Jude 24-The Father is Able to Protect and Perfect the Recipients of the Epistle of Jude
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 11, 2022
Jude Series: Jude 24-The Father is Able to Protect and Perfect the Recipients of the Epistle of Jude
Lesson # 72
Jude 24 Now, the one who for His own glory is able to protect each and every one of you from faults as well as to cause each and every one of you to be without defects in the presence of His glory with great joy. 25 Namely, the one and only God who saved each and every one of us through Jesus Christ, our Lord possesses glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority before each and every age as well as during the present age and in addition throughout each and every one of the ages in the future. Amen. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, the contents of Jude 24 would serve as an encouragement for the recipients of the epistle of Jude, who we noted were members of the Jewish Christian community in Judaea.
This is indicated by the fact they affirm that God the Father has the power to protect them from the attempts of the Jewish Zealots to persuade them to join them in their rebellion against Rome.
They erroneously believed that this rebellion would prompt the Messiah to establish the kingdom of God on the earth with Israel as head of the nations.
The Father would protect the Christian community in Judaea from these Zealots when they obey the Spirit inspired contents of this epistle, which reveal His will for their lives.
The contents of Jude 25 support this assertion by reminding the recipients of this epistle that the Father is their Savior through faith in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
They also contain a reminder of the Father’s glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority, which imply that the Father is more than capable to protect them from these Zealots because He possesses these four attributes.
Therefore, the contents of Jude 25 present implicitly the two reasons why the recipients of Jude should be encouraged that God will protect them from these Jewish Zealots.
First, He saved them from faith in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If God could do the greater and save them from His wrath through faith in His Son, then He could certainly deliver them from the danger these Zealots posed to them.
Secondly, the Father possesses the attributes of glory, majesty, sovereign power and authority.
Thus, if He possesses these attributes, then He surely can deliver them from the threat which these Zealots were posing to them.
Now, Jude 24 asserts that God the Father is able for His own glory to protect each and every one of the recipients of the epistle Jude from faults as well as to cause each and every one of them to exist in a state not possessing any defects in the presence of the Father’s glory with great joy.
The adjective aptaistos (ἄπταιστος) means “without faults.”
Here it speaks of the recipients of the epistle Jude rejecting two important Spirit inspired doctrines, which were taught by the Lord Jesus and His apostles because they joined he rebellion against Rome led by the unregenerate Jewish Zealots.
The first of these doctrines is the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, which asserts that Jesus Christ will establish the kingdom of God on the earth at His Second Advent by means of the exercise of His own divine omnipotence.
The second is that each member of the body of Christ is required to obey the governmental authorities unless they have biblical justification to disobey by them.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that these Jewish Zealots were disobeying the Roman governmental authorities because they erroneously believed that this rebellion would prompt the Messiah to return to earth in order to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
This rebellion was based on a faulty interpretation of the fourth beast in Daniel chapter seven.
They correctly interpreted the fourth beast as being the Roman Empire.
However, they erroneously believed that the Messiah would come back to establish the kingdom of God on earth during the period of the Roman Empire.
However, the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching asserted that the Messiah would come back during the days of the final stage of the Roman Empire under Antichrist during the seventieth week of Daniel.
This stage is depicted by the ten horns on the fourth beast and the little horn, which refers to the Antichrist.
The Father would protect the recipients of the epistle of Jude through the Spirit inspired contents of the epistle of Jude.
By adhering to the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles regarding the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, the Father would be protecting them from the Zealots’ doctrine that they must attack the Romans in order to prompt the Messiah to come back to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
The Spirit inspired teaching of Jesus and His apostles as well as the Old Testament prophets was that the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, would establish the kingdom of God on earth at His Second Advent through the exercise of His divine omnipotence (Zech. 12; 14; Matt. 24; Rev. 19-20).
Also, by adhering to the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles regarding obedience to the governmental authorities unless they have biblical justification, the Father would be protecting them from the Zealots’ doctrine that they must rebel against the Roman governmental authorities in order to cause the Messiah to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.
The Spirit inspired teaching of Jesus and His apostles is that they must obey the governmental authorities unless they possess biblical justification to disobey them (Rom. 13:1-7; Tit. 3:1-3; 1 Pet. 2:13-15).
Therefore, by obeying these two doctrines, the Christian community in Judaea would be obeying the command Jude issued each one of them under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Jude 3.
It required that they make it their habit of exerting intense effort for their own benefit on behalf of the faith and which faith refers to that body of doctrine taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles.
Now, we noted in our exegesis of Jude 24 that the verb dunamai (δύναμαι), “the one who for His own glory is able” speaks of the exercise of the Father’s divine omnipotence on behalf of each one of the recipients of the epistle of Jude.
Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of the Father possessing inherently the capability to protect each and every one of the recipients of the epistle of Jude from faults and to cause them to exist in the state of not possessing any defects with great joy in the presence of His Son at the rapture of the church.
We also noted that the plural form of the adjective amōmos (ἄμωμος), “without defects” pertains to being free from physical and moral defects.
Here it is describing the recipients of the epistle of Jude existing in the state of not possessing any moral or physical defects in the presence of the Father’s glory, who is His Son, Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.
They will not having any moral or physical defects at the rapture of the church because at that time they will be in a resurrection body and minus a sin nature.
Their indwelling old Adamic sin nature will be permanently eradicated at the rapture.
Consequently, their salvation and sanctification will have been completed at the rapture or resurrection of the church.
Furthermore, the noun doxa (δόξα), “glory” refers to the Father’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Father’s glory because His Son manifests through His words and actions the absolute perfection of God the Father’s character (cf. John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 1:1-13).
Also supporting this interpretation is that the church age believer will be perfected at the rapture of the church when they receive their resurrection bodies.
Consequently, they will be without moral and physical defects (cf. Phlp. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).
Immediately, after the rapture, every church age believer will have to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to determine if they merit rewards or not for faithful service in this life (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12).
Nowhere in the New Testament is the Father mentioned in connection with either the rapture or the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
However, after these two prophetic events, they are all presented to the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:1-3; Rev. 3:5).
The prepositional phrase katenōpion tēs doxēs autou (κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ), “in the presence of His glory” is expressing the idea of the recipients of the epistle of Jude in the presence of the Father’s glory, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.
This is indicated by the fact that at the rapture of the church, the church age believer will be perfected in a resurrection body and will no longer have any moral or physical defects because they will no longer possess the indwelling old Adamic sin nature.
Jude 24 not only asserts that the recipients of the epistle of Jude will not possess any moral or physical defects when they receive their resurrection bodies at the rapture of the church but also states that this perfection will be accompanied by great joy.
The adjective agalliasis (ἀγαλλίασις), “joy” pertains to a state of intensive joy and gladness, often implying verbal expression and body movement such as jumping, leaping, dancing.
Here it speaks of the “great or transcendent joy” which the recipients of the epistle of Jude will experience when existing in the state of not possessing any moral or physical defects in the presence of the Father’s glory, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.