Satan’s Creeps: Jude 1:4
“4) For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude‬ ‭1:4‬ ‭
Jude now points out that Satan has always recruited people who were willing and committed to carry out his cause. This has been true from the beginning. In Genesis chapter four, Cain rose up and killed his brother Able. The question is “Why?”
1 John 3:12 answers that question. Cain had much more than an anger problem. Listen to what John says; “12) and not as Cain who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous.”
We are not told how old Able was when he was killed, but after God put enmity between Eve and the serpent, Satan did not crawl away and hide. By no means. He started working on Cain for a number of years to recruit him to carry out a deadly purpose.
Jude 4 points out that there have been ungodly persons throughout human history who have been marked to carry out wicked schemes in the world. Ultimately, these wicked schemes are aimed against God and His people.
Verse 4 opens by saying, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed…”. Satan’s workers always dress like wolves in sheep clothing. (See Paul’s warning in Acts 20:28-30) Satan has always had creeps. They are there to sow deception, discord and confusion. They want the destroy peace and joy among Gods people while they entice unstable souls into shameful sins.
Jude mentioned they will use two ploys in accomplishing their goals. First, they will distort the doctrine of grace. They will turn grace into licentiousness. They will twist grace into an excuse or license to sin. Grace is the power to live holy lives, not the freedom to do whatever we want. These false workers will seek to twist the meaning of grace.
Second, they will work to undermine meaning of the Lordship of Christ. They will work to get people to deny Jesus Christ as Master and Lord leaving them as their own gods to determine their own morals and values in life. We are suddenly back to the lie of the serpent to Eve in Genesis 3:5; “you shall be like god.”
As the book of Jude unfolds, Jude moves from a micro application of this scheme on individual people and churches … to a macro application where Satan desires to deceive entire people groups and nations to corrupt human civilization as a whole. Make no mistake, Satan’s immediate goal is to rule over all of humanity and bring them into captivity. He will viciously attack anyone or anything that stands in his way.
As the end times approach, Satan will greatly escalate his evil schemes in the world. But please understand, he will have many people like Cain deceived and recruited to carry out his evil agenda. It is not a coincidence that the next book in the Bible after Jude is Revelation. Jude almost serves a an introduction to the book of Revelation.
So how bad will Satan’s conspiracy against humanity in the end times become? Jude answers that by looking back in human history. He also weaves in the sovereignty, justice and judgement of God throughout history to hold back the tide of evil and provide the means of human redemption.
Stay tuned as Jude surveys human history to build his case. We will discover that planet earth passed through unimaginable dark and evil times in the past. The biblical record of human history is radically different from the sanitized tale of evolution.
Daily Bible Commentary By Terry Baxter: Cofounder of GoServ Global