachment, and "arguros" is the Greek word for silver or for money. So this means emotionally fond of money. This is a characteristic of apostasy. Once the soul moves into spiritual darkness, the calluses build up and it becomes insensitive in its expression toward God. Love of self naturally expresses itself in love of money, which is useful for gratifying self. A person thinks that if he can secure the details of life, he'll happy. This is the thing that motivates most people today.

3. Boasters

   Then the next quality is "boasters." In the Greek, this word is "alazon." "Alazon" is an arrogant braggart. This person has a spirit of self-promotion and of contempt for others. A society of self-promoters is a decadent society. It's a snarly clawing bunch of people. The practice of exhausting yourself out loud is what is meant here. The loudmouth who praises himself is the person who often makes claims for qualities and honors he doesn't possess and can't produce. So watch the person who lists for you his honors, his achievements, and his qualifications. It's a sign of an apostate.

4. Proud

   The next word is proud or "huperephanos." "Huper" means "above," and "phanos" means to appear, so it means someone who creates the appearance of being above and over others. It's a mental attitude, however, which may not be openly evident. The person may outwardly appear to be very humble and very inoffensive, but inside he's consumed and corrupted with pride. There is a logical progression here. Self-love leads to self-gratification, and self-gratification leads to self-promotion, to boasting out loud, and to pride inwardly.

5. Blasphemers

   This then goes onto the next step which is blasphemers. This is the Greek word "blasphemos" which means slandering. God is evil-spoken of and disregarded. When God is maligned, so are divine institutions for the race. Our free volition of choice; the institution of marriage; the institution of family for the rearing of children; the institution of nationalism; and, of the local church--all of these are slandered. God is insulted by apostate intellectuals.

6. Disobedient to Parents

   "Disobedient to parents" in the Greek is "goneus apeithes." This is a key indicator of national degeneracy. It means to be so unwilling that you would not even be persuaded by that which your parents tell you which is the truth. Why do young people disobey? It's because they haven't been taught respect for authority at home. This is not the school's job. We get plenty of people who try to give us the responsibility to teach your children respect for authority. If you reject the authority of your parents, you will do so toward the authority of society; toward God; toward the Bible; toward the local church; toward the pastor-teacher; toward marriage; toward the school; toward the laws of the land; toward military service; and, right down the line. Disobedience to parents is the rejection of authority.

7. Ungrateful

   This very naturally leads to being ungrateful, or "aphikmeomai." This is the logical progression from rejection of constituted authorities to being an ingrate. This is the lack of gratitude to whom you're indebted, such as your parents. You need an appreciation for the life they gave you. When you don't have this appreciation, it cheapens you into an animal. Your cheap tastes are reflected in your music; in your art; in your love; in the food you like; and, in your literature. Ingratitude is a hideous sin. The Bible tells us it leads to the loss of divine viewpoint (Romans 1:21).

8. Unholy

   Another characteristic is being unholy or "anosios." This means no appreciation for what God says is right. The divine guidelines of Scripture for human relationships are treated with contempt. This indicates being shameless and performing evil actions.

9. No Natural Affection

   2 Timothy 2:3 goes on and says, "Without natural affection," or "astorgos." "Storgos" means family affection, and the preceding "a" is negative. So this word means "no family affection," or no capacity to love those in your family. We're forever hearing about people abusing children and abandoning them, and children treating their parents with contempt. No family unit is possible in the land without this tie of affection. There is a noted breakdown in this in our day.

10. Irreconcilable

    The next one is "trucebreakers," or "aspondos." The word means that a person is so implacable that he will not come to peace in a quarrel that he has. A person is so bitter that he has an unappeasable hatred, and he won't make a truce with the person that he's contending with.

11. False Accusers

    "False accusers" is "diabolos." When you put the article "the" on this, it becomes a noun, the name of the devil. The idea is to say things that are not true about another. This includes treacherous gossip. No reputation is safe in the hand of the "diabolos." The next time someone comes up and starts falsely accusing someone to you, you can say, "Hello, Mrs. Diabolos." That's what she is, and that's what she's doing.

12. Lack of Self-Control

    Incontinence or "akrates" means lack of self-control. This is to be without restraint in one's desire, especially your desires for what is evil. The college anarchists want a society with no restraint. "Krates" means self-discipline, and with the preceding "a," "akrates" means no self-discipline.

13. Fierce

    Lack of control leads on to the next one which is "fierce," or "anemeros." This means savage. Anyone can become brutal once his self-control is broken. He is an unrestrained animal. He has no sorrow for injury inflicted, and he is lacking in sensitiveness and sympathy. You find people who, when you cross them, what's the answer? Muscle. Brutal. Beast.

14. Despising Good

    Next is, "despises of those that are good." This is "aphilagathos." "Agathos" refers to that which has an intrinsic good, like gold. This is a contempt for an orderly conduct of living. It refers to divine good which the filling of the Holy Spirit produces. This person is contemptuous of it. He is contemptuous so that a darkness in the soul develops. The presence of good things in people becomes a source of embarrassment. They have no relationship to it.

15. Traitors

    In 2 Timothy 3:4, we have "traitors" or "prodotes." This means a lack of loyalty. This person is a traitor to the Lord by rejection of doctrine; a traitor to the local church by rejection of a pastor-teacher; a traitor to other believers by slander; a traitor to country; a traitor to one's employer; a traitor to friends; and, so on. Your true loyalty is an expression of love.

16. Reckless

    "Heady," or "propetes" means reckless. "Petes" means to fall, and "pro" means on the face, so the idea is to fall or to be off-balance, which means a rash person. He is a person who is off-balance in judgment. He destroys what is good under the illusion that he is called to a divine mission to straighten things out. He is unable to be told anything, so naturally he follows into disloyalty. He acts with passion and impulse.

17. Conceited

    "Highminded" in the King James Version is a verb here, "tuphoo." It means "inflated with smoke," or full of hot air. This person is inflated with a blinding smoke of his own conceit. He's moving in a smoke screen so he's blind to the truth. He has a false sense of importance. He's obsessed with maintaining his dignity.

18. Lovers of Pleasure

    The next one is "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." "Lovers of pleasure" is the Greek word "Philedonos." "Lovers of God" is "philotheos." An apostate's soul is bored by God, but he's hot for pleasure. A darkened soul draws in religion, so he moves away from God.

19. Religion

    Religion is then described for us in 2 Timothy 2:5. In closing here, "Having a form of godliness" is "morphosis." "Morphosis" means an outline of semblance. That's what religion has--its form and its ritual, but it's empty. "Godliness" is the Greek word "eusedeia," and it means piety toward God. It has a form of being pious, and yet religion is nothing. Religion is from Satan. It is man's way of trying to gain God's favor. So these apostates (and religious apostates are particularly characterized by this) have "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." It says, "From such, turn away." The power of piety toward God lies in Bible doctrine. That's what the apostate rejects. Doctrine is God's power. The Bible says, "From such, turn away." The Greek word is "apotrepo." It is present tense. Keep doing it all the time. Turn away from apostates. Don't have anything to do with them. It is middle. If you do it, it will be a benefit to yourself. Finally, guess what the mood is. It's imperative. It's a command. Turn away from the apostates.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973

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