Jude 1:12-15 (NKJV) 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
V12 “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots…” The love feast is the meal eaten for fellowship before communion. It is a family meal (the family of all believers) in love. It is marred by these fakes. What are these fakes like? They have no fear in lying, and masquerading the Christian life (2 Corinthians 11:12-15). They are not interested in others. They only pretend to; nowadays, it is termed “grooming.” It is all about them. Beware of those who promote themselves. They are dead spiritually, which is described as clouds without water (no substance, just show), carried about by the winds (unstable and changeable to whatever person they talk with, no standards), late autumn trees without fruit (Matthew 7:16), twice dead (physically dying and already spiritually dead as in 1 Timothy 5:6), and pulled up by the roots (even their foundation of life is dead). These evil people are dressed in angel clothes.
V13 “…raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Their description continues. They are described as raging waves of the sea (a storm causing great destruction), foaming up their own shame (the foam of waves that are often various shades of dirt and debris, which here is their sin, but they are shameless, sinless, in their opinion of themselves), and wandering stars (lots of light and show, but no substance). What does God think of them? He reserves a room in hell for them. Their hell will include a darkness, which never sees light. The darkness is both physical and spiritual.
V14 “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints…” Jude most likely received this information directly from God. The seventh refers to Enoch being the seventh generation descendant of Adam.
Others’ comments:
(Constable): “This is the only place in Scripture where we read that Enoch was a prophet. He is the only individual who lived before the Flood that God identified as a prophet. Though God had not inspired that book, He led Jude to quote Enoch’s prophecy.”
(Bible Knowledge Commentary): “Since Jude’s statement is similar to a passage in the apocryphal Book of Enoch (1:9) – written prior to 110 b.c. and thus probably known by the early Christians – many assume that Jude is quoting from that book. Others suggest that the difference between Jude’s words and the Book of Enoch indicate that Jude received the information about Enoch directly from God, or that under divine inspiration he recorded an oral tradition. None of these views affects the doctrine of inspiration adversely. If Jude quoted the apocryphal book, he was affirming only the truth of that prophecy and not endorsing the book in its entirety (cf. Paul’s quotation of the Cretan poet Epimenides, in Tit 1:12).”
The coming refers to the Second Coming of Jesus to the mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. This coming includes all the believing people from Adam to the Rapture returning with Jesus. See Zechariah 14.
V15 “…to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” What is Jesus’s purpose for returning? He, the King of kings, with his retinue are to save Israel from destruction, to destroy all those who hate Jesus and Israel, to reign and rule in Jerusalem, and fulfill all the blessings God has promised.
We learn:
• Some character traits of fake teachers.
• The coming of the Lord Jesus and some of His purpose for returning.