JUDE - Apostates in the Supernatural Realm (vs9,10)

Verse 9 “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” This verse really draws our attention to it, it alludes to something that has happened, Jude assumes that we know about it, he does not give us any background, which would usually be the case when a writer alludes to something that his readers would not know about. Jude mentions two angelic beings. Michael is the archangel - the chief of all the angels, (some believe that Satan held this position before his fall) Michael is God’s warrior, his name means “he who is like unto God” , he is referred to as a “prince” in Daniel 10:13, 12:1, and as a warrior in Rev 12:7. He is associated with fighting for the children of Israel. The Devil is as mentioned previously, the one who rebelled against God, he is thought to have been the main angel in Heaven before his fall. He is the opposite of Michael. Some people think of him as the opposite of God, but he is a created being, and therefore nowhere near God’s level. It is worth noting that neither the word archangel nor devil is found in the plural. There is only one archangel, one chief or head of the angelic host; likewise there is only one head of the demonic host. Here we see the two mighty angels disputing over the body of Moses - Michael and Satan. If it wasn’t for this passage we would probably not know that this dispute ever happened, as it is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.

We don’t know where Jude received his information about this dispute. He may have received a unique revelation from God. But according to teachers in the early church, Jude referred to an apocryphal book known as the Assumption of Moses, of which only small portions survive. The last time we see Moses’ body mentioned is in Deut 34: 5-6, when God took his body and buried it where no-one could find it. “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” Some have said that the devil wanted to use Moses’ body as an object of worship to lead Israel astray into idolatry, but it is more likely that the devil anticipated a purpose God had for Moses’ body, and the devil tried to defeat that plan. We know that after his death, Moses appeared in bodily form at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3) with Elijah (whose body was caught up to heaven in 2 Kings 2). “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.” It is also believed that Moses is one of the two witnesses seen in Rev 11:1-14. So God needed his body for that future plan. But for Jude, the main point isn’t why Michael was disputing, but how he disputed with the devil. Jude makes the point that Michael does not use any sort of accusation against Satan, but uses the name of Jesus as a rebuke. Michael did not mock or accuse the devil. God hasn’t called us to judge the devil, to condemn the devil, to mock him or accuse him, but to battle against him in the name of the Lord, and if Michael dared not bring against him a reviling accusation against the devil, how much more should these certain men not speak evil of dignitaries.

Verse 10 “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” “But these speak evil” - In contrast to Michael, who would not even speak evil of the devil, these certain men spoke evil, especially when they rejected authority and spoke against dignitaries. “Of whatever they do not know” - The certain men didn’t even know the things or the people they spoke evil about. Their evil speech was made worse by their ignorance.

“Whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves” - These certain men pretended to be spiritual, but their only knowledge was really natural. Brute beasts can be smart or clever in an instinctive way, but they obviously do not have spiritual knowledge. It was the same way with these men. They are corrupted by the very practices in which they seek liberty and self-expression.