EXAMPLES OF UNBELIEF

Jude 5-7 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

People forget! This has been a true characteristic of human beings from the beginning of time to the present, and will assuredly be so throughout the ages of time. Lest we forget the death, burial, and resurrection, of our Savior, Jesus Christ, as well as the reason for it, Christians are to celebrate the Lord's Supper each first day of the week. Upon the establishment of this memorial, Jesus told His apostles, and by example, all Christians thereafter, that we are to partake of the emblems of His death, the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, in remembrance of Me (See Luke 22:15-20). Certainly, in His wisdom, God knew that mankind would have the tendency to forget many things that they should remember.

The apostle Peter also realized the forgetfulness of mankind. He wrote, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. In the lesson text, Jude thought it necessary to put in remembrance some examples of unbelief, to those to whom he was writing. This, too, is for our learning. The common salvation available to all that have obedient faith in God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, is in constant jeopardy. When God's children fail to remember the necessity of leading an obedient life in Christ, when their faith wanes, and when ungodly men that teach false doctrines mislead them, then eternal salvation can be lost (See previous verses 3-4).

As lessons to us, consider these examples of unbelief that led the Israelites, children of God, astray. Don't you remember how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not? Having been saved from Egyptian bondage by God, the children of Israel soon forgot. They murmured against God, worshipped idols, and they despised the land of Canaan that He had given them. Therefore God let them die in the wilderness without entering into the Promised Land (See Num. 14:22-37, 26:64-65, Deut. 2:15-16). The writer of the epistle to the Hebrew Christians recounts this event (Heb. 3:16-19), and then, in the first two verses of the following chapter, tells us what God has in store for unbelieving Christians: Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it (Heb. 4:1-2).

Jude gives another lesson to all Christians assuring us that God will punish the wicked. Do you remember how the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation? Peter gives a similar account of this when he wrote: ...God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (2 Pet. 2:4). From these inspired passages we know there were angels that were originally created as holy beings,(their first estate), but through sins committed against God, were banished from heaven and made to dwell in hell. Satan, himself was a fallen angel due to his sinful nature (Isaiah 14:12-15, Luke 10:18). Jesus assured us of the place prepared for unbelieving sinners. It is a place for the cursed, a place of everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).

Also, another lesson we should all remember is how God dealt with the wicked, ungodly inhabitants of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (See Gen. 18:16-19:29). Through unbelief, they were given over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, which are abominations in the eyes of God. Because of these sins, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire.

Jude says that these are set forth for an example to all Christians. These are warnings that God will mete out just punishment - unquenchable fire and brimstone awaits all unbelieving sinners!