2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 - Ambassadors of Grace

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s Final Judgment and Glory

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill 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 you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The thankfulness for the people of church of the Thessalonians continues in the second letter by identifying them as being in God their Father and ours as well as being in Christ who is our sovereign Lord and theirs.  This standing is what gives us all who are in Christ, who are in God in Him, true peace in the midst of the tribulation of the world through this evil age.  It is because of the grace of God our Father in the person and work of God the Son as ministered to us by God the Spirit that we have true and lasting peace in all we face, just as those Thessalonians so long ago in the beginning of the church which was not of Rome.  We are also to be commended if we suffer as they did through persecutions and tribulations that press against our souls and hone our faith.  We grow in faith not by healthy prosperity but through these tribulations that test and refine us as gold (Daniel 11:35, Zechariah 13:9) being purified as by fire (1 Peter 1:6-7) of these trials for the sake of the gospel.  The question is how we respond to tribulation, not if we will face it.  Does it cause our trust in the Lord to grow beyond measure and give us ever-increasing love demonstrated to each other?  Does it bear in us the fruit of patience and faith in Christ because we stand firm in Him and are not quickly shaken (Acts 2:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, Hebrews 12:28)?  These things demonstrate that the judgment of God against unrighteousness is altogether good and righteous as we suffer for His sake to demonstrate that we have been made worthy by this grace in which we stand.  We are counted worthy of the kingdom because we rest in our Sabbath, Jesus Christ, who is our true rest from our works (Hebrews 4:3-4, 9-10) as we rest in His atoning work for we who are His new creations (Galatians 2:20), just as the original creation ended with this promise by God’s rest on the seventh day.  Christ is our Sabbath (1 Peter 1:13) rest from striving to earn God’s favor by keeping the Law of works that is impossible to do.  We see then that the judgment we have been pardoned from is the good news to answer the bad into which everyone is born.  The unredeemed and unrepentant who reject this gospel and its words of life will be repaid for their opposition to the Lord and we who bear witness of His gospel which they refuse.  They will be punished with the justice of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power as it is written here.  The Lord God will be glorified in His work in and through we who have taken Him at His word, turning from our sin of rebellion to Him, and who continue to bear witness with our testimony of His work in which we rest.  We pray for one another who are in the Lord just as the apostle gave us the example here to fill out their good works prepared for each of us (Philippians 2:10) to the glory of God who created and recreated us in Himself and allowed us to enter that rest (Hebrews 4:3) in His work as He works in us (Romans 8:28, Philippians 1:6) by grace to honor and exalt His name.  We are truly thankful in this blessing of grace through all adversity because it fills out the sufferings of our Lord as His ambassadors of grace.