2 Thessalonians 1:10

2 Thessalonians 1:10

I. All creation is one great illustration of Jesus. God has laid up everything, if we only see it aright, for the exhibition of His dear Son; so that, faithful to that great idea, when He comes He will come, indeed, to judge the world, but He will come yet more "to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." And the Church this poor, divided, feeble, unworthy, sin-stained Church does it set forth the character of its Lord? does it make Him admirable? It is pleasant to be assured that if it does not now, it shall then. Be you only one of those who receive gladly the processes of the sanctifying Spirit into your heart be you only, at this moment, a simple believer "when He comes," He must be magnified in you. For He comes for no other purpose. "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe."

II. There is a distinction between "glorified in the saints," and "admired in them that believe." We must trace the difference. "Saints" are either those in whom the great work of sanctification is going on in this world, or those in whom it is perfected in the world to come. In this passage it is the perfectly holy. Now, holiness, as regards man, is the final end. All else election, redemption, grace is only a means to the one end that we may be holy. Therefore we are always taught to think of everything else as a first principle, and to go on to holiness. And the reason is this: Holiness is the image of God; to see His own image is the will and purpose of God. That there might be an image of God was the first creation, that there might be an image of God is the second creation. The thick clay will have become the beautiful vessel the rude ore will be the pure, fine gold. Out of the unlikeliest materials the hands of the Almighty will have made His masterpiece the pearl from the shell, the diamond from the charcoal and the whole world will marvel at that transformation; and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, will be "glorified in His saints."

III. And "admired" the word is taken in its original and truest meaning "wondered at," wondered at in all them that believe i.e.,in all them that did believe when they were in the school of this present, probationary world. The whole world will be looking on, and they will see, with astonishment, the triumphs of faith; as all men see again the faithfulness of Jesus to His own Word, and the efficacy of His atoning blood, He will be "wondered at in all them that believe."

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,4th series, p. 303.

References: 2 Thessalonians 1:10. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxv., No. 1477; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ix., p. 279.