It’s Not You Holding On
There's an interesting twist in the book of Jude that's often overlooked, and it can help if you're struggling with your current state of faith. This twist that almost no one talks about comes after serious warnings, and is designed to impact the way you think about making it to the end.
Jude is talking about how false teachers have slipped into churches and were twisting the gospel, and people were following them. He spends most of the letter painting a dark picture of angels who fell, and cities that were destroyed, and teachers who looked godly but weren't, and people walking confidently toward judgment without knowing it. It's the kind of letter that makes you uncomfortable, and I guess maybe it should.
But here's the thing. That's not where Jude ends the letter, and this is where the surprise comes.
After all the warnings, when Jude starts to close the letter, he writes in verse 24,
"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy."
So after everything he just described — people who fell, and teachers who deceived, and examples of judgment stretching from Eden to Sodom — the very first word of the closing is not a command.
It's a declaration: to him who is able. Not to you who are able. Not now hold on tight. Not here's what you need to do to stay on the right side of all of this. God is the keeper of his children.
So here's what most people miss. The word translated keep here is a word that means to protect, like a garrison around the city, and the one doing the protecting is not you, it's God. The way he ends the letter tells you something crucial. The reason believers don't fall isn't because they hold on hard enough, they do enough good things — it's because they are being held.
Think about that for a second. The same letter that shows you how dangerous it is out there ends with God is able to keep you.
And then look at what follows. God's keeping. He presents you blameless before the presence of his glory. It's not you crawling across a finish line hoping you've done enough. It's God presenting you blameless and clean without spot.
Remember what I mentioned at the start, whether you were going to make it? Look at what the text actually says. The one who keeps you is not you. The one who presents you blameless is God. The question isn't whether your grip is strong enough. The question is whether God's grip is strong enough. And Jude's answer is, of course, yes.
And here's the part that most people skip entirely. The end of verse 24 says this presentation happens with great joy. Joy for whom? For God. This isn't just relief on your part, it is delight on his part. Our ultimate making it is not a white-knuckled effort to do our part, it's the grace of God on our behalf.
The warnings are serious and they're real, and they should cause us to run away from sin and to Jesus. The one who warns you, though, is also the one who keeps you.
And if that wasn't enough, in verse 25, he piles on: to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, both majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now, and forever. This isn't just a nice way to end the letter. All of it — your salvation, your keeping, your final presentation — it all runs through Jesus. He is the one through whom God's keeping power reaches you.
When you feel the weight of your own inconsistency, when you are most afraid that your faith might not hold, pray this: God, you are able to keep me from stumbling. My grip isn't the point, yours is.
In this passage, God is announcing his own power over your finish. You are not the keeper of your own soul, you are the one being kept.
Let's pray about this:
Father, you are the one who is able, and we keep forgetting that the ability is yours, not ours. You promised through your Son to present us blameless, not because we earned it, but because he did. In the moments when we doubt our own faithfulness, remind us that our standing before you does not rest on our grip, but on yours. We trust you with our souls. In Jesus' name we pray.
Remember, the God who ends this letter is not handing you a checklist. He is announcing that he is able and willing to get you home without stumbling, and the joy at the finish line is his.
Song: Thank You Jesus