The apostle began his second letter to the Thessalonians by expressing thanks for their “steadfastness and faith…in the afflictions that [they were] enduring” (2 Thess. 1:4). Paul asserted that God would “repay with affliction those who afflict you” (v. 6), punishing them with “eternal destruction” (v. 9). Christ’s return would also bring eternal glory to His faithful servants who suffered in His name during this life. Paul concluded with words teaching that Christ “comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed” (v. 10). By knowing this great deliverance, still future to the beleaguered church of Christ, believers are emboldened to live with a heavenly purpose while still on earth.

Paul’s teaching on the return of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 1 culminates in the glorification of Christ by the people whom He has come to save. It is difficult for believers now to imagine how greatly we will praise our mighty Savior on the day of His coming. We can best anticipate this rejoicing by looking to descriptions in the Bible. For instance, Isaiah chapter 11 tells of the Lord’s coming, using language that the New Testament applies to the return of Christ (Isa. 11:4; 12:6). How greatly Christ will be glorified in the hearts of His adoring people on the day of His unveiling before all!

Paul adds that Christ will “be marveled at among all who have believed” (2 Thess. 1:10). We may consider this in several ways. First, we will marvel to see true manhood glorified. We will likewise behold the glory of Christ in His return and marvel that the Lord is our brother and fellow man. We will marvel at the perfection of Jesus’ manhood; it will be the glory of His deity that shine upon us. A vision of Christ’s divine glory was granted to His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. We will give the same honor when Jesus returns to reveal His divine glory to our eyes. Our worship of Jesus in the radiance of His unveiled glory will provide the ultimate satisfaction for our souls, of which our present worship on earth is the closest foretaste.

Moreover, on the day of Christ’s coming, His people will marvel at His mediatorial glory in His office as Redeemer and head over the church. The exalted Jesus revealed Himself in this way to the apostle John in the book of Revelation, dressed in the garb of the heavenly high priest: “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest” (Rev. 1:13). This is why the scenes of worship in the book of Revelation show that it is the Lamb upon the throne who is worshiped with great awe and joy.

While the Bible’s teaching on the return of Christ points to the future, its purpose is found in the present, to inspire and inform practical Christian living. Paul reasons that if we are sure of Christ’s coming, then instead of fretting over our present troubles, we will employ ourselves in preparing for the glory that will be revealed. Paul made clear the relevance of the present work of the church by noting in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 that Christ will be glorified in His saints “because our testimony to you was believed.” The connection between faith and witness shows that emphasizing the sovereign glory of Christ in salvation does not minimize the significance of gospel preaching and evangelism today. Christ will be glorified among the Thessalonians because Paul preached the gospel to them and because by God’s power they had believed.

When we think of Paul’s ministry, we think of both his preaching of the gospel and his fervent prayers for the believers. “To this end we always pray for you,” the apostle adds in 2 Thessalonians 1:11, pointing out that he asks God to protect and nurture their faith. This combination of witness and prayer makes effective evangelists. Paul tells us not only that he prayed, but also what he prayed for. If most of us were praying for other Christians who were suffering intense persecution for their faith, some of them to the point of death, we would likely spend almost all our time asking God to remove the outward afflictions. Paul indicates a different approach, however, by praying for their spiritual maturity and growth in faith: “that our God may make you worthy of his calling” (v. 11.).

In verse 12, Paul states that his goal is that “the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.” The “name” of the Lord is not only who He is but also what He has promised to do. Christ has put His name on us, and by His Spirit, through the ministry of the Word and prayer, He desires us to be sanctified so that His reputation will be exalted through our lives. Christ is “glorified in his saints,” that is, His “holy ones.” Therefore, if we want our lives to glorify His name, we will pursue holiness in this present life, knowing with joy that when Christ returns, our holiness will be perfected through our resurrection into glory.

Paul adds a fourth way in which we prepare for the glory that is coming, saying that God will “fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power” (v. 11). Remember that the apostle was writing to persecuted Christians, yet he directed them to the work that God had given them and that God would empower them to do. This work undoubtedly involved duties in the home and in the church, as well as in the world. The Thessalonians were using their time well, even while they placed their hope in the coming of Christ (see 2 Cor. 8:1-5).

In his final statement of chapter 1, in which Paul has sought to encourage the steadfast faith of the persecuted believers, he adds not only that Christ’s name will “be glorified in you,” and also “you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 12). Having shared in the suffering of Christ in this life, believers share in His glory for all the unending ages to come after He returns. In Romans 8:17, Paul reasoned that if we are “children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” It is not that Christ gains His great inheritance and each believer gets his or her own little inheritance in glory, but rather that together with Christ, as His coheirs, we inherit the whole of the glory of God. Then Paul adds: “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17).

Paul’s statement that Christ is glorified in you “and you in him” echoes the request that Jesus made in His great High Priestly Prayer on the night of His arrest: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Jesus did not say merely that he wills for His people to enter into heaven, but that they may be “with me.” He longs for fellowship with His people and for us to enter into the glory that reflects His own love relationship with the Father. It is for this that He is returning to take us to Himself and into His glory.

Jesus will return to be glorified in us, and we in Him, and this is only by “the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 12). While no sinner can ever earn the glory of Christ, God has ordained it for all who believe the gospel to which Paul gave testimony and that the Bible declares today. Everyone who wishes to be saved must therefore receive the gospel, trusting the death and resurrection of Jesus to deliver us from our sins. If we refuse to believe, rebelling against the gospel that God has revealed concerning His Son, we must “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction” (v. 9) on that day when Christ returns. If we believe, surrendering our lives now in preparation for the glory to be revealed, we can know through faith that the grace of God has ordained that we be glorified together with Christ, His Son. On “that day,” the day of Christ’s coming and of judgment for the world, believers will marvel at the glory of Christ in order for that glory to enter into us.

The next chapter (2 Thessalonians 2) will provide further details about the second coming of Christ, dealing with the problem of a false report stating that Christ had already returned. As we conclude chapter 1’s teaching on Christ’s appearing, we should remember the Thessalonians’ context of a suffering and persecuted church. Jesus taught that “because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you…If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15:19-20). In light of this fact, our concern should not be how to avoid persecution and affliction, but how to respond to it. Paul’s teaching in this chapter yields surprising but vitally important answers, which we may sum up in three brief practical applications.

First, Paul reasons that Christians should not lament but rather rejoice in persecution for Jesus’ sake. This is not to say that we enjoy trouble and suffering – we do not – but rather that we know the joyful truth of what suffering for Christ brings. Enduring under persecution both proves and improves our faith (1 Pet. 1:6-7), yielding a crop of godly character (see rom. 5:3-5). Second, whatever our circumstances are in this life, our great concern must be to promote the glory of Christ’s name, not only by our conduct now but also on that day when He comes “to be glorified in his saints” (2 Thess. 1:10). Finally, remembering Paul’s statement that Christ would be glorified in His saints “because our testimony to you was believed” (2 Thess. 1:10). We must all put a premium on our calling to spread the gospel to others. Christians do not conquer by avoiding troubles or by rising high in the structures of worldly power. They conquer in affliction by the blood of Jesus, which offers forgiveness to every sinner who believes, and redemption from sin in the power of God. They conquer “by the word of their testimony,” even at the cost of their lives.

2 Thessalonians 1:10-12 Study Questions:

What is the substance of Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians in verses 11-12, knowing that they are facing persecution and suffering?

What does it mean for God to “complete every plan he has to do you good, and every work of faith in power” (v. 11)?

Which part of this passage strikes you powerfully right now and why?