We often overlook the smaller books of the Bible. After all, what could they possibly be of benefit to me? We find several of these books in the Old Testament, commonly referred to as the Minor Prophets. We also see a few of these small books in the New Testament as well. One of those is the book of Jude. It only has one chapter and in that chapter only 25 verses. We can see some interesting things in this book however. Before we get there though let’s consider its author.
I. Who was Jude?
Most theologians say that this Jude was the step brother of Jesus. We see in Matthew 13:55 that Jesus had 4 brothers, one of them named Judas or Jude. His brothers did not believe in Jesus until after the resurrection. We see them with the Apostles in Acts 1:14 along with His mother, Mary. Do you see though how Jude describes himself in the first verse? “A servant of Jesus Christ!” We can see the humility of this man. Another brother, James has a book in the New Testament and he describes himself in the exact same way, a servant of Jesus. Let me ask you a question, how do you describe yourself? I can think of no better way, than to be a servant of Jesus Christ.
II. Jude the book.
We consider the importance of the book of Jude next. Jude tells us at least three things, that we would have never known, if this book would not have been written.
Jude tells us, for example, that when Moses died, Michael the archangel disputes with the devil about the body of Moses. (Vs 9) Wow, would you have liked to been a witness to that! In the Old Testament, the Bible simply tells us that God buried Moses at his death. If Jude was not in the Bible, we would have never known this fact.
A second thing that Jude tells us that no other writer does is in verse 6. Jude tells us that angels left their first domain and that God has them in chains, awaiting judgement. Peter does somewhat mention this in his epistles, but not to this extent. We must assume that angels have the ability of free choice and some have chosen to forsake God.
Lastly, the third thing that Jude points out that no other author mentions is in verse 14. Jude referred to Enoch as a prophet. Remember, he was the one that walked with God in the Old Testament and God simply took him away, he never died. Enoch named his child, Methuselah. He is the oldest recorded man in the Bible at the age of 969 years old. Did you ever look the name Methuselah up and see what it means? Most say that Methuselah means “when I die, the deluge (or flood) will come” or something similar to this. Was Enoch trying to tell us something? Did God tell Enoch that he was going to destroy the earth years before it happened? I can’t say for sure, but Enoch prophesied.
III conclusion.
I bring all this up to make a point, we should not skip over a book in the Bible just because it is a small book!! We can learn so much from each and every book of the Bible. If you get an opportunity this week, read this book. It will be a blessing to you.
