Hello dear friends,
Today, let’s learn from Jude’s doxology on how our God is the one who has the ability to keep us from stumbling:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
— Jude 24
At the end of his letter of warnings concerning false teachers and exhortations to the believers to contend for the faith, Jude, the brother of James, launches into a doxology, exalting our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In these closing remarks, Jude states a phrase of profound importance for us as believers to understand.
In this verse, we find two reminders that are important for every believer to constantly be aware of as they sojourn through this world, waiting for that great day when we will go home to the Father.
The author begins by reminding his readers that God is able to keep us from stumbling.
This portion of the doxology echoes the words of the psalmist:
He will not allow your foot to stumble; He who keeps you will not slumber.
— Psalm 121:3
This is a simple yet vital encouragement. Jude states that God is able to keep us from stumbling. This follows all his exhortations to the believers to remind them to contend for their faith:
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
— Jude 3
He reasons that the believers need to contend for the faith because of all the false teachers that have gone out into the world and are leading people astray:
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
— Jude 4
As this minister of the gospel closes his letter, he reminds them that despite the dangers believers are exposed to, there is indeed a great hope that serves as a safety net for the believers. Jude highlights this covering by pronouncing God’s ability to keep believers from stumbling.
In many ways, this echoes the words of the apostle Peter as he says that our salvation is protected by the power of God Himself:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
— 1 Peter 1:3-5
In this doxology, Jude reminds the believer that they serve a God who has the power to keep them from stumbling.
Unfortunately, we face a very similar situation today. These warnings by the author also apply to us. Like Jude’s audience, we too face the danger of false teachers and live in a time of heavy corruption and ungodliness. We are exposed to all sorts of deceitful lusts that can draw us away from the ways of the faith. We face trials and tribulations that can sometimes blind us to the fact that we are the chosen of God, washed and sanctified:
For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
— Matthew 24:24
Jude goes further in his doxology and mentions that on top of God’s ability to keep the believer from stumbling, God is also able to make the believer stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.
Here we see God’s ability to sanctify the believer, so that through Christ’s atoning work on the cross, the believer can stand before the presence of God’s glory, reconciled to God. In other words, we serve a God who is able to save us.
This echoes the response from our Lord as He was addressing His audience when they questioned man’s ability to be saved, given man’s attachment to worldly things:
And those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”
— Luke 18:26-27
God is able to reconcile man to Himself, and He has done so through Jesus’s death on the cross. This is the God we serve. Jude’s doxology reminds believers that God has the ability to justify and sanctify them so that they will ultimately be able to stand in the presence of God’s own glory.
Finally, we will be able to stand before God blameless and with joy. We are blameless because Christ has taken all the blame; He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are joyful because we are filled with the joy of salvation, the joy of Christ.
Here are some elements to remember from this doxology:
- Regardless of the circumstances we go through in this life, God is able to keep us from stumbling and to save us totally and completely.
- Our faith in God must not waver in the face of trials and temptations of this passing world. Instead, we should remember God’s power to save; He is mighty to save (Isaiah 63:1).
- Man cannot save himself; it is God who has the ability to save. Let’s trust in God for our salvation continually until that day when we are finally standing in the presence of His full glory.
I pray that this doxology reminds you of the power of God.
Keep standing firm in the faith,
Paul
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