Monday Devo

Jude
24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

24–25 Doxology of Great Joy. As Jude ascribes all glory, majesty, dominion, and authority to God, he reminds believers of what God is doing for them as they await Christ’s return.

24 Just as the false teachers are “kept” by God for judgment (see 2 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2 Pet. 2:4; 3:7; Jude 6), so also he has infinite power to keep from stumbling those who have put their faith in him. By “stumbling” Jude means falling into sin or error (Gk. aptaistos, “without stumbling”; cf. ptaiō, “stumble,” in Rom. 11:11; James 2:10; 3:2; 2 Pet. 1:10). If such stumbling is left unchecked it will eventually lead to falling away from the faith. Yet Jude says God will never let his own fall away but will “keep” them by his grace (cf. note on Jude 21). He will present the Christian blameless (with no stain or sin) before the presence of his glory, the brightness that surrounds the presence of God and visibly manifests his holy character. This can only be effected by God’s power, through Jesus Christ the Lord. The only possible response to the work of God on behalf of believers is great joy (Gk. agalliasis, “great joy, exultation”), which suggests an exclamation of joy and praise.

25 the only God. There is only one God, who has acted redemptively (our Savior), once for all, in his one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (On God as “Savior,” see note on 2 Tim. 1:8–10.) through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus is the mediator through whom the person who trusts in him is able to give praise and thanksgiving to God. The church praises God through Christ, saying, to God be glory (here in the sense of great honor), majesty (Gk. megalōsynē; he is greater than all), dominion (Gk. kratos; his sovereign reign has no boundaries), and authority (Gk. exousia; he rules over all creation); in other words, may the praiseworthiness of God, who is as gracious as he is great, be fully acknowledged in his people’s adoration of him. Before all time means before the beginning of creation (Gen. 1:1) and suggests that time began when God created the material universe (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). And now and forever shifts the focus into the present and then into the infinite future. Amen. I.e., “let it be so.”


Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2452.

We’ve spent weeks looking at the “battlefield” in Jude; false teachers, cultural chaos, and real spiritual danger. It’s easy to get so focused on the fight that we forget who’s actually in control. But Jude ends by lifting our eyes off the chaos and back onto God.

• Think about the biggest source of stress in your life right now, the thing that immediately feels like a dark cloud over your head. 
  • When you think about it, what does your mind tend to do first: how do you usually process it, and where do you find yourself trying to take control or “fix” the outcome in your own strength?
  • Be honest: Do you really trust that God is in control of this, or do you feel like it all depends on you?
    
    
• Jude shows us that we can’t fight well if we’re not first grounded in worship. 
  • Why is it so hard to stop trying to manage everything and just rest in God’s authority?
  • What would it look like today to trade your anxiety for worship? Instead of asking God to fix it, start by simply recognizing that He’s already over it.

2. Are there sources outside the Bible that confirm the Biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead?  Many Roman and Jewish historians have confirmed that the apostles died as martyrs for preaching that they saw Jesus risen from the grave. No one dies for something they know to be a lie.

(Luke 1:1-4; Acts 26:26; 1 John 1:1-4, Josephus, Clement, Hegesippus, Tertullian, Origen, Polycarp)