March 30

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 1:24-25.

WE here see with what this presentation will be accompanied. He will “present them with exceeding joy.” That is, with exceeding joy to himself; for he will then “see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied;” and also exceeding joy as to themselves; for if now, when they see him not, yet, believing, they are able to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,” what will it be when they stand before him,-when they shall “see him as he is”?

Why, they will resemble the Queen of Sheba: it was a good report which she heard of Solomon’s fame; it lessened her attachment to home, and induced her to take a long and expensive journey. Her own expectation seemed grand before; but when she was presented at the court of the Jewish monarch she “had no more spirit in her,” and when she came to herself she exclaimed, “The half was not told me.” So will the reality exceed all the Christian’s previous expectations.

This is not the representation of man’s excited imagination, but it is the result of divine inspiration; and here is no inconsiderable evidence of the divinity of our Lord and Saviour; for we read expressly that we are “redeemed unto God by his blood,” and that, finally, “God will be all, and in all.” And this can only be explained by the admission of his own testimony:-“I and my Father are one: he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” We see where the presentation shall be made:-“before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” This implies some distance or absence at present,-a want of some present recognition and acknowledgment. And so, while they are at “home in the body,” they are “absent from the Lord.”

Indeed, there is now a connection and a communion between them; but the distinction is rather this:-he is now with them, hereafter they will be with him. They are now in a kind of confinement; they are called his “prisoners.” He comes to them, and views them through the bars, and smiles and speaks; and sometimes also he comes in and converses freely with them, and leaves many a token of kindness behind, and tells them, moreover, that shortly he will “come and receive them to himself, that where he is they shall be also.” And so, by-and-by, his chariot is heard approaching, the doors are opened, the fetters fall off, and he conveys them to his court and his palace above, to be presented there, not for an hour or for a day, but to go no more out,-to “be forever with the Lord.” “He, therefore,” says David, “shall receive me into glory.” He will say himself then, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

We see, also, in what state they will be presented:-with “exceeding joy,” before his presence; he will present them “blameless.”