Isaiah chapter 65 - Jude

Jude begins his one-chapter book with a greeting and an exhortation to earnestly contend for the faith. That takes us up to and through verse three. Then, in verse four he speaks of some men who have “crept in” unbeknowns to the body of Christ. About whom was Jude writing? We may be able to eliminate some possibilities by looking at the attributes Jude assigns to these men in verse four.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lascivious-ness, and
denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude v4)

First of all Jude says that they were ordained to this condemnation. That’s a strong statement, but he also says that these men were ordained “of old”. I think that we have to eliminate those we normally refer to as the ‘Judaeizers’, those Christian men who were still hooked up to the Law of Moses. The Judaeizers insisted on a compliance with the Law of Moses in addition to the concept of grace. They were not advocating “laciviousness” which would be an abandonment of any self restraint.

Second, Jude doesn’t say that these men were ordained before the foundation of the world or anything consistent with that idea. He just says that they were “of old ordained to this condemnation”. I think that we have to rule out any of the new Christians, even those who might have turned the grace of Christ into “lasciviousness.

Thirdly, these men were “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”. Once again that eliminates any of the Christians. These men must have “crept in unawares” into society, rather than into the Church. These men were neither Gentile Christians nor Jewish Christians. This does not tell us who they were, but we do see who they were not. They could have been fake Christians, Christians in name only. Jude moves on. Verse five may be Jude’s statement of what God would eventually do with these men.

“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.” (Jude v5)

Of those who God save out of Egypt’s bondage, only the true believers entered the promised-land. That would have been only Joshua and Caleb, and of course, all the younger generation who left Egypt as children. God destroyed the ‘fake’ believers forty years after they came out of Egypt, and I think that Jude is saying that at some point in the future God will destroy those “certain men crept in unawares”.

If we don’t recognize who these “men” are, verses four, five and six seem to be a jumbled up mess, and I think that in verse six Jude tells us who he was talking about in the previous two verses.

“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.” (Jude v6)

Who were the angels which kept not their first estate? Are these the angels that followed Satan, the angels we read about being cast out of heaven in the book of Revelation? No. Those angels haven’t lost their first estate yet. They still have access to heaven, but there is some of their number who gave up their first estate. We read about them in Genesis.

“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them
wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty
men which were of old, men of renoun." (Genesis 6:2-4)

These “sons of God” are the angels of Jude verse six who “kept not their first estate”. These angels who sired a race of mutants on the earth are reserved in God’s chains, and are awaiting their sentencing on that “great day”. Not all of the angels participated in the activities of Genesis 6:2-4, but the offspring of those who did were destroyed in the great flood. The
status of the angels involved in this passage is known from Jude v6, but Peter also tells us:

"For if 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;" (2nd Peter 2:4)

Satan never gives up, and he most certainly tried again the tactic that had worked once.
Scripture speaks of more of this ungodly activity after the flood, and apparently Jude is telling us that there were some of these “men” (mutant, half-breeds) around after the Church came into being. Again, if we do not connect Jude’s verses in this way, they become a jumbled assortment of subjects. In verse seven Jude appears to change the subject once again.

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, 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.” (Jude v7)

Why does Jude now turn to Sodom and Gomorrha and tie those two cities and their inhabitants into this discussion? Most of us have been taught that the great sin of Sodom was the sin that now carries that name, Sodomy/homosexuality. Truly, homosexuality is a sin, but it is just a sin. How many of us have read the above verse and assumed that the words “strange flesh” means homosexuality? I think that the flesh that is mentioned in Jude was “strange” because it was either fallen angels or their half-breed offspring.

To make this assumption ties verse seven to verses four, five and six, as well as to other verses in Jude. These “men” are further described in the rest of the book. Try reading it with the idea that Jude is speaking of some really bad dudes. Notice verses fourteen and fifteen.

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14-15)

How many times does Jude use the “ungodly” description in verse fifteen? No less than four times. These must have been some really polluted beings. Jude has quoted passages from the book of Enoch, so perhaps we can reference that book too. In the book of Enoch we are told that 200 fallen angels came down and mated with the daughters of men prior to the flood. We should keep that in mind just so we don’t get to thinking that all of Satan’s wild bunch came down prior to the flood and are therefore bound in chains awaiting the judgment of the “great day”.

[Note: This author acknowledges that the book of Enoch is extra-biblical, but Jude does quote from it here, so I feel free to reference it as well.]

Who are the people of Isaiah’s chapter sixty-five? It may help us to look at Isaiah 65:8-9.

“Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it
not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them
all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my
mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” (KJV)

The Septuagint has it as follows;

“Thus saith the LORD, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say,
Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his
sake I will not destroy them all. And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of
Judah, and they shall inherit my holy mountain; and mine elect and my servants shall
inherit it, and shall dwell there.” (Isaiah 65:8-9 Septuagint)

God was going to call out a small group (seed) from all of mankind (cluster), unto whom He would give his holy mountain. Yes, Jerusalem sits on God's holy mountain, but the word mountain is also understood to be a kingdom when used in prophecy. (i.e. The stone cut out without hands was to become a mountain that filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:35. Interpretation; Daniel 2:44)

Of the cluster of mankind prior to God's call to Israel we read in Isaiah 65 that they;
'sacrificied in garden' v3
'burnt incense upon altars of brick' v3
'remained among the graves' v4
'lodged in the monuments' v4
'burned incense upon the mountains' v7
blasphemed God upon the hills' v7

Was there a group of people who remained in the graveyards and lived among the grave markers? Who do we find living in the graveyards at the time of Jesus?

“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a
man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could
bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and
chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the
mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.” (Mark 5:1-5)

Who was there, living in the graveyard with this poor man? Demonic personalities; Devils; Fallen angels. Jesus cast them out of the man, so we know they were there. Now, knowing that Isaiah 65:4 is speaking about demonic beings, can we extend that thinking to the other verses of Isaiah 65:1-8? Were these beings involved in the activities of verse three through seven? And, who is God talking about in verse eleven? Who is “that troop”? Who are “that number” to whom drink offerings were being offered?

“But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a
table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number." (Is. 65:11)

These things were not acts of worshipping the one true God of Israel. This was devil worship, usually referred to as idolatry in the Bible. The idols of old were physical representation of the demonic beings people were familiar with, and they were usually phallic in shape. The occult religions are solar-phallic religions with Satan at the head. Did Satan repeat his old tactic of sending his angels to earth to corrupt the human family? The book Joshua indicates that this was the case, and judging from how many evil spirits Jesus cast out of people in His day, it was still happening then.

I find this to be a strong connective idea between the book of Jude and the 65th chapter of Isaiah.