The Book of Jude, Part 8

The Book of Jude, Part 8
Saturday, March 29, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

Our hope, our future, our strength, our joy, everything about our lives as Christians, is wrapped up in God the Father, and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We don’t have to get caught up in the lies, falsehoods, and enticements of the false teachers, teachers that in the end, serve only themselves, teachers that are destined to eternal hell.

Jude 1:24–25: “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, the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (NAU).

Who keeps us from falling or stumbling? God. Typically, as believers, when do we fail? When we take our eyes off of God, when we cease to walk in the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Who makes us stand in the presence of God’s glory, blameless? Jesus Christ. He paid for our sins by dying on the cross for us. Through His perfect, pure, sinless life we are made holy. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NAU). How great an exchange that is!

Where does our joy come from? God and Jesus Christ, for the all the reasons just mentioned. Note that it is the “only” God. There is no other. Not Allah (who isn’t the same God, no matter what others may say), nor the many gods of Hinduism, or the man-made false representations and caricatures called “God,” or ourselves as New Age would claim (a lie that goes back to Genesis 3), but the God of the Scriptures, alone.

We don’t carry the weight of our sin anymore. We don’t have to fear death. Even though we all will die physically, because of Christ, we are spiritually alive, and we have the joy of knowing we will be with Jesus for all eternity. Joy isn’t like happiness. Happiness depends on circumstances and our emotions: something that can quickly change. Joy—while we do sometimes lose sight of it—as believers in Christ, is our permanent reality, not based on changeable things. That is why God, through James, tells us that we can count it all joy even when we face trials and difficulties (James 1:2–3). God has changed our perspective.

What is our response to all of this? Praise to the glorious wonderful God: to “the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (NAU). God is worthy. To Him alone belongs glory and majesty. Who alone has authority and dominion? God.

As Psalm 2 tells us, the nations rage against it, but He laughs. He is in charge, period. Has anyone else ever had dominion? No. In times past? No. At the present time? No. At some point in the future? No. Will Satan ever usurp God’s position? No. Will atheism, communist materialism, philosophical postmodernism, progressive spirituality, and those who follow all the other “isms” denying the true and living God, prevail? No. During the Great Tribulation, will the Antichrist succeed? No.

Are we secure in God? Yes. Even when facing difficulties, persecution and martyrdom? Yes. Even as a believer facing death during the Great Tribulation, when Christians are being beheaded and slaughtered? Yes.

How does the book of Jude conclude? Amen. So be it. The dominion is God’s. His authority is forever. Our joy in Him is forever. May we rejoice and praise God, being thankful for all He has done, and continues to do, for us! May we rest in Him.

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