Jude's Conclusions About God [Jude]

24Now 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,

 25to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.


 

Jude, the half brother of Jesus, wanted to write about Jesus and the great salvation God provided through Him. However, there were false teachers and evil men in their midst, people who used the right words, dressed the right way and showed up in church, but were damaging to the body of Christ by leading people into ungodly thoughts and behavior. Therefore, Jude addressed this problem of false teachers instead. Jude's main point was that God was a judge of evil doers from the beginning and God's role as judge of evil has not changed even with the coming of Christ. Jude wanted the people to be aware of the evil people and to know how to look for signs of their true nature hidden behind the scenes. In other words, what were their habits of life when not in church? How did they handle stress and difficulty? Who did they hang out with in their free time? Were they really God focused or self focused? Were they honest and transparent?


Jude ended his letter by telling the people how to live well (through constant filling with God's love, prayer and growing in their faith by God's Spirit) and to have mercy on the evil people without getting burned by their sinful ways. They needed to stand up for truth and deal lovingly, but firmly with the false teachers and evil men.


Finally, and my very favorite part, Jude described God. This is a list of the things he said:


God is able to keep you from stumbling

God can make you stand before Him blameless with great joy

He is our only God and Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord

Eternal Glory (good reputation, correct opinion)

Eternal Majesty

Eternal Dominion

Eternal Authority


We praise You, God, that You are and do these amazing things for those who are truly your people. Cause us to take time to meditate on these things today. Cause us to not only know, but also believe (know, agree and act) these truths about You. We can't, but You can.

Beth Warlick, 10/1/2010