The Essential Reason, which is the fact that God cannot deny His own perfect Righteousness, which Righteousness was credited to the saints at salvation; in other words, God cannot deny Himself, II Timothy 2:13. "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
In verses, 5, 6, and 7, three pictures of apostasy are provided by Jude.
Each picture denotes a different historical group which had a segment of its group destroyed because of apostasy. The first picture provided is the Jews of the Exodus assembly, verse 5. Here believers are destroyed because of apostasy. The second picture is found in verse 6, and is that of Noah's day. Here both fallen angels and mankind are destroyed for rejection of salvation by the grace of Jesus Christ. The third picture, in verse 7, depicts the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, or Abraham's day, as destroyed by apostate degeneracy.
In each picture, the parties involved received both grace warning from God and a protracted grace period during which judgment was postponed: e.g., the Exodus generation was delivered by God from bondage in Egypt. They received a 40 year grace period during which they chose for apostasy; Noah preached for 120 years with only a handful of converts; and the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah received three grace warnings: 1 - from the expedition of Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:4), the Elamite king, 2 - from Abraham, 3 - from the appointed angels.
Verse 9
"But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"
This remarkable verse indirectly declares that even in death Moses was significant. Tradition states that the passage refers to the Assumption of Moses, an apocryphal book, cited by Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Didymus; a portion of the book has not been preserved. The great theologian, Mayor, maintained that the writer of the Assumption borrowed the story from Zechariah, rather than the opposite. Conclusions vary, and there is no method to confirm the traditional story. God has not seen fit to reveal more than what is now to be discussed. Such a narration is defined by the term hysteresis, often called historical hysteresis, which is when the Holy Spirit reveals further details previously not recorded. Both Jude 9 and Jude 14 contain this figure of speech; unfortunately, however, by exploitatively blending these two passages, the Book of Enoch has been invented.
The parallel verse is found in Deut. 34:6, which speaks of the death and burial of Moses: "He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is." Going on the assumption that the Archangel Michael buried the body, we may note a few items about Michael, whose name means 'who is like God.' Michael is, according to Daniel 10:13, and Revelation 12:7, the chief prince or ruler of the Elect Angels. He is also called the Prince of Israel in Daniel 10:21; and this title indicates that he is the guardian angel of the nation of Israel. Further, Revelation 12:1 verifies that he is the designated guardian of Israel during the Tribulation.
He is said to have "disputed with the devil about the body of Moses." The word for "dispute" is diakrino, and it refers to 'mental combat' or a 'disputation based on words.' So this was not a physical contest between angelic beings. And the Gr. term dialego confirms that this was a verbal dispute that went on at some length. Satan, evidently, desired the body of Moses for two possible reasons: 1) to prevent Moses from being resuscitated as one of the two witnesses during the Tribulation, Rev. 11:3; and/or 2) to revive the body through demonic power and utilize it as a witness against the grace and Plan of God.
The Archangel Michael was tested verbally by Satan: would he utilize grace and the power of God to gain possession of the body, or his own angelic powers (which are assumed to be potent from their deployment in Rev. 12:7). If he used his angelic strength, he would be guilty of the original besetting sin of Satan, arrogance. However, the verb tomao, "did not dare" affirms that he did not. Instead, he quoted Zechariah 3:2, "The Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!'"
Judgment belongs to God. As does the body of Moses -- it is preserved for its future resuscitation and ministry during the Tribulation. We also note that Satan is an excellent Biblical scholar, and gives credence to Scripture and prophecy; it is just that he, in his consummate arrogance, wants to be God. He does not doubt God's power, plan or Christ as demonstrated by his wanting the body of Moses.
