+I. Is severely tested by tribulations.+
+II. Is a stimulating example to others.+
+III. Is a theme of grateful boasting.+
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 5-7.
_The Recompense of Suffering for the Truth._
It is not an uncommon spectacle to see vice prosperous and
triumphant, while virtue is ignored and oppressed. To a superficial
observer it would seem that all the great prizes of the
world--wealth, power, social status, gaiety, display, pleasure--were
thrown indiscriminately and with lavish abundance into the lap of the
wicked, and that the God-fearing few are left in obscurity to
struggle with hardships, penury, and affliction. Nor is it always an
easy matter to reconcile the sufferings of the good with the goodness
and justice of God. But all things come round to the patient man. We
must look to the future for the faithful redress of present
grievances. In this chapter the apostle ministers consolation to the
suffering Thessalonians by assuring them of a coming day in which
they would be abundantly recompensed for all they had to endure, and
in which the righteousness of God would be publicly vindicated.
Observe:--
+I. That the maintenance of the truth often entails considerable
suffering.+--"The kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer" (ver. 5).
They who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. The
world is violently opposed to the Church, and that opposition is full
of malignant hatred and cruelty. Socrates once said something like
this--that if goodness were to become incarnate in one man, so that
man would be perfectly good, the world would put him to death. What
Socrates said was realised in Christ. "If they have persecuted Me,"
said Christ to his followers, "they will also persecute you" (John
xv. 20). It is not the least among the trials of the good that they
are obliged to come in contact with evil in so many forms, and that
they are so savagely assailed and oppressed with it. Athanasius
regarded the suffering of persecution to be a special note of a
Christian man, observing: "It is the part of Christians to be
persecuted; but to persecute the Christians is the very office of
Pilate and Caiaphas."
+II. That suffering for the truth has a morally educating
influence.+--"That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God"
(ver. 5). The believer has no worthiness in himself, nor can he
acquire any by the merit of his own works. This worthiness is but
another word for meetness--that meetness of state and character, as
sinners justified and sanctified, without which no man shall enter
the kingdom. Only to such has the kingdom been promised. And the
sufferings they endure on behalf of the kingdom, so far from
impairing their title, serve rather to confirm and illustrate it.
Every Christian grace is tested, developed, and trained by suffering.
"The least reproach augments our glory. Every tear is not only noted
and kept in the bottle but made as varnish to add to our brightness
and glorious splendour. No drop of our blood but wins us a river of
glory; effusion of it the whole ocean of beatitude." When Ignatius,
Bishop of Antioch, was cast to the lions, he exclaimed: "I am God's
wheat, and must be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may
be found His pure bread."
+III. That suffering for the truth will be Divinely
recompensed.+--"Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment
of God" (ver. 5)--_i.e._ their sufferings and the constancy with
which they endured them proved God's justice. A strange assertion!
The people of God have often been staggered by the fact that the
wicked persecute and prosper, and the poor saints are plagued and
oppressed (Ps. lxxiii. 1-14; Jer. xii. 1-4). But from this very fact
the apostle derives consolation. It is a proof to him of a future
state in which all this apparent inconsistency will be set right, in
which the saint and the persecutor will each receive his own proper
recompense.
1. _Suffering will be Divinely recompensed in the deliverance of the
sufferer._--"And to you who are troubled rest with us" (ver. 7). The
word "rest" really means _the slackening of strings that had been
pulled tight._ To the persecuted and afflicted Thessalonians, the
happiness of heaven is held out under the image of rest and relief
after suffering. It is, as it were, the relaxing of tension after
having been stretched on the rack. The keenest suffering for the
truth is limited in its duration; and the righteousness of God is
pledged to sustain and deliver His afflicted ones. The sweet rest of
heaven will be all the more enjoyable because shared with those who
have passed through a similar conflict.
2. _Suffering will be Divinely recompensed in the punishment of the
persecutor._--"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you" (ver. 6). The punishment of the
persecutor is as just as the relief of the oppressed; and God has
both the intention and the power of accomplishing what He thinks
just. The law of retaliation will be rigidly enforced. The very
measure the persecutors have dealt they are to receive back again;
and the retaliation will be all the more terrible because of its
unanswerable justice. Truth must triumph over all its enemies. Its
watchword is "no surrender." The apostate Julian spent his strength
in trying to destroy the true Church; but when he fell on the
battle-field, as the blood was gushing from his breast and his eyes
were closing in death, he hissed between his setting teeth,
"Galilean, Thou hast conquered!" And the Galilean must and will
conquer, and all His enemies shall receive their just measure of
punishment.
+Lessons.+--1. _The sufferings of the good afford an opportunity for
the display of Divine justice._ 2. _Suffering is no evidence of
Divine displeasure._ 3. _The glory of the future will infinitely
outweigh the sufferings of the present life._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._