Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. [4] For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
JUDE 1:3-5 NKJV
When the scripture above was written, Jude, who would have been an elder in the church, wrote to the church on the need to contend for and return to the faith once delivered to them by the apostles of Jesus. As we mentioned in the last meditation, the faith delivered to the saints summed up the apostles doctrines and all things doctrinal find expression in the lifestyle of the individuals holding the doctrine. We also made a correlation between contending for the faith and return of Jerusalem from Babylon, Israel from Egypt and Lot from Sodom.
The jews had sinned against God and after countless warnings, God allowed them to be carried into captivity by the Babylonians for seventy years. During this time, there were faithful Jews like Daniel and the three Hebrew Children, Esther and Mordecai, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah etc. These Jews may have raised up a synagogue in Babylon and this may have been accepted at the time. The Lord spoke with them via the prophet in Jeremiah 29:5 saying “Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease“. For a time this was permitted, but when it was time to return to Jerusalem and the decree had been issued, the likes of Zerubbabel followed the an earlier batch of returnees and Nehemiah who was a king bearer and Ezra followed afterwards. Any Jew who chose to remain in exile at this time, would not be following the will of God.
In a similar way, we the church are the new Jerusalem described in Revelations 21 and Galatians 4. During the time of Paul, He warned of the coming of ravenous wolves in sheep clothing, bringing strange doctrines, Acts 20:29. Jude re-echoed this in our key scripture for today. The church in actuality did move far from the doctrine of the apostles. During the dark ages, there was an infiltration of Roman pagan practices into the church, while the scriptures and true faith was hidden from the masses. Just like in Babylon, there were faithful saints through the ages who contended to preserve the faith. Saints like Martin Luther, John Wesley, etc were revolutionaries and pointed the church back to the apostles doctrine and away from false teachings. Yet, Christ did not die and wait two thousand years for a church that is less than perfect.
The call to contend for the faith is an active call at this time. It is like the call made for the Jews to return to rebuild the temple, to come out of Babylon. A lot of the infiltration we see in Christendom today, began when the Roman religion mixed with Christendom. While there is a temptation to stay and try to fix the current system of things, this would be like a Jew choosing to remain in Babylon to save the entire land. God has no interest in that. Jeremiah 51:9 said We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. As it was then, so it is now, Revelation 18:1-4 has a similar warning to the saints. Beloved, to contend for the faith means to leave Babylon and its practices and return to mount Zion, the city of the living God, following the pure and unadulterated word of God over mans idea, idolatry and leadership.
Prayer for today: Heavenly Father, thank you for Your word and Your call to me to flee any form of infiltration and mixture between Your pure Word and the ideas of man and the world I live in. Search me and see if there is any Babylonian way in me, or any way I may have strayed from your pure command and lead me in the path of truth. If I am in Babylon in any way, Father, show me the true path of life and lead me in Your truth, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
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