Jude 2, Part 1

[Mr. M]

Jude 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

He offers a three word blessing for us to receive,

but first let’s look at this Word ‘multiplied',

used by Peter in both his epistles.

[G4129] plethyno=increased at an abounding rate. From:

G4128] plethos=multitude.

Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude

of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!

A few verses I would like to now list using our Word for this study.

Acts 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples

multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests

were obedient to the faith.

Acts 9:31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria

had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the

comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

As I consider the rate of growth being described in Acts, and that the Holy Spirit

was working, multiplying seems insufficient. What we know of God’s creation is

throughout, many natural forces move at what is called “an exponential rate”.

What this means is that the process starts upward at a sustainable rate, but then

quickly accelerates toward a derivative rate that approaches infinity limit. Therefore,

if the remarkable work that the apostles accomplished in the first century had been

sustained by those who came after, the Gospel would have spread like a tidal wave

that traversed the globe. Therefore, to satisfy the logical outcome of this thought

experiment that I have shared with the Holy Spirit, and now you,

I offer this verse in translation.

Acts 12:24 But the word of God grew at an exponential rate.

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Mr. M
amend text

[ayin jade]

Jude 2? My bible only has 1 chapter.

[Mr. M]

31 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

Jude 2? My bible only has 1 chapter.

OMG! Thanks for catching that! I meant only to type Jude 2.

 I have often seen Jude listed verse by verse, there is no need for a chapter designation. For example, you may have seen this before, at least I have, among the brethren on an outreach: Contenders For The Faith Jude 3. I will fix it right away. Thanks again, and thanks for reading, this was a good study.

[Mr. M]

47 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

Acts 12:24 But the word of God grew at an exponential rate.

Now when you consider the reality of ministry and church activities, they tend to have their ups and downs. This seems like a natural biorhythm, and may also seem somewhat carnal. What informs us as to how the Lord handles this “to everything there is a season” rhythm is revealed to us in the ordering of the temple by King David. The Priests of Aaron who served in the sanctuary were placed on a 24 family rotation of one week each. Thus, every family served only twice in a 48 week period. Clearly then, each following round is offset by four weeks, thus every family at some point would serve in every season, and for every feast day. That is what is being described here:

Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. 8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

[Mr. M]

31 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

The Priests of Aaron who served in the sanctuary were placed on a 24 family rotation of one week each. Thus, every family served only twice in a 48 week period. Clearly then, each following round is offset by four weeks, thus every family at some point would serve in every season, and for every feast day.

The obvious question becomes, what might a priest be doing the rest of the year?