11 Woe unto them! for they
have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when
they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without
water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 1:11-13)
Jude gives us a serious look at the lackluster Christian and deceiving prophets
of our own day in these few verses. There are subtle references to a
congregational form of democracy against which Moses stood in the gain-saying
of Korah. I believe it is for this reason that the Church, from the first
century, has observed an Episcopal form of government and not a congregational
form. God’s will is not decided by a majority vote. Of course, we see that the
Episcopal form of church government is itself capable of great error and
wickedness if the head is rotten – i.e. the Episcopal Church USA. Ministers who
preach for reward, as did the wicked Balaam, are categorized with Korah and
Cain – I certainly would not want to find myself in that company! “And
the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness.” (Ex
16:2) When the murmuring
begins in the congregation, there will always be found usurpers standing by the
wayside ready to take the congregation away from God for their own profit.
Korah is the perfect type of those deceitful ministers who await every
expression of dissatisfaction of the people to take them away from the truth.
Now Korah, the
son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the
sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they
rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and
fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And
they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said
unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up
yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, he fell
upon his face: And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even
to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him
to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near
unto him. (Num 16:1-5) It is always possible to find
some souls in the congregation that do not desire to hear truth preached. As
they complain, the men such as Korah is, step into the void to work mischief.
These are the Core’s of today and the spots in the feasts of the Church. The
problem is not small, but an accelerating one today. Look around at the
churches! They have turned to the filth and error of the world over the
everlasting truth and hope of God!
Such deceitful men, and their followers, are as the clouds that build in late
afternoon on the desert horizon – too late to produce droplets of rain, and
only offering a false hope of it. They are blown about by every conceivable
wind of doctrine. Paul describes it this way: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. (Eph
4:14) Is doctrine
important? Yes, certainly, doctrine is important, but it is the steadfast and
immovable doctrine revealed in God’s Word that is important and not those
alternating and paltry doctrines of men. The fruit of any doctrinal tree that
is not well-watered by the Word of God will wither and perish.
Here we see a beautifully illustrative verse: “Raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness for ever.” The waves of the sea rage and foam at the tidal
limits, but their bluster will not grant them a greater boundary for their
seas. God has already set the limits at Eden. One of the most eloquent of
artful word pictures, to me, is that which the Lord calls, “Wandering
Stars.” What, pray tell, are Wandering Stars?
The Wandering Stars to which Jude refers are not unlike the meteor, or even the
comet. The meteor is defined by Mr. Webster’s dictionary as “the luminous
phenomenon observed when a meteoroid is heated by its entry into the earth’s
atmosphere: also called FALLING STAR.” A comet, on the other hand is a
conglomeration of gases and dust particles that produce a long tail that points
AWAY from the sun as it passes near it. Both of these objects are wandering
stars. Surely the blustery gases of the false prophet point away from the Sun
of Righteousness!
The meteor has no fixed place or orbit in the heavens. It wanders from one end
of the galaxies to the other. It generates no light for it has no fuel by which
light may be produced. Its only light comes as the friction of atmospheric
layers begin to heat it up to a glow as it falls from the heavens. Its only destiny
is to perish in utter darkness as it either is consumed in its own flames, or
is buried in the surface of the earth or some other planet.
How many ministers have we read about, and perhaps even
know, who fit perfectly that description in a spiritual sense? They have no
fixed position on anything for they are ‘crowd pleasers’ as was Korah. They do
not remain in the orbit of God’s Word, but are mavericks, wandering off into
the darkness without a compass or a chart. They have their end in scandals revealed
for all the world to see as they fall in flames from their pedestals. Their
great grandfather, Lucifer, also was a Falling Star. He was cast out of heaven
and drew a quarter of all the Angels of God with him. 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried,
travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and
behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns
upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part
of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood
before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as
soon as it was born.
(Rev 12:1-4)
The Great Red Dragon (Lucifer, or Satan) was cast out of
Heaven with no place reserved but the darkness of the earth which he coveted. 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any
more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:
he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Rev
12:7-9) I believe
this gives the old practice of “wishing upon a star” a new name. I would far
prefer to hope upon the Bright and Morning Star that is so completely
dependable in its generations than to wish upon a falling star whose end is
flames and darkness.
So the Wandering Stars of Jude are those ‘professing’
Christians who will believe anything and stand for nothing. They are the false
ministers who have no light and whose preaching is darkness. But Christ has given
us an Anchor of the Soul. That by
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us
entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec. (Heb 6:18-20) We are not to drift aimlessly
from one end of heaven to another. We are held in orbit by that Strong Anchor
of the Soul that is Christ Jesus and His Word. He will never let loose or give
way.
Is your soul equipped with that Anchor, or are you a
Wandering Star?
