Now All Glory To God

December 8, 2016

Now All Glory To God

All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time,

and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Jude 1:25b

(By the way, Jude’s name was Judah, and it is believed he was Jesus’ brother. His name was shortened to Jude by the Bible translators to help distinguish him from other Judah’s in the Bible.)

The last part of 3 John and Jude’s little letter both air quite a bit of dirty laundry in the first century churches. As I read these three letters, I was saddened to think of the church of Jesus Christ being is such disarray. In her first generation, there were church splits and disputes. Some of the disputes were quite simple; it was then, and is now, always about control. The nature of our fallen flesh makes it inevitable that there will be disputes. The caution being thrown up by both John and Jude is for us to not accept that this is the norm for the church. Christ calls us to rise above the norm of our humanity and to accept God’s call for the church to strive for holiness.

Both John and Jude, also point to more serious controversies. These other controversies related to the core beliefs of the Christian church. Both writers are stressing how important it is for every Christian to have a solid foundation for their faith. This foundation is built upon an understanding of the nature of Jesus, His mission, His resurrection, and His ascension. Simply put, a Christian has been born into the family of God, and this is made possible by the forgiveness of our sins and the infilling of God’s Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who came in the flesh, who was crucified and raised to life again, who makes it possible for us to call upon the name of God and be saved.

Even in the midst of church disputes, Jude is overwhelmed by the grace of God who has called us into a loving intimate relationship through our faith in Christ Jesus. He crowns his little letter with one of the most magnificent benedictions in the entire Bible:

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.

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.

Jude 1:24-25

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.