Daily Devotional | Remember Their Warning

When I was a child, whenever I left for school, my mom would give me a list of things to remember. Remember to look both ways before you cross the street. Remember to listen to the teacher. As Jude draws his letter to a close, he gives his readers some serious things to remember, things the apostles of Jesus Christ had told them.

Jude’s “remember” resembles the words of Peter: “I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles (2 Peter 3:2). What did they need to remember? Jude was warning about the last times (which is our present age) when scoffers will follow their own desires. They will try to divide the people of God. They will follow their own instincts and be devoid of the Spirit of God (v. 18).

John, the apostle, gave a similar warning: “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18). He continues, “Many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1–3). Peter echoes his words as well, “In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires” (2 Peter 3:3).

We must remember the warnings given by the apostles about antichrists, false prophets, and scoffers. At the same time, we should build ourselves up in the faith for which we are contending, pray for one another, and keep ourselves in God’s love as we wait on the Lord (vv. 20–21).