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THE JUDGMENT OF APOSTASY (II)
TUESDAY, APRIL 7
Jude 6
Isaiah 14:12-15
 
“… thou hast said in thine heart …
I will be like the most High.”
 
THE JUDGMENT OF APOSTASY (II)
 
The second example Jude gives is that of the angels who sinned against God. The full details of this shocking event are not revealed to us. But we know that in God’s pure and perfect creation, there was a pure and perfect creature, an angel of great beauty and brilliance, but in whom “iniquity was found” (Ezek 28:15). Scripture describes the devil’s sin of pride: “thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa 14:13-14).
 
This was a shocking defection. Even an angel, who had beheld the most High sitting on His throne; even an angel, knowing himself without doubt to be a creature, and not his own creator; even an angel sinned, apostatised, rebelled, and fell away. What is more, the devil was the head of a large number of angels who likewise rebelled against God. There were not a few angels who “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 6) ‒ angels who began among the number of God’s heavenly host, but left that glorious estate of their own volition. These will not escape judgment, but are “reserved in everlasting chains” (Jude 6).
 
Again, as in the previous example of the Israelites who left Egypt in that great exodus, the point pressed home by Jude is the fallacy of thinking that all who appear to be of God, are of God. Apostasy was present, incipient, in the hearts of the Israelites. Even though they left as one company marching under one banner, there were some among them who would later show their true colours, defecting openly from the Lord. There were enemies within. Likewise the angels. Even this blessed host of spirit beings, created pure, was corrupted by apostasy. Even in their hearts, the seeds of rebellion could be sown; so that when the devil sinned against God, and fell to his ruin, he was not alone.
 
These examples are meant to put us in remembrance of the danger and the reality of the apostasy which is even now in our midst. Christian reader, take heed!
 
THOUGHT: Apostasy is real and dangerous.
PRAYER: God, help me to examine my heart for any seed of rebellion.

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