In Jude 1:1-3 it talks about multiplying mercy, peace, and love . Some ways that we can multiply these attributes in our own lives is to be diligent and obedient to the commandments that the Lord has set forth for us. I think the the easiest way to accomplish these things is to love our neighbor as Jesus said we should do. If we truly loved our neighbors (which includes everybody) it would be so easy to have compassion on them, show them mercy when they are in need. Another way to accomplish this is to try and be humble. If we understand that there is more to life then getting ahead of others and know that the real purpose of life is to help other feel loved, we will be able to help those in need around us.
In verse 3 it says "contend for the faith". I doubt that the word contend in this phrase means to argue or battle or fight. Rather I think it is saying that we need to share and defend our beliefs with others. If we were to be pushy and argue what we want others to know, very few will accept what we are saying. Being pushy has probably rarely helped others feel the love of Christ. If we "contend for the faith" we should be loving and kind to others and help them understand our beliefs by our actions rather than by us forcing things upon them.
Jude1:6 talks about the angels that didn't keep their first estate, but what does this mean? In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord is speaking to Jeremiah and says that he knew him before this life and that he ordained him to be a prophet then. This means that before we came to this life we had been chosen for certain things.
In Abraham 3:26 it says those that did not keep their first estate will never have any glory. Those angels in heaven that fell, will not ever have any glory. To me, those that did not keep their first estate are those that fell and were not able to come to Earth. The first estate is the ability to get a body and live on Earth.
Jude 9 speaks about a disputation between Michael the archangel and the Devil about Moses' body. I think the easiest way to interpret this is from the New Testament student manual. It says that Jude was reading from an apocryphal book. Apocryphal mean of unknown validity. So this could be of true validity, or it could not. There were many apocryphal books, but because they weren't correct in everything, they were not included in the bible. Article of Faith 8 says that we believe the bible to be the word of God, but we admit that there could be and probably are some translation errors. So it is unknown what this strange disputation actually was.
Who is going to accompany the Lord during the second coming? In Jude verse 9 it says that Enoch prophesied that tens of thousands of the saints will accompany the Lord during his return. The faithful followers of Christ will be able to join him during his triumphant return.
Surely there have been false prophets, and there will continue to be false prophets. It is important that we do what we can to avoid the evils that will come from their teachings. In Jude 20 it says we need to keep our faith by praying in the Holy Ghost. I interpret this as saying that if we have questions, we need to do what we can to ensure that we have the Holy Spirit with us to help us in our decisions, and then when we have the spirit we need to pray to the Lord and ask for assistance in making our choices. The Lord will never lead us astray from his gospel, so we need to ask him what is truth and what is not.
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