Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 321
JUDE
This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you
and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.
May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.
Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation
we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging
you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy
people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into
your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral
lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have
denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that
Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed
those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who
did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place
where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of
darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don’t forget Sodom
and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed
by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.
In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—
live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. But even
Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of
blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when
Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) But these people
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