An Indispensable Doxology, Pt. 3

When I stand before the throne of God one day, I will be presented as pure and blameless. This is only possible because of what Christ did, which is the Gospel.

An Indispensable Doxology, Pt. 3

This week's devotions are written by my friend Jessica Hermann, former director of our college ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

I'll never forget my wedding day. After years of long distance dating between Texas and Germany along with postponed wedding dates due to the COVID pandemic, Markus and I could finally be together. Even the historic Texas ice storm of February 2021 that began the day of our wedding couldn't stop our union from finally happening. I'll never forget my dad walking me down the aisle in my white dress up to the altar where my beloved was waiting. In some ways, every detail of that moment is seared in my memory. In other ways, it seems like it was all a blur! But looking back at the gravity and symbolism of those moments is so precious to me. We worked hard to honor the Lord with our wedding ceremony and to make every part of it Christ-centered. Marriage and the wedding ceremony are designed to be a picture of bigger spiritual realities. Marriage and the relationship between a husband and a wife are designed by God to be a picture of Christ's relationship with the Church. While wedding traditions largely come from cultures and vary between them, many aspects of the traditional "western" wedding ceremony do find their origins in the Scriptures as well. These are traditions that are not spoken about directly in the Bible but have become traditions that nevertheless honor spiritual realities that are clear in the Scriptures. My dad walking me down the aisle in a white dress is full of symbolism that points me to today's passage.

This week, we are journeying through the last two verses of Jude. Let's read them again today:

"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, 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."

Today we will focus on the second clause of verse 24: "and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy".

When I walked down the aisle with my dear father and he presented me before my groom, I knew he was full of joy to give me away to my husband. One day, when I stand before the throne of God, Jesus will present me with great joy. When I stood there in my white dress, there was symbolism to be found there too. The tradition of the white dress is intended to represent purity or innocence. When I stand before the throne of God one day, I will be presented as pure and blameless. This is only possible because of what Christ did, which is the Gospel. This picture that many have woven into their wedding traditions points to this reality that is mentioned in Jude 24. When we, as the bride of Christ, are presented before the throne of God, though we have sinned, we will be presented blameless because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

This is the core of the Gospel. Guilty, declared innocent. Filthy, declared clean. Sinners, declared blameless. I love the last three words of this section: "with great joy". Isn't it a beautiful thought that Jesus has great joy to present us as blameless? He's not frustrated that you weren't able to be better on your own. He delights in you, and He delights in declaring the guilty as blameless.

To put this together with yesterday's focus, Jesus is the one who saves us and who keeps us, and when we the saved stand before God, it is the joy of Christ to present us blameless before the Father. May we marvel at the beauty of Jesus today in how he has given us a new status: blameless.