Rest and Torment

II Thessalonians 1:7-10

I was speaking with someone today and I made the comment that "It does not matter what side of this Covid situation you are on, it is stressful". Masks, lockdowns, people being sick, other dying, the fear of contracting it, or just observing the fear of others, it stresses us out. Add to that the turmoil of politics and elections, and many are at their whit's end. This is reflected in the cases of substance abuse and suicide. Many people have no hope. Thankfully, the conversation I had was with a fellow Christian and we agreed that we have peace and hope in Christ. However, many do not.

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Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed ) in that day.

II Thessalonians 1:7-10

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Wicked people make the lives of those around them miserable. Wicked politicians make the lives of citizens miserable. Corrupt movers and shakers impose harmful practices on people. It is both exhausting and distressing. Paul has a word of encouragement for us in this passage.

In verse 7, Paul writes, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels". This is not our time of rest. This is our time of work. Most of us have experienced very stressful days at work in which we felt that we would never get to clock out and go home. You just wanted to go home and get some rest. For Christians, our time of rest is heaven. That is when we clock out. That is when we get to rest. The rest then will be for all eternity. We will not have to worry about waking up and getting right back to the grind stone. We will know what true rest is.

This is in contrast to the rest of the text. Verses 6, 8, and 9 are about judgment of the wicked. Their absence of rest and peace reveals to us what rest and peace will mean. Paul calls their experience "tribulation", "flaming fire taking vengeance", and "punished with everlasting destruction". Nothing about that sounds like rest.

This verse says that the wicked trouble us now, but, because they did not believe "our testimony", they will be troubled by God. Our struggle is now. Their trouble is to come. Their rest is now. Our rest is yet to come. This is as good as it gets for the lost, but for Christians, to quote President Trump, "The best is yet to come!"

Father, thank you for the hope of heaven. Thank you for the hope of rest from the troubles of this world. We know that you are righteous and must judge sin, but we pray that many will come to know you as Savior and find this rest as well.