As Paul says in Ephesians 4:26; “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (KJV). In Jude 1.8-16 we are being a similar message, that addresses anger in its cosmological context, anger as it pertains to God’s Creation.

Jude describes people who slander celestial beings and things they do not understand (v. 8,10), and contradict those things placed above them out of ignorance (v. 11)—Korah’s argument against the authority of Moses is a remarkable example of this ignorance: Moses was called by God to lead the Israelites, and Korah asks why Moses is leading them since God is with everyone? But part of Creation is that each thing God created (like us, the animals, the laws of nature, the circumstances and environments we are in) has some authority over the other parts of nature. In other words, Creation is both a complete whole and an infinity of parts; we are affected by everything around us: gravity, our friends, our family, the slow cars on the road in front of us, and so forth.

These all are things we can get mad at when we think we see them working against us, but Jude cautions us to be careful with this anger, which may be just (as the example of Michael in v. 9 suggests). To restrain the sin that comes from this anger, Jude reminds us of our acknowledgment of Christ the conqueror, because Christ has already rebuked the ignorant and the slanderers of the world. Christ can completely transform how we deal with inconveniences and evils in the world because we know he has already defeated them.

[Jude 8-16]

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?

+ What is these people’s reaction to their dreams, celestial beings, and other things they do not know?

+ In verse 11: What was the way of Cain? What was Korah’s sin? Why was Balaam rushing? (see Genesis 4.3-15 for Cain, Numbers 16.1-3 for Korah, and Numbers 22.34 for Balaam, though if you have time)

+ In verses 12 and 13, what is wrong with these people, that they will be placed in “the blackest darkness?”

+ What role do the holy ones in verse 14 play in the judgment of these “grumblers and faultfinders?”

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ How do I regard my dreams and angels—how do I regard anything I do not know about? How would God like me to consider these things, and how can I show neighborly love through my ignorance?

+ How am I treating those who have authority over me?

+ How do verses 14-16 inform my behavior to people around me who find fault in the authorities over us?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?

+ What is my next step?

+ Who might be suffering in your life, because of how you (mis)treat authority?

+ To whom can you be “holy one” who on the one hand is not a faultfinder, but still recognizes evil for what it is? (Like Michael, who recognizes the Enemy as such, but says “the Lord rebuke you!”)