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Jude gives three examples of problems that arise under the guise of Christianity. He calls them spots (Jude 12) like cancers. These cancers that entered under the banner of Christianity are unbelief, fornication, and pride. Jude is not threatening the believers with the lake of fire. But what he is saying is these sins are like cancers in a body. They spread through the body in verse 16 and affect healthy cells.
Everyone in here has been touched by the plague of cancer whether it was in your own body or in the body of someone you love. Jude’s reference is to what happened in Numbers 13-14 and how it affected and condemned an entire generation.
Unbelief spreads through the congregation (Numbers 13:26-33)
- Ten of the spies brought back an evil report.
- And it was that bad influence that sealed their destruction: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
- So the fear spread through the congregation and they became infected with anger towards God and Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.
- For some, when they had heard (the evil report), did provoke.
- Why did they not want to go into the land? What was the reason they gave?
Unbelief sickens the congregation (Numbers 14:1-10)
- The people’s minds are affected – they’re crying when they should be rejoicing. The people begin to hurt the people that are helping them. They come up with a solution for a problem that doesn’t even exist outside of their own minds.
- Joshua exhorts the people to follow the LORD. But unbelief attacks the healthy cells (Joshua 14:6-10).
- harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation (Hebrews 3:15). Read it in Numbers 14:20-24.
- The admonition is to exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13) because you aren’t stronger than the cancer. The treatment is regular exhortation from Christians.
The Great Physician says he’s cutting the cancer out (Numbers 14:11-12)
Consequences of unbelief (Numbers 14:13-39)
- The Israelites that died in the wilderness were the ones that complained and believed the evil report (Numbers 14:28-29).
- The men that brought the evil report died at that time (Numbers 14:36-39).
- A little known event in Numbers 14:40-45. Presumed to go up – it’s like a body flush with adrenaline.
Jude uses this example to remind Christians what unbelief does to people. Did they experience God’s blessings during their lifetime? Absolutely. That was the frustration God had with them. They had been partakers of the miraculous work of God, being fed with manna, walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, but never partook of God’s rest for them in the promised land.
