Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.
In the portion that I selected for today there are two names that I want to draw your attention to for further thought. One is an angel - an archangel and the other is a man, a man who has never died but was taken to heaven, alive.
The angel Michael is spoken of throughout the scriptures especially as the "protector" of the Jewish people, Daniel 12:1. Michael heads up the "angelic army"" in the heavenlies.
Michael's "army of angels" will at the midway point of the Tribulation period throw Satan and his evil angels out of the first heaven, the one above us where the sun is located over the earth.
The prophet Daniel also referred to Michael as the "chief princes" who deals with the "demonically controlled" world leader of Persia. This supposes that the heavenly visitor came to meet with Daniel, Daniel 10:13.
However, with all this contact with the evil forces of Satan, Michael dare not tell Satan what to do, he left that up to the Lord, Jude 9. As powerful as Michael the archangel is under the sovereignty of God, he did not demand the Devil to do anything.
This principle must be considered when there are those today who think they can demand Satan to do anything. We are never told to take on Satan. We are told to put on the whole armor of God so we "can stand against the wiles of the Devil", Ephesians 6:11. We stand against the Devil - we do not confront him.
Enoch is the man we need to consider for a moment. Enoch, the great grandfather of Noah, was a mighty preacher in his day, before the worldwide flood came upon the earth. He was a man who walked with the Lord on earth and then was taken by the Lord into heaven without dying, Genesis 5:23-24. Enoch is one of two men that have never died, the other was Elijah who was also taken into heaven, alive, II Kings 2:11.
It is interesting that at least one of those men, Elijah, will be one of the two witnesses during the seven year Tribulation, Revelation 11:3-10 and Malachi 4:5. I do believe the other witness will be Enoch, who during his previous earthly ministry preached about the coming of the Lord, Jude 14.
Both of these men, the "two witnesses" will die at the end of their 3 1/2 years of ministry, Revelation 11:7 . The whole world will see these two men dead in the streets of Jerusalem. They will then be resurrected and taken again into heaven, Revelation 11:11-12.
The information we receive from our reading today, I believe, helps us to understand the times we are living in and how to deal with Satan as we await the coming of the Lord. As the song says, I think we are living in the days of Elijah...and Enoch. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
PRAYER THOT: Thank you, Lord, for an example of how to deal with Satan in what seems to be the days Enoch spoke about, the time of the Lord's return. |
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