Faultless

In my mind’s eye, I can still see him behind the pulpit, the aged yet slender man with thinning hair and untamed eyebrows.  He, the man with a gentle heart and a gentle voice, offering my most favorite benediction: 

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before his glorious presence with exceeding joy- to the only wise God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion and power, both now and forevermore.  

I loved it when he ended the service that way.  Those words never failed to bring a smile to my lips and tears to my eyes.  

There’s certainly much to love about those closing verses from the book of Jude.  While I adore the opening line declaring Christ’s ability to keep us from falling, it’s the next part that always strikes me: Jesus presents us faultless before his presence.  Faultless.  When I think of my sin- of the many many ways in which I have fallen short in thought, word, and deed- I can hardly comprehend how such a presenting could be true.       

To be faultless is to be irreproachable; free from defect, error, blame, or guilt.  Yet, I know all too well that I am the very opposite- I know that I am guilty and full of fault.  Still, the truth of a blameless status is woven throughout Scripture, shouting so loudly that it can’t be ignored.  Those in Christ are called guiltless, holy and without blemish, and above reproach (1 Corinthians 1:8, Ephesians 5:27, Colossians 1:27).  And so we humbly ask: How can this be? 

The answer is found in the beautiful truth of the great exchange.  On the God forsaken cross at Calvary, Jesus took upon himself the grotesque sin that is yours and mine.  

This he lifted from our shoulders onto his, and bore the punishment that should have been our own.  But as exchanges go both ways, he did not leave us spiritually neutral.  No, from his shoulders onto ours was placed perfect righteousness; the righteousness earned from 33 years of sinless living.     

This was the only way.  By no other works could we stand before him- for only the works of One who was innocent and unstained could suffice (Hebrews 7:26).  And to imagine!  This so that we may be received by him with exceeding joy!  That he may look upon us, dressed in the righteousness belonging only to him, the King, and welcome us with supreme gladness.       

I can only imagine such a day!  The day when we will stand before him no longer a ruined sinner, but as a blameless saint; not as one marred by the unsightly stain of sin, but as one who is stainless and pure; not as a condemned child of wrath, but as a faultless child of God.