Punishing children and future generations is a deterrent for us. Many people would think twice about adultery, theft, murder, idolatry if they knew that their children would suffer as a result. Throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, God is telling us that sin is sin, and must be punished.
What an experience that must have been. We can imagine that every family vowed to tell what happened that night to their children and grandchildren. They set off toward their future with great enthusiasm, and with great riches that they had received as farewell gifts from their neighbours and employers.
Rarely do understaffed churches ask for any identification, or testimony from another church that these people have been good stewards of the faith, or even that they are believers. Sadly many churches have suffered because they unwittingly allowed the enemy access to their vulnerable members. We cannot be too careful.
I had a totally different idea of what I wanted to study, this month, but it was not coming together. After days of frustration I asked the Lord. He suggested Jude, a book I did not know well! I have never heard a sermon based on any verse from Jude!
What a short verse this is, but what a heartfelt blessing. Especially to a church group. Let us think today about what each word means. Jesus excelled in both showing mercy to thousands who called on Him, and taking pity on many who were diseased or handicapped. So must we.
The short letter of Jude is not written to correct or teach us, but to encourage us to keep going. The early disciples could not have imagined that it would be more than 2000 years before Jesus returned to finish what He had started. They thought it would be sooner.
Jude opens his short letter by identifying himself. But interestingly he does not give us his full identity! He is the brother of James who also has a letter in the Bible. They both identify themselves as a servants of Jesus. But these two were also half brothers of Jesus.
As Ezra read from the scriptures, the people were touched and all ended up in tears. Tears of sadness for the sins of their forefathers, and tears of joy because they were in their homeland where they belonged, and tears too because at last they understood what God had said.
Everyone was now settled, the walls completed, the city secure, and it was time to really find out more about the rules God had laid down for them. They had lived more than 60 years in exile caused by disobedience, and this generation did not want that to happen again.
Can you imagine the excitement of those people going home? Most of them to a place they had only heard about through their parents and grandparents, and the songs they had sung in the temple. There would be such joy in the Lord as they returned to this sacred city.
EN 
FR