Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 5-7

This evening we spent some time with some friends at dinner and part of the discussion came around to spiritual experiences and the origins of faith. If we’re honest, each of us have been in rebellion against God in our own way at some point of our lives and so we can relate to the idea of how others have rebelled against the goodness and righteousness of God.

In the passage above, Jude provides three general examples from the Old Testament. The newly freed slaves of Israel, angels and citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah all said, in one way or another, they preferred their way to God’s way.

We may not like the word, but in each case, the real issue is one of rebellion. And in each instance there were consequences. The Israelites who refused to trust in God’s ability to deliver them, wandered in the wilderness of life and died there. The angels who rebelled are facing their consequences and Jude writes that the sexually immoral people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed as a result of their insurgence against God’s plan.

We live in a twisted world and, sadly, twisted half-truth abounds all around us. But those half-truths would die on their own if people like us reject them and so it reveals a bit of our hearts and our “unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. (So), we insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image.” (A.W. Tozer)