Jude’s Doxology by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 25, 1902

Jude’s Doxology

By Uriah Smith

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25.

With these words close the epistolary portions of the New Testament. What a sweep of present duties and dangers, present help, and future glory do they present! T. D. Bernard, D. D., in “The Bible Work,” by J. Glentworth Butler, well says, “We may observe with admiration the singular fitness of the few words of Jude to close the series of writings through which the faith has been wrought out, and consigned to the Church forever. It only remains for our last instructor to exhort us ‘to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints;’ to warn us of the dangers of relapse; to entreat us to build ourselves up on our holy faith, and ‘praying in the Holy Ghost,’ to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life; and, finally, to commend us to Him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

We are commended to Him that is able to keep us from falling, yes, even from “stumbling” (R. V.), to the dishonor of God. Thus a safeguard is made known to us, against our great and ever-present danger, that of falling, or stumbling. And there is in this more than simply a declaration of power; for it is a promise that He will keep us from falling; for we are never called upon to praise God for possessing an ability which He will never use. The very fact that He is revealed as possessing it, is a promise that He will use it for the purpose for which it is adapted. Therefore our being commended to Him who is able to keep us from falling, is a promise that He will keep us from falling. Our safety is in His ability and faithfulness; for John says that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We need to be kept from falling (1) into errors of doctrine, which are prolific on every hand in this age; for we have reached the time pointed out by the apostle, when every wind of doctrine is blowing; (2) from falling into errors of spirit, as, for instance, a lack of love; or a lack of discernment, to discover the wiles of the enemy; or into unbelief, on the one hand, or credulity, on the other; to be saved from fanaticism or conceit; (3) we need to be kept from falling into open and outbreaking sins. Alas! how low apparently the best of men sometimes fall in this respect! Then there are many other insidious and treacherous sins to be watched and guarded against on every hand,—neglect of duty, want of thoughtfulness, and the common sin of backsliding,—but the Lord is able to keep us from falling into any or all of these sins. We cannot keep ourselves without Him, nor can we depend upon our environment. No place nor association nor relationship can offer a guarantee from falling. We may have a name on the church book, with true Christians; we may have godly parents, earnest and devoted brothers and sisters; we may enter the closet of prayer; we may come to the table of the Lord; but temptations can assail us there. No set rules nor regulations can secure us from the danger of stumbling; and stereotyped habits may be only a cloak for deadly sins. Nothing but the power of God can eradicate evil from our hearts, and guard us against falling into grievous sins; but the Lord can do it. He can change our hearts, and make us new creatures in Him.

And He is able to carry out His work to its glorious results, and present us faultless before the presence of His glory. John gives some of the characteristics of that company. He says, “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Rev. 14:5. And Paul says that Christ will present to himself “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Eph. 5:27. And he further says that in Christ “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” and that we are “complete in Him.” Col. 2:10; 4:12.

“Faultless before the presence of His glory.” No fault can be tolerated there. And no one but Christ can deliver us from the faults of the past, and keep us from falling in the present, and in the future. He is called “the only wise God our Saviour;” and when we are presented without fault before the presence of His glory, it will be both to Him and to us an occasion of “exceeding joy.” It will be to Him, the joy that was set before Him. Heb. 12:2. It will be when the Saviour’s words are fulfilled, as recorded in His prayer (John 17:24): “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.”

We can join with Jude in ascribing to this redeeming Saviour, “glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now [as in the past; for He was “before all time,” R. V.] and ever. Amen.” U. S.