Bible Doxologies: Part 7

A Biblical doxology is a short segment of Scripture praising God and extolling His glory.  Doxology means ‘word of glory.’  This article will present several popular doxologies from the Epistle of Jude and the Book of Revelation. These are frequently used in Christian worship services.  We will examine their deeper meaning, and hopefully present sound reasons to give God the glory He so richly deserves.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 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 (Jude 1: 24-25). Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling

The majority of Jude’s short letter devotes itself to an admonition against false teachers and the judgment that awaits them from God.  This doxology is a fitting conclusion to Jude’s previous warnings.  Adam, even in his state of innocence, could not keep from falling.  One third of God’s created angels fell, and the rest are preserved by God’s grace.  How can imperfect sinful men keep from falling?  The world, the flesh, and the devil all work to pull us down and cause us to sin.  But God is omnipotent—all-powerful.  He can do anything He desires.  He desires the welfare of His children.  He desires they worship Him in truth and in spirit (John 4: 24).  He is certainly able to keep a believer from stumbling.  He will do so if the believer does not rebel against Him.  Jesus stood against all evil and prevailed.  He resurrected from the grave.  His resurrection power keeps energizing our new nature to maintain us and keep us in His grasp to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy

God will make every human stand and bow to God, in the presence of His glory, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 10-11).  The real question is, will all these people be standing blameless and with great joy?  Of course, the answer is no.  Many will stand bearing the stains of sin and corruption.  These people will not rejoice.  They will stand with fear and trembling—with bitterness and resentment.  How do we stand blameless before God with great joy?  The Apostle Paul provides the answer in his letters to the Colossians and Thessalonians. “Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Col. 1: 22).

“So that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints” (1Thes. 3: 13).

Our faults fill us with fear, doubt, and sorrow.  But Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice to atone for our sin, that He might present us faultless before the Father. Where there is no sin, there is no sorrow.  Where perfect holiness reigns, perfect joy prevails to the only God our Savior

The coupling of Savior with God denotes the Deity of Jesus Christ.  Paul couples these terms in several Pastoral Epistles (1Tim. 1:1; 1Tim. 2: 3; Titus 1: 3; Titus 2: 10; and Titus 3: 4).  Jesus is the only God and Savior.  No other worshiped god can save men’s souls. Be glory, majesty, dominion and authority

Jesus deserves glory in all forms of His existence.  His brother, Jude, devoted this doxology to Him.  What a wonderful thought!  The fleshly brother of Jesus denied Jesus claims to Deity and mocked Him during His earthly life.  Jude made this amazing about-face proclamation after his conversion, following Jesus’ resurrection.

Jesus has accomplished the victory against sin, evil, and death for all who follow him.  Soon he will usurp the dominion and authority from Satan in this world and will reign for eternity in all His majesty before all time and now and forever

This phrase speaks of an eternal God, Jesus Christ.  The verse proclaims His existence before time, during time and after time.  Time is only a small line in the thread of eternity.  Time is where we live but Jesus now lives outside of time, as He did prior to His incarnation.  But God the Holy Spirit has come to assist believers who live in this wicked world.  He will straddle the domains of time and eternity until time is no more. Amen.

This means ‘and so be it.’  It commonly ends other doxologies in Scripture.  It doubly emphasizes the previous verses and implies there is no room for compromise.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come (Rev. 4: 8).

The resemblance to Isaiah’s vision reminds us God’s creation has proclaimed His eternal holiness in every age.

Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts. The whole world is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:2-3).

This thrice-Holy proclamation of God emphasizes that no gods, angels, or people can approach His holiness.  All are inferior copies of the One and only perfect holy God.  God’s holiness is also thrice proclaimed in Psalm 99: 3, 5, and 9 in three separate verses.  But only in Isaiah and Revelation do we find holy combined three times in one verse.  The Revelation doxology ascribes “Holy,” to He ‘who was,’ “Holy,” to He ‘who is’ and “Holy,” to He ‘who is to come.’ God has shown Himself an object of holy worship in the past creation.  He shows Himself holy in governing all present things.  He will ultimately, in the highest degree, reveal His Holiness in the consummation of all things for all eternity.  All God’s creation exists under the continued presence of a thrice-holy God.  Isaiah 6:3 adds, “the whole earth is full of His glory.”  This word ‘glory’ makes the verse a doxology, and its connection to and the context of Revelation 4: 8 makes the latter a doxology as well.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”  And every created thing, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 5: 11-13).

Revelation chapter 5 actually reveals three songs in the first thirteen verses.  This doxology contains two of these songs.  They portray Christ worshipped equally with the Father by all creatures, and for all eternity!  Angelic choirs sang songs of adoration when the foundations of the earth were laid (Job 38: 7).  But these songs of redemption are different.  They would never have been sung had Adam not fallen, and if the Redeemer had not died to rectify the effects of the fall.  The latter song ascribes eternal blessing, honor, glory, and dominion for the work of redemption accomplished by the Lamb of God.  These new songs will be sung to the Lamb for all eternity.  He, alone, is worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, honor and glory.  The Lamb of God is worthy to sit on God’s throne and rule for eternity.

The last song of praise in this doxology rises from all corners of God’s creation. The whole universe, animate and inanimate, joins in this chorus.

The Apostle Paul pictured all creation waiting in eager expectation for its full redemption (Romans 8: 23). Paul also penned the famous words of Philippians 2: 9-11 (noted earlier in this article) which prophesy that all of creation and every created human will bow and give homage to Jesus Christ—even those who reject Him.  The above doxology is the prophetic fulfillment of these earlier Scriptures.