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| Source: Hasbro Monopoly |
After a letter reminding us to contend the faith because hell's no joke and in a world where false teachers have risen to the highest ranks of our Christian communities, we must Persevere, despite temptation, Jude concludes with an uplifting and encouraging hymn of praise to God.
Verse 24:
"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy ..."
Jude is directing his readers back to what they first believed, the truth! This verse speaks of Christ. That he is the one who presents us 'blameless' before God because we are now identified with the character of Christ, we are saved and justified by his blood. Jude reminds us that whilst we are 'kept for Jesus Christ' (v1), our struggles are his struggles and we must rely upon him for our daily strength. What he has done for us, surely deserves our 'great joy'!
Verse 25:
"... to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
There is only One God who has the splendour as bright as the radiance of pure light 'glory'; the position of absolute rule 'majesty'; an ability to carry out his sovereign will 'dominion' and an absolute right to do so 'authority'. Despite the false teachings, despite those who wrangle their way up through the ranks to persuade others to follow them, Jude ascribes that God saves us 'through Jesus Christ our Lord' and that through him, and him alone, we can praise God.
What a hope! Through all the darkness and wickedness that exists within our world, God loves us enough to send someone to be our beacon of light, to be our refuge, our fortress, our saviour. Not just anybody, but his only son, Jesus Christ!
We come to him caked in stinking, filthy sin, worthy only of God's righteous wrath, yet Christ presents us blameless to God because he has taken it all. Our choices in life determine our path, we cannot choose to go to heaven by our own efforts, that is impossible! If it were not for God's grace and mercy, we would continually fail him. All roads of human effort lead to the fiery damnation that is hell, yet Christ keeps us from stumbling.
This does not mean everything will come easy to us. Surely, we will still be tempted away from God's glory and majesty. We will still listen to friends who persuade us to do things that are not really pleasing to God. We will still form cliques in our churches, circumnavigate toward people of like interests/abilities/statuses (etc.) and be tempted to do things that are worldly and self-edifying for the sake of just 'fitting in'.
If anything, Jude is a stark reminder of the righteous judgement that God gives to those who chose the world over him. His judgement is for all his creation, not just a portion of it. No one can escape it, not even the angels!
However, because only God deserves the glory, majesty, dominion and authority in the universe, he has provided us with a 'get-out-of-hell card'; a 'Lamb' who John the Baptist witnessed about in John 1:29 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'.
Christ took our sin upon himself. He carried the judgement of God so that we don't have to. All we must do is contend the faith and persevere. Remember, that 'through Jesus Christ our Lord', God sees us blameless (despite your natural, world passion-loving sin) and because of Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice, we are made perfect in the eyes of God.
Our sin is forgiven and God's promise of eternal life is given to us not because of the things that WE do but ONLY because of his love for us. This alone is enough to warrant us to give God the glory, majesty, power and praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!
