Him That Is Able

It is an especial delight for a gospel preacher to preach from a passage so full of the Lord Jesus Christ as are these two verses. 

Jude brings his little epistle to an end in a doxology that beautifully elevates the glory of Christ and must surely be amongst the highest examples of earthly worship known to man. He is magnifying our Saviour who is able and willing to save His people from their sins, preserve them holy, in time, and present them faultless in glory with great joy. It is fully consistent with Jude’s strong sovereign grace emphasis in this epistle that at its end He who is all-wise and all-powerful should be thus worshipped. 

Worthy of praise

It is to Christ that Jude directs our attention. He raises our eyes to the sovereign Lord Jesus. As fallen men and women we are a mass of inabilities. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot keep or present ourselves faultless. We need a champion and as he has done from the start Jude sets before us his Friend and Master, Jesus. It is Christ alone who has accomplished and fulfils every stage in His people’s deliverance and salvation.

Four strong walls

The Saviour is to be praised for His glory, majesty, dominion and power. Jude is clearly acknowledging the divinity of the man Christ Jesus whose servant he is. These attributes had been scorned by ungodly men during Christ’s earthly ministry and now are again denied by the ungodly men against whom Jude has been writing. The apostle is careful to remind the church that Jesus Christ the Godman is on His throne; arrayed in glory, majesty, dominion and power. He was sovereign then and He is sovereign now!

Blessings of grace

Jude concludes his epistle with a summary of salvation’s wonderful benefits. Despite the trouble we face from persecutors without and deceivers within, Christ’s Bride shall be preserved and we shall be made glad. The Lord Jesus keeps His people from being totally and finally lost by doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Such knowledge excites and warrants exceeding great joy. Our complete redemption, atonement, reconciliation and deliverance from the power and dominion of sin is a cause for praise and a reason for joy. 

Joy now and then

These comforting facts are our present possession. We are being encouraged by Jude to reckon the blessings of our salvation to be as sure and certain now, in time, as we believe them to be for eternity. Because Christ has entered into His glory, maintains dominion and exercises power with perfect wisdom our spiritual blessings are secure and our final victory is already a reality. Salvation is not simply a future hope. It is a present possession to be experienced and enjoyed. It begins in time and endures to eternity.

Set apart in Jesus Christ

Jude’s epistle from first to last has clearly testified to the distinction between those who are God’s elect and those who are not. Some are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called. They are under covenant care and distinguished from those who are not. They have faith in the finished work of the Saviour and having the Spirit are spiritual, while others are not. 

Two races

These two races, or peoples, are distinguished according to the Lord’s sovereign purpose. Some are predestined to everlasting life, others ‘before of old ordained to this condemnation’. Divine blessing flows or is withheld by God’s all-wise grace and praise and glory must be and shall be credited to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The apostle’s final amen therefore concludes his short epistle on a note of victory and assurance. 

Amen and amen

Amen is not only a word used to strengthen assertions with the stamp of truth. It is also one of the distinguishing names of the Lord Jesus, as in Revelation 3:14. In writing to the church Jude has been a faithful and true witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, for which we thank him. In setting before us the success of the Saviour he has shown us that Christ Himself is the faithful and true witness, the great Amen to His church and people. 

Amen.