The Grandsons of Jude

In fragments from Hegesippus’s five books of commentaries on the Acts of the Church,1 written between A.D. 165–175, we read about an episode where the grandsons of Jude, the brother of Jesus, are brought before Domitian Caesar, “that emperor [who] dreaded the advent of Christ, as Herod had done.” Domitian asked them whether they were of the family of David; and they confessed they were.” He continued by inquiring about “Christ and His kingdom, what was its nature, and when and where it was to appear.” They answered “that it was not of this world, nor of the earth, but belonging to the sphere of heaven and angels, and would make its appearance at the end of time, when He shall come in glory, and judge the living and dead, and render to every one according to the course of his life.”2 There are those who claim that the early church believed in an earthly millennial kingdom where Jesus would reign as king from Jerusalem. The testimony of Jude’s grandsons give testimony to the belief that Christ’s kingdom was established in heaven and was a first-century reality.

1 Hegesippus was “a contemporary of Justin” and “the earliest of the Church’s chroniclers.”

2 http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/hegesippus.html

American Vision P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460, www.americanvision.org . History Unwrapped by Gary DeMar

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