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The apostle proceeds to set forth the certainty of the Divine judgment as affecting the saints and their persecutors.

I. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THIS JUDGMENT. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you; and to you who are afflicted rest with us."

1. An appeal is made to man's innate sense of justice. A want of this element of justice in human character is regarded as a defect. A right-minded man is indignant at wrong, and delights in the retribution that fails upon wrong doers. This sentiment of justice is but a reflection of Divine character, for we are made in the image of that God who hates sin with "a perfect hatred' (Psalm 139:22).

2. God is "not unrighteous who taketh vengeance" (Romans 3:5), for he has established in his government of the world an inseparable connection between sin and misery. Therefore we may expect to see a Divine retaliation upon transgressors - "affliction to them that afflict you" - the penalty partaking of the very character of the sin. On the other hand, God is not "unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love." The afflicted shall be recompensed with "rest," as well as reward for all their patience.

II. THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT. "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven."

1. There is a day appointed for the judgment of the world; for God "hath appointed a day in which he wilt judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained" (Acts 17:30, 31).

2. The day is that which is to be the manifestation of the Lord from heaven. He is now in heaven, "sitting at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56); but he shall then come forth in glory to those who "wait for him," to the judgment of the world.

3. The time of the judgment is unknown to man. The day of the Lord "shall come as a thief in the night."

III. THE SUBORDINATE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE JUDGMENT.

1. The angelic retinue. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of his power."

(1) They manifest his power and enhance his glory. They will be with him when he "shall come in glory, and shall sit on the throne of his glory" (Matthew 25:31).

(2) They execute his purposes, whether of wrath or mercy.

(a) They "gather together his elect from the four winds" (Mark 13:27).

(b) They "shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall east them into a furnace of fire" (Matthew 13:41, 42).

2. The flaming glory of his manifestation. It shall be "in flaming fire;" not as the instrument of vengeance, but as enhancing the glory of the Divine presence. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens flora above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people" (Psalm 50:3, 4).

IV. THE RESULTS OF THE JUDGMENT TO THE TWO CLASSES.

1. The class of persecutors. "Those which afflict you."

(1) Wicked men cannot endure the saints. It is with them as with Cain, who slew his brother. Wherefore? "Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12).

(2) The cry of the saints rises to heaven against them. "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:10).

(3) The persecutors are of two classes. "Them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

(a) The first class refers to Gentile persecutors. "They know not God." Ignorance is their great sin. They had resisted the light of nature.

(α) It was wilful ignorance, for they had the truth brought to their doors in Thessalonica;

(β) their ignorance made confidence in God impossible,

(γ) as well as an intelligent worship of God.

(b) The second class refers to Jewish persecutors - "that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." As ignorance was the sin of the Gentiles, disobedience was the sin of the Jews. They knew God, but rejected the gospel of Christ. They were fiercer persecutors of the saints even than the Gentiles.

(α) Christ is the Author of the gospel as well as its theme.

(β) The gospel is to be obeyed as well as received, and is therefore called "the obedience of faith;" for faith without obedience is dead, as obedience without faith has no value.

(4) The judgment upon the persecutors. It is described first generally and then more definitely. The Lord Jesus shall take vengeance upon them. They "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." This represents "the wrath of the Lamb" (Revelation 6:16, 17).

(a) The judgment is everlasting destruction. This does not imply annihilation - an idea equally opposed to Scripture and to the facts of natural science. The term "everlasting" associated with it neutralizes the idea of annihilation, which implies a point of time in which the wicked cease to exist. The duration of the punishment will be as the duration of the blessedness (Revelation 16:26; Hebrews 9:14; Matthew 25:46).

(b) It involves separation from "the face of the Lord, and the glory of his strength." It is heaven to "see Christ as he is," to be "with him where he is, that they may behold his glory." The sum of all woe is, "Depart from me." A great gulf is fixed between the saved and the lost (Luke 16:26). The wicked are to be outside the apocalyptic city of God. "Outside are dogs" (Revelation 16:14, 15).

2. The class of saints. The results of the judgment as affecting them are thus described.

(1) They are to be accounted "worthy of the kingdom of God."

(a) They are heirs of it, as children of God.

(b) They are called into it.

(c) The kingdom "shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High" (Daniel 7:27). "The saints shall judge the world" (1 Corinthians 6:2, 3). They shall "inherit the kingdom" (Matthew 25:34). This is "the grace that is to he brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

(2) They shall receive rest - "rest with us," as the Lord's recompense for all their sufferings. It points to their release from persecutions.

(a) There is a rest - a sabbatism - "for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). They "shall rest from their labours, and their works do follow them" (Revelation 14:13).

(b) It is rest in the fellowship of all saints - "rest with us."

(3) The effect of the Lord's second advent - "that he may be glorified in his saints, and be admired in all them that believe."

(a) The Church is to be "the glory of Christ." Jesus said, "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them" (John 17:10, 22). "The beauty of the Lord God shall be upon her," and "his glory shall be seen upon her" (Psalm 90:17); Isaiah 60:2). The Church is addressed thus: "There shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God" (Isaiah 62:3).

(b) Christ shall be an Object of wonder to believers in that day. "To be admired in all them that believe." The wonder will spring out of the extraordinary manifestations of his glory and power. - T.C.

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KJV: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

WEB: Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,