GOD’S Word is full of exceeding great and precious promises to His people. They are found at times in the most unexpected places and their discovery in the time of need gives interpretative significance to the Apostle’s words—”All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II. Tim. iii. 16). It is only when the provision made in the promise meets with the need it is intended to supply that the promise stands out as something new in the experience of the believer. One of the great promises in God’s Word is enshrined in the words of praise to God with which the epistle of Jude concludes: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen.” (Jude, verses 24-25). Jude had been warning those to whom the epistle is written—the sanctified by God the Father and the preserved in Jesus Christ and called—of the necessity of contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. This necessity arose from the fact that certain men had crept in unawares who were turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. He reminds his readers of the fate of the angels who kept not
their first estate. They began well but they did not continue steadfast to the end. The children of Israel though delivered out of Egypt were destroyed through unbelief. In view of the dangers that beset his readers Jude exhorts them to build themselves up on their most holy faith and to pray in the Holy Ghost and to keep themselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (verses 20, 21). The epistle would naturally awaken a sense of insecurity in the minds of his readers though it was not intended for that purpose and if it did Jude points them to their real security—there is One that is able to keep them from falling. The Apostle Peter after his terrible ordeal when he was sifted by Satan which must have ever remained with him as unforgettable exhorts the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear and he further admonishes them to be sober and vigilant because their adversary, “the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. v. 8). Satan as an adversary was too real to Peter for him ever to think lightly of his dread power and he warns believers to be on their guard against an enemy so subtle, deceitful, and ceaseless in his activities. He, too with his beloved brother Paul, could say “we are not ignorant of his devices.” With such an adversary prowling about like a roaring lion self-confidence is fatal and though not so gratifying to the flesh passing the time of our sojourn here in fear is more becoming. It is when we are weak in ourselves that we are really strong as it turns our eyes away from helpless man to the Omnipotent God. It is not everyone that can join with the Apostle Paul in saying: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then I am strong” (II Cor. xii. 10). In his helplessness his eyes were turned to eternal Omnipotence and because of
this he would rather glory in his infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon him. The young believer when he sets out on the great journey that is ultimately to end in the presence of God is not aware of the amount of material he is carrying that makes him an easy prey to the devil. Prayer and watchfulness he has been told by His Master are absolutely necessary but as days pass into months and months into years he is learning that with all his prayerfulness and watchfulness (and alas! in these duties how woefully he comes short) that except the Lord keep the city the watchmen watch in vain. It is in the hard school of discipline that this lesson is learned but no one who has been taught it will ever forget the experience if in the time of need thoughts are turned to One that is able to keep from falling and finally to present faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
The many snares and pit-falls that met the pilgrims to eternal glory are so many reminders to them of their inability to continue the journey in their own strength. They are passing through an enemy’s country and they are strangers in it. The way does not become easier the older they get but it seems to be getting more and more difficult than it was at the beginning. An increasing sense of the believer’s inability to reach the end in safety makes the promise exceeding precious which says that there is One able to keep from falling.
Another thing that increases the sense of weakness and helplessness which they increasingly feel is a deeper knowledge of the waywardness of their own hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. They have no quarrel with such a sweeping condemnation; with all their heart they can put their amen to this description. Others may talk glibly about the nobility of human nature in its fallen state and of the fine qualities of the human heart but in God’s sight they feel that beneath the polished surface there are dens of iniquity that are as yet undiscovered and unexplored in their experience.
They know that one false step taken and the whole profession of a lifetime may be blotted out; one false word spoken and the regrets of a lifetime cannot undo the mischief that has been done and one wrong action and the memory of it will be like a gnawing worm to mar any pleasure they had in the world. They have seen these things happening before their very eyes in the case of others and what are they that the same may not befall them? Such experiences are not pleasant but they are salutary. They are striking at that spirit of self- and over-confidence which exercises such a baneful influence over the heart of man. To a people made so conscious of their liability to go astray on every hand—in thought, word and deed—the promise that there is One able to keep from falling is glad tidings indeed.
The mystery of God’s providences help also to bring home to them their helplessness. Things are not going as smoothly as they would like and like Jacob they misread His providences and say: “All these things are against me.” Another wave like the last that passed over their head and they say: “Such another and I will be swept off my feet.” God is infinitely wise and knows the end from the beginning and through the limitation of our knowledge and our ignorance we foolishly try to read God’s providences from the beginning instead of wisely reading them from the end as the Jews read their Hebrew Scriptures as Flavel so beautifully pointed out. “All is well that ends well” is a well-known saying but it must begin well if it is to end well. And it began well with God’s people when He called them in the day of their effectual calling and the work begun then is to be continued until the day of Jesus Christ. The greater the sense of helplessness the greater will be the encouragement from the words: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”