Eschatology is the study of the last things, or the end of days. You will be hearing more about that kind of thing as things get crazier and crazier in the world. There are a whole bunch of books and movies out that seeking to make as much money as possible on the end of the world , before the world ends.
Tucked away in your Bible is a little letter called “Jude”. Jude was the brother of James who also has a letter writer in your Bible. You can read the whole letter in a couple of minutes but it is a letter about the end times. The greatest concern of all the apostles was the continued preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” The idea is that people will rise up at the end of days and teach another Gospel of deny the Gospel or persecute the Gospel. The Christians job is to contend for the faith. That is for mist people today a bad thing. “Don’t argue about religion” they say. “Everyone has their opinion and their faith”, they say. There is no right and wrong church and all faiths are equal and yet the Bible talks about contending for the faith. Contending means fighting, arguing, which is precisely what many church will not do and that is why we are in the mess we are in today.
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life”. ……….
Then Jude gives us these images of the scoffers –
“These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. ”
Jude’s advice is to not only contend for the faith with these people, but to have mercy on them.
