The Final Message In Jude – The Glorious But Challenging Doxology – Jude 1:24-25 Series

THE FINAL MESSAGE IN JUDE – THE GLORIOUS BUT CHALLENGING DOXOLOGY – Jude 1:24-25

INTRODUCTION:

We have proceeded through Jude slowly, bit by bit, to understand it. Jude began his letter wanting to write to encourage the believers in their common salvation, but then the urgency of contending for the faith overtook him, and he proceeded to examine the false teachers and their evil lives and practices. I won’t have time to re-examine all of that. Jude is a very rich book to study. We now conclude with the final two verses. Open at 24 and 25.

(NASB) Jude 1 v 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand blameless in the presence of His glory with great joy, Jude 1 v 25 to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

PART 1: Before we begin, I want to fiddle with the passage a little bit, not wrongly, but correctly. For those of you who understand grammar, there are some clauses in this passage that expand the thoughts. Just for a little while, I want to take out those clauses and get to the dominant thought in these two verses. Here we go.

{{Jude 1:24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand blameless in the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”}}

What we have as the closing thought in this marvellous letter is this – {{“Now to Him be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”}} I feel I am not qualified to speak on this. I will be much better equipped when in heaven, especially when with billions of others we are gathered around the Lamb in heaven, who is in the midst. John describes that in but a few sentences, just a glimpse of what we can not comprehend this side of glory. Here are the snippets John gives - Revelation 4 v 11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.” AND Revelation 5 v 12 “saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing, Rev 5:13 and every created thing, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honour and glory and dominion forever and ever.”}}

(A). THE FIRST WORTHINESS: GLORY

Looking back to Jude, in these two verses in the conclusion, he names four aspects that rightfully belong to God, and to no one else – glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. The first is glory, and glory surrounds God. Glory and light are always in association with God’s presence. That is what makes these two qualities so fundamental and the reason we should study them a lot. God gives glory, and God receives glory. We bring glory or shame to God according to how we live. The glory of God is pure, eternal, and brilliant.

There are 371 verses in which 'glory' occurs in the Bible. It is really difficult to get consensus on the number of times “glory” is used in the bible but internet sites range from 402 to 538, and as I have not counted them, we will leave it at that.

When the glory of the Lord rested on Mt Sinai in the exodus, to all the observers, {{“the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.” (Exodus 24 v 17). “The glory of the Lord was such that Moses was only able to see the latter part of it.”}} (Exodus 33 v 23). Asaph and his relatives composed music to the glory of the Lord – (1Chronicles 16 v 9-10) {{“Sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.” 1Chronicles 16 v 24 “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples,” 1Chronicles 16 v 28-29 “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name. Bring an offering, and come before Him. Worship the LORD in holy array.”}}