Jude 1:13
Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Jude describes ungodly deceivers as restless and shameful like storm-driven surf casting up filth, and as erratic lights straying from their course toward permanent utter darkness and judgment. They are turbulent promoters of error who pollute everything around them with a defiling moral influence, so the innocent must be warned to shun their company or become tainted themselves. They appear in the last days as zealous religious leaders with an outward show of piety who divert minds from the truth that alone gives safety, while refusing the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That same restless, corrupt and shameless condition marked the world before the Flood when disobedience made its wickedness unbearable, and it is repeating among all who refuse to repent as rebellion and judgment intensify toward the close of time. In the final contest between divine commands and human commands many admired lights will go out in darkness, because those who have yielded step by step to the world will yield to earthly powers to avoid reproach and suffering, leaving true godliness separated from mere appearance and the unclothed exposed to their own shame and everlasting night.
Imagery and Judgment
The verse likens ungodly false teachers to surging ocean waves casting up their own disgrace and to straying stars kept for endless dark gloom, marking them as disgraceful and unsteady and as surely doomed to punishment. The churning water pictures inward turmoil breaking outward into open shame, while the straying light pictures wandering from the true course into night without return.
The same picture portrays the moral state of the wicked world before the Flood as agitated and unashamed in evil, corrupt and disgraceful like pounding surf and lost like drifting stars. By breaking God's law the people of the old world forfeited His favor until their evil grew intolerable to Him, leaving nothing ahead but perpetual darkness. In this the verse sets forth the end waiting for all who harden themselves in wrongdoing and reject divine warning.
That corrupt state and its sure ruin are reappearing now among all who will not turn from sin. Lawless defiance and its judgment will deepen in force toward the close of time, so the warning given about such people meets its counterpart in present conditions.
False Teachers Unmasked
False prophets are turbulent waves exposing their own shame and lost stars kept for everlasting darkness. They spread moral pollution wherever they go and are zealous in advocating error because they receive their inspiration from the father of lies. Christians cannot associate with them and be safe, and cannot have fellowship and communion with them without becoming tainted and breathing in the defiling moral atmosphere that surrounds them. The simple-minded must therefore be aroused to beware of their influence.
The verse guards believers against the seductive influence of false teachers in the last days, men who have a form of godliness but are not safe leaders. In that time false teachers arise in active zeal and present all kinds of theories to divert minds from the very truth that defines the position that can be occupied with safety. It exposes Satan working with power upon religious people, leading them to make a pretense of being righteous while failing to place themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The wandering stars are those who criticize established doctrines while pursuing independent, divisive ideas, cut loose from the unity of faith and love and exposed to Satan's temptations. They are professed believers who carry a little truth but lead inexperienced people into error and division, who have no place in the unity of God's people and in whom God's Spirit is not.
The wandering stars are professing ministers who travel preaching the Sabbath while mixing truth with error and confusing people with a jumble of views. Their wild, unintelligible claims to the gift of tongues and the strange spirit accompanying them do not come from God. Their course spreads error that will ultimately overthrow them, though they may attract some people and make the work of faithful ministers harder. They are ministers who claim to be sent by God but spread discord by mixing truth with error, and their preaching about the Sabbath and spiritual gifts can mislead people and cause unbelievers to reject the truth. The verse portrays blind leaders of the blind who once knew the truth but became clouds without water carried about by winds of controversy, seen in Battle Creek, and warns them lest they become trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
It is a solemn warning against backsliding that ought to make believers afraid for their own souls. It calls them to watch and pray, enthrone Christ in the heart, die to self, and obey the Word of God in view of the solemn realities of eternity. Resistance to repeated messages of truth and choosing one's own way while leading other souls step by step in false paths is the sin charged against those who reject them. In the coming test over the false sabbath, when the contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, many admired stars will go out in darkness. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be rather than face derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death.
At that time the gold will be separated from the dross and true godliness will be clearly distinguished from its appearance and tinsel. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary but are not clothed with Christ's righteousness will appear in the shame of their own nakedness, reserved to the blackness of darkness forever. In this light all canvassing is evangelistic work, and workers together with God must seek His grace in humility. They must waste no time or moments on selfish pleasure, and labor with earnest energy to sow seeds of truth in good soil and to pull souls out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted with the flesh.