Jude 1:24 (NLT)
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
I realize that I am starting this writing about Jude with something silly, but it’s a strong memory that I have to put down on paper…….well, computer screen! When I was a student at the University of Iowa way back in 1970, the Iowa basketball team went undefeated in the Big Ten Conference and set a team scoring record that still stands, averaging 103 points per game. The Beatles song, “Hey Jude” was popular back then so toward the end of each home game, the band would start playing this song and the entire fieldhouse of fans would start swaying back and forth, singing “La-la-la-lalala-la, lalala-la, hey Jude!
Sorry for my walk down memory lane, but must admit that I think about those memories every time I see the name “Jude”. The biblical Jude wrote only one chapter—25 verses—that is a reminder to readers to live a pure and faithful life, not denying God and not succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh. Jude describes himself in verse 1 as a “servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James. There exists disagreement whether this Jude was one of the 12 apostles or simply another of the many men in biblical times named Jude. He is not the Jude---Judas—who betrayed Jesus.
Verses 24 and 25 are considered a doxology of very high quality. These verses are recited in many churches today as words of praise to almighty God. Let’s focus on the three claims about God that Jude lists in verse 24. God
1. Keeps you from falling away
2. Brings you into His presence without a single fault
3. Brings you into His presence with great joy.
The Greek word for “falling” means to stand firm and not stumbling. How is God able to keep you from falling away, standing firm, and not stumbling? There are many promises in His Word that if you stay close to Him through faith, Bible study, prayer, and serving Him, He will protect, strengthen, and guide you. Here are some examples:
· “God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us” Eph 3:20
· “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8
· “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” Phil 4:19
· “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer………my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge” II Samuel 22:2-3
· “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105
Jude writes that God will bring you into His presence without a single fault. Oh, how can that be? Read Col 1:21-22. It is through your faith in Jesus who is the One who brings you to God without fault. He reconciled you to God by dying on the cross for your sins. Your faith in this redemptive act enables you to be presented before God “holy and blameless and beyond reproach”. Isn’t that unbelievable what Jesus did for you and all you have to do is believe?
Then Jude write that God brings you into His presence with great joy. Who has the great joy? Well, both God and you. Indeed, knowing all the wrong you have done in your life, yet because of salvation in Christ and the gift of eternal life, you have and will have great joy entering into the presence of almighty God without a single fault. Truly unimaginable and unbelievable, isn’t it? Yet this is what the Bible promises to you if you believe in the Lord, love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31.
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