In verse 17 of his letter, Jude told us to remember the apostles predictions about Jesus, and points to the future of humanities sinfulness.

He continues in verse 18; They [the Apostles] said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”

A scoffer is someone who shows contempt by their derisive acts and language. Their words and actions come from deep contempt in their heart towards someone or something. In this case, we can understand (like Jude’s example of the fallen angels) that their pride falsely leads them to believe the object of their scorn is worthless or inconsiderable, and therefore their actions are both warranted and good. This is most obviously the secular mans position against God, and Christianity. Whose pride (enlightenment) has led him to believe God is not worth worship, or his scripture worth consideration. This is how he then justifies himself.

For those of us who do in fact seek to worship God, it is known that all of His scripture is packed with ancient wisdom. Although all scripture may not be ‘wisdom literature’, Ecclesiastes, Job and Proverbs are. In my daily prayer and study, I really enjoy reading a chapter of Proverbs with the correlated calendar day. Yesterday, July 1st, I read Proverbs 1. There is no special or mystical power to this, just a healthy habit to ensure I saturate everyday with Gods wisdom. Yet, there are times when the Spirit illuminates a certain text that speaks into my other study or prayer time.

Proverbs 1:20-22 reads, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the entrance of the city gates she speaks; “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

Scoffers don’t delight in wisdom. They don’t even hear it. They ignore wisdom and love their foolishness. They don’t answer wisdom’s call, instead they follow their ungodly passions.

Some of the wisest people in Jesus time were recognized as the keepers of the law, the religious leaders and rabbis known as the Pharisees. These men studied and memorized the torah. Many are recorded in the gospels as scoffing at Jesus and his teachings. Luke Chapter 16 recalls one such incident where Jesus teaches about the difficulty in serving “two masters”, in this case God and Money. After his parable, Jesus warns his audience, saying “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (v. 13)

If the Pharisees would have “heard wisdom” they would not have responded the way they did. As Luke writes, “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering [scoffing] at Jesus.” (v. 14).

They followed their ungodly passion for money, not wisdom. Scoffing in this manner is a way they attempted to protect what they felt was threatened. They put up a proverbial wall to keep their sacred money, and all their presuppositions on their right for money and power, safe. This isn’t to far from us today. We all have created things that we place on the alter of our heart. We scoff at God when we protect our political, economic, philosophical and sociological views outside of His wisdom. Yes, the decisions we make in these arenas of our lives should be governed and informed by the wisdom of scripture, but we should not hold unto them with religious fervor. You can’t serve two masters.

Back in Luke 16, verse 15, Jesus replies, “He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”.

We are blinded in our pride, and deafened by our sin. We scoff to justify ourselves, but God knows our hearts.

May Ephesians 1:17-19 be our prayer,

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.

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Peace be with you.