Bible Commentaries
2 Thessalonians 1

Verses 1-12

Evidently, this letter was intended primarily to correct certain mistakes which the Thessalonians were making concerning the Second Advent. They were failing to distinguish between the two phases, the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Lord. In his introduction the apostle again referred to their faith and their love, but not to their hope. The peculiar peril now threatening them was to be found in this matter.

The apostle proceeded to deal with "the revelation of the Lord Jesus." He is to be revealed "from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire." The revealing is to be for a definite purpose. It will exclude from His face and His glory all who are disobedient. The connection of the saints with that apocalypse is declared to be rest first, and, finally, they are to constitute the medium through which the Lord Jesus' glory will be manifested and marveled at. The terrors of His revealing are not for the saints, and in the age following His revelation the saints are to be associated with Him, and to be the channels through which the truth of His glory will be made known.

"To that end," that is, with such a consummation in view, the apostle proved that God might count them worthy of such calling, fulfilling every desire and good work, the deepest desire of his heart being that at last, in the fulness of interrelation, Christ might be glorified in them, and they in Christ.