by the late Rev. D. MacFarlane
2 Thessalonians, 1 vv. 7-10
The enclosed notes of a sermon were found written out in a notebook which originally belonged to The Rev. Donald MacFarlane. — D.R.M.
“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
(2 Thessalonians 1: 7-10)
The connection between the text and the context is this: The Apostle was writing to the people of God in Thessalonica who, at that time, were suffering persecutions and tribulations at the hands of the enemies of Christ and His people, and as the people of God must expect such sufferings in all ages to the end of the world, he directs their minds to the second advent of Christ when He shall recompense tribulation to His enemies and give rest — perfect rest — to His redeemed. Christ shall come again to do this work. He came first in the flesh to work out redemption for His people and He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.
The sacrament of the supper which we have been celebrating on the holy mount in these days points to His coming again. “For as often as ye do this ye show the Lord’s death till He come. (1 Cor. 11: 26).
In addressing you from the words of the text on this the last day of the feast, I shall call your attention to three particular matters, viz:—
I. The time when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.
II. The manner of His coming.
III. The work He shall come to do when He comes.
First, the time when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. When shall He come? We shall consider this question in two ways — negatively and positively.
Negatively. (1) The time of Christ’s coming again was not when the Thessalonians were led or misled to expect Him. They expected His coming in their own day. How they came to entertain this mistaken view may be gathered from what the apostle says in the second chapter of this epistle, verses 1 and 2. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in your mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” It would appear from what Paul says in these verses that the Thessalonians — or at least some of them — misunderstood what he had said, regarding the second coming, in his first epistle to them (4: 16, 17 and 5: 1-3) and that some pretended to have had this revealed to them by the spirit of prophecy. In whatever way they came to adopt this view, the inspired apostle tells them they are mistaken and warns them against those who teach such doctrine (2 Thess. 2: 3).
(2) Nor is it the time when the pre-millenarians — who hold the view of the personal reign of Christ during the thousand years — expect Him to come. Those who hold this view are as much mistaken as the Thessalonians were. There is no scriptural ground for it. True, the advocates of this view refer to scripture as their warrant. So did the Thessalonians but they misunderstood scripture and therefore misapplied it. The view of the personal reign of Christ on earth is a carnal one and is much akin to the view the Jews held regarding the kingdom which Messiah was to set up when He came. They thought — through misunderstanding the scriptures — that He was to set up a temporal kingdom. Even the disciples, for a
time, held this view. But Christ corrected their mistake. “The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17: 20, 21).
- Positively. Christ shall come again at the end of time — the last day. His second advent is spoken of in scripture in connection with the destruction of the world and the final judgment of men and angels. (Matt. 25: 31).
II. The manner of His coming.
“In flaming fire” — indicating,
(1) that He shall come in His glory. At His first coming He came to humble Himself, to suffer, to die and He put a vail on His glory and appeared in the form of sinful flesh, yet without sin. He was the Holy One. But at His second advent He shall come in His glory. Sinners shall not dare to approach Him then as they did in His state of humiliation. Heaven and earth shall flee away before His glorious presence. The wicked shall tremble and His own redeemed shall stand in holy awe of Him.
(2) that He shall come to try. The time of His coming shall be a time of trial. As fire tries so does Christ. All shall be tried at the great day of judgement.
(3) that He shall come to separate the sheep from the goats. In the world the wicked and the righteous are mixed. In eternity they shall be separated. The wicked shall not be found in the company of saints. Judas shall not be in the company of Christ’s disciples. Christ shall then take the fan in His hand and shall thoroughly purge the threshing floor. He shall gather the wheat into his garner and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
(4) that He shall come to purify His own. The redeemed at death are perfectly holy so far as their souls are concerned, but their bodies need to be purified and made meet for heaven. Christ shall come to raise their bodies, which were sown in corruption, incorruptible and made conformable to His glorious body. Those of His people living on earth at the time of His coming shall undergo a change making them meet for the state of glory,
(5) that he shall come to destroy the world. The earth shall melt with fervent heat. It shall have served its purpose. There shall be no further need of it. The building of the Church of Christ shall be finished and the scaffolding taken down, never to be set up again. The end of the world and of time shall have come. Eternity shall be the habitation of all men.
III. The work He shall come to do when He comes.
The work is twofold, namely to give rest to His people and to punish the wicked.
- He will give rest to His people. “There remaineth, therefore a rest to the people of God.” (Heb. 4: 9) The rest which Christ shall give to His people is the rest of glory. He gave them the rest of faith on earth. He will give them the rest of glory in heaven. On earth their rest was imperfect. Their rest in heaven shall be perfect. Though they had peace with God on earth through Christ, they had to go through much tribulation on their way to their Father’s house in heaven. What is that rest which they shall have in heaven?
(1.) They shall have rest from sin, that great evil which caused them so much unrest on earth. Though they were, on earth, delivered from the guilt and reigning power of sin yet there was sin in them. Their nature was not perfectly holy till death. In heaven they are delivered from the very being of sin. Nothing that defileth shall ever enter that holy place. They leave sin behind them when they enter heaven.
(2.) They shall have rest from all the evils to which sin made them liable. Being delivered from sin, the cause of these evils, they are delivered from the evils themselves.
(3.) They shall have rest of enjoyment.
They shall be blessed in the full enjoyment of God and that to all eternity! They enjoyed Him on earth but their enjoyment was not full, it was not everlasting. It was often interrupted by sin that dwelt in them, the temptations of Satan and the evil world among whom they lived. They were as lilies among thorns. But in heaven there are no thorns, no sin, no tempter to disturb their peace. O, what a change. The change of regeneration and conversion to God on earth was great but the change from a state of grace to a state of glory is greater and more glorious.
(4.) They shall have active rest.
When the people of the world think of rest they are apt to think of it as a state of inaction — doing nothing. But the rest of heaven is not so. The redeemed were never so active in God’s service on earth as they shall be in heaven. They shall serve Him day and night, that is without ceasing for there is no night there. It is an everlasting day. Their sun shall never go down for the Lord Himself shall be their everlasting light and the days of their mourning which they had on earth shall be ended. The service of God shall be a great part of their rest. When they were enabled by His grace to serve Him in a state of imperfection they found rest in His work, how much more shall they find rest in His work in a state of perfection. They shall then be able to answer the end of their creation to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. The redeemed shall be indebted to Christ for all this bliss. He secured all this for them by His humiliation unto death
and no wonder that they ascribe all the glory to Him in singing for ever, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”