Brothers & Sisters in Jesus Christ,
This morning we look at the last two verses of Jude – perhaps the most well known part of this short letter – we could also say that Jude is a short sermon – just 25 verses. The verses are well-known to us because we often sing the last words at the close of a worship service. – ‘Now unto Him’. Whilst, we might be familiar with the words, we need to consider the context of this doxology,
Then we gain a deeper understanding and better appreciation of what Jude wrote.
I say at the outset that a letter from God addressed to his church is often concluded with a doxology – which we consider today. Earlier we read the last verses of the letter to the Romans. It is very similar in style and content to Jude 24,25.
“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my
Gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping
with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but
now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings
by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles
might come to the obedience that comes from faith – to the only
wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. Romans 16:25- 27
I draw your attention to the fact that this is not the only doxology we find in Romans.
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? From from him and to him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:33-36.
So what exactly is a doxology?
The writers of the New Dictionary Of Theology write:
“Doxology is the offering of worship to God in wonder, love and praise, exalting Him, glorifying him and proclaiming his greatness in humble adoration.”
In doxology the believer … simply worships God … “for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever”. This statement of worship, praise and glorifying God is the climax of Jude’s letter.
He began His letter with the greeting, “To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.”
The idea of ‘keeping’ is a theme throughout the letter.
Not only are believers ‘kept’ by Christ, they are also urged to take responsibility to, ‘Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”
Now the doxology begins with,
“To Him who is able to keep you from falling…”
God is sovereign and his sovereign grace and mercy and power not only motivates, but also enables the believer to persevere in the faith – passing on the baton of faith to the next generation. The idea of keeping one from falling is common in the Psalms. “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot
slips. For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.” Psalm 38:16
Yet the psalmist concludes this psalm with, “Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour.”
Psalm 56:13 says, “For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I might walk before God in the light of life.”
The final example I mention – though there are more, is the well-known – “My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven & earth. He will not let you foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber” Psalm 121:2,3
Jude is encouraging the believers to trust in God’s ability to enable them not to slip into the error of the apostate false prophets who were troubling their church community by promoting false doctrine and immoral living which can only lead to eternal punishment. Not only is God able to keep them from falling, but on a wonderfully positive note, our God is able to present the believer before God’s glorious presence without fault.
The NASB says, ‘blameless’, however, the sense is more ‘without blemish’.
So the sense of the statement is that God is willing and able to cleanse his people through the precious blood of the lamb. The whole idea is one of the saving grace of God who redeems the repentant sinner who puts his trust in God.
We can see the same idea in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 –
“May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless
and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord
Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”
Jude and Paul in Thessalonians, clearly have the day of the Lord’s return in mind.
For the believer who has been justified by faith in Christ alone, this day will be one of great joy, for God our Saviour has been faithful in achieving his desire to save sinners.
There will be jubilation on the part of all God’s people on that day when they are ushered into God’s glorious presence.
Jude goes further saying,
To the only God…
We do not read here, what we sing in Number 525 of our song book the word ‘WISE’.
It is in the Romans doxology, but not in Jude’s.
This is a reference to the nature of God – picking up most probably on Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear o Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
This belief in the unity of the Godhead sets Christianity apart from other religions.
The only God is also our glorious Saviour.
We have 4 attributes of God mentioned in succession.
Douglas Moo makes the interesting observation,
“All modern translations add, at about this point in the sentence a verb. There is no verb in the Greek, but, clearly, one must be supplied.
Yet it is not clear that English versions are correct to supply the subjunctive verb ‘BE’, the sense then being that the doxology wishes for these attributes to be ascribed to God. It makes equally good sense to supply the verb “ARE”, in
which case the doxology is a statement about who God is, rather, than a call to ascribe to Him the virtues named. With no verb supplied in the Greek, certainty on this matter is impossible.”
The 4 attributes of God mentioned are, Glory, majesty, power and authority.
Glory is the attribute found in almost all doxologies.
It is the essential glory of God’s being. God is all glorious.
Some synonyms for ‘Glory’ are: beautiful, worthy of praise or worship, taking pride in and honouring his great achievements. Giving Glory to God is the epitome of all those things.
Majesty brings to mind the splendour of a sovereign king.
In Hebrews 8:1 we read,
“We do have a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.”
The whole of Psalm 8 fills our hearts with awe and reverence.
“Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!“
Power – how fittingly for this attribute fits in with the earlier declaration of our God as the one who is able to keep, for nothing is impossible for God!
God by virtue of His power is able to keep his people presenting them as faultless, without blemish on the last day.
Authority – that is the right to judge and rule according to his good pleasure.
God is the supreme authority in and on all things.
Before Him every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord of Lords and king of kings. God judges the nations with truth and impartiality.
We note that the NiV links ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord’, to
the 4 attributes of God mentioned in the doxology.
What the verse is then saying is that Jesus also shares these attributes with the only God, having and worthy to receive Glory, majesty, power and authority..
It would also appear to me that this would make sense of the 3 fold mention of time.
Jude says, “before all ages, now and forevermore.”
So we ascribe to God these attributes as being past, present and forever.
These 4 attributes of God were his in the past, are his now, and forever will be his.
When this letter was read aloud to the congregation, they would all respond with the AMEN. So when we worship God, we are not to do so halfheartedly.
Our God is an awesome, all glorious being, majestic, powerful having all authority in heaven and on earth – the one who was, is, and always will be.
It serves us well to meditate on these verses and so be encouraged to worship God acceptably and with awe and reverence.
This doxology reminds us of the essential unity of the Godhead
– 3 persons in one holy being.
Heavenly Father, gentle and humble Son and gracious Holy Spirit – a saviour God who redeems his people from their sins and ushers them into his presence – faultless and with great joy. I ask you to contemplate the joy that is in store for that for all who have remained steadfast to the faith, keeping themselves in God’s love.
My friends, we can have confidence when we approach the throne of grace in our times of trouble. Our God is not only able to help us but is faithful and will help us to overcome suffering, temptations and the trials that test our faith.
Let us trust in Him no matter what adversity we might be facing.
Let us be mindful of what happened to the Israelites when the Lord delivered them out of Egypt to bring them into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The majority of the generation that had witnessed of the mighty works of God did not enter into the land flowing with milk and honey.
Why did they perish in the desert?
Because they did not trust that God would be able to give them victory over the Canaanites. They thought that they would be destroyed.
For 40 years they wandered in the desert where God provided his people with all they needed – food in the form of manna, water from the rock, their clothes and sandals did not wear out and protection from their enemies.
Then the Lord appointed and consecrated Joshua to lead them into the promised land. The Lord gave this command to Joshua the son of Nun:
“Be strong and courageous; for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I Myself will be with you.” Deuteronomy 31:23.
The Lord kept His promise to Joshua. At the end of his life he encouraged the people to trust in the Lord and obey Him. He concluded his farewell address with, “Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness.
Choose this day who will serve, whether the gods your ancestors
served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Amen.
Mama by the water 
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