God is allowing His people to suffer in order to qualify them for His heavenly kingdom. He is allowing the wicked to triumph temporarily, but His just judgement will fall upon them in the end. Therefore God’s judgement is right in every situation in which we might see nothing but injustice. The punishment of wicked will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels (1:7). Paul further writes that the Lord will punish those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (1:8).
- In the first instance, the heathen are punished.
- In the second, those who do not obey which include even Jews, the so called believers, the pseudo churches, the unbelieving people in the churches all over the world and more so common in India, because they wilfully reject the knowledge of God and the Gospel of Christ.
The above 2-categories will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power. This perhaps that they will be immediately thrown into Abyss or Hades where there is indescribable torment and agony until the White Stone Judgement (the final Judgement) and subsequently will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Hell).
(1 Thess.1:10) gives a beautiful meaning. Let’s look in this way. A theatre is not changed by the play which is performed in it. A mirror is certainly not affected the images it reflects. But a filament of a bulb is changed when the current is passed in it because it becomes incandescent. So when Jesus is revealed in His glory, He will be glorified in His people. In other words, we will not only see Him in glory, we will also share His glory. We will be radically and permanently changed, being transformed into His likeness. And in our transformation His glory will be seen in us, for we will glow forever and ever with the glory of Christ as indeed He glowed with the glory of His Father. This we can see even in the Transfiguration of Jesus.
A prayer for God’s power: (1:11-12):
The future prospect of glory motivated the apostle to pray for the saints. We must never neglect a present responsibility because of a future hope. On the contrary, the future hope must encourage us to be faithful today. Paul had 3-concerns:
- Worthiness (1:11 a): Paul had stated that he wanted them to be worthy of the kingdom when they entered glory in the future (2 Thess. 1:5). But here he emphasized their present situation. God’s calling was in grace and love, and Paul desired that they might live up to His calling. Trials do not make a person but they reveal what a person is made of when our faith is tried. God certainly knows our hearts even before we are tried, but we do not know our own hearts. And others do not know what we are worth. We need to pray that God will build our worth and make us more valuable Christians because of the trials we have endured.
- Walk (1:11 b): By His power He may fulfil every good purpose of yours and every act promoted by your faith. Paul prayed that they might have a resolute will, empowered by God, to do what He wanted them to do. Obedience and service do not spring from human wish and will but needs divine power from God. If we believe God, we will receive His power in our lives. We cannot be victorious in tribulations if we only trust ourselves; but we can be victorious through trusting Him.
- Witness: (1:12): Jesus Christ will be glorified in His saints when they return with Him (2 Thess. 1:10); but He should also be glorified in our lives today. Unbelievers blaspheme His name (1 Pet.4:12 ff), but believers bless His name and seek to glorify it. The amazing thing is that the believer who glorifies Christ is likewise glorified in Christ, “glorified in you, and you in Him.”
The Lord said: “There is no peace, unto the wicked'” (Isa. 48:22). No rest for the wicked! But there is rest for those who trust Christ and seek to live for His glory. For the Christian, the best is yet to come. We know that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).