Verse 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.”
This verse is the turning point of the book, this verse is preceded by apostasy in history and will be followed by apostasy in prophecy. Also before this verse Jude gives examples from the supernatural realm and it is followed by examples from the natural realm.
Jude picks 3 men from the past as examples to make a point to each of us.
Jude is telling us that apostasy is not confined to any one class of person.
Here we have - A tiller of the soil - a farmer - Cain
A prophet - Balaam
A prince - Core
These examples are not in chronological order but are placed in this order for a reason.
Each of these people portray a particular aspect of what it is to fall away from the truth. They show us a process that takes three steps - they enter on the wrong path, they run riotously down that path, they perish at the end. This happens every day in the world around us.
These three are guilty of three individual separate things, but Jude uses them to describe a process that all apostates travel in their downward journey;
they knowingly choose the way of Cain as opposed to the way of Christ,
they choose the error of Balaam rather than the truth of Christ,
they choose the perishing of Core rather than the life of Christ.
The Way of Cain Twice in the book of Proverbs, Ch 14:12 & Ch 16:25 it says “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death” Our natural judgement is not a reliable guide to spiritual things. The story of Cain is found in Genesis Ch 5 Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the alter of God, this would seem a natural enough thing to do, because after all he was a farmer and he was bringing an offering from the fruits that his labour brought forth. Meanwhile Abel brought an offering from the firstlings of his flock. God had respect for Abel’s offering, but did not for Cain’s offering. So what was Cain’s mistake? He did not deny the existence of God, he did not refuse to worship God, he give of the fruit of his labour willingly The question we must ask ourselves at this point is, when we do things for God by our own labour, do we know that they are accepted by God or are they rejected as was Cain’s. If we read Hebrews 11;4 we get a hint at why Cain’s offering was rejected. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”
▪ Cain was trying to be accepted by God on his terms
▪ He was adding to God’s requirements for Salvation
What was there about Abel’s offering, it says it was by faith, in Romans 10;17 it says that faith comes by hearing. Abel had heard something that has not been recorded and his offering was in response to this.
If we look back to Genesis 3;7 we see how Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked. God then made them coats of skin to cover them, the fig leaves were apparently inadequate. God did not instruct them to go and make coats of skin themselves, but he himself provided the required covering. Throughout the Bible, from this point onwards, God consistently makes it clear, that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission (covering) of sins. So we can take from this that a tradition was set down, that a sacrifice should be a blood sacrifice, therefore prophesying the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
So looking at Cain and Abel, we see two people, both farmers, Cain a tiller of the soil, which provided food for them, Abel on the other hand was a shepherd, here we have a problem, because it was not until later that they were allowed to eat meat; so why was he looking after sheep, it did not help towards their everyday bodily requirements, you could say that he was using the wool, but that would not have required him to constantly take care of them, it is more likely that he was breeding them for sacrifice.
So Cain’s sin was, not following the example and laws that had been laid down. Cain was trying to be accepted by God on his terms, he was doing things the way he thought was right. He was adding to God’s requirements for Salvation. Many do this today. They try to get favour with God and enter into Heaven by doing good works alone, they are really saying that Christ’s sacrifice is not sufficient, this is blasphemy.
▪ Cain was not saved, Abel was
▪ They brought offerings to God
▪ They both were believers in God
▪ But one chose his own way while the other followed God’s way - The Only Way
The Error of Balaam
The story of Balaam is found from Numbers Ch 22. He was a prophet but is best known for his faults.
He was greedy for money. His story comes about after the children of Israel enter into the plains of Moab. The king of Moab, Balak, sent for Balaam to ask for his help. He wanted him to curse the children of Israel, but God came to Balaam and told him not to go with the Moabites and curse the children of Israel. Balaam is offered more and more money to go with Balak, eventually Balaam goes.
Numbers 22 vs 22 to 35 tells us a remarkable thing happen. Along the journey an angel appears in front of Balaam with a sword drawn, ready to kill him, but Balaam does not see the angel, only his donkey sees it. The donkey leaves the path to avoid the angel and Balaam get cross and beats the donkey. They then end up going down a path were there is no way to turn sideways and the angel appears again in front of them. This time the donkey drops down to the ground and Balaam strikes the donkey with his staff. At this stage we see that God opened the donkey’s mouth and it was able to talk, asking why Balaam had hit him. Balaam’s eyes are opened and he sees the angel.
After this Balaam goes to the Moabites and instead of cursing the children of Israel, he blesses them. Because of this he did not get the rewards that the king had promised him, he therefore plots a different plan so that he can get the money. He arranges with the king to send the daughters of Moab over to the children of Israel’s camp to entice them to sin. This works and God then turns against his own children. It resulted in the killing of all the women and the men who were found with them.
Revelation 2;14 refers to Balaam as a way of stating what God has against the church of Pergamos. This was the church that takes part in the world and the ways of the world.
“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.”
Balaam eventually was killed with the enemies of the children of Israel. He sacrificed eternal life for earthly gains. It shows us that we have to be careful what we do in our daily lives. We sometimes would question what is wrong with doing something, but the question that we should be really asking is “What is right with it?” Are we doing things that go against God and his will for us. Are we putting earthly things, which are only for a short time, before our eternal life with God?
The Gainsaying of Core
Core is in Numbers 16, before Balaam, it is out of order, but placed this way to illustrate the process of apostasy.
Core was a cousin of Moses, he rejected, along with two others, the authority of Moses. They gathered up a group of 250 princes and together accused Moses and Aaron of thinking they were above the rest. They thought that everyone was holy.
Moses response is found in Numbers 16:28-30. “And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.”
Stating that they would know that God had ordained Moses and that he held a special place, he said that if his position was given by God then the men would not die an ordinary death, but would be swallowed up by the earth and go alive into hell.
As soon as he had finished speaking the ground opened and swallowed them and their houses and all their belongings.
So we have the examples of these three to warn us of the path of apostasy that leads to destruction.
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