2 Thessalonians 1:6

if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire,

If so be ... Paul here stated the basis of his affirmation a moment before that the tribulation of the Thessalonians was a token of God's judgment upon the adversaries. It is a righteous thing with God so to judge the enemies of his work; and the "if so be" in this verse is not to be construed in any sense as conditional. It is a Hebrew idiomatic way of arguing from a certainty.

Rest ... is not a verb but a noun, being the thing that God will recompense to the just, just as affliction will be meted out to the persecutors. The thought of 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 was summed up thus by Adam Clarke:

The sufferings of the just and the triumphs of the wicked in this life are a sure proof that there will be a future judgment in which the wicked shall be punished and the righteous rewarded[15]

At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven ... This identifies the time of receiving the rewards and punishments just mentioned.

The revelation ... The Scriptures do not always refer to the coming of Christ (Parousia) in the same terminology; here the word is "revelation" or "manifestation." At other times, reference is made to his "appearing" (2 Timothy 4:1); but it is strongly believed that these variations do not imply different events, but one event only, namely, the coming of the Son of God for judgment in the final day. The exception to this is that the "coming" of Jesus Christ in the destruction of Jerusalem is an event in the past, but even that is typical of the final judgment. Premillennialists make a distinction, which it seems to this writer is absolutely unwarranted, in identifying the beginning of the millennium with the [@parousia] (coming) and the revelation here mentioned as having reference to the final judgment which will follow the rebellion at the end of the millennium.[16] The conviction that there is but one "coming of Christ," and that it will be for the purpose of the final judgment, stems from the oft-repeated mention of "that day," always in the singular and never in the plural. For detailed discussion on this, see my Commentary on Corinthians, pp. 365-367.

Rest ... The rest in view here is the final rest that remains for the redeemed and which will be theirs only when the Lord has come to reward his saints. A further study of the Christian's "rest" is outlined in my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 88.

Affliction ... you that are afflicted ... This reference to the sufferings of the Thessalonians focuses upon the problem of human suffering; and this writer, having just listened to two great sermons (by Dan Anders and Lloyd Bridges) regarding this master-problem of human existence, will attempt a discussion of it.

SUFFERING

Alas, suffering is ever with us. There is no house it has not invaded, no home that is exempt from it and no life that is untouched by it. "The whole creation groaneth in travail" (Romans 8:22), and this is true not merely in the teeming wards of great hospitals. "Man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward." Suffering is everywhere; and that person who is fortunate enough to have little of it in his own personal life is yet scarred and seared by it in the ravishing of loved ones.

I. Suffering is of many kinds:

A. There is retributive suffering in which one's sins return, in a sense, upon his own head. Lost health and suffering due to godless living is an example, and the savage vengeance of evil men against real or fancied wrongs perpetrated upon them is another. Adoni-Bezek cut off the thumbs and great toes of seventy kings who groveled for food beneath his table, and then it happened to him. He said, "As I have done, so God hath requited me" (Judges 1:6). Many a sufferer can say the same thing.

B. There is educative suffering, called chastening (Hebrews 12:5,6), which is allowed of God, or even on occasion sent by God, having as its purpose: (1) the correction of faults, (2) the strengthening of faith and (3) the promotion of the soul's eternal welfare. The reaction to this type of suffering (and in a sense to all suffering) is prescribed as follows: (1) the child of God must not despise it; (2) he should submit to it; (3) he must not faint; and (4) he should attempt in every way to reap the benefit God intended by it. For a full discussion of "Chastening," see my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 318.

C. There is redemptive, or vicarious, suffering. Of this kind were the sorrows of the Master and his agony upon Calvary. There is in this type of suffering the willing and voluntary bearing of suffering for the sake of others, and such sufferings were the glory of our Lord. But people sometimes suffer similarly, though not in the degree that Jesus suffered, for the benefit of others. Many parents have endured drudgery and poverty to give their children an education. Any mother with a sick child has suffered a long and sleepless night of patient waiting and suffering for the child's benefit.

D. There is suffering that appears to have no rational basis whatever. The innocent, the pure and the godly also suffer; and the pattern of it seems to follow no rationale whatever. Many a devout soul has shared some of the bitterest sufferings of life, agonies from which there was no appeal possible; and such souls have, with the Saviour on the cross, cried out in agony, "My God, my God, why?" Feeble and imperfect must be any person's wrestling with so deep a question, but we are driven to seek some kind of answer.

II. What are the reasons for suffering?

A. Our own naive simplicity is one cause of it. When rules of health, physical laws, the nature of human beings and all of the dictates of common sense are violated with impunity, suffering may, and frequently does, follow as a result. In short, much human sorrow and suffering are caused from ordinary stupidity. The woman who marries "the son of Ahab" is a prime example of this. She did not have to do it, but in spite of father's advice and mother's tears she married the town's profligate!

B. The activity of Satan is another cause. People would do well to look here for the true cause of all human suffering, not merely in the sense of his having introduced and instigated sin into the human race, but also in the sense of being an ever-active agent at the present time in promoting sin and rebellion against the laws of God. This brings suffering upon all. The innocent suffer as the result of actions of the guilty, as when a drunken driver plunges over a cliff with five young people in his car. The world we live in makes no sense at all unless there is Satan in it, organizing its evil, discouraging its saints, opposing the truth and making every conceivable effort to accomplish the total ruin of humanity. May every man take the measure of his foe!

C. The sins of others cause suffering in the innocent. The physician under the influence of drugs, the magistrate who takes a bribe, the careless driver, the libertine, the scoffer, the thoughtless and irreligious - all of these and countless others commit sins that result in the sufferings of others.

D. Then there are accidental occurrences, which however cautiously guarded against may yet happen, such as an airplane accident for which no cause can be assigned; and then, suffering. Natural laws are violated inadvertently, or because they are not known and recognized, resulting in suffering which to all outward appearances is totally capricious.

III. What to do about suffering.

A. We should not blame God with it, nor lose our faith, nor complain as if some unusual thing had happened. It is the grand hallmark of all life on earth. At the same time, we should not take a stoical attitude of bravado, as in Henley's "I am the captain of my soul." After all, man does pretty well if he rates being a "cabin boy" on the ship of life and certainly is utterly incapable of being either the captain of his soul or the master of his fate.

B. On the positive side, one should strive earnestly to accept suffering as Paul was admonished to accept the thorn in the flesh. That there are rich spiritual rewards to be reaped from suffering is a fact well known to all; and when called to suffering, people should be aware of this and turn all the energies of life toward their appropriation. Some of the great literature, some of life's most beautiful songs, and some of its most noble achievements have come as a result of suffering that closed some gates and shut the achiever up to a more restricted course, or opened the eyes of the sufferer's understanding to beauties which he might otherwise never have seen.

C. Most of all, it should be accepted in faith. There may not be an answer on this earth or in this lifetime. John the Baptist heard only the grating of the prison door as the soldiers of Herod came to lead him to the block, and Herod heard only the music and dancing; but the answer to such an injustice did not come in this life. But surely the heart of faith can well believe that for him, of whom the Master said, "None is greater," there is reserved some compensatory reward on the eternal shore. May all men, even in tears, accept whatever of life's sorrows they must, assured that there is a city "where there are no tears or pain."

D. Finally, let people, when they suffer, remember the sufferings of the Lord. He suffered for us; and, for him, there were no sedatives, no medicines, no relief. Contemplating the epic sorrows of the Christ is sufficient to cause nearly any sufferer to see that his sufferings are as nothing compared with the sufferings of Jesus. And while we are about it, may we be also grateful for the ministration of physicians, nurses, hospitals and friends who can, and do, do so much to relieve the agony and the pain, and to brace the faithful heart against the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.

With the angels of his power ... Here is another reason for seeing this as a glimpse of the final judgment. A vast number of angels are usually associated with Christ in New Testament references to the judgment. This is true even in the parables (Matthew 13:39,49). For fuller study of angels, see my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 35.

In flaming fire ... It is positively amazing what diverse views people have taken of this. Moffatt called it `hot air of Jewish apocalypse.'[17] Kelcy construed it as "the glory and majesty of the coming event."[18] Clarke thought it meant "in thunder and lightning." [19] Lipscomb discerned the following:

God's coming for judgment in the Old Testament is described as his coming in fire (Exodus 3:2; Daniel 7:9,10). What there is said of God is here ascribed to Christ. "The day (judgment) shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:13).[20]

There is no need to speculate concerning the nature of the "flaming fire" that shall herald the Second Coming, for the Lord has not made it known. Fire there will be. At least one possibility is suggested in the prior comments under 2 Thessalonians 4:15.

[15] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VI (London: Carlton and Porter, 1829), p. 562.

[16] Peter E. Cousins, op. cit., p. 499.

[17] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 45.

[18] Raymond C. Kelcy, The Letters of Paul to the Thessalonians (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, Inc., 1968), p. 144.

[19] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 563.

[20] David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 89.