Jude's presentation has been made, and we have now read and studied most of his book. He has given us instruction in how to contend for the faith, be warned of false teachers, encouraged to be witnesses in this world., and now he comes to his benediction. The final words of Jude within these two verses are worth our memorization and meditation. They should be repeated on a regular basis, and the truth of these encouraging words should be branded upon our lives no matter what we encounter. What are they? Let's read together in verse twenty-four:
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
After his much warning and exhortation, Jude now turns his words toward heaven and reminds his readers with whom it is we have to do. This awesome God, this Holy Heavenly Father who desires to have a relationship with whosoever will is now regarded as “him that is able to keep you from falling.” Not only does God provide a way for us to be saved from our sins, but He inspires Jude to write the words of warning throughout this book. The Heavenly Father's attentiveness to the possibility that we might be deceived and that false teachers will try to persuade us of ways other than through Jesus Christ to have a relationship with Him, shows us His immense care for everyone who will put their trust in Him. Now as a bonus, as Jude points His words toward heaven, we see that God is able to keep us from falling. The very words imply a propensity to fall, and yet the Heavenly Father has power to keep us from it. As we align our lives with God and obedience to His word, God employs his keeping power, and where we might have reason to believe that we could fall, our dependence in not upon ourselves but upon an Almighty God who created and made the Earth and the heavens in which we dwell.
Next Jude writes something even more remarkable. He wrote, “and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Presented “faultless?” Faultless? It almost seems impossible. We know our flaws, and we know our errors. We know our propensity to do wrong, and we have evidence of misgivings from the past, and yet we will be presented “faultless”? What a marvelous God! What a miraculous Heavenly Father! If we cannot see the care and concern that He has for us in this verse, we will probably never see it no matter how long we look! God will present His submissive followers before the presence of His glory faultless, and look with me at how He will do it, “with exceeding joy”. The list of His love toward us continues! Oh beloved of God, our Heavenly Father will be joyful as He presents us faultless before Him. This verse implies that it is the very pleasure of God to do so. This is the marvel of the gospel of Jesus Christ that God would take fallen men and women who have been consumed by sin and error within their lives and now since they put their trust and reliance in His provision of His Son Jesus who died for their sins, He will “present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy!” If we were ever to shout, “Glory be to God!” this would be the ample place. We cannot and do not earn this as this is God's choice of how to manage. Our part is to simply trust in Almighty God to keep His word, and so will He keep His word.
Next time we will continue with Jude's benediction, and we will look even further into Jude's words and accolades toward such an Almighty and Worthy God, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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