The Ability of God - Jude 24

JD17-01

It is quite obvious that we have often, in the course of this study, as Jude has identified the characteristics of apostates and the practices of apostates, it has not been without occasion that we have sensed guilt upon ourselves in some of these things, and that we have been aware that we do know how this exists in other believers within the circle of our acquaintance. It is, however, for each of us to make the application that is pertinent, and to resolve whatever tendencies toward playing the role of apostates we ourselves may have been guilty of. This has been a magnificent study. It is a strategic book for this age that is vitally needed, and one that needs to be read.

We hope you will be praying for some Christian who can transcribe this whole series of tapes. This I think would make a magnificent study that God would mightily use for believers in this day--the transcription into booklet form of the tapes on Jude. We have a printer standing by just waiting for us to hand them ready-to-go copy. So as we finish this book, may this become a reality.

God Alone is Able

You have learned that the interpretation of the Greek language is how we find out what the Word of God is saying. We have to exegete it. We have to explain it on the basis of what the language says in its grammar and in the meaning of its words. It is in the present tense, and you know that the present tense in Greek does not just mean that it happens now, but it means that it is a continual action. The Father always has this ability which is referred to here in this context. This specific ability is that of His omnipotence. He is absolutely all powerful. It is in the active voice, and active voice means that the subject (God) is exercising this fantastic omnipotent ability.

In other words, God is not dependent on any outside element to perform what He is doing. You and I should get over the idea once and for all that the Lord's work is dependent upon us; and, that the Lord's work rises or falls upon any individual human being or any group of people. If you will catch what Jude is saying, you will be greatly helped in your personal spiritual Christian life relative to other people. You will never be bowled over by the presence or absence of any individual in the combat of the Lord's business.

"The Lord has given. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." That's what Job said, and he was right on. God has an ability which He actively personally exercises. This ability is all that is necessary for God in His sovereignty to perform His plan. He does it, and you and I don't help Him at all. We may be vehicles or instruments in His hands, but it is not dependent upon us. The fact that it is a participle indicates that this is a real ability. It's in the dative case which is called the dative of advantage. It is to our advantage that God has such omnipotent total ability.

We are also told that God, who is able, is able specifically to keep. The word "to keep" is "phulasso." I realize that some of you may not be interested in these words in the original language. We pray that you will be indulgent of us; you will excuse us; and, you will not say some of the harsh things that some of our friends have been saying about us because we try to establish for you the ground upon which this interpretation comes. If you are going to be an active ambassador of Jesus Christ (as we spoke of in the previous session), you have to know something in your own right as to where these interpretations come from and what they're based on.

This is an important word. The word "phulasso" means to guard or to protect something or someone. Here it is in aorist tense which means that it's once and for all protection. God in his ability will keep something here. He will do it, and it will be permanent. It is active which means that God Himself is the one who is doing the guarding. This is again stressing that we have nothing to do with this particular situation. And I'll just leapfrog a little bit. The situation that he is referring to in which He guards us is our salvation. Here is one of our eternal security passages. It does not depend upon you. Here is one of many indications in the Word of God that God the Father actively keeps us in eternal life. Infinitive indicates that this is God's purpose--to preserve the believers.

Now what is it that the almighty power of God is capable of keeping us from? Well, it says "to keep us from falling. The word "falling" is "aptaistos." "Aptaistos" means "stumbling," and "stumbling is a better word. This is the word that is used in the Greek language to describe a sure-footed horse. Or, it is used of a good man who doesn't fall into error. Jude's letter has envisioned some very very dark days for Christians under the appeals of apostasy which will be directed toward those believers. The question is, can believers remain true to themselves in the midst of sophisticated apostasy? Can you and I, as believers, keep from falling--keep them stumbling. "Falling" is not a good translation because it suggests the loss of salvation. What we are talking about is "stumbling" in the Christian life--stumbling relative to your walk as a believer.

Jude says that the Father has the ability to protect us. As you and I look through the scene of history, we must breathe a sigh of relief that that is the case. For we must ask ourselves, and wonder about ourselves, can we keep from stumbling as believers. Adam and Eve were in the most perfect environment and most wonderful relationship with God. Every day, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the Garden of Eden; instructed them in God's principles of living; and, gave them Bible doctrine--the most wonderful fellowship, and yet they fell. We think of Israel with the marvelous demonstrations of God's power throughout their history, bringing them out of Egypt and taking them into the wilderness. And yet what happened? Of all the adults who crossed the Red Sea who were 20 years old and up, only two did not stumble. That's fantastic. Out of 1.5 million or maybe 2 million people, only two--Joshua and Caleb--did not stumble. Only they went into the Promised Land. Even their leader Moses stumbled, and he did not enter. He died outside of the Promised Land.

When you see that kind of historical precedent, it is not unusual that we should wonder about ourselves. Can you make it? It is not a wonder that people wonder about their salvation. Can they make it on that account? Well, Jude says that our Father has the fantastic omnipotent ability to protect us from stumbling in our Christian lives, which is His purpose for us--to keep us from stumbling. This means that we are to be filled with the Word of God through the teaching ministry of the Spirit of God. You and I can easily fall if it is dependent upon our capacities. Even an angel like Lucifer, who stood in the very throne room of God, and the angels with him, did not keep from falling. But it is within your capacity because God's ability is at your disposal. It is within your grasp and it is within your ability to keep from falling.

In 1 Peter 2, the father protects us from stumbling from our salvation. 1 Peter 2:24: "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed." Here is the ground of our protection. It's found in the word "bore our sins." It's the word "anaphero." "Anaphero" means "to take up." He took up our sins. They were taken up off of us and put on Himself. The aorist tense here tells us that this was done once and for all. This means that every sin that you can possibly commit has been taken up by Jesus Christ already. It is active which means that Jesus Christ Himself, in his own person, in his own physical being upon the cross, bore this price. Man had no part of it at all. It is indicative which means that His death was a true historical actual event. In His body, in His humanity, He went to the cross; died spiritually; and, bore our sins.

Adam went negative toward God's Word. When Adam did that, he acquired an old sin nature. Adam, who was once right on, became a very poor square. When Adam was made by God, he had a body. He also had within him a soul. In that soul there was a mentality so he could think; he had a will so he could make choices; and, he had emotions so he had feelings. There was also within him a living human spirit. With this spirit, he was able to communicate with God. With his soul, he was able to communicate with Eve. He didn't get around very much. Eve was about the only person he did communicate with on the human level. But in his human spirit, he had contact with God. Then he sinned.

He went negative toward the warning about eating from the tree, and right here there was a great change within Adam. His human spirit died. He still had a human spirit, but it was dead. This is just like when a person dies physically, he still has his body which he is going to use for all eternity, but the body is now dead. So his human spirit is dead.

In place of it came an old sin nature within his being. This changed him completely. He died spiritually, and he received an old sin nature. Now every baby which is born into the human race, which is generated by a human father, has this old sin nature transferred to him through the father. In copulation, this is passed on from the father to the child. This is why Jesus Christ did not have an old sin nature. In His case, He had a mother, but a human father was bypassed. The child generated was a supernatural generation. Now because this old sin nature is present, we are separated from God. We are dead.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross to deal with this old sin nature. There were two things to be dealt with. One was our sins. Those, we have been told, He bore in His own body. So we read in 1 Peter 2:24, "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed. The other thing that he had to deal with was our human good, and at the cross that was simply rejected. In Titus 3:5, Paul says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done (telling what He did about the human good), but according to His mercy." He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

In the future, the human good of the unbeliever will be a dealt with at the Great White Throne judgment. The human good of the Christian will be dealt with at the "bema," that is, the Judgment Seat of Christ after the rapture of the church. Right now, human blood has been placed in abeyance relative to the judgment of God. But sin was dealt with once and for all. However, the old sin nature stands within us. It has all these various lusts that we could mention; it has an ascetic side which is a trend toward good; and, it has a lascivious side which is a trend toward evil. All that it produces is under the judgment of God and rejected by God. So Jesus Christ, who was born spiritually alive, was able to sacrifice his spiritual life in our behalf. So the wages of sin were paid.

So the unsaved man's good works, coming from his old sin nature, cannot be accepted by God because God has rejected this thing completely. The old sin nature is out. Anything that comes from it is out. Much of Christian service; that is, much of service in Christendom, stems right from here. People are serving the Lord because of various lusts. They have a lust for praise. They want you to praise them so they serve the Lord in order to receive a commendation. They have a lust for power. They like to exercise authority. They have a lust for fame. They want a place in the sun; they want recognition; and, they want appreciation for their capacities. They have a lust for money. Sometimes it's a (human) good thing to serve in the local church and be associated with certain people because they're money people, and it'll be good for your business. They have various lusts. You may go on and on. All of these often are the motivations of Christian service, and God rejects every one of these for it is false service. God's way of salvation is grace. It's a gift. He has all the power in the world to save us, and to keep us.

Eternal Security

Remember the diagram of the two concentric circles. At the point of salvation, we enter eternal fellowship (in the inner circle), and we also enter temporary fellowship (within the outer circle). When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you immediately become a spiritual Christian right at that point. You are in perfect inner-circle fellowship. The inner circle is that of a spiritual Christian. When you sin, you enter the area of a carnal Christian. You're still saved, but the old sin nature is now dominating. When you confess this sin, you come back into the inner circle where God the Holy Spirit is once more controlling.

If you were the devil, and you were going to sit down and think, "Now, how am I going to sit down and raise some good first-rate hell against the Christians, and to put some clamps on the whole business of Christianity?" There would be certain things that you would hit. An apostate, because he is directed by his father Satan, knows to hit these things, and here is one of the things that the apostate hits. The confession of sin to produce the status of spirituality is even opposed by seminary students who ought to know better.

This is fantastic, until you stop and say, "Now, wait a minute. If I were Satan and I wanted to clamp off spiritual productivity and divine production, what would I do? I would get Christians to be cautious about confessing sin; and, secondly, I would give Christians the idea that they can't be spiritual by confessing their sins. I would get them to believe that they can be spiritual only if they do certain things: they light candles; they smile all the time; they run around and ask people for forgiveness for what they've done; they cross themselves; they splash holy water on everybody they can find; and, anything else that goes through the whole religious racket and realm. And then I'm spiritual."

You may smile at that, but there have been seminary students who have explained to us how confessing their sins does not make you spiritual. Then you ask them, "What makes you spiritual?" They reply that in order to be spiritual, you have to love people; you help those who have need; you act in mercy; and, all of the things that are commendable which flow from a spiritual life, as the result of doctrine operating, are confused with spirituality. This is just like Satan who, because he is smart, also kicks the Word in the teeth. This is just like he degrades and seeks to deride and peel people off from a church that says we're going to explain the Word to God's people, and we're going to explain it on an authoritative basis from the Word itself and from the original languages themselves so that they understand it. That's the kind of a place he's going to be grinding away, and you should know this. He will come at you since you are part of this kind of an operation.

At the point of salvation, we enter this marvelous eternal union. In this eternal fellowship, we share everything that Jesus Christ is. Because we are in Christ, you can list many things around here that are now true of you because you are in Him. Christianity, thus, we say is not a religion; it is a relationship. Religion is what comes out of the old sin nature. Christianity is God in grace providing everything we need. Religion is man trying to produce something that will gain God's attention and faith. In religion, man gets the credit. In Christianity, under grace, God gets the credit.

Sins will cause us to lose this temporal fellowship. By temporal fellowship, we mean fellowship day-by-day in time. And if we stay out of fellowship, God will bring discipline. The discipline will vary relative to your situation. Sometimes he will hit you directly with the discipline. Sometimes the discipline will come in a roundabout way through people around you. Sometimes the discipline will come through elements within your family. Sometimes the discipline will come through elements in your business. It can come through facets of your social life. But God will bring pressures and discipline until you say, "That's enough, Lord. I admit my sin." And you come scooting back into this inner circle. But it is a very foolish Christian who does not appreciate 1 John 1:9 and its promise of forgiveness.

Here's what I'm saying. No matter how spiritually weak a Christian is, these concentric circles should make clear to you that he can never escape the care of God. He is forever preserved in his salvation. Now you may have someone who may be near and dear to you that is far offbeat in spiritual things, but I want to tell you that that person is not lost to the Lord. God, who has performed a work of grace in that person's heart, no matter how far he may stray out of that inner circle; how foolish and ridiculous he may be; or, how deluded he may have become, he is still God's child, and he will still be under God's protective care. But the sad part is that the discipline will in time be there. But entering the family of God is irreversible.

So we read in John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Then there is that very dramatic reminder in Romans 8:38: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." God's plan is faith, and what He has provided covers all of our sins, and He keeps us.

If somebody comes up to you and says it is time for you to stand up and reaffirm your faith, he doesn't know what he's talking about. If somebody comes up and says, "Now at the close of the service, we want those of you who will rededicate yourselves to the Lord to put your hand up or to walk this aisle, you know you're dealing with a professional preacher that's trying to get some visible results so his numbers will bring a good offering in that Sunday, so that they can go home rejoicing that the Lord did such wonderful things for them. Several people walked down the aisle. Several people raised their hands. Altar calls and all the gimmicks--all these disoriented and ridiculous things are of no value. All of them are bad because they suggest that we can lose that salvation.

Evidences of Eternal Security

1. We have, for example, the evidence of positional truth in Romans 8:1, Ephesians 1:3-6, and Jude 1. We're told that every believer is in union with Christ. That means he is in the outer circle. Since he is in the outer circle, he is in positional relationship to the Lord, and therefore he can never be lost. That's what Romans 8:38-39 summarize for us, as well as Colossians 2:6-12. We have a position. We cannot change that position.
   
   
2. There is also a logical approach. In Romans 5:9, we read about the Lord doing much more for us. You have this in Romans 5:9, 10, 15, 17, 20, and Romans 8:32. This is the Lord who did the most for us. What was the most God could do for you? Well, that was to save you. He who did the most for you is now going to do much more. That "much more" is expressed in Romans 8:38-39. Logic itself tells us that we could not be lost again.
   
   
3. Then we have the hand of God evidence. John 10:28 and Psalm 37:23-24 tell us about the hand of God on us--that He holds us. We do not hang on to Him. He holds on to us. Now, of course, God does not have a hand. That is called an anthropomorphism. God is described in terms that we can understand, as if He had a human body, and as if God had hands. That's just so we understand that God reaches out and He holds us there. Sometimes the emotions of God are described to us in ways that we can understand by comparing them to human emotions and feelings. That's called an anthropopathism.
   
   
4. There is also the experience approach (2 Timothy 2:12-13). A believer may come to the place where he says, "I don't believe in Jesus Christ anymore." There may be within the circle of your acquaintance somebody who once was a firm believer in Jesus Christ. He was truly genuinely born again. Now suppose that by something--by gradual transformation of the mind, for some reason or another--this person comes to the place and says, "I don't believe that anymore. I don't believe in sin. I don't believe in heaven, and I don't believe in Jesus Christ dying for sin. I don't believe in Him as Savior. 2 Timothy 2:12 says, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, he will deny us." This has to do with a believer's rewards.

   The believer who denies Christ is a believer who is out of fellowship. Every time we act out of fellowship in sin, we are denying the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we deny Him in that way, He will someday deny us at the "bema," the Judgment Seat of Christ, relative to rewards. Verse 13 says even more: "If we believe not, yet He abides faithful, He cannot deny Himself." Even if a person says that he has stopped believing on Jesus Christ, he cannot be lost because God cannot deny the unconditional quality of the salvation that He gave you. Now rejecting the Savior will bring discipline, but it will not bring you into hell.

5. There is the family evidence. Galatians 3:26 and John 1:12 tell us that we are born into God's family. You cannot be unborn. Sometimes I find youngsters who don't like the family they were born into for some reason. They have to learn that God put them in that family for a very specific reason. That's the best family on the face of the earth for them to be born in, and that's why they were born into that family. In any case, whatever they may think about it, they cannot be unborn from that family. And salvation is a new birth. It is a spiritual birth into the family of God, and you cannot reverse that any more than you can physical birth. So this is an evidence--the family evidence.
   
   
6. There is the inheritance evidence. In 1 Peter 4:5, we're told that we have an inheritance preserved for us in heaven that will not be denied us. If this inheritance is coming to us and if it is destined for us, then certainly we must someday have to arrive where that inheritance has been reserved for us, and that's in the glory of heaven itself.
   
   
7. Next is the body evidence (1 Corinthians 12:13, 21 and Colossians 1:18). This is the thing that we looked at in some detail in the last session. Christ is the Head of the body. He is the Head of the body, and we the church are members of His body. The body cannot have members which it does not need. God never puts members in the body that the body does not need. Every member is essential to the body. Therefore, the church could not go out into eternity and be the complete body of Christ without every one of you being part of that body. Once you're in, you have to remain in because the Lord needs you in His body.
   
   
8. Then there is the sovereignty of God evidence (2 Peter 3:9 and Jude 24). God is not willing that anyone should perish. If God is offering salvation to every unbeliever, you may be certain that those of you who are in this family are on top priority protection. He certainly does not want you to perish.
   
   
9. There are the evidences of the Greek tenses. This is no small evidence in itself. For example, in Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" is in the Aorist tense. The aorist tense means once and for all action. You will be saved, period--once and for all. In Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast," and so on. This is in the perfect tense. Also see Colossians 2:6 and Romans 8:1. The perfect tense refers to something that happened in the past, and it goes on into the future. Here we have a clear declaration by the Greek tense that salvation is forever. Once you are saved, you continue being saved.
   
   
10. Next is the sealing of the Holy Spirit evidence. God the Holy Spirit seals us, and a seal means you are destined for a certain place. Once God the Holy Spirit stamps the seal upon you, you can only go to one place, and that's heaven (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:1, 4:30, 2 Timothy 2:19).
    
    
11. There is also the essence of God evidence (Romans 8:35) which refers to not being able to be separated from the love of God. This refers to the essence of God. God's essence is something we cannot be separated from. See also Romans 8:38-39 and Romans 14:4.
    
    
12. Then there is the marriage evidence (Revelation 19:1-10). Marriage is a permanent relationship. Our society has gone insane with the idea that marriage is not a permanent relationship. A lot of people think that if you don't like it, or it doesn't work out for some reason, you can just call it off. Some people are beside themselves and want to declare that, since we live in such a sophisticated age now, we can get along without these "binding rules" concerning marriage that say that we have to stick with it if we're unhappy. This is man's viewpoint. This is not the viewpoint of God. God's viewpoint is that marriage is a permanent relationship and it cannot be undone. Then as our relationship to Christ is illustrated as those who are married to Him as His bride, obviously, we must have the same pattern of relationship--that it's a permanent relationship to the Lord. It cannot be undone.
    
    
13. Next is Christ's work on the cross evidence (Hebrews 10:14 and John 5:22). His work on the cross is a finished work. Nothing can be added to it. It is a sacrifice once and for all. If something can be added to the sacrifice of Christ, His offering is no more than the offering of bulls and goats. See also John 5:24.
    
    
14. Then there is one more: the new creation evidence (Colossians 2:10: and 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are complete in Him, we're told. Therefore, since we are complete in Him, there is nothing that could make us incomplete.

So, let's return to what Jude is saying in this closing verse: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling," and then he says that our Father can preserve you from stumbling spiritually; our Father can activate your dead human spirit to the point of salvation; and, our Father will give you a place to store His knowledge. You were dead to sin under the control of the old sin nature, and He makes you alive unto righteousness. With His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). Our God, who is able to give us His Word to prepare us so that we do not stumble, is thereby able "to present us." The word "present" means "to cause us to stand." It is aorist, once and for all, placement of the believer. It is active. The Father alone does it by grace. It is infinitive. It is God's purpose for every believer that He should place us in a position where we are faultless. The word "faultless" is "amomos." It really means "blameless." This is the word which was used of animals for sacrifice in the Old Testament. They had to be "amomos." They had to be blameless animals, free of any blemish, because they represented the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our position in Christ gives us this standing of perfection before God. In the sight of God, you are perfect, no matter what your frailties are as a believer; no matter how weak you are; and, no matter what you have done. Please remember that the finest people in the world are Christians, and the biggest rats in the world are Christians. Sometimes you can't tell the nice ones from the bad ones. It takes you a little time, but you must always remember that there is no one good because within everyone is that old sin nature. It matters not what your walk may be--the nicest person in the world, or the biggest rat that there is. You are still, in God's sight, "amomos." You're blameless. You're absolutely perfect, and that is fantastic. If there was ever anything for which we should breathe a sigh of relief, that truth is one--the grace of God making us blameless. We have His perfect righteousness (Ephesians 5:26-27). We have been justified.

This is all headed so that we may be presented faultless, that is blameless, where? Before the presence of His glory (which refers to heaven) that is in the presence of Christ in our resurrected body. No matter how unspiritual our life may have been, the end of our life is still going to result in our being in the presence of God (Romans 8:28-34). Some day we shall all see the Lord in His glory (John 17: 24). Note this: that we will be presented blameless in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And the word is "agalliasis." This means exceeding joy. Here you have the description that our Lord Jesus Christ is going to find great personal satisfaction in taking you and me, no matter what we have been upon this earth; no matter what we have done; and, no matter how we have botched things up. He has taken us and has made us perfect positionally, He is going to make us perfect in our experience. He is going to take us, and he is going to be delighted, mind you, to present you someday into the throne room of God.

This will be like a great big majestic scene of court where they have the man who has a great big scepter of authority; he thumps the floor as the king sits upon his throne; the trumpets blow; the curtains open; there you walk in; the man with the scepter announces your name; everybody is thrilled; and, there's a murmur of excitement. Mind you, angels are getting excited because you're walking into the throne room of God. Why? Because the angels look at you and they shake their heads, and they say, "I can't believe it. I knew that person on earth. I used to sit and watch him. I was fascinated by this rat. I can't believe it. Here we are announcing him, and all of heaven rejoices with the thrill of this character walking into the throne room of God absolutely blameless--not a wrinkle; not a spot; and, not an imperfection on him."

Now that, my friend, is the ability of God. How else could such a thing ever have conceivably been performed and accomplished? That is the omnipotence of our God, which He did through His Son on the cross for those of you who are willing to accept it. You will stand so blameless that the Lord Jesus Christ will be thrilled. He will have the emotion of joy over seeing what He has done with you. So take heart. However tough it is today or however discouraged you may be inclined to be with your circumstances and your situation, the best, I can guarantee you, is yet ahead for you.

This is an inner happiness that you may now possess and which will be perpetuated into eternity. Heaven will be exhilarated someday by your presence. This happens to be the same basic word which we have in 1 Peter 1:8 where we read, "Whom having not seen, you loved; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Today is your day for rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is because of the joy that you know heaven will experience when you enter.

Do you remember Naaman in the Old Testament? Naaman the Syrian leper came to Elisha the prophet of God for curing of his leprosy. A servant went in and talked to Elisha about his great and mighty master, the general Naaman, who was dying of leprosy, and he asked Elisha to heal him. Elisha didn't even come out of his cabin. He said to tell him to go down to the Jordan River and wash himself seven times. Naaman was indignant and angry. He said that they have cleaner, nicer, and more beautiful rivers in Syria than that muddy Jordan, and that was true. The servant said to Naaman, "General, if the prophet had told you do some great big fantastic hard thing, you would have done it. Why not do the easy thing?" So Naaman, grumbling, goes in; dips himself; and, washes himself seven times in the Jordan. Lo and behold, the seventh time he comes up with flesh like the day he was born. And he goes back rejoicing to Syria.

Can you imagine what happened back home when the servant ran ahead and announced to his wife and family, "The general is coming." They all rushed out because they had seen this man sick and diseased. They had seen the evidences of the inroads of that disease all over him, and the kiss of death upon him. They go to the door. They go to the gate. They go down the road and they look. Instead of seeing the man who left with the kiss of death upon him, they now see the man who is in the exuberance of life. Can you imagine the tremendous joy as he approaches and they look at him and they say, "Look what happened. The leprosy is gone."

Leprosy in the Word of God is comparable to sin. What happened to Naaman, and the joy in which he was received and the exceeding joy that he experienced over being cleansed from that loathsome disease is what this verse is saying is going to happen to you and me someday when we enter into the Lord's presence in heaven. "Now unto Him (God, our heavenly Father) that is able with His omnipotent power to guard you from stumbling, and to cause you to stand blameless before (in the presence of) His glory in heaven with exceeding personal joy to Himself as your Savior." That's your destiny. Take heart.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973

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