The patient suffering of believers for Christ’s sake, is a manifest token that they are worthy to be accounted Christians, since they can suffer for Christianity. God will recompense their trouble with rest of heart now, and with abundant reward at Christ’s coming, when also He will recompense trouble to those who have troubled His people.
II Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
II Thessalonians 1:1-2 – J. Vernon McGee
II Thessalonians 1:3 – J. Vernon McGee
II Thessalonians 1:4-7 – J. Vernon McGee
II Thessalonians 1:8-12 – J. Vernon McGee
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 – Faithful through Faith in a Righteous God.
Notice the remarkable couplets of this chapter. Grace and peace (v. 2); faith and charity (v. 3); patience and faith (v. 4); tribulation for those who trouble, and rest for those who are troubled (vs. 6-7); know not, obey not (v. 8); the presence of the Lord, the glory of his power (v. 9); glorified and admired (v. 10); the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith (v. 11). Like mirrors that face each other, these words flash back and forth their depths of sacred significance.
What marvelous scenes the future conceals for believers! – such as rest for the weary, palms of victory for the defeated, glory for the name and cause of Christ, and, above all, the revelation of that dear Presence with which we have been so constantly in touch. But how inexpressibly awful and terrible, on the other hand, the fate of the wilful rejecters of the love of God!
The final prayer has always been highly prized by God’s people. If they shall ever be worthy of their high calling, it is for him to make them so. His being glorified and admired in his saints is not a far-off event, but one within the possibilities of the present hour; and the name of Jesus may be magnified here and now in us, as it will be finally and more perfectly (compare vs. 10 and 12). (Meyer)
II Thessalonians 1:12—That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.
Will you, dear Christian soul, enter into a solemn compact with the Holy Spirit that you will live for this as your supreme purpose, namely, to glorify the name (i.e., the character) of the Lord Jesus? This is his supreme purpose and aim throughout the present age. He seeks the glory of Jesus with the same persistent patience as Jesus sought the glory of his Father, and longs for our fellowship and co-operation. Nothing gratifies the Holy Spirit more than to welcome into partnership those who love the Lord Jesus with a consuming passion, and are prepared to glorify Him, at whatever cost to themselves.
It has made a great difference to my life since I responded to the call of the Spirit, as though He said directly, as once through his servant, “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3). One has now a worthy object always in view, whether in speaking or keeping silence; in acting or suffering; in life or death — that the Lord Jesus may be magnified.
Does this seem too high an aim? Then ponder the gracious assurance that the Lord will fulfill every desire of goodness (2 Thessalonians 1:11). He first instills the desire, and then realizes it; first suggests the outline plan, and then fills in the colors. Take your desires for goodness to Him, and trust Him, in all faithfulness, to realize and fulfill them. They are like the chalice which the child brings to the lake-side; impure, indeed, but capable of being rinsed; and the father, taking it from its hand, plunges it into the pellucid waters, that cleanse and fill to the brim. Thank God for every desire of goodness! But be not content till that which you desire is in actual possession; for He who prompts the desire is well able to fulfill it. (Meyer)