So once again, our reading will
be from Jude in a moment, just one verse, but before that I
want to read a few verses from Zechariah and chapter 3. This is what it says in verse
1, Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 1. And it is Zechariah, the prophet,
who is speaking, and he says this, and he showed me Joshua,
that elsewhere is called Jeshua, and I've used, I think, both
spellings, perhaps, and he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing
before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right
hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake
unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the
Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt
walk in my ways, if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt
also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will
give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading and we will now turn to the little book of Jude
right at the end of our Bibles apart from Revelation and one
verse there is our verse for today. So that's Jude and verse
9 and this is what it says. 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. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading also. I've spent a lot of time this
week thinking about this verse in Jude, and also the passage
in Zechariah, but thinking particularly about this verse in Jude, verse
nine, mulling it over, trying to discover the message the Lord
would have us hear today, the lesson that he would have us
learn. And I've been reminded that when
it comes to the scriptures, we're all learners. We all have to
learn how to rightly divide the word of truth. We compare scripture
with scripture. And we all must come to the word
of God with humility. Like Job who says, teach me and
I will hold my tongue. Cause me to understand. or like David who prayed, for
thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. And this is the prayer
of the Lord's people, that for the Lord's own glory, for the
glory of the Lord, that we might worship him better, that we might
know him better, that we might learn what he has done and better
understand it. For his own name's sake, he might
lead us and guide us into all truth. So may the Lord teach
us all to be wise in these holy and heavenly things. Now I mentioned
yesterday in the little note that I sent out that in the New
Testament, there is not another epistle quite like Jude's. The apostle draws on Old Testament,
it's just a little book and yet Jude seems to fill it with so
many different, strange and wonderful ideas and thoughts. He draws
an Old Testament history. He gives lots of different examples
from the experience, the heritage of the people of God in the Old
Testament. He draws on prophecy. He draws
on imagery. Some of the phrases that he uses
and the things referred to are really quite esoteric, if I can
use that word. And he levels strong arguments
against false teachers and unbelievers who infiltrated the church, even
from the very earliest apostolic days. And I think it's sobering. It's
perhaps just worth me mentioning this. I think it's sobering.
A sobering truth that we shall never have a perfect church on
earth. We'll never have a perfect church
on earth. as far as the church militant is concerned. And yet
it is our duty, says Jude, to earnestly contend to maintain
the true faith of the Lord Jesus Christ within the church that
the Lord has placed us in. And this verse nine, I think,
is an example of perhaps the strange and mysterious things
that Jude sometimes speaks about. It's a rather mysterious statement
that he makes with respect to Michael, the archangel. Who is this Michael, the archangel? What is an archangel? Why might
there have been a dispute about the body of Moses? And what's
the significance of the phrase, the Lord rebuke thee? And after
all of that, what is Jude's purpose in bringing this particular idea,
this particular thought to our attention in the context of this
epistle? Well, those are the questions
that I want to look at with you for a few minutes today. And
not only questions, but hopefully we'll find some answers. But
let's remind ourselves that Jude is writing this little epistle
to the Lord's elect for their instruction and for their protection. We know that the audience is
God's elect because Jude has told us that. He tells us that
in the opening verses. He calls his audience the people
sanctified by God the Father, the people preserved in Jesus
Christ, And that speaks to us, it's not preserved by Jesus Christ,
it's preserved in Jesus Christ. That speaks to us of the whole
covenant purpose of God. And the people, we're told, sanctified
by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called by
God the Holy Spirit. So the Apostle Jude is very precise
about who this letter is addressed to. These are the sanctified,
preserved and called by God. They are men and women, Jude
goes on to say, who know something of the mercy, peace and love
of God already in their lives. So these are not spiritually
ignorant people. These are people to whom the
gospel has been committed, to whom faith has been granted. And Jude is writing to them to
encourage them. Let us say us, because this letter
is to all those who are sanctified, preserved, and called. All those
who have tasted something of the mercy, peace, and love of
God. And if we have a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is our epistle, just as readily as it belonged to those
first recipients, whoever they may have been to whom Jude sent
this little epistle, this letter. Jude is writing to them to encourage
them and to encourage us to actively defend the gospel, to be willing
and to be ready to contend for the precious, distinctive body
of truth that is the faith once delivered to the saints by the
Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. And we're not surprised to discover
Jude's use of Old Testament references and Old Testament examples and
analogies and types that are consistent with the apostle's
expressed purpose in writing. So he's got this purpose in writing
that we are to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered
to the saints. And he is calling us, he's putting
us on call that we are to be engaged in defending the gospel,
in upholding and maintaining the accuracy, the truthfulness
of the gospel that has been given to us. And the apostle uses examples
to show how God has dealt with men and women, and indeed angels,
in the past who fell under his judgment and who came into condemnation. In writing towards us and to
put the church on guard regarding the dangers from false teachers
and false doctrine, He gives us these examples of judgments
that have already taken place. And he promises thereby swift
and certain judgment on the false teachers that are in the church
today. He employs examples from the
destruction of Israel in the wilderness, from the condemnation
of rebellious angels, from the obliteration of wicked cities,
the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, so that the message
is clear. As possessors, as the inheritors
of the Gospel, we are to cherish God's gift to us. We are to protect
it jealously and we are to communicate it clearly. We are to be careful
about valuing and maintaining our understanding of the truth
of the Gospel the body of gospel truth, the sum total of the faith,
as it has been delivered to us, God's people, at God's pleasure,
for God's glory and our blessing. And we mentioned the last time,
I think, that next to Christ himself, the gospel, the faith
delivered to the saints is the most important possession we
have. because it is that that will
give us our understanding of the work of Christ and what he
has done and what he has accomplished. It is that that gives us comfort.
It is that which gives us joy. It is that which encourages us.
It leads us, it directs us, it guides us, it brings us a sense
of God's dealings with us. We understand what God is doing
in this world, what he is doing in our lives through the scriptures
and through the gospel. And let me try to show you how
that works, just using this little verse nine from Jude. We read the verse, it says, 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. Now I want to ask these questions
that I hinted at before. Let's just take it from the top.
Who is Michael the Archangel? Well, I believe that Michael
the Archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm saying it like
that because there is a question. There is a question as to the
identity of Michael. But I trust that We're not phased
by a reference to Christ being an angel. Angel simply means
messenger. And other prophets, other Old
Testament writers, tell us about Christ being an angel. Malachi,
for example, tells us that Christ is the angel of the covenant. And in the Old Testament theophanies,
when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in bodily form, he was often
described as the angel of the Lord. And that angel of the Lord can
often be shown to be a divine person by the things that the
angel says, showing us that it is actually what we sometimes
call a pre-incarnation appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in bodily
form. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
came as the infant to Bethlehem, that was his incarnation, that
was him coming in a human body, but there were pre-incarnations
incarnation, revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ in these Old
Testament pictures, these Old Testament theophanies they're
called. And he is often called the angel of the Lord because
he brought a message from the Lord and he conveyed that message
to the church, the Old Testament believers. And the name Michael
means one with God, or it means who is as God. And it seems very likely that
Michael the Archangel is a heavenly title bestowed on Christ with
particular reference to his role as prince over all the created
angels. So the Lord Jesus Christ, as
it were, is, we could call him the uncreated angel, the uncreated
messenger. And he has this princely role,
this rule over all the created angels. So it's another aspect
or another element of the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
eternal word. And I mentioned in yesterday's
little narrative that I sent out that the word archangel is
used only twice in Scripture, by Jude here in this verse, and
also by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16. So they're both
New Testament references. And there, in the Thessalonians
reference, we read this. For the Lord himself, that is
Christ, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel. Now we've no reason to assume
that there are more archangels than one. The word is singular,
and archangel, or archangel, simply signifies the first, or
the principal one. in the order of the angels. And
we also learned previously that where Michael the archangel is
spoken of, the role seems to be as a guardian and protector
of the church. which is an office which aligns
well with the Saviour's role as advocate and mediator and
intercessor and preserver, as Jude has already spoken, of the
Church and of the Lord's people. so that the church was given
into Christ's hand for safekeeping in the covenant of peace when
the saviour assumed his role as the angel of the covenant
and here as Michael the archangel we see the same saviour performing
the safeguarding activities over the church, taking care of the
Lord's people when they are in need and when they are attacked
and when they are accused. And if we're right in assuming
that Michael the Archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ, then Jude
is relating an incident in which Michael contended with the devil
concerning the body of Moses. So what does this mean? What
is Jude talking about when he brings this verse, this idea,
this thought to us? What is he meaning? What is he
talking about? Some people think that this is a reference to Moses'
actual body. And when Moses died in the wilderness
prior to the children of Israel crossing into the Promised Land,
crossing Jordan into the Promised Land, We're told that Moses died
in the land of Moab. He was able to look into the
Promised Land, but he wasn't able to enter in. He looked in,
he died in the land of Moab, and we're told that the Lord
buried him there. And some people think that this
is a reference to Moses' actual body being claimed by the devil,
but buried secretly by the Lord in a valley in the land of Moab. Now, again, this is a possibility. Moses' body, you'll recall, was
required together with Elijah's body for the meeting with Christ
on the Mount of Transfiguration. And we know that both of these
men, Moses had his body buried by the Lord, and Elijah was taken
to heaven in a fiery chariot. So both of their bodies were
preserved in an unusual way. And it may well be that there
is a reference here in Jude's thinking. But I think rather
we're correct in going back to the Zechariah passage, because
there is where we see this explicit reference to the angel of the
Lord contending with Satan, contending with the devil, and using the
phrase, the Lord rebuke thee. And so it's to that that I want
our minds to turn for a few minutes now. Here we're encountering
Satan's allegation in the prophecy of Zechariah against this man
called Joshua. Now this is not the Joshua This
is where these names need to be readily distinguished. This
is not the Joshua that was the servant of Moses right at the
very beginning. This is another Joshua altogether.
He's sometimes called Jeshua. And he was the high priest at
the time when Ezra and Nehemiah and the exiles returned from
Babylon, when Cyrus let the children of Israel return. back to Jerusalem
to rebuild the city. Ezra and Nehemiah were the leaders,
the prophets, and this man called Joshua, or Jeshua, was the high
priest at that time, and he returned also for the rebuilding of the
walls of Jerusalem. And we discover that Jeshua was
guilty of transgressing Moses' law. And I'm suggesting to you
that the body of Moses was the content of the law of Moses. That what the devil was accusing
Joshua of here was simply that he had broken Moses' law. The
body of Moses, the teachings that Moses had given had been
transgressed by Joshua. Now this Joshua was physically
opposed in his efforts to rebuild Jerusalem by a man called Sanballat
and others, Tobias and others who contended against him by
trying to frustrate the efforts of the returning exiles to rebuild
Jerusalem. They were motivated by Satan
in doing that. And here it seems that Zechariah
is drawing on that opposition and using that picture in a spiritual
way to preach the gospel. in this prophetic structure that
he sets before us here. And he shows how Satan is said
to oppose Joshua spiritually before the angel of the Lord
by accusing him of sins that he had committed. Remember that
Zechariah is a prophet and he is speaking of Christ and he
is foretelling the work of Christ in the gospel. And in his prophecy,
Zechariah portrays a court scene where Satan is the accuser. We know that Satan is called
the accuser of the brethren and this is what he is doing here.
And at first there appears to be merit in Satan's case because
Joshua is at fault. We read that together in verse
3. Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments. He had transgressed the law of
Moses. He had defiled the body of Moses
in that sense because he was a sinner. We're not sure what
those sins might be. It might be the taking of foreign
wives. That was one of the allegations
that were made at this time in the history of the children of
Israel. However, What we discover is
that Christ, the uncreated angel of the Lord in this Zechariah
passage, comes to Joshua's aid and represents him and defends
him before the allegations of the devil. Now, if we are right
to make these connections, then I think there are some delightful
applications open up to us here for our encouragement, for our
help, for our understanding, for our comfort in spiritual
matters. Because this is a picture of
every poor sinner. Joshua is a picture of every
poor sinner. Joshua is a picture a type, if
you like, of the church of Jesus Christ. And Jude is telling us
that Michael the archangel disputed with the devil concerning the
body of Moses, concerning the law of Moses. and Satan, the
accuser of the brethren, stands ready to condemn us according
to the law of Moses. You know, there's nobody, we
sometimes talk about those who preach and teach the law as much
as they do bringing people under a conviction. That is inappropriate
because the law is at an end as far as the believer is concerned. But there's nobody knows the
law better than the devil does. There is no one able to take
the law and apply an understanding of Moses' law as far as self-righteousness
is concerned like the devil can. And he stands at the shoulder
of every believer to press his claim against our sins. And in truth, If we're frank
about this, there's no disputing it. Joshua's garments are filthy
and our sins are many. Satan has, it seems, every right
to assert his claim over the souls of those who have transgressed
God's holy standard. So we might wonder, what possible
grounds can Michael the Archangel have to contend with Satan? What is the basis of this contention?
It seems as if it's a slam dunk case. It's an open and closed
book. And yet here is the grounds of
contention. He disputed that the body of
Moses was relevant to the case in hand. He countered with a
simple but irrefutable truth. Moses' law does not apply. When Satan brings forward the
claims of the law, Michael responds that the ransom is paid, that
the debt of Christ's church has been paid to the full, that it
is settled, that it is cleared, that it is cancelled, that redemption
for the believer is complete, that the body of Moses no longer
has any relevance in the case of the sinner, Joshua, or in
the case of you and me who believe. You see, Satan appeared before
God in this court under false pretenses. He was a liar from
the beginning and he had hauled the bankrupt to the bar of justice
and sought payment for a debt that had already been settled.
Now this is fraud on Satan's part, and Satan is disingenuous. Satan is a liar for trying to
foist such a deceit upon such a Supreme Court. But notice this, and this is
part of the lesson that I hope we'll gain from today. Michael
the archangel doesn't countersue. Michael the Archangel does not
rail against Satan for his lies. It's well known that Satan was
a liar from the beginning, that Satan is the father of lies.
But Michael the Archangel simply states what is the true gospel. He simply states that Joshua
is a brand plucked out of the fire. Joshua is a brand plucked
from the fire. Joshua is a beneficiary of grace. This is the plan of God. This
is the purpose of God. To save his people for himself. To save Joshua. To save the church. To save that elect people. Those that are sanctified. Those
that are preserved. Those that are called. Those
who have tasted the mercy and the peace and the love of God.
These are they who are the brands plucked out of the fire. A brand
was just like a little shaving of wood, a little piece of tinder,
so dry, so flammable, it would just almost, you would think,
burst into flames if it was left out in the sun too long. It's
just a brand, it's used to kindle a fire. And what is the Lord
saying here? That those people whom he has
laid his love upon, those people upon whom the grace of God is
fixed, as brands hauled away from a fire, saved just in time,
saved when it seemed as if they were lost and that there was
nothing could be done for their well-being. Joshua is a chosen
vessel. Joshua is a redeemed soul. The sanctified sinner, the preserved
in Christ. Satan has no claim, no right,
no business before this court upon such a matter. And Michael
the archangel need only point to the blood of the covenant
and declare, the Lord rebuke thee. The Lord rebuke thee is
exactly the message to confound and contradict every claim against
a child of God. Satan could have been counter-accused
on any number of counts, but one answer suits the case and
serves to cover every possible claim. The Lord God is satisfied
with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. No other payment is due,
no other payment is needed. Joshua, who represents the church,
being one of the Lord's chosen trophies, is a brand plucked
from the burning to adorn the glory of Christ. and just thinking about Jude's
language here in verse nine, the phrase, the Lord rebuke thee. isn't an indication that Michael
the Archangel is afraid or intimidated by Satan. It's not an indication
that Michael the Archangel is less important or less powerful
than the devil with whom he contends, that he doesn't have the strength
or the ability or the arguments to countermand the devil's allegations. It didn't even mean that Michael
the Archangel must resort to calling upon God's help because
he couldn't handle it himself. Michael the Archangel is God
in the person of the Eternal Son and Satan has no power with
Christ beyond what serves Christ's purpose. Rather, the phrase,
the Lord rebuke thee, is Michael the archangel's way of confirming
and restating the absolute certainty of the success of saving grace. Jude quoted what Zechariah recorded
from the Old Testament. But let me paraphrase it in a
New Testament form and use the words of John instead. John says, the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. That is exactly
the point that Michael the archangel was making to Satan in Zechariah
chapter three. The Lord rebuke thee. Why? Because
this is a brand plucked from the burning. This is one of the
Lord's chosen vessels. He will have clean garments put
on him because the law, the body of Moses, does not appertain
to his case. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Why is Jude drawing this to our
attention? Why is Jude writing about Michael
the Archangel and making this reference to these Old Testament
passages? Why is he speaking thus to the
church of his day, the New Testament church, the apostolic church?
And why has the Holy Spirit committed Jude's argument to the church
of our day? because these scriptures are
for us today. These scriptures are for our
direction and correction and instruction. Is it not to remind us that the
blood is the only argument needed for our peace of mind and reassurance
of heart, that the blood is the only argument needed the Lord
rebuke thee. Even though the Lord Jesus is
more powerful and glorious than Satan, the rebuke he delivered
as Michael the archangel was measured and controlled and appropriate. More could have been levelled
at Satan by way of counter-accusation in sterner language. and yet
the Lord simply restated the settled, unchangeable purpose
of God to save his people from their sin and to deliver them
from judgment. Christ accomplished this deliverance
personally while maintaining and fulfilling perfect justice. Moses' law hasn't been denied.
Moses' law has been fulfilled. That is the power of the argument.
Christ bore his people's sin. He paid the debt in blood and
now he clothes them with perfect righteousness. Satan has no claim
upon us. Now let's just think about what
Jude is doing here. The false teachers against whom
Jude warns have brought back the body of Moses. that God himself
buried and hid from the face of Israel in the land of Moab.
These false teachers have brought back that body of Moses and they
are using it to frighten the Lord's little ones. They are
using it to scare the children of the kingdom. So we say, which
is Jude's admonition to us. We say to these false teachers,
with their misuse of the law, the Lord rebuke thee. These false
teachers against whom Jude warns, they despise dominion, for they
contradict the clear testimony of God's word, which says, wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. That is the faith once delivered
to the saints, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified. So we say to the false teachers
with their misuse of the law, the Lord rebuke thee. And these false teachers, against
whom Jude warns, display none of the exemplary qualities demonstrated
by the Lord Jesus, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. These ungodly men speak evil
of dignities. They are divisive in the church.
They have no respect for God's established rule, either in the
church or out of it. They despise the true gospel.
They despise gospel preachers. They despise the true gospel
that gospel preachers deliver. For our part, As God gives us
grace, we shall not return their abuse in kind, but we will simply
say to them, the Lord rebuke thee. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us today. Amen.