EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2025 10:35 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Lord Presents the Saints”
Bible Reading & Meditation Focus: Jude 24b-25
Message of the verse: “and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
I have to say that this is the very last section in the letter by Jude, but it will take a few days to finish looking at this last section, but once again I have to say that I truly am enjoying studying this great letter written by Jude, the half-brother of our Lord.
It is a hallmark of genuine saving faith that it is one that endures to the end (Matt. 24:13” “"But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” “To make your stand” translates the verb histemi, which more precisely in this context means “to set,” “to present” “to confirm”, or “to establish.” Now at present, believers stand in grace as seen in Romans 5:1-4, but in the future they will also stand in glory (Col. 3:4; 1 Peter 5:10).
No for fallen men to stand in the presence of His glory should produce sheer terror. MacArthur writes “Isaiah pronounced the curse of himself (Isa. 6:5). Ezekiel fell over like a dead person (Ezek. 1:28). Peter, James, and John experienced overwhelming fear on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5-7; Luke 9:32-34). The apostle John fainted as one who was dead when he saw the vision of the risen and glorious Christ (Rev. 1:17). Having come face-to face with God’s glorious presence, each of these men instantly felt the full weight of his sinfulness (cf. Luke 5:8). Each fell to the ground, overwhelmed by his own sense of unworthiness.” “8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’”
I will quote one more paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary this evening, and then perhaps will finish looking at these remaining verses in Jude tomorrow evening.
“To stand in God’s glorious presence, believers must be blameless. Revelation 21:27 makes it clear that unrepentant sinners will not enter the glory of heaven: ‘Nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into [the heavenly Jerusalem], but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life’ (cf. 22:14-15). Amomos blameless means ‘faultless,’ and it is used here to describe the sinless state that believers will one day enjoy. The New Testament also uses the term to refer to the purity of sacrifices (Heb. 9:14, ‘without blemish’; cf. 1 Peter 1:19). Although believers, as those of us to whom God has imputed Christ’s righteousness, are now positionally blameless (Rom. 4:6-8; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Titus 3:7), we are still in our fleshly, sinful bodies. We are yet awaiting the resurrection, when we will receive our new glorified bodies (cf. John 5:25; 11:24-25; 1 Cor 15:21-23, 42044; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 3:21). In heaven we will experience not only an absence of sin but also a presence of perfect holiness (1 Thess. 3:13; cf. Rev. 21:22-22:5). All our faculties will be emancipated from evil and fully devoted to the righteous worship of God forever and ever (cf. Rev. 4:6-11; 5:11-14; 19:6).”
I have to say that the older that you get the more a believer looks forward to getting a new glorified body, and to be able to worship the Lord without being tempted by the sinful flesh, I know that is true for me.
9/5/2025 11:06 PM
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