Jude 1:6-7

The Book of Isaiah mentions some proud *angels who refused God’s arrangement for them (Isaiah 24:21-22). God punished them severely. In their case, their terrible fate was to suffer in permanent fire (Matthew 25:41).

• The ancient Book of Enoch (not in the *Old Testament) also tells about *angels that ‘left the sky and their holy place’ (1 Enoch 12:4). God also fixed them with chains in deep darkness (1 Enoch chapter 10). This punishment happened to the *angels that Jude mentions.

The wicked *angels are not in the deep darkness of an actual prison. Jude is using picture language to describe their miserable situation. Once the wicked *angels were free spirits with powers in heaven. Now they are in chains and weak. Once the wicked *angels enjoyed the wonderful light of God himself. Now they are in permanent deep darkness. This is until the Day of Judgement (2 Peter 2:4), when the final settlement will happen.

So pride was one cause why those *angels lost their place. But there was another cause. It seems that wicked *angels wanted to have sex with beautiful women on earth (Genesis 6:1-4). Such an idea is bizarre (very strange) to us. But the meaning is plain. *Lust was the second cause why the wicked *angels lost their proper place.

Jude combines the two ideas. The evil men that Jude warns his readers about are also guilty of pride and *lust. The evil men’s terrible judgement is as sure as the fate of the evil *angels.

• God destroyed the towns called Sodom and Gomorrah in a most extraordinary manner (Genesis 19:1-25). The event made a permanent impression on the whole nation. In the Bible, there are 15 references to what happened. These references begin in the Book of Genesis and they continue to the end of the *New Testament.

The towns called Sodom and Gomorrah were in a district that has masses of oil and gas, deep underground. Occasionally the gas and oil have so increased in pressure that there is a huge explosion. The explosion throws great clouds of burning oil high into the sky. As the burning oil pours down again, it destroys everything in its path. The heat is so powerful that the oil even burns on the surface of water. This is probably what God caused to happen to the towns called Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-25). And it also destroyed the other towns in that region.

The other towns in that region included towns called Admah and Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:23; Hosea 11:8). God saved a 5th town, called Zoar, because of Lot’s prayer (Genesis 19:20-22).

If anything remains from those towns today, it is probably underneath the Dead Sea.

The false teachers are like dreamers

v8 The false teachers are behaving like those dreamers in the past. They too are ruining their own bodies. They too laugh at authority. They too insult *angels. v9 They are so unlike Michael (God’s chief *angel). Michael argued with Satan (the chief evil spirit) about the dead body of Moses. But Michael did not curse Satan with insults. All Michael said was ‘The *Lord will declare that you are wrong.’