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Gomorrah are examples of those that live ungodly; Lot is an example of the deliverance
of the godly, and of the fire reserved by the Lord for the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men (II Pet. 2: and 3:).
A literal rendering of the words of Enoch must read: "Behold, the Lord came." While
the true rendering of the aorist of the Greek verb is still somewhat of a moot point, the
rightness of the above rendering is confirmed by the general usage and rendering of the
A.V. The R.V. translates the word `came' and puts no alternative in the margin. The
interested student may test this translation by noting the occurrences of elthe (part of the
verb erchomai, `to come'), which is usually translated `came'. If Enoch said `Behold the
Lord came' he must have been referring back to some judgment that was past when he
spoke. To what could he refer? The judgment of the Flood had not then taken place,
neither had judgment fallen upon Babel. The description given of the judgment could not
refer to Gen. 3: or 4: To what then could it refer?
The reader will probably have traveled back in mind to Gen. 1: 2 to the katabole
kosmou `the overthrow of the world'. This connection is more than countenanced by
Peter in his second epistle which we have already found to be parallel with that of Jude.
The Second Coming and the overthrow (Gen. 1: 2).
II Peter 3: 1 - 6.
Jude 17, 18.
"I stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance: That
"Remember ye the
ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken by . . .
words which were
the apostles of the Lord and Saviour . . . there shall come in
spoken before of the
the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and
apostles of our Lord
saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the
Jesus Christ; how that
fathers fell asleep, all things continue right through as they
they told you there
were from the beginning of the creation. For this they
should be mockers in
willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the
the last time, who
heavens of old, and the earth standing out of the water and
should walk after their
in the water; whereby the world that then was, being
own ungodly lusts."
overflowed with water, perished."
Enoch took up this line of teaching. He too, uttered the solemn word: "Behold, the
Lord came", and his reference to angels and Satan, as well as to man, removes any sense
of disproportion. Enoch named his son Methuselah, which means, as we have seen, `at
his death it (namely, the Flood) shall be', and in the year that Methuselah died this
judgment came. Jude now takes up Enoch's witness, coupled with Peter's words
(II Pet. 2:, 3:), and links together the overthrow of the world that then was, the flood of
the days of Noah, and the Second Coming of the Lord, which shall be accompanied by
fire. This is indeed a solemn aspect of the Coming of the Lord.
The first words of the Lord's answer to the disciples' question concerning the sign of
His coming were:
"Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in My name, saying, I am
the Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matt. 24: 4, 5).