There are two important things to be noticed in the second and third chapters of 1 Thessalonians. The first is the bearing of the Lord’s coming upon service. Let me read two verses at the end of the second chapter. “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (vss. 19-20). You will thus see in the Apostle’s activity that he always had the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ before him, and may I not say, therefore, that we never labor in the Lord’s service, as He would have us to labor, without this motive power, if I may so describe it? I remember reading some time ago a statement in a periodical that if you hold the doctrine of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it enervates you, and that nobody would be concerned about service, missions and things of that kind. What could be more untrue? Here I find the Apostle full of energy; he desires the conversion of those to whom he was sent, and he labors indefatigably in the prospect of the coming of Christ. This was his one desire, that he might present his converts before the Lord, and he says, “Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” Then he adds, “Ye are our glory and joy.” You will see, therefore, the effect on service. How wonderful it is! And I may say again, I don’t think I can undertake any activity properly unless this blessed truth is dominating my soul, and then in the prospect of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ I labor devotedly. And why do I thus labor? Because I want His approval, beloved, and because it is at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ the responsibility of the saints will be dealt with. Earth is the scene of our responsibility, and the coming of Christ is the goal to which we look, as we read in the first epistle of Timothy, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ “ (1 Tim. 6:14). Earth is the scene of the responsibility, and when the Lord appears in glory, He will display the recompense. That is what I understand by the Apostle’s statement: “Ye are our glory and joy.”
Holiness and Love
Now to enlarge upon that, I want to call attention to two verses in the third chapter. There we see the bearing of the coming of Christ upon the spiritual life. “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13). There are two things here. There is holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints before God and our Father, and there is love one toward another. That is the wonderful secret! Loving one another is the way of holiness. You may talk to me about holiness from morning to night, but you will never grow in it if there is a lack of love, because love is the nature of God, and God’s love is a holy love; hence it comes to pass, as the Apostle teaches us here, that if we love one another and the more we love one another, the more we shall grow in conformity to the image of Christ, the more holy we shall become. I use those last two terms interchangeably for this reason — because the idea of holiness is conformity to the image of Christ, nothing short of that, and hence if anyone tells you they are holy, you have to say, “As holy as Christ is?” because nothing short of that is accepted by God. Well then, if that be so, you will see from this scripture that the more we love one another (because that is the expression of the nature of God), the more we shall grow in holiness, and that will be brought out into display at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
Energy of the Spirit
Now I dare say there are some here who have sometimes said, “We have not so much energy in the Spirit as we would like to have,” and others will say, “We are really doing nothing for the Lord.” Ah! beloved, the reason for that is you have not the coming of Christ before your souls, for if you are living in the prospect of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be devoted. As the Apostle puts it in another place, “The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). All that we are as children of Adam has gone in the death of Christ, and now Christ only fills the eye of God, and Christ only can fill the affections of the souls of God’s people, and then when the divine nature is in activity in the power of the Spirit, there is an immense growth in holiness, and the prospect of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a great incentive to it. It has an immense bearing upon the spiritual life; indeed, I may say what I said about service, that no one is living properly as a Christian, no one can do so, unless he has the prospect of seeing the Lord face to face. But you will say to me, “That is a very strong statement.” Well, let me give a scripture to sustain it. The Apostle John says, “It is not yet manifested what we shall be [there is now no outward display of what we are as the children of God], but we know that when He is manifested we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” and then he adds, “Every one that hath this hope in Him [that is, Christ] purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Yes, the prospect of seeing Him and of being like Him will be a constant power acting upon the soul, so that you will get rid of everything that is unsuited to Him, and you will also desire to acquire everything that is suited to Him, that you may rejoice in the day of His appearing. Well, you see the immense bearing of this truth upon the spiritual life.
E. Dennett (adapted)