The Study 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,… The Lord will come the second time. When, we cannot know. Angels do not know. But this does not detract from its certainty. To us individually His coming is virtually near. It is not long till we go hence, and time for us will be no more. Eternity begins; Christ, the Judge, deciding our state for happiness or misery. Therefore we need not put His coming far away in the future. We are graciously permitted to prepare for it, so that it may be to us an event of joy and not of terror. I. TO UNBELIEVERS THE LORD'S COMING WILL BE AN INDESCRIBABLE TERROR. They rejected Him come to deliver them from sin. Now they must behold Him as their righteous Judge to pronounce upon them the condemnation of their own choosing. This is their condemnation — that they believed not on Him. Mercies slighted will make justice self-approved. Not mercy, then, but the" wrath of the Lamb" will be upon them. II. TO BELIEVERS HIS COMING WILL BRING INCONCEIVABLE JOY. They have accepted Him in His mission of redeeming love in His first advent. At His coming to judge the world He will receive His own to Himself. Such a relation to Him carries with it a desire for His appearing, when they shall appear with Him in glory. "They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." III. POINTS FOR REMARKS. 1. Great is the mercy of God in extending to us present salvation through the mediation of Christ. Great is His mercy also in forewarning us of His coming again as the Judge. 2. Life appears short in view of the event of Christ's coming and the eternity awaiting us. How important this life is, considered as a preparation. 3. Terrible as must be the coming of Christ to the wicked, to the Christian it is a joyous anticipation. It has always been so. Christ is the chiefest among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely. To see Him face to face and dwell with Him forever is heaven to the soul. This state may well awaken a desire to see Him. (The Study.) Parallel Verses KJV: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, |
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