Doxology

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, 25 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.

This is the doxology that Jude uses to finish his instructions and warning to the church. This is a prime candidate for memorization. And it is a wonderful thing to keep in mind all of the time, not just at the end.

King James says "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling...." First we identify who is being glorified. "Him." Just to make sure that we know Who, Him, is we identify that He is able. This "able" is not "possibly will or will not," but it means is fully capable and it has been done. "Keep you from falling," is KJV. NASB is better, "even from stumbling." We will not slip and fall. We will not even slip.

Some may ask if He is able, but will He? Is there anything that God can do, but will not do? The answer is, "No." A resounding, "NO!" Think with me. Can God save the lost without them believing on Jesus? That would surely be comforting. Again, No, a thousand times no.

That was displayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked three times if there was any other way. "Let this cup pass from Me." (Matthew 26:39) It was repeated three times. It was not to allow God to search the annals of eternity for the answer, He already knew it. It was repeated to emphasize it. A Hebrew literary device repeats things for emphasis, and a threefold repetition is iron-clad. It will not change.

There was no other way than for Jesus to endure the suffering on Calvary to save you and me. It is impossible for there to be any other way. Can He keep us from stumbling? Well, if He went through the anguish of crucifixion, does it make any sense that He would let us "slip" out of His fingers?

In fact, Jesus said that Himself in John 10:28 and 29.
I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29... no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

"Him Who is able to keep you from stumbling...." He is able and He will. But that is not all.
...and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy....

King James says, "faultless." We will be presented, stand in His presence, perfect. Blameless, faultless, sinless. Not the old Jim as we all know. But the "new creation" Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Not only "new" but perfect, blameless, faultless. And it is only to His glory.

And on my part, there is "great joy." But the joy is not on my part only. He gets great joy by keeping me from stumbling and being presented faultless. Think of that. He gets joy from us. Look at Zephaniah 3:17:
The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

This was directed to Israel, but verse 12 says that He is talking about a "humble and lowly" people. I want to be in that crowd. Imagine the Creator of the universe, exulting and rejoicing over us! It is almost incredible. It would be if He were not "able." The joy is two way. I have joy, He has joy. Glory!

With that in mind, Jude turns to the object of our praise. I like King James again. "To the only wise God...." All the other gods are dumb in both senses of the word. They cannot talk, hence, dumb. And they have nothing to say because they are just wood or rocks or metal. I do not worship a thing. I worship a "Who." "Now unto Him, WHO...."

The One, the only One Who is worthy of all "glory, majesty, dominion and authority...." We could spend another day on those, but would not even touch the surface. Maybe later.

"...before all time and now and forever." Notice the eternality of God. Before time began, He was there. He is now here. And He will be forever. And the last part, forever, is how long we will be presented to His glory. Glory.

"Amen." Del Tackett pronounces this, "Ah–main" or A-mein. A Jewish rabbi prayed at the recent inauguration and he pronounced it the same way. This is not just the caboose to let us know the end of the prayer has passed, like the end of train. It is a word of agreement.

When we "ah-main" something, we agree. In prayer, when we finish, we use Jesus' words from Matthew 26 again. "Not my will, but Thine be done." Ah-main. I agree with whatever Your will brings. Let it be to me as it is in heaven.

Ah-main and ah-main.