The Choices of Humble Aaron and Proud Satan

Through three events recorded in the letter of Jude, this passage deals with the importance of keeping the order God has set and each one's own place. First, it shows Aaron, Moses' older brother, humbly serving by performing miracles in place of his younger brother, who hesitated to obey because he was slow of speech. Second, through the fallen angels who forgot their beauty and position and rebelled against God, and through the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, it makes clear that those who overturned the order of creation received eternal judgment. Finally, it points to the meaning of true humility in the archangel Michael, who, even while disputing with Satan, did not pass judgment himself but respected the Lord's authority.

The sermon points out that miracles reveal a person's nature more than they change the person. Although Aaron did not enjoy greater glory than Moses, he obeyed God's will and served devotedly in a low place, and so received the office of high priest. Proud Satan, by contrast, left the position he had been given and tried to seize God's glory, which led in the end to his falling into the eternal lake of fire. It also warns that the way false teachers despise authority and slander celestial beings belongs in the same vein as those fallen angels. Michael's not rebuking Satan himself but leaving it to the Lord is presented as a model of humility that keeps its own place.

The sermon calls believers to guard against losing their gratitude and growing proud in the place God has set for them. It asks what we must hold on to in life so that we are not swept away by the world's values or Satan's temptations into the sin of overturning the order of creation.