I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17.

They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him. Mark 10:32.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” He always does what He says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for His glory. 2 Corinthians 1:19-20.

Our new chapter, Jude, which in the notes said was written by Jude, the brother of James who was the brother of Jesus. Jesus’ brothers through Mary and Joseph did not believe in Jesus as the Son of God until after His appearing and teaching after His crucifixion. Imagine remembering growing up with such an older brother. Did he regret the conversations he could have had had he trusted what his mother Mary shared with him about who Jesus is? Jesus didn’t force that understanding in His own family. Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

What can we say that hasn’t been said? The warnings have always been there from the beginning. Is the fruit we eat the fruit of the knowledge of evil? Or do we, heeding the examples of those who then and now choose hate, greed, rebellion against godly authority for all that is good, that leads inevitably to rebellion against God Himself – do we build ourselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life? And do we trust the love and truth that is Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit? It has taken a lifetime for me to truly see the sin and suffering that the knowledge of evil brings. And the knowledge of good that is Creator God and His will for us stands in stark relief against that darkness. And still it’s hard to see and live in that darkness knowing what that fruit of evil inevitably brings that we are witness to today in our world. But what I have found in trusting God is that as I stand on the edge of any abyss where uncertainty is certain for what lies ahead, I can look up from that edge and keep walking forward with God. I completely understand how those following Jesus as He resolutely made His way to Jerusalem and all that He knew awaited Him, for all the reasons He came to live among us and die for us, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins, I get how they were fearful. They were not God. Neither are we. We are afraid of all we don’t understand – and that includes Creator God. But God lovingly made provision for us. As we turn to Him, God the Holy Spirit, the Helper Father God sends, abides with us and in us. And with Him the light of the truth of God’s love begins its work so needed in us. His abiding is personal! Our Creator God is Omniscient and Omnipresent. As we turn to Him, He will never leave us nor forsake us even as we walk through all the darkness the deceiver brings. And what a difference knowing God and being with Him with us brings to our lives! We see and know the harm darkness brings but with Him we also see the beauty of His creation that includes all of us. And we delight in Him! So can you! Everything in His Love is preparing us to choose Life abundant with Him. It begins as it must…with Him in us and with us. His abiding Love.