2 Thessalonians 1:5 - Meaning and Application

Having mentioned their persecutions and troubles, which they endured mainly for Christ’s sake, the apostle now gives them several comforts. He first points to the present benefit and honor that came through their suffering, in verse 5. Their faith was being tested and their patience strengthened, and by that process they were growing in a way that showed they were worthy of the kingdom of God.

Their suffering was clear evidence that they were fit to be counted true Christians, since they were able to suffer for Christianity. In truth, religion, if it is worth anything, is worth everything. Those who cannot bear to suffer for it either have no real religion at all, or do not know how to value it. Besides this, their patient suffering showed that, according to God’s righteous judgment, they were being prepared to be counted worthy of heavenly glory. That is not worthiness in the sense of earning it, but worthiness in the sense of being made suitable for it. We cannot earn heaven by all our sufferings, any more than by all our service, but patience under suffering does prepare us for the joy promised to those who suffer for God’s cause.

Next, he tells them about the future reward that will come to both persecutors and the persecuted. For persecutors, there will be punishment: God will repay trouble to those who trouble you, as verse 6 says. Nothing marks a person more surely for eternal ruin than a spirit that persecutes God’s people and hates the name of Christ. The faith, patience, and steadfastness of the saints are a sign of lasting rest and joy for them, and the pride, hatred, and evil of their persecutors are a sign of lasting misery for those persecutors. Every person carries out of this world either his heaven or his hell.

God will give back to each one what is due, and he will trouble those who trouble his people. Sometimes he has done this in this life, as the awful end of many persecutors shows. But he will do it fully in the next world, where the wicked must have weeping, sorrow, and grinding of teeth. For the persecuted, there will be reward: God will repay their trouble with rest, as verse 7 says. There is a rest left for the people of God, a rest from sin and sorrow. Though the righteous have many troubles now, God will deliver them from them all. The rest to come will more than make up for all present suffering.

The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. Heaven has enough in it to balance everything we may lose or endure for Christ’s name in this world. The apostle says, “To you who are troubled, rest with us.” In heaven, ministers and believers will rest together and rejoice together, as they suffered together here. The least Christian will rest with the greatest apostle. More than that, if we suffer for Christ, we will also reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12).

On this future reward, we should also notice its certainty, which is proved by the righteousness and justice of God. It is a righteous thing with God, as verse 6 says, to repay each person according to what he has done. This should strike fear in wicked people and persecutors, and give strong support to the righteous and the persecuted. Since God is righteous, there will certainly be a righteous repayment. God’s suffering people will lose nothing by their sufferings, and their enemies will gain nothing by hurting them.

We should also notice the time when this righteous repayment will come, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, as verse 7 says. That will be the day when God’s righteous judgment is fully shown. Then God will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed, Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge. God’s justice does not appear as clearly to everyone in his providence now as it will on the great day of judgment. Scripture has already told us about that coming judgment, and we must receive this revelation about Christ.

On that day, the Lord Jesus will appear from heaven. Right now heaven holds him and hides him, but then he will be revealed openly. He will come in all the glory and power of the upper world, from which we wait for our Savior. He will come with his mighty angels, or the angels of his power, who will attend him to honor that great day. They will serve as the ministers of his justice and mercy, summoning the guilty to his court, gathering the chosen, and carrying out his sentence.

He will come in flaming fire, as verse 8 says. A fire will go before him and consume his enemies. The earth and everything in it will be burned up, and the elements will melt with intense heat. That fire will test every person’s work. It will refine the saints, who will share in the purity and joy of the new heaven and new earth, and it will consume the wicked. His light will expose all, and his power will destroy all who are found as chaff on that day.

This appearance will be dreadful for some and joyful for others. It will be dreadful for those on whom he will take vengeance, especially those who sinned against the light of nature and did not know God, even though God’s invisible qualities are seen in what has been made. It will also be dreadful for those who reject the light of revelation and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great sin of many, the gospel is made known to them, and they will not believe it, or else they claim to believe it but will not obey it. Believing the truths of the gospel is meant to lead us to obey its commands. There must be obedience that comes from faith.

For such people, the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ will be terrible because of the sentence described in verse 9. They will be punished, though sinners may be spared for a time. In the end, they will receive the punishment their sins deserve. They did the work of sin, and they must receive the wages of sin. Their punishment will be destruction, not of their existence, but of their happiness, and not of the body only, but of both body and soul. This destruction will last forever. They will be always dying, and yet never die. Their misery will stretch out as long as eternity itself.

The chains of darkness are chains that last forever, and the fire is fire that lasts forever. This must be so, because the punishment comes from an eternal God and falls on an immortal soul that has been cut off from God’s mercy and grace.

This destruction will come from the presence of the Lord, meaning it will come directly from God himself. Here God often punishes sinners through creatures and human means, but then he will take the work into his own hands. It will be destruction from the Almighty, more terrifying than the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, when it came out from the Lord.

It will also come from the glory of his power, or his glorious power. In the destruction of sinners, not only God’s justice, but also his mighty power, will be shown and honored. Who can know the full power of his anger? He is able to cast into hell.

Second, this will be a joyful day for some, especially the saints, those who believe and obey the gospel. Then the apostle’s teaching about that day will be clearly proven true and believed (Th2 1:10). In that bright and blessed day, Christ Jesus will be glorified and admired by his saints. They will see his glory, admire it with joy, honor his grace, and marvel at the wonders of his power and goodness toward them. They will sing praises to him on the day of his triumph, as they share in complete victory and happiness.

Christ will also be glorified and admired in them. His grace and power will then be shown and honored when all can see what he has purchased for them, worked in them, and given to all who believe in him. As his wrath and power will be made known in the destruction of his enemies, so his grace and power will be magnified in the salvation of his saints. Christ’s dealings with believers will be something the world will finally marvel at. Even now, many people are surprised by them, but how much more will they be amazed on that great and glorious day? Or rather, how will Christ himself, whose name is Wonderful, be admired when God’s plan is completed? Christ will be admired not so much in the glory of the angels he brings from heaven as in the many saints, the many children, he brings to glory.