Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 25

 

Doxology

Again, verses 24-25: Present you faultless before the presence of his glory”: This great doxology of verses looks forward to those heavenly scenes, when the raptured and resurrected saints are presented as a glorious Bride, holy and blameless before the true God.

Jude 1:25 “To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen”

God our Savior... God is by nature a saving God, unlike the reluctant and indifferent false deities of human and demon invention.

glory and majesty,... Both Jude on earth and the angels and saints in heaven (Rev. 4:10-11; 5:12-14), ascribed these kinds of qualities to our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

both now and... Both now, and throughout all the ages, God is to be praised.

The only One that can keep us from falling is Jesus. We must place our trust and faith in Him and He will do the rest. In fact, there is nothing more for Him to do. He did it all on the cross of Calvary. He defeated sin and Satan on the cross for all who would believe.

If you are a Christian, He has abolished your past sin. Jesus clothed us in His righteousness, the moment we accepted Him as our Savior. When God looks at a Christian, He sees the righteousness of Jesus we are covered with. Jesus actually is the One we stand before because He is the Judge of the world.

He defeated death when He rose from the grave. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow for He is the Eternal One. His power is not measurable for He is all Power.

Phil. 2:10-11 “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ” “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here is the greatest theme of victory to be sounded, the highest note of praise and adoration possible, and the greatest assurance for the redeemed. Jude attributes to God — to the only God our Savior… glory, majesty, power, and authority, which are all available to believers through the Victor, Jesus Christ our Lord. And this exalted position is true of God in eternity past, in the present, and for all eternity in the future.

Thus Jude fulfills his heart’s desire of writing in the most joyful terms (Jude1:3), for in Christ there is hope in victory, which gives believers joy and confidence.

Ezekiel Chapter 44 Vs. 27

 Rules for Levitical Priests

“And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.” Eze 44:27

The High Priest first should offer for himself, and then offer for the people. He had to carry the blood for sprinkling. It is the blood that does away with sin.

The priests will serve as judges, and will follow God’s regulations regarding the feasts and Sabbaths.

Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 24

 

Doxology

Verses 24-25: Present you faultless before the presence of his glory”: This great doxology of verses looks forward to those heavenly scenes, when the raptured and resurrected saints are presented as a glorious Bride, holy and blameless before the true God.

The names of those in this “church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:23), are written in heaven (Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 1:22; 1Thes. 3:13; Rev. 19:7-8; 21:9 – 22:5).

Traditional Hebrew weddings involved three states:

(1) The betrothal;

(2) The presentation, often a celebration lasting several days, suggesting the joyful assembly of all New Testament saints with Jesus (John 14:2-3); and

(3) The ceremony or exchange of vows, concluding with a great final supper.

Jude 1:24 “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,”

Now unto him... Two things God is able to do:

1. Keep you from falling (1Cor. 10:13).

2. Present you faultless to Himself (Eph. 5:27; Heb. 7:25).

that is able... This speaks of omnipotent God (Gen. 18:14; Deut. 7:21; 1 Sam. 14:6; Matthew 19:26).

from falling, and... Is literally a word meaning “stumbling.” Savior here refers to God the Father but is often applied to Christ (Tit. 1:4; 2Pet. 3:18). In Old Testament thought there is only one Savior (Isa. 43:10-11). Thus, early church application of the term to Jesus implies His unity with God the Father. The power of Christ would sustain the sincere believer from falling to the temptation of apostasy.

present you faultless... (2Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27). Christians possess Christ’s imputed righteousness through justification by faith and have been made worthy of eternal life in heaven.

with exceeding joy... This will be our eternal reward. This refers primarily to the joy of the Savior (Heb. 12:2), but also includes the joy of believers (1Pet. 1:8). Joy is the dominant expression of heaven. (Mat. 25:23).

Many ancient manuscripts have through Jesus Christ our Lord following Savior. If those were indeed Jude’s original words, it is a moving tribute to the figure with whom he once shared childhood, and in whom he now places personal trust.

Jude’s lovely benediction/doxology stands as one of the most splendid in the New Testament. It returned to the theme of salvation which Jude had hoped to develop at the beginning (verse 3), and bolstered the courage of believers to know that Christ would protect them from the present apostasy.

Victory over Apostasy

In this final paragraph Jude exploded with a most elevated doxology, answering the unexpressed question, “But who will deliver us from the apostates and the apostasy into which they lead the unsuspecting?” His proclamation was, praise be to Him who is able to keep you from falling. Victory over apostasy is found in Jesus Christ! He is the One who will “keep” believers. Christ will present believers to His Father without fault and with great joy — joy both for Himself and for them (Heb. 12:2; 1Pet. 1:8). Amen.

Ezekiel Chapter 44 Vs. 26

 Rules for Levitical Priests

“And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.” Eze 44:26

He was cleansed by a blood sacrifice.

An exception was made for close family members, but the priest will have to wait seven days and then offer a sin offering before reentering the temple service.

Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 23

 

A Call to Persevere

Verses 22-23: An important factor in keeping one’s own faith active and vibrant is exercising it serving others. Even where there is danger or extreme immorality involved, God calls on believers to mediate His love for the fallen and share the gospel with the lost.

Jude 1:23 “And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

And others save... Others, who are committed to the error taught by the apostates, need immediate and forthright attention before they are further entrenched on the road to the fire of hell (verse 7), as a result of embracing deceptive lies.

with fear, pulling... This third group also needs mercy, even though they are thoroughly polluted by apostate teaching. These people are to be given the true gospel, but with great fear, lest the deliverer be contaminated also.

hating even the... The defiled garment pictures the apostate’s debauched life, which can spread its contagion to the well-meaning evangelist.

Do we truly love the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Is salvation the greatest gift we could ever attain? If it is, then we should want it, not only for ourselves, but for everyone. How can we save someone else? Tell them about Jesus and what He has done for us. If they won’t listen, grab hold of them and make them listen. Don’t let go, until they will listen. Amen.

Give a few hours of your time now to save someone from an eternity in the lake of fire. I hate the thought of anyone winding up in the lake of fire. I hate to think of it even being near anyone. The question is, do I hate it enough to spend my time keeping others from going there? Is there any greater task on this earth? What are you going to do about it?

Again, others — Those who are unsaved — were about to fall into the fire, the eternal fire of hell (cf. Jude 1:7). Jude exhorted his readers to snatch them from the fire and save them.

To still others, a third group, believers should show mercy. But they were to do so in an attitude of fear, that is, caution, lest they become contaminated by the sin of “the most abandoned heretic” (Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude, p. 188). Such persons are so corrupt that the stench of death has polluted them and even their clothing, as it were, reeks with the odor of corrupted flesh (cf. see stained Jude 1:12).

In his short epistle, Jude gave seven commands to believers:

1. Earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3).

2. Remember the teaching and warning of the apostles (Jude 1:17).

3. Build yourselves up in the most holy faith (Jude 1:20).

4. Pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20).

5. Keep yourselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21).

6. Look for the mercy of the Lord to bring you to eternal life (Jude 1:21).

7. Show mercy to Christians who are doubting, snatch unbelievers from the fire, and cautiously show mercy to the corrupt (Jude 1:22-23).

Let us all say Amen.

Ezekiel Chapter 44 Vs. 25

 Rules for Levitical Priests

And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. Eze 44:25

and they shall... The priesthood was to be held above defilement. The priest and High Priest were to proclaim life, and not death.

but for father... The only time it was permissible for a priest to touch a dead body, was when it was a near member of his family. They would be unclean to serve in the temple for a period of 7 days. They were to have no close contact with any corpse other than the closest of relatives. The wife is not mentioned as a close relative, because she and her husband are one.

Also the priests will avoid ritual defilement, by not going near a dead person (cf. Lev. 21:1-4). Even though death will be uncommon during the Millennium (cf. Isa. 65:20), provision was made for those instances when it will occur.

Jude Chapter 1 Vs. 22

 

A Call to Persevere

Verses 22-23: An important factor in keeping one’s own faith active and vibrant is exercising it serving others. Even where there is danger or extreme immorality involved, God calls on believers to mediate His love for the fallen and share the gospel with the lost.

Jude 1:22 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”

And of some... There are several textual variants here which could result in either two or three groups being indicated. They are:

(1) Sincere doubters who deserve compassion (verse 22);

(2) Those who are deeper in unbelief and urgently need to be pulled from the fire (verse 23);

(3) Those declared disciples of apostasy who still deserve mercy, but are to be handled with much fear (verse 23), lest the would-be-rescuer also be spiritual sullied.

Given the manuscripts evidence and Jude’s patterns of writing in trails, all 3 groups is the more likely scenario.

have compassion, making... These victims of the apostate teachers need mercy and patience because they have not yet reached a firm conclusion about Christ and eternal life, and so remain doubters who could possibly be swayed to the truth.

To be forgiven, we must freely forgive.

Being merciful to others:

Because the words of the apostates were confusing, probably many believers were in doubt as to whether to follow them. Such persons, Jude wrote, should not be slandered or criticized. They should be dealt with in love and mercy — the same way in which the Lord dealt with them (cf. Jude 1:21). They needed encouragement, not criticism. They needed to be built up, not torn down.