Will You Marvel?

And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

I want to talk to you about marveling. We can see here that on that day (vs 10) when our Lord Jesus comes that he will be glorified and marveled at. Have you ever marveled at something? You may have witnessed something amazing such as a parents seeing their new baby for the first time, or perhaps seeing your own baby for the first time! There are many different things in this world that can give us a feeling of astonishment or amazement. However it is safe to say that the feeling of astonishment that we will have when we witness the Lord, in all of his glory and might, will be like nothing we can even imagine.

Isaiah Marveled

This kind of marveling is something that happened to Isaiah in Isaiah 6: 1-7… kind of. Read it; it is a pretty impressive scene I am sure of which words could not have done justice to the actual witnessing thereof. Besides the cool description of the whole thing, the reaction that Isaiah has is what really gets me.  In verse 5 he says:

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Isaiah 6:5

When the King, the Lord of hosts was revealed to Isaiah, it is safe to say that he kind of lost it. He marveled. He finally understood how sinful and little we really are as a people. He felt lost!

Back to 2 Thessalonians

Seeing how beside himself and in awe Isaiah was at this event that he witnessed, how truly incredibly it will be to witness the Lord’s return on that day where he will be glorified in his saints and marveled at!

There is one important aspect about the return here that we must examine. This is something that is easy to overlook yet is clearly the most important piece of this verse. What I am talking about is the bit of context that we are given at the end of verse 10:

When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

2 Thessalonians 1:10

Yes, you read correctly. Only those who believe will actually be allowed to, or given the ability (or capability) of marveling at our Lord. Granted, this is probably pretty obvious because why would someone who doesn’t believe marvel at something he doesn’t believe in?  Even though at this point all people everywhere will be believers, all will confess and every knee will bow (Romans 14:10-11).

So if you look at the verses preceding the ones we already looked at there in 2 Thessalonians 1, we can see that those who do not know God, and those who do not obey him will be separated eternally from him and the glory of his might. Knowing what we know about the effect that the revelation of God had to Isaiah, and how much more glorious must be an event so paramount as his return (having prophesied and declared it so often) how truly terrible it would be to miss something so great!

In summary, if you truly love God, know him and obey him; which in truth are one and the same. Do not for the sake of this life miss the great and awesome glory of our Lord!