What Jesus' Brother Jude Wanted Us To Know | Verses 24-25 | Hurricane Jude's Doxology
We have now arrived at the end of Jude’s heavy, but timeless and necessary letter. Having written clearly and poignantly of the subtle dangers of false teachers who operate within the true church under a spiritual pretense, compelling immature Christians to follow them using their stories of visions and dreams, and having pronounced a “woe” upon them, Jude now completes his small literary structure with a most glorious capstone where we find him extolling the sovereignty, faithfulness, and majesty of God.
John MacArthur asses this doxology as “one of the most splendid in the New Testament,” and for good reason. Not every epistle has one for one thing. If they do, many times they are embedded within the letter after a long string of glorious truths, similar to the Apostle Paul’s in Romans 11 after three chapters of mining the depths of God’s sovereign purpose in divine election. Other times, doxologies in the biblical letters seem to be more succinct if they are near the end.
Jude’s doxology, in contrast to these other examples, is both somewhat lengthy as well as acutely juxtaposed to a dense letter that embodies a grave tenor. By the time you read through it you need it. You need the reminder that God is sovereign and that God is the one who will keep His elect safe. We cannot help but remember that Jude’s original intent for this letter in the first place was to be a positive one of Christian camaraderie:
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (vs. 3) (emphasis mine).
As a faithful shepherd he did what was necessary to warn and exhort the flock of God, but he came back to end on a positive note, which was predicated on the sovereign will of God in building and preserving His church, His judgement of the wicked notwithstanding.
It is directly off of the back of Jude warning us how to proceed with “those who doubt,” and those who are in “the fire,” and those who’s eternal standing is far from convincing, that he then turns and directly encourages the true believers:
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 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” (vv. 24–25) (emphasis mine).
From this doxology we identify a number of remarkable things about our great and gracious God:
Two Things He Does:
1. Keeps us from stumbling
2. Presents us blameless before the presence of his glory
One Thing He Has:
1. Great joy
Three Things He Is:
1. Only God
2. Our Savior
3. Our Lord
Four Things He Is Ascribed:
1. Glory
2. Majesty
3. Dominion
4. Authority
Finally, Two Concepts Demonstrated:
1. The exclusivity of Christ
2. The eternality of God
Who knew that such a small economy of words could pack such a profound punch? Yet, here is Jude, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has just written one of the Bible’s shortest letters, producing one of the most glorious exaltations we could hope to read.
As a songwriter I cannot help but be invigorated and challenged by reading this. In my pursuit of writing meaningful songs, I want to produce succinct stanzas that capture just as much theology and doctrinal clarity as Jude does.
Let’s unpack a bit more of Jude’s praise.
Two Things He Does
With his eye focused, Hurricane Jude revolves around God. This doxology’s main point is about the omnipotence of God in the saving and preserving of the believer: “To him . . . to the only God . . . be glory . . . forever.”
In the light of the very real threat of heresy that can cause many in the professing church to stumble, Jude encourages us with the fact that God is able to keep us from stumbling. Matthew, one of Christ’s first disciples shines light on this for us:
“False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matt 24:24).
In other words, it is not possible to successfully dupe and nullify the faith and salvation of those whom God has actually saved because God saves once and for all. It is an actual salvation, not a potential one. If we could lose our salvation, we would. But because of the fact that God has chosen us from before the foundation of the world to give us faith to repent and believe and has then guaranteed our eternal destination with the marked seal of His Holy Spirit (c.f. Eph 1), we can rest assured that we will be preserved from ultimate deception. This is done by God working in us to will and to work according to His good pleasure. It is done by pursuing our new spiritual desire for holiness that God has sovereignly given us.
The ultimate outcome of His sovereign preservation of the saints is that He will present us blameless before Himself in the presence of His glory—what an incredible thought!
It is precisely this picture that Paul uses to exhort Christian husbands with: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25–27) (emphasis mine).
Notice that it is through the Word that God sanctifies and washes for purification and preparation for blameless presentation in glory. It is precisely for this reason that Jude says to stay away from all those who rely on their dreams and visions and who turn grace into sensuality. He calls the saints to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once and for all. This is the Word they need—not extra-biblical revelation from deceivers.
Paul, again, writes to the Thessalonians: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thess 5:23–24).
One Thing He Has
All of this is wrapped up in Jude’s doxology and all of it, he tells us, is done by God with great joy.
One might wonder, though, if Jude is referring to God’s joy, or our own. The NASB gives the most interesting alternative translation: “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.”
This seems to suggest the believer’s joy, at least primarily. Yet, we would not be wrong to just assume that both God and the believer will have great joy. Would either one experience that moment with anything less? The Bible tells us, resoundingly, ‘no!’
Hebrews explains that it was the joy that was set before Jesus that gave Him reason to endure the cross (12:2). The Lord Jesus Himself said in His parable of the talents that the good and faithful servant would enter into “the joy of [his] master” (Matt 25:23). Again, Jesus said “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:10)—imagine the increased level of joy at the final glorification of that repentant believer as they are presented by Christ, who bore the cross for their salvation, into the glory of God’s presence. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that will be!
Three Things He Is
Jude stacks declaration upon declaration of who God is as a continual ungirding of his overflowing praise: “to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God is our Savior, demonstrated and manifested through His Incarnation, namely Jesus Christ, and this saving work is not to primarily save us from ourselves, the world, or Satan. He saves us from Himself. He saves us from His wrath.
Isaiah prophesied long ago, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (59:1–2).
The Apostle John, then, explains later in his gospel that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn 3:36).
That God would give us a way to be saved from our just condemnation is a mercy and grace of the highest order as we have spent our lives guilty of divine treason. This salvation was provided for by way of Himself—the Son of God—alone (this is the exclusivity of Christ), thus for those who repent and believe, God is not only our God, but our Savior.
That being said, there is no Savior where there is no Lord. Jesus Christ is only the Savior of those who have confessed Him as Lord “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Rom 10:9–10).
It is precisely in our sovereignly prompted submission to Him as Lord that He simultaneously provides for us our salvation. We cannot claim Him as a Savior when we have never bowed to Him as Lord in repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Thus, so many times in Scripture we see both of these epithets together just as Jude has done.
Four Things He Is Ascribed
It is to our God, Lord, and Savior then that we ascribe all “glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.”
Delving into each ascription is not necessary as Jude simply intends to give numerous honors to the incomparable Creator of Heaven and Earth, though the words he selects seem to cover it all. No one is more glorious, nor has more majesty. No one is outside of His dominion and no one is excluded from His authority. While the unbelieving world may give lip service to their exemption from this reality, the Christian heartily embraces this reality.
Furthermore, Jude asserts the unending nature of these ascriptions as God Himself is eternal. To make no mistake, he says that God’s sovereignty and supremacy shall and will continue “before all time and now and forever.”
Of this glorious doxology that contains truths too wonderful for our finite minds to fully explore, we echo with Jude his final word that closes his letter: A resolute, joy-filled, solemn, “Amen.”
This time of year is a perfect one to take an even longer pause to consider the grace upon grace that God has bestowed on us through Christ. May His sovereign work in us continue to prompt good works that are offered up to Him as a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice and may we always be ready to offer up to Him a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that acknowledge His Name (Heb 13:15)—so that, as the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (2 Cor 4:15) (emphasis mine).
In Christ alone,
