10/27/17
2 Thess 1:10
on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
That day, the Day of the Lord (Day of Christ, Day of Judgement etc). Something that is commonly avoided in most churches I feel. Why don’t we ever talk about how we want to see Jesus for the second time in His full glory? I mean when we die, we don’t even know if we will immediately go to heaven or kind of wait in “sleep” for the Day of the Lord or maybe even immediately be transported through time (or out of time) to the Day of the Lord. But anyways, as Christians, the Day of the Lord is the most important day of our lives, and our entire life should be pointed towards that day. Like CS Lewis says, we are to live each day in light of eternity.
This passage as a whole talks about Christ’s second coming. Those who do not believe will face judgement, something that is very clear in this chapter as well as many other places in the Bible. Jesus Himself talks about Hell the most, at least 11 times in the Gospels. But we don’t talk about Hell in church, and we don’t talk about the Day of the Lord in church. We also rarely talk about the Great Commission in church.
What does it mean, be glorified in his holy people? I know this means Christians and the church, and that we will share in the glory (1 Peter 4, Romans 8 etc). Isn’t Jesus already glorified, as He said in Luke 24 to His two unsuspecting disciples? Isn’t this the same glory humanity ignored at the beginning and no longer can see? Aren’t we made for God’s glory and that is why we face wrath for failing to live up to the reason why we were made in the first place? Shoot man, glory is such an important theme in the Bible, and it is also not peached enough at church. I really do see why T.C. says that Reformed circles preach too much and focus too much on Grace, the Gospel, and the Cross. Not that we shouldn’t, the Gospel and the Cross and Grace are the crux of our salvation so that we may live in Christ. We are alive because we know those things, or as in this passage, those who heard Paul’s testimony believed it to be true (his testimony on meeting Christ on the road to Damascus and believing Christ to be his Lord and Savior). But we must know that we must look to the Day of the Lord while sitting at the foot of the Cross. We will carry the Cross wherever we go, and we will preach the Gospel to ourselves daily as we preach it to the lost. We must rely on Grace through Faith and the power of the Holy Spirit for every single step we take, like how we need ATP for our cells to work and our muscles to move our body. We must look at the Cross to move our hearts to repentance, and know of our right standing before God through Christ’s imputed righteousness. But we must understand and desire to be in God’s presence now. We are like Christ, Christians aka belong to or of Christ, that we now share in God’s glory as Christ shares in God’s glory. Like how Christ went to the Cross for the glory set before Him (Hebrews 12), we go to the Cross for the glory set before Jesus. You can skim the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and see that Jesus came so all may know of the Father’s glory. Mankind was created to acknowledge and praise God’s glory, we failed and thus must die, but Jesus came and lived a perfect and righteous life to acknowledge and praise God’s glory, and thus through Jesus we can do the same. Eternal life is defined in the Bible as “knowing God and Jesus Christ” (John 17). God's will for us is to praise His glory (Ephesians 1:12).
Anyways to summarize this passage [to myself], to hear Paul’s testimony is to hear the Gospel. To believe it is to be saved. And from the Gospel, from the foot of the Cross, we will enter into the Day of the Lord, not fearing for our lives, but come with boldness and confidence (Hebrews 10) as we see our Lord in FULL GLORY.
Edit: I think the obvious answer why we don’t talk about the Day of the Lord is because we don’t really want it to come. For it to come means we no longer get to stay on Earth. It is like a premature death for some, or being caught unprepared by others. I know that I have some level of fear that I have confronted over the years. Am I ready to see Jesus at this moment? Am I living a life worthy of His calling? Do I want to tell Him, “give me a few more years, there are still things I want to do on earth, foods to eat on earth, places to visit on earth, life events to experience (career, marriage, children, retirement) on earth, I’m not ready to see you yet.” Let us be honest with ourselves, this is the state of our hearts right now and majority of the time. To mature and grow as a Christian is to acknowledge this, bring this heart state in the open and in front of God, and ask God to change that heart, renew that heart, and make it fresh (or flesh). I struggle a lot even as I sit here typing this. I get jealous. I ask God a lot “why don’t you give me these little bits of happiness?” And God answers back “I am your happiness, aren’t I enough for you? Don’t you want to see the FULL GLORY that I am to my son?” Ugh the guilt, the shame.
Now
I go listen to Japanese Christian songs proclaiming the coming of the
Day of the Lord. At least they know what to sing about.
One That Day
Open up my eyes, creator of the earth
Let us see your kingdom reign forevermore
The heavens open up, and shine the light of truth
On the mount of Zion may your glory fall
The work that you have done, all nations will come to see
Every pain and tear, Lord you will wipe away
In justice and in truth, You reign forevermore
May your Spirit cover over all the earth
On that day every nation will rise
Exalt your name, give you praise through all the earth
Lift your voice to Jesus the King
Hallelujah Let your kingdom forever reign
Jesus Christ, you are the King of Kings
Jesus Christ you are Almighty God
The worthy lamb who reigns in victory
May your glory shine forevermore
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