Happy to Be a Slave of a Great Master

Again, the word translated “kept” is in the perfect tense, and it is one of Jude’s favorite words. It appears in verse 1, twice in verse 6, and again in verses 13 and 21 (five times total). The word means “to protect, keep from harm, or preserve.” Here the emphasis is that we are kept safe in our salvation by Jesus Christ. Hebrews 7:25 links our eternal security to the intercessory prayer ministry of Jesus. Jude 24 says he will keep us from stumbling and will present us to the Father “without blemish and with great joy.”

Scripture’s witness on this crucial doctrine of God’s preserving work is clear: By his work on earth, Jesus obtained my salvation. By his work in heaven, Jesus maintains my salvation. God is preserving fallen angels and apostates for judgment (vv. 6,13). God is preserving you and me for glory!

JUDE 2

Jude has a love for triads, or groupings of three. In verse 1 he told us we are called, loved, and preserved. Now in verse 2 he selects three of the abundant blessings that flow into the life of every single person who has trusted Jesus Christ for salvation. He wants mercy, peace, and love to be “multiplied,” or increased. Moo says he desires that we are “filled with” these Christian graces (2 Peter, Jude, 224).

Jude’s greeting is unique, with “mercy” leading the way. The word translated “mercy” (eleos) is found about six hundred times in the LXX and seventy-eight in the New Testament. It is a characteristic of God that moves him to seek a relationship with persons who have no right to be in relationship with him. The word speaks of compassion, lovingkindness (Hb chesed). It is gracious, undeserved, and unmerited; yet it is not blind, dumb, or ignorant. It is something in God that moves him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and we do not deserve.

In Romans 9:23 those who trust Christ are called objects of mercy. In Matthew 5:7 the merciful are told they will receive mercy. In Jude 21 we are told to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 22 we are admonished to extend that same mercy to those who are doubting and in verse 23 to those who have been defiled and devastated by sin. We receive mercy, and we give mercy. We gladly give to others what we have received from Christ.

We enjoy from God what that certain man going down to Jericho received from the good Samaritan, who when he saw him beaten and left for dead had compassion and went into action (Luke 10:30-37). God saw us beaten by Satan and left for dead by sin; and he went into action and sent his Son, binding our wounds, healing our souls, and making us his own!

The word for “peace” in Greek, eirene (occurring ninety-one times in the New Testament), cannot be separated from the Hebrew word shalom. Wholeness, completeness, prosperity, and success are just a few of the concepts that emanate from this word. In Judges 6:24 God is called “Yahweh-shalom,” informing us that God alone is the source of peace. In Isaiah 9:6-7 God’s coming Messiah is designated as the “Prince of Peace.”

Hartmut Beck and Colin Brown note that “shalom includes everything given by God in all areas of life. . . . Eirene, therefore, coming as it does from God, approximates closely to the idea of salvation” (“Peace,” 777). No wonder Paul can say in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here is our external peace.

Again in Philippians 4:6-7 Paul, while in prison, can write, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Here is our internal peace.

And to all of this Moses can add in Numbers 6:24-26, “May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” Here is our eternal peace.

God is the Lord of peace. Jesus is the Mediator of peace. We are the heirs of peace. Thus Jesus can say in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

Throughout this letter Jude reminds his readers that they are loved by God (vv. 1,2,3,17,20). God is ascribed many attributes in the Scriptures. He is directly said to be

But the apostle John sums God’s character up as love when he says “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16), and Jude prays that his readers would see this love from God as ever real and ever increasing toward them. To say that God is love is to affirm that he always desires and seeks our highest good, even at great sacrifice to himself. C. H. Dodd says, “But to say, ‘God is love’ implies that all His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love” (Johannine Epistles, 110; emphasis original).

In John 17:23 we are told, amazingly, that as the Father has loved the Son so he has also loved us. In Romans 8:31-39 we are informed that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus. And in 1 Corinthians 13:8 Paul reminds us that because love is at the center of who our God is, it will never fail, never end! Jude knows the power of this love, and he wants his readers to know it as well.

What a joy to be a slave—a slave of a great Master, a King whose name is Jesus! He has purchased and called. He loves and protects. He showers his children with mercy and blesses them with peace. Because we are his, we have internal security in our hearts, external security in the world, and eternal security in heaven. Could anything be more wonderful than being a slave of such a great King?