Jude against the Judaizers – Part 4

The sixth cycle of Jude leaves the apostates behind in the wilderness and brings the saints into their promised inheritance. The seventh describes the rest and rule of the Sons of God.

Overview. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

OATH/SANCTIONS (Jude 17-23)

Mediators and the New Covenant ministry of atonement
(Joshua – Conquest – Coverings – Vindication)

The sixth cycle leaves the apostates behind in the wilderness and brings the saints into their promised inheritance. Corresponding to the Day of Atonement, it separates the ascension goat from the Azal goat, the true Jews from the false. However, it employs the sevenfold pattern to condemn the now corrupt “natural” priesthood of Israel and commission the purified “supernatural” ministry of the Church. The negative switches to positive in the Pentecost/Kingdom stanza, and calls the saints to a ministry of mediation as the body of the ascended Christ.

TRANSCENDENCE (Creation – Sabbath)

• Once again, Jude uses the Transcendence cycle to remind the saints of the authority of the apostles as those entrusted with the testimony of Jesus, just as the Jews had been entrusted with the oracles of God (Romans 3:2).
• The sevenfold pattern of sacrifice explicitly calls them to remember but implicitly calls them to be living sacrifices, set apart, offered, and set alight by the fire of the Spirit.

HIERARCHY (Division – Passover)

• The Division stanza makes it clear that the “last days” were the last days of the Old Covenant. The central three lines seem to be an allusion to the offerings, rivalry, and murder described in Genesis 4 (Genesis 4:3 literally says “at the end of days.”) The Spirit of God was once again separating the true brothers from the false.
• The mockers at the center are those whose eyes are veiled from what is on the horizon, like those before the flood.

ETHICS: Priesthood (Ascension – Firstfruits)

• The priesthood stanza is not only fivefold (implying a covenant that remains “unopened” in history due to disobedience) but is also missing its central line. The Levitical priesthood has lost its holy fire. For kindling “foreign fire” in the Temple, along with using ministry as a guise for theft and adultery, the disobedient sons of Aaron and Eli would be consumed by fire and sword (Leviticus 10:1-3; 1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22; 4:11). Their “lampstand” (the seven spirits of God) had been taken away and replaced with wicked spirits (Matthew 7:24-27)¹See Seven Spirits More Wicked. The Pharisees condemned tax collectors and prostitutes, yet they themselves had turned the Temple into a den of thieves and an idolatrous whore. Seeking the miraculous blessings of God without obedience to the Law of God is the biblical definition of sorcery.²For more discussion, see “Ethics or Magic” in Michael Bull, Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.

ETHICS: Kingdom (Testing – Pentecost)

• The Pentecost stanza describes the gathered saints as a new creation, a holy temple. It forms (builds) the “edifice” of the Church and then fills (inhabits) it.

ETHICS: Prophecy (Maturity – Trumpets)

• The Trumpets stanza emphasizes the perseverance of the saints as a process of ministry, priestly guardianship continuing in the hope of resurrection.

OATH/SANCTIONS (Conquest – Atonement)

• The Atonement stanza of the Atonement cycle describes the ministry of the saints as a royal priesthood. Those who derided the warnings of Jesus would be cut off, but mercy was to be shown to those whose faith was weak—presumably in the light of the persecution of the day. How merciful is Jesus to us in our vacillations.
• The old priesthood, lacking in internal fire, would be cast into the lake of fire—pictured in the “fiery” Bronze Sea of the Temple. Of course, the literal fire was the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, in which all of the stoicheia that represented the creation—the Temple, its furnishings, and all of the Jewish genealogies—would be consumed by God at the hands of the Gentiles (2 Peter 3:10). Revelation describes Zion as being transformed into Sinai, a burning mountain cast into the “sea” of the nations, Israel’s priestly vow fulfilled in Christ and revoked from those who continued to reject Him (Revelation 8:8). Those saved at the last minute would still be saved, but only just (1 Corinthians 3:15).

SUCCESSION (Glorification – Booths – Representation)

• The final word in the Atonement cycle is tunic, and so relates to the Day of Coverings. The mention of the flesh and the tunic is Levitical, which in turn alludes to the tunics made by God from animal skin to cover Adam and Eve. This indicates that that stanza is running the pattern of the Heptateuch backwards, a symbolic revoking of the entire priestly ministry of Israel, whose temple was now a whitewashed sepulcher (Matthew 23:27).
• The priests who ministered to common Israelites were “baptized for the dead.” Although the worshiper, who had become unclean either through contact with, or by being in the same room as, a corpse (Leviticus 21:11; Numbers 6:6; 9:6; 19:11) was sprinkled and made clean, the priest symbolically bore the death and thus had to wash his entire body and all of his clothes.³Sprinkling, like rain, allows the old life to continue. Immersion extinguishes the old life altogether. Biblical baptism is by immersion, symbolizing a new creation, linked to the sign of the prophet … Continue reading This, like New Covenant baptism, was a symbolic resurrection of the clean mediator who bore the curse on behalf of the commoner, an act of mediation via representation (Numbers 19:1-22; Hebrews 9:8-10; 1 Corinthians 15:29).

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SUCCESSION (Jude 24-25)

Doxology: Rest and Rule
(Judges – Glorification – Booths – Representation)

The seventh cycle (“Booths”) is comprised of only two stanzas. The first follows the sevenfold creation pattern, in this case alluding to the sevenfold process of sacrifice. The second follows the pattern of the Decalogue. It seems that this use of Creation and Covenant commission the saints with the authority of the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah, as the testimony of Jesus. The fivefold pattern “dwells within” the sevenfold pattern, just as the heart circumcision of the Law dwelled within the flesh circumcision of sacrificial system.

CREATION

• The sacrificial patterning in this stanza highlights the fact that in our mighty Christ we are now good, acceptable, and perfect offerings in the eyes of God.

COVENANT (TEN WORDS)

• Within our lives of heptamerous worship remains the “tenfold” Law, but in our case it is the Law of the Spirit. The New Covenant is not a document. He is a Person.

Forming (Head – Adam – Priest)		Filling (Body – Eve – People)
1 Word from God No false gods “…to the only God,”	TRANSCENDENCE	2 Word to God No false oaths “Saviour of us,”
3 Man’s Work Sabbath “through Jesus Christ”	HIERARCHY	4 Father and Mother Fruit of Land and Womb “the Lord of us,”
5 No Murder Son of God “be glory,”	ETHICS	6 No Adultery Daughter of men “majesty, ”
7 No Theft No false blessings “dominion,”	OATH/SANCTIONS	8 No False Witness No false curses “and authority,”
9 No Coveting Shelter Formed house (ALPHA – covenant past) “before all time”	SUCCESSION	10 No Coveting the Sheltered Filled house (OMEGA – covenant future) “and to all the ages. Amen.”

Artwork: The New Exodus by Michael O’Brien.

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