To Him Who is Able
“To
Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious
presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be
glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 24-25
This doxology is questionably the
finest in the New Testament, especially when read in the context of this brief
letter written by Jude. It is a letter
of warning for the early church to notice that people have infiltrated with a
message of “cheap grace” and denial of Jesus as the only Lord and Savior. The letter is stark, to the point and gives
pause to every reader through the generations.
At the end is this grand conclusion in
which Jude provides ample reason for us to give all glory, majesty, power and
authority and praise to God. What are those
reasons? First Jude states that the Lord
is able to keep us from falling. The
Greek word for falling here is aptaistos and means not
stumble or stand firm. Another way to read this is that Jesus is able
to keep us standing firm. Our best
efforts will fall short; we need King Jesus and we need to reach out to Him to
keep us from stumbling over deceptions, lies, and the like.
Jude continues by stating the Lord is
able to present us before God without fault and with great joy. I love that combination! Because of the powerful blood of Jesus at
work in our lives, we who call Him Lord are presented to God without spot or
blemish. We are presented –
faultless. We are also presented with
great joy. I imagine this as both Jesus
having great joy in presenting us and our having great joy in being
presented. It is a win-win!
And so to Him – to the only God our
Savior – to Him be glory, majesty, power and authority, now and for all
eternity. Let all His people praise Him.
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