Jesus was to be a marvel to all believers

JESUS WAS TO BE A MARVEL TO ALL BELIEVERS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Thessalonians1:10 10
on the day he comes to be
glorifiedin his holy people and to be marveledat
among all those who have believed. This includes you,
because you believedour testimonyto you.
JESUS ADMIRED IN THEM THAT BELIEVE NO. 1477
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAYMORNING, JUNE 1, 1879, BY
C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTON.
“When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all
them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that
day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:10.
WHAT a difference betweenthe first and secondcomings of our Lord! When
He shall come a secondtime it will be to be glorified and admired, but when
He came the first time it was to be despised and rejectedof men. He comes a
secondtime to reign with unexampled splendor, but the first time He came to
die in circumstances ofshame and sorrow. Lift up your eyes, you sons of light,
and anticipate the change which will be as greatfor you as for your Lord—for

now you are hidden even as He was hidden and misunderstood even as He was
misunderstood when He walkedamong the sons of men. “We know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like He; for we shall see Him as He is.” His
manifestation will be our manifestation and in the day in which He is revealed
in glory, then shall His saints be glorified with Him. Observe that our Lord is
spokenof as coming in His glory and as, at the same time, taking vengeance in
flaming fire on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel. This is a
note of greatterror to all those who are ignorant of God and wickedly
unbelieving concerning His Christ. Let them take heed, for the Lord will gain
glory by the overthrow of His enemies and those who would not bow before
Him cheerfully shall be compelledto bow before Him abjectly. They shall
crouch at His feet. They will lick the dust in terror and at the glance of His
eyes they shall utterly wither away. As it is written, they “shallbe punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power.” But this is not the main object for which Christ will come, nor
is this the matter in which He finds His chiefestglory, for, observe, He does
this as it were by the way when He comes for anotherpurpose. To destroythe
wickedis a matter of necessityin which His spirit takes no delight, for He does
this, according to the text, not so much when He comes to do it as when He
shall come with another object, namely, “To be glorified in His saints, and to
be admired in them that believe.” The crowning honor of Christ will be seen
in His people and this is the designwith which He will return to this earth in
the latter days—that He may be illustrious in His saints and exceedingly
magnified in them. Even now His saints glorify Him. When they walk in
holiness they do, as it were, reflectHis light. Their holy deeds are beams from
Him who is the Sun of righteousness. Whenthey believe in Him they also
glorify Him, for there is no grace which pays lowlier homage at the throne of
Jesus than the grace offaith whereby we trust Him and so confess Him to be
our all in all. We glorify our gracious Lord, but beloved brethren, we must all
confess that we do not do this as we could desire, for, alas, too often we
dishonor Him and grieve His Holy Spirit. By our lack of zeal and by our many
sins we are guilty of discrediting His gospeland dishonoring His name.
Happy, happy, happy day when this shall no more be possible—whenwe shall
be rid of the inward corruption which now works itself into outward sin and
shall never dishonor Christ again, but shall shine with a clear, pure radiance

like the moon on the Passovernight when it looks the sun full in the face and
then shines upon the earth at her best. Todaywe are like vessels onthe wheel,
but half fashioned, yet even now somewhatof His divine skill is seenin us as
His handiwork. Still the unformed clay is only in part seenand much remains
to be done. How much more of the greatPotter’s creating wisdom and
sanctifying powerwill be displayed when we shall be the perfect products of
His hand! In the bud and germ, our new nature brings honor to its Author,
but it will do far more when its perfection manifests the Finisher. Then shall
Jesus be glorified and admired in every one of us when the days of the new
creationare ended and God shall usher in the eternal Sabbath by
pronouncing His grace-workto be very good. This morning, as God shall
help me, I shall speak first of the specialglorificationof Christ here intended,
and secondly, I shall conclude the sermon by calling your attention to the
specialconsiderations whichthis grand truth suggests.
Jesus Admired in Them That Believe Sermon#1477
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 25
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I. Let us considercarefully THE SPECIALGLORIFICATION HERE
INTENDED.And the first point to note is the time. The text says, “When He
shall come to be glorified in His saints.” The full glorificationof Christ in His
saints will be when He shall come a secondtime according to the sure word of
prophecy. He is glorified in them now, for He says, “All Mine are Yours and
Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them.” But as yet that glory is
perceptible to Himself rather than to the outer world. The lamps are being
trimmed—they will shine before long. These are the days of preparation
before that Sabbath which is in an infinite sense a high day. As it was said of
Esther, that for so many months she prepared herself with myrrh and sweet
odors before she entered the king’s palace to be espousedof him, even so are
we now being purified and made ready for that august day when the perfected
church shall be presented unto Christ as a bride unto her husband. John says
of her that she shall be “preparedas a bride adorned for her husband.” This

is our night wherein we must watch, but behold, the morning comes—a
morning without clouds—andthen shall we walk in a seven-fold light because
our WellBelovedhas come. That secondadvent of His will be His revelation—
he was under a cloud here and men perceived Him not, save only a few who
beheld His glory—but when He comes a secondtime, all veils will be removed
and every eye shall see the glory of His countenance. Forthis He waits and His
church waits with Him. We know not when the settime shall arrive, but every
hour is bringing it nearer to us and therefore let us stand with loins girt,
awaiting it. Note, secondly, in whom this glorificationof Christ is to be
found. The text does not say He will be glorified “by” His saints, but “in His
saints.” There is a shade of difference, yes, more than a shade, betweenthe
two terms. We endeavor to glorify Him now by our actions, but then He will
be glorified in our own persons and characterand condition. He is glorified by
what we do, but He is at the lastto be glorified in what we are. Who are these
in whom Jesus is to be glorified and admired? They are spokenof under two
descriptions, “in His saints,” and “in all them that believe.” In “His saints”
first. All those in whom Christ will be glorified are described as holy ones or
saints— men and womenwho have been sanctified and made pure, whose
gracious lives show that they have been under the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
whose obedient actions prove that they are disciples of a Holy Master, even of
Him who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” But
inasmuch as these saints are also saidto be believers, I gatherthat the holiness
which will honor Christ at last is a holiness basedon faith in Him, a holiness
of which this was the root—thatthey first trusted in Christ and then being
saved, they loved their Lord and obeyed Him. Their faith workedby love and
purified their souls and so cleansedtheir lives. It is an inner as well as an
outer purity arising out of the living and operative principle of faith. If any
think that they can attain to holiness apart from faith in Christ, they are as
much mistaken as he who should hope to reap a harvest without casting seed
into the furrows. Faith is the bulb and saintship is the delightfully fragrant
flowerwhich comes of it when planted in the soil of a renewedheart. Beware,
I pray you, of any pretense to a holiness arising out of yourselves and
maintained by the energy of your own unaided wills—as welllook to gather
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. True saintship must spring from confidence
in the Saviorof sinners and if it does not, it is lacking in the first elements of

truth. How can that be a perfectcharacterwhich finds its basis in self-esteem?
How could Christ be glorified by saints who refuse to trust in Him? I would
call your attention once againto the seconddescription, “All them that
believe.” This is enlargedby the hint that they are believers in a certain
testimony according to the bracketedsentence,“because ourtestimony among
you was believed.” Now, the testimony of the apostles was concerning Christ.
They saw Him in the body and they bore witness that He was “Godmanifest
in the flesh.” They saw His holy life and they bore witness to it. They saw His
death of grief and they witnessedthat “God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto Himself.” They saw Him risen from the dead and they said, “We
are witnessesofHis resurrection.” Theysaw Him rise into heaven and they
bore witness that Godhad taken Him up to His right hand. Now, all that
believe this witness are saved. “If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you shall be saved.” All who with a simple faith come and castthemselves
upon the incarnate God, living and dying for men and always sitting at the
right hand of God to make intercessionforthem—these are the people in
whom Christ will be glorified and admired at the lastgreat day. But inasmuch
as they are first saidto be saints, be it never forgottenthat this faith must be a
living faith—a faith which produces a hatred of sin, a faith which renews the
characterand shapes the life after the noble model of Christ—thus turning
sinners into saints. The two descriptions must not be violently rent asunder.
You must not saythat the favoredpeople are sanctifiedwithout remembering
that they are justified by faith. Nor may you saythat they are justified by
faith without remembering that without holiness no man shall
Sermon #1477 Jesus Admired in Them That Believe
Volume 25 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
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see the Lord, and that at the last the people in whom Christ will be admired
will be those holy ones who were savedby faith in Him. So far, then, we see
our way, but now a question arises—bywhom will Christ be thus glorified

and admired? He shines in His people, but who will see the glory? I answer
first, that His people will see it. Every saint will glorify Christ in himself and
admire Christ in himself. He will say, “What a wonder that such a poor
creature as I am should be thus perfected!How glorious is my Lord who has
workedthis miracle upon me!” Surely our consciousnessofhaving been
cleansedand made holy will cause us to fulfill those words of John Berridge
which we sang just now— “He cheers them with eternalsmile, They sing
hosannas all the while. Or, overwhelmed with rapture sweet, Sink down
adoring at His feet.” This I know, that when I personally enter heaven I shall
forever admire and adore the everlasting love which brought me there. Yes,
we will all glorify and admire our Savior for what He has workedin us by His
infinite grace. The saints will also admire Christ in one another. As I shall
see you and you shall see your brethren and sisters in Christ all perfect, you
will be filled with wonderment and gratitude and delight. You will be free
from all envy and therefore you will rejoice in all the beauty of your fellow
saints—theirheaven will be a heaven to you—and what a multitude of
heavens you will have as you will joy in the joy of all the redeemed! We shall
as much admire the Lord’s handiwork in others as in ourselves and shall each
one praise Him for saving all the rest. You will see your Lord in all your
brethren and this will make you praise and adore Him world without end with
a perpetual amazement of ever-growing delight. But that will not be all.
Besides the blood-bought and ransomedof Christ, there will be on that great
day of His coming all the holy angels to stand by and look on and wonder.
They marveled much when first He stoopedfrom heaven to earth and they
desired to look into those things which then were a mystery to them. But when
they shall see their beloved Prince come back with ten thousand times ten
thousand of the ransomed at His feet—allof them made perfect by having
washedtheir robes and made them white in His blood—how the principalities
and powers will admire Him in every one of His redeemed! How they will
praise that conquering arm which has brought home all these spoils from the
war! How will the hosts of heavenshout His praises as they see Him leadall
these captives captive with a new captivity in chains of love, joyfully gracing
His triumph and showing forth the completeness ofHis victory! We do not
know what other races ofinnocent creatures there may be, but I think it is no
stretch of the imagination to believe that as this world is only one speck in the

creationof God, there may be millions of other races in the countless worlds
around us—and all these may be invited to behold the wonders of redeeming
love as manifested in the saints in the day of the Lord. I seemto see these
unfallen intelligences encompassing the saints as a cloud of witnessesand in
rapt vision beholding in them the love and grace of the redeeming Lord. What
songs!What shouts shall rise from all these to the praise of the ever-blessed
God! What an orchestra ofpraise will the universe become!From starto star
the holy hymn shall roll till all space shall ring out the hosannas ofwondering
spirits. “The Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace,”shallhave brought home all that men wondered
at and they with Himself shall be the wonder of eternity. Then shall Satan
and his defeatedlegions and the lost spirits of ungodly men bite their lips with
envy and rage and tremble at the majesty of Jesus in that day. By their
confesseddefeatand manifest despair, they shall glorify Him in His people in
whom they have been utterly overthrown. They shall see that there is not one
lost whom He redeemedby blood, not one snatchedawayof all the sheep His
Father gave Him, not one warrior enlisted beneath His banner fallen in the
day of battle, but all more than conquerors through Him that loved them.
What despair shall seize upon diabolic spirits as they discovertheir total
defeat! Defeatedin men who were once their slaves!Poordupes whom they
could so easilybeguile by their craftiness—defeatedevenin these!Jesus,
triumphant by taking the lambs from betweenthe lion’s jaws and rescuing
His feeble sheepfrom their power, will utterly put them to shame in His
redeemed. With what anguish will they sink into the hell prepared for them
because now they hear with angerall earth and heaven and every star ringing
with the shout—Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God
omnipotent reigns and the Lamb has conquered by His blood. You see then
that there are enoughspectators to magnify Christ in His saints and so,
fourthly, let us inquire in what degree will the Lord Jesus be glorified? Our
answeris it will be to the very highestdegree. He shall come to be glorified in
His saints to the utmost, for this is clear from the words, “to be

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admired.” When our translation was made, the word, “admired,” had, to
ordinary Englishmen, a strongerflavor of wonder than it has to us now. We
often speak of admiring a thing in the softersense of loving it, but the real
meaning of the English word, and of the Greek also, is wonder—our Lord will
be wondered at in all them that believe. Those who look upon the saints will
feel a sudden wonderment of sacreddelight. They will be startled with the
surprising glory of the Lord’s work in them. “We thought He would do great
things, but this! This surpassesconception!” Every saint will be a wonder to
himself. “I thought my bliss would be great, but not like this!” All his
brethren will be a wonder to the perfectedbeliever. He will say, “I thought the
saints would be perfect, but I never imagined such a transfiguration of
excessive glorywould be put upon eachof them. I could not have imagined my
Lord to be so goodand gracious.”The angels in heaven will saythat they
never anticipated such deeds of grace—theyknew that He had undertaken a
greatwork—but they did not know that He would do so much for His people
and in His people. The first-born sons of light, used to greatmarvels from of
old, will be entranced with a new wonderas they see the handiwork of
Immanuel’s free grace and dying love. The men who once despised the saints,
who calledthem canting hypocrites and trampled on them and perhaps slew
them— the kings and princes of the earth who sold the righteous for a pair of
shoes—whatwill they say when they see the leastof the Savior’s followers
become a prince of more illustrious rank than the greatones of the earth and
Christ shining out in every one of these favored beings? For their uplifting
Jesus will be wondered at by those who once despised both Him and them.
My next point leads us into the very heart of the subject—in what respects
will Christ be glorified and wondered at? I cannot expect to tell you one tenth
part of it. I am only going to give you a little sample of what this must mean—
exhaustive expositionwere quite impossible to me. I think with regardto His
saints that Jesus will be glorified and wondered at on accountof their
number, “a number that no man can number.” John was a great
arithmetician and he managedto count up to 144,000ofall the tribes of the
children of Israel, but that was only a representative number for the Jewish

church. As for the church of God, comprehending the Gentile nations, he gave
up all idea of computation and confessedthat it is “a number which no man
can number.” When he heard them sing, he says, “I heard a voice like the
voice of many waters and like greatthunder.” There were so many of them
that their song was like the Mediterraneansea lashedto fury by a tempest—
nay, not one greatsea in uproar, but oceanupon ocean, the Atlantic and the
Pacific piled upon eachother, and the Arctic upon these, and other oceans
upon these, layers of oceans—allthundering out their mightiest roar. And
such will be the song of the redeemed, for the crowds which swellthe
matchless hymn will be beyond all reckoning. Beholdand see, you who
laughed at His kingdom. See how the little one has become a thousand. Now
look, you foes of Christ who saw the handful of corn on the top of the
mountains—see how the fruit shakes like Lebanonand they of the city do
flourish like grass ofthe earth. Who canreckonthe drops of the dew or the
sands on the seashore?Whenthey have counted these, then shall they not
have guessedatthe multitude of the redeemedthat Christ shall bring to glory.
And all this harvest from one grain of wheat, which, unless it had fallen into
the ground and died, would have remained alone!What said the Word? “If it
dies, it shall bring forth much fruit.” Is not the prophecy fulfilled? Oh
beloved, what a harvestfrom the lone Man of Nazareth! What fruit from that
glorious Man—the Branch! Men esteemedHim stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted—and they made nothing of Him—and yet there sprang of Him (and
He as goodas dead) these multitudes which are as many as the stars of
heaven. Is He not glorified and wonderedat in them? The day shall declare it
without fail. But there is quality as well as quantity. He is admired in His
saints because they are every one of them proofs of His power to save from
evil. My eye canhardly bear, even though it is but in imagination, to gaze
upon the glittering ranks of the white-robed ones where eachone outshines
the sun—and they are all as if a seven-fold midday had clothedthem. Yet all
these, as I look at them, tell me, “We have washedour robes—forthey were
once defiled. We have made them white—but this whiteness is causedby the
blood of the Lamb.” These were heirs of wrath even as others. These were
dead in trespassesand sins. All these like sheep had gone astrayand turned,
everyone to his own way, but look at them and see how He has savedthem,
washedthem, cleansedthem, perfectedthem! His powerand grace are seenin

all of them. If your eye will pause here and there, you will discoversome that
were supremely stubborn—whose neck was as an iron sinew—andyet He
conquered them by love. Some were densely ignorant, but He opened their
blind eyes. Some grosslyinfected with the leprosy of lust, but He healedthem.
Some under Satan’s most terrible power, but He castthe devil out of them.
Oh, how He will be glorified in specialcases!In you drunkard, made into a
saint, in you blasphemer, turned into a loving disciple, in you persecutor, who
breathed out threatening, taught to sing everlastinglyhymns of
Volume 25 Tell someone today how much you love Jesus Christ.
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praise! He will be exceedinglyglorified in such. Brethren, beloved in the Lord,
in eachone of us there was some specialdifficulty as to our salvation—some
impossibility which was possible with God, though it would have been forever
impossible with us. Remember, also that all those saints made perfect would
have been in hell had it not been for the Son’s atoning sacrifice. This they will
remember more vividly because they will see other men condemned for the
sins with which they also were once polluted. The crash of vengeance upon the
ungodly will make the saints magnify the Lord the more as they see
themselves delivered. They will eachfeel— “Oh were it not for grace divine,
That fate so dreadful had been mine.” In eachone, the memory of the
horrible pit where they were drawn and the miry clay out of which they were
lifted shall make their Savior more glorified and wondered at. Perhaps the
chief point in which Christ will be glorified will be the absolute perfection of
all the saints. They shall then be “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”
We have not experiencedwhat perfection is and therefore we canhardly
conceive it. Our thoughts are too sinful for us to get a full idea of what
absolute perfection must be, but dear brethren, we shall have no sin left in us,
for they are “without fault before the throne of God” and we shall have no
remaining propensity to sin. There shall be no bias in the will towards that
which is evil, but it shall be fixed forever upon that which is good. The

affections will never be wanton again—theywill be chaste for Christ. The
understanding will never make mistakes. You shall never put bitter for sweet,
nor sweetforbitter. You shall be “perfect, evenas your Fatherwhich is in
heaven is perfect,” and truly, brethren, He who works this in us will be a
wonder. Christ will be admired and adored because ofthis grand result. O
mighty Master, with what strange moral alchemy did You work to turn that
morose dispositionedman into a mass of love! How did You work to lift that
selfishMammonite up from his hoarded gains to make him find his gainin
You? How did You overcome that proud spirit, that fickle spirit, that lazy
spirit, that lustful spirit—how did You contrive to take all these away? How
did You extirpate the very roots of sin and every little rootlet of sin out of
your redeemedso that not a tiny fiber can be found? “The sins of Jacobshall
be sought for and they shall not be found, yes, they shall not be, says the
Lord.” Neither the guilt of sin nor the propensity to sin—both shall be gone—
and Christ shall have done it and He will be “glorifiedin His saints and
admired in them that believe.” This is but the beginning, however. There will
be seenin every saint, in that lastwondrous day, the wisdom and power and
love of Christ in having brought them through all the trials of the way. He
kept their faith alive when else it would have died out. He sustained them
under trials when else they would have fainted. He held them fastin their
integrity when temptation solicitedthem and they had almostslipped with
their feet. Ay, He sustainedsome of them in prison, on the rack, at the stake,
and still keptthem faithful still! One might hardly wish to be a martyr, but I
reckonthat the martyrs will be the admiration of us all or rather Christ will
be admired in them. However they could bear such pain as some of them did
for Christ’s sake,none of us canguess, exceptthat we know that Christ was in
them suffering in His members. Eternally will Jesus be wonderedat in them
as all intelligent spirits shall see how He upheld them so that neither
tribulation, nor distress, nor nakedness, norfamine, nor sword could separate
them from His love. These are the men that wanderedabout in sheepskins and
goatskins,destitute, afflicted, tormented—ofwhom the world was not
worthy—but now they stand arrayed as kings and priests in surpassing glory
forever. Verily, their Lord shall be admired in them. Don’t you agree?
Recollect, dearfriends, that we shall see in that day how the blessedChrist, as
“Head overall things to His church,” has ruled every providence to the

sanctificationof His people—how the dark days begat showers whichmade
the plants of the Lord to grow, how the fierce sun which threatened to scorch
them to the root filled them with warmth of love divine and ripened their
choice fruit. What a tale the saints will have to tell of how that which
threatened to damp the fire of grace made it burn more mightily, how the
stone which threatenedto kill their faith was turned into bread for them, how
the rod and staff of the GoodShepherd was ever with them to bring them
safelyhome. I have sometimes thought that if I getinto heaven by the skinof
my teeth I will sit down on the glory shore and bless Him forever who, on a
board or on a broken piece of the ship, brought my soul safe to land, and
surely they who obtain an abundant entrance, coming into the fair havens,
like a ship in full sailwithout danger of shipwreck, will have to praise the
Lord that they thus came into the blessedport of peace. In eachcase, the Lord
will be speciallyglorified and admired. I cannot stop over this, but I must
beg you to notice that as a king is glorious in his regalia, so will Christ put on
His saints as His personalsplendor in that day when He shall make up His
jewels. It is
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with Christ as it was with that noble Romanmatron who, when she calledat
her friends’ houses and saw their trinkets, askedthem to come next day to her
house and she would exhibit her jewels. They expectedto see ruby and pearl
and diamond, but she calledin her two boys and said, “These are my jewels.”
Even so will Jesus, insteadof emerald and amethyst and onyx and topaz,
exhibit His saints. “These are My choice treasures,”He says, “in whom I will
be glorified.” Solomon surely was never more full of glory than when he had
finished the temple—whenall the tribes came togetherto see the noble
structure and confessedit to be “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth.” But what will be the glory of Christ when all the living stones shallbe
put into their places and His church shall have her windows of agates andher

gates ofcarbuncle and all her borders of precious stones. Thenindeed will He
be glorified, when the 12 foundations of His new Jerusalemshall be courses of
stones mostprecious, the like of which was never seen. Now, inasmuch as my
text lays specialstress upon believing, I invite you just for a minute to
considerhow as believers as well as saints, the saved ones will glorify their
Lord. First, it will be wonderful that there should be so many brought to
faith in Him—men with no God and men with many gods; men steepedin
ignorance and men puffed up with carnal wisdom, greatmen and poor men—
all brought to believe in the one Redeemerand praise Him for His great
salvation. Will He not be glorified in their common faith? It will magnify Him
that these will all be saved by faith and not by their own merits. Not one
among them will boast that he was savedby his own goodworks, but all of
them will rejoice to have been savedby that blessedlysimple way of “Believe
and live,” saved by sovereigngrace through the atoning blood—lookedto by
the tearful eye of simple faith. This too shall make Jesus glorious, that all of
them, weak as they were, were made strong by faith. All of them personally
unfit for battle were yet made triumphant in conflict because by faith they
overcame through the blood of the Lamb. All of them shall be there to show
that their faith was honored, that Christ was faithful to His promise and never
allowedthem to believe in vain. All of them standing in heavenly places, saved
by faith, will ascribe every particle of the glory to the Lord Jesus only— “I
ask them where their victory came? They, with united breath, Ascribe their
conquestto the Lamb, Their triumph to His death.” They believed and were
saved, but faith takes no credit to itself—it is a self-denying grace—andputs
the crownupon the head of Christ and therefore is it written that He will be
glorified in His saints and He will also be admired in all them that believe. I
have scarcelyskirtedthe subject even now, and time is failing me. I want you
to reflect that Jesus willbe glorified in the risen bodies of all His saints. Now,
in heaven they are pure spirits, but when He shall come, they shall be clothed
again. Poorbody, you must sleepawhile, but what you shall be at your
awaking does not yet appear. You are now the shriveled seed, but there is a
flowerto come of you which shall be lovely beyond all thought. Though sown
in weakness, this body shall be raisedin power. Though sownin corruption, it
shall be raised in incorruption. Weakness, weariness, pain, and death will be
banished forever. Infirmity and deformity will be all unknown. The Lord will

raise up our bodies to be like unto His glorious body. Oh, what a prospectlies
before us! Let us remember that this blessedresurrectionwill come to us
because He rose, for there must be a resurrectionto the members because the
Head has risen. Oh, the charm of being a risen man, perfect in body, soul, and
spirit! All that charm will be due to Christ and therefore He will be admired
in us. Then let us think of the absolute perfectionof the church as to
numbers—all who have believed in Him will be with Him in glory. The text
says He will be “admired in all them that believe.” Now, if some of those who
believe perished, He would not be admired in them—but they will all be there,
the little ones as well as the great ones. You will be there, you poor feeble folk
who, when you say, “Lord, I believe,” are obliged to add, “help You my
unbelief.” He shall be admired in all believers without a single exceptionand
perhaps there shall be more wonder at the going to heavenof the weak
believers than at the strongerones. Mr. Greatheart, when he comes there, will
owe his victories to his Masterand lay his laurels at His feet. But fainting
Feeblemind and limping Ready-to-Haltwith his crutches and trembling
Little-Faith—when they enter into rest, will make heaven ring with notes of
even greateradmiration that such poor creeping worms of the earth should
win the day by mighty grace. Suppose that one of them should be missing at
the last!Stop the harps! Silence the songs!No beginning to be merry while
one child is shut out! I am quite certain if as a family we were going to sing
our evening hymn of joy and thankfulness, if mother said, “Where is the little
mite? Where is the lastone of the family?” There
Volume 25 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
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would be a pause. If we had to say—she is lost—there would be no singing and
no resting till she was found. It is the glory of Jesus that as a shepherd He has
lost none of His flock. As the Captain of salvation, He has brought many sons
to glory and has lost none—andhence He is admired, not in some that believe,
nor yet in all but one—but He is “admired in all them that believe.” Does not

this delight you, you who are weak and trembling, that He will be admired in
you? There is little to admire in you at present, as you penitently confess,but
since Christ is in you now and will be more fully manifestedin you, there will
be before long much to admire. May you partake in the excellence ofour
divine Lord and be conformedto His likeness that He may be seenin you and
glorified in you. Another point of admiration will be the eternal safetyof all
His believing people. There they are safe from fear of harm. You dogs of hell,
you howledat their heels and hoped to devour them, but lo, they are clean
escapedfrom you! What must it be to be lifted above gunshot of the enemy
where no more watchshall need to be kept, for even the roar of the satanic
artillery cannot be heard? Oh glorious Christ, to bring them all to such a state
of safety, You are indeed to be wonderedat forever. Moreover, all the saints
will be so honored, so happy, and so like their Lord that themselves and
everything about them will be themes for never-ending admiration. You may
have seena room hung round with mirrors and when you stood in the midst
you were reflectedfrom every point—you were seenhere and seenthere and
there againand there again—andso every part of you was reflected. Justsuch
is heaven. Jesus is the center and all His saints like mirrors reflectHis glory.
Is He human? So are they! Is He the Son of God? So are they sons of God! Is
He perfect? So are they! Is He exalted? So are they! Is He a Prophet? So are
they, making known unto principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of
God. Is He a Priest? So are they! Is He a King? SO are they, for He has made
us priests and kings unto God and we shall reign forever and ever. Look
where you will along the ranks of the redeemed, this one thing shall be seen—
the glory of Christ Jesus, evento surprise and wonder. II. I have no time to
make those SUGGESTIONSwith which I intended to have finished and so I
will just tell you what they would have been. First, the text suggests thatthe
principal subject for self-examinationwith us all should be—Am I a saint?
Am I holy? Am I a believerin Christ? Yes or no, for on that yes or no must
hang your glorificationby Christ or your banishment from His presence.
The next thing is—observe the small value of human opinion. When Christ
was here, the world reckonedHim to be a nobody and while His people are
here they must expectto be judged in the same way. What do worldlings know
about it? How soonwill their judgment be reversed! When our Lord shall
appear, even those who sneeredwill be compelled to admire. When they shall

see the glory of Christ in every one of His people, awe-stricken, they will have
nothing to say againstus—nay, not even the false tongue of malicious slander
shall dare to hiss out a serpentword in that day. Nevermind them, then. Put
up with reproach which shall so soonbe silenced. The next suggestionis a
greatencouragementto inquirers who are seeking Christ, for I put it to you,
you greatsinners—if Jesus is to be glorified in savedsinners, would He not be
glorified indeed if He saved you? If He were ever to save such a rebel as you
have been, would it not be the astonishmentof eternity? I mean you who are
known in the village as WickedJack orknown as a common swearer—what
if my Masterwere to make a saint of you! Bad raw material! Yet suppose He
transformed you into a precious jeweland made you to be as holy as God is
holy—what would you say of Him? “Sayof Him,” you say, “I would praise
Him world without end.” Yes, and you shall do so if you will come and trust
Him. Put your trust in Him. The Lord help you to do so at once and He shall
be admired even in you forever and ever. Our text also gives an exhortation
to believers. Will Jesus Christ be honored and glorified in all the saints? Then
let us think well of them all and love them all. Some dear children of God have
uncomely bodies or they are blind or deformed or maimed, and many of these
have scanty purses and it may be the church knows most of them as coming
for alms. Moreover, they have little knowledge, little powerto please, and they
are uncouth in manners and belong to what are called the lowestranks of
society—do not, therefore, despise them—for one day our Lord will be
glorified in them. How He will be admired in yonder poor bedridden woman
when she rises from the workhouse to sing hallelujah to God and the Lamb
among the brightest of the shining ones. Why, I think the pain, the poverty,
the weakness, andthe sorrow of saints below will greatly glorify the Captain
of their salvation as they tell how grace helped them to bear their burdens and
to rejoice under their afflictions.
8
8

Lastly, brethren, this text ought to encourage allof you who love Jesus to go
on talking about Him to others and bearing your testimony for His name. You
see how the apostle Paul has inserted a few words by way of parenthesis?
Draw the words out of the brackets and take them home, “Becauseour
testimony among you was believed.” Do you see those crowds ofidolatrous
heathens and do you see those hosts of savedones before the throne of God?
What is the medium which linked the two characters? Bywhat visible means
did the sinners become saints? Do you see that insignificant looking man with
weak eyes? Thatman whose bodily presence is weak and whose speechis
contemptible? Do you not see his bodkin and needle case?He has been
making and mending tents, for he is only a tent-maker. Now, those bright
spirits which shine like suns, flashing forth Christ’s glory, were made thus
bright through the addresses andprayers of that tent-maker. The
Thessalonians were heathens plunged in sin and this poor tent-maker came in
among them and told them of Jesus Christand His gospel. His testimony was
believed and that belief changedthe lives of his hearers and made them holy—
and they being renewedcame at last to be perfectly holy and there they are—
and Jesus Christ is glorified in them. Beloved, will it not be a delightful thing
throughout eternity to contemplate that you went into your Sunday school
class this afternoonand you were afraid you could not saymuch, but you
talkedabout Jesus Christ with a tear in your eye and you brought a dear girl
to believe in His saving name through your testimony? In years to come, that
girl will be among those that shine out to the glory of Christ forever. Or you
will getawaythis evening, perhaps, to talk in a lodging house to some of those
poor, despisedtramps. You will go and tell one of those poor vagrants or one
of the fallen women the story of your Lord’s love and blood—and the poor
broken heart will catchat the gracious wordand come to Jesus—andthen a
heavenly characterwill be begun and another jewelsecuredfor the
Redeemer’s diadem. I think you will admire His crownall the more because
as you see certainstones sparkling in it, you will say, “Blessedbe His name
forever. He helped me to dive into the sea and find that pearl for Him and
now it adorns His sacredbrow.” Now, getat it, all of you! You that are doing
nothing for Jesus, be ashamedof yourselves and ask Him to work in you that
you may begin to work for Him and unto Godshall be the glory foreverand
ever. Amen and amen.

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Great Day
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
B.C. Caffin
I. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED.
1. The revelation of the Judge. It is the Lord Jesus, who once was despised and rejected of men;
he is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. He shall come as God once came down
on Mount Sinai, in the like awful glory.
(1) With the angels. They shall gather the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into
the furnace of fire. The angels will be the ministers of his justice - the blessed angels who are
now the messengers of his love and grace. Now they rejoice over each sinner that repenteth; then
they will cast the impenitent into the everlasting fire. We think of the angels as gentle, loving,
holy, as our friends and guardians; they are so, so far as we are Christ's. They desire to look into
the mysteries of redemption; they announced the Saviour's birth; they ministered to him in his
temptation, his agony; they celebrated his resurrection and ascension. Now they are sent forth to
minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation; they encamp round about those who fear the
Lord, and deliver them. They help in carrying on his blessed work of love. But they are holy;
they hate evil; they must turn away from those who have yielded themselves to the dominion of
the evil one; they must execute at the last the awful judgment of God. Fearful thought, that the
blessed angels, loving and holy as they are, must one day cast the hardened sinner into hell, as
once they cast Satan out of heaven.
(2) In flaming fire. The Lord shall be revealed in flaming fire, in that glory which he had before
the world was. His throne is fiery flame (Daniel 7:9). He himself is a consuming fire. The sight
will be appalling to the lost, full of unutterable terror; "they shall say to the rocks, Fall on us; and
to the hills, Cover us." "By thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, good Lord,
deliver us."
2. The lost. Two classes are mentioned here.
(1) Those who know not God - the heathen. They might have known him. Some of them did
know him. They had not the Law, the outward Law, but it was written in their hearts; God spoke
to them in the voice of conscience. They listened; they did by nature the things contained in the
Law. Such men, we are sure, God in his great mercy will accept and save. But, alas! the fearful
picture drawn by St. Paul in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans represents with only
too much truth the general state of the heathen world in the apostolic times. Their blindness was
criminal; it was the result of willful and habitual sin; their ignorance was without excuse.

(2) Those who obeyed not the gospel. All, whether Jews or Gentiles, who had heard the
preaching of Christ. They had heard, as we have, all that the Lord Jesus had done and suffered
for us; they had had the opportunity of hearing his holy precepts. "This is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." To know the gospel and
not to obey it, to have the light around us and not to admit it into our hearts, not to walk as
children of light - this must bring the judgment of God upon the disobedient. The greater the
light, the heavier the responsibility of those who sin against light and knowledge.
3. The punishment. The Lord Jesus will award vengeance. "Vengeance is mine; I will
recompense, saith the Lord." Terrible thought, that vengeance must come from him, the most
loving Saviour, who loved the souls of men with a love so burning, so intense in its Divine
tenderness! But it must be so. The exceeding guilt of sin is manifest in this; it turns the chiefest
of blessings into an increase of condemnation; the cross is utter death to the impenitent and the
ungodly. And that vengeance takes effect in destruction. The destruction is eternal; then it is not
annihilation. It is the destruction of all gladness, hope, all that makes life worth living; it is the
exclusion from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Only the pure in heart can
see God. The lost souls cannot see his face. The exclusion is eternal; is it endless? It continues
through the ages; will those ages of misery ever end in restoration? Can a soul, once so hardened
in guilt that it must be shut out of the presence of God, ever repent in that exclusion? It sinned
obstinately against light during its time of probation; can it recover itself now that the light is
withdrawn? It is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and the power of evil habits; can it
break those chains of darkness now? These are dark, awful questions. We may ask, on the other
hand, how can "God be all in all," if sin is to exist forever? how can it be that "in Christ shall all
be made alive," while there is still a hell in the universe of God? The subject is beset with
difficulties and perplexities; it excites bewildering, harrowing thoughts. We must leave it where
Holy Scripture leaves it. We would gladly believe, if it were possible, that there is hope beyond
the grave for those who die unblest; but such an expectation has no scriptural authority beyond a
few slight and doubtful hints. Who would dare to trust to a hope so exceeding slender? No; if we
shrink in terror from the thought of being one day shut out of God's presence into the great outer
darkness, let us try to live in that gracious presence now.
II. THE GLORY OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
1. Its time: when he shall come. They suffer now; sometimes they are persecuted, their name is
cast out as evil. But they have their consolation; they see indeed through a glass darkly, but yet
they do see by faith the glory of the Lord; they are changed into the same image from glory to
glory as by the Lord the Spirit. They have a glory now; but it is an inner spiritual glory derived
from the indwelling of the blessed Spirit whom the world seeth not, neither knoweth. Now they
are the sons of God; when he shall appear, they shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is.
2. Its nature: the unveiled presence of Christ. He shall be glorified in his saints. "I am glorified in
them," he said, when about to leave them. When he comes again, that glory shall shine forth in
all its radiant splendour. He shall be admired in all them that believe. The glory of his presence
abiding in them shall arouse the wondering admiration of all. The lost spirits will wonder; they
will be amazed at the strangeness of the salvation of the blessed. "This is he" (Wisd. 5:3, 5)
"whom we sometimes had in derision... how is he numbered among the children of God, and his
lot is among the saints?" The very angels will wonder at the exceeding glory of the Lord shining
in his saints. For he will change the body of their humiliation, and make it like the body of his
glory.

LESSONS.
1. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; let us keep that awful day in our
thoughts.
2. Think on the fearful misery of eternal separation from God; live in his presence now.
3. We hope to be like him in his glory; let us take up the cross. - B.C.C.
Biblical Illustrator
When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe
2 Thessalonians 1:10
Christ glorified in glorified men
A. Maclaren, D. D.There be the two halves — the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the
revelation of a stranger, and the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the glorifying of Him
who is their life.
I. The remarkable words which I have taken for my text suggest to us, first of all, some thoughts
about that striking expression that CHRIST IS GLORIFIED IN THE MEN WHO ARE
GLORIFIED IN CHRIST. IF YOU look on a couple of verses you will find that the apostle
returns to this thought and expresses in the clearest fashion the reciprocal character of that
"glorifying" of which he has been speaking. "The name of our Lord Jesus Christ," says he, "may
be glorified in you, and ye in Him." So, then, glorifying has a double process involved. It means
either "to make glorious," or "to manifest as being glorious." And men are glorified in the former
sense in Christ, that Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes them glorious
by imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty of His own perfect character, in
order that that light, received into their natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously manifest
from their redeemed perfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, before a whole
universe, of Him who has thus endued their weakness with His own strength, and transmitted
their corruptibility into His own immortality.
1. The artist is known by his work. You stand in front of some great picture, or you listen to
some great symphony, or you read some great book, and you say, "This is the glory of Raffaelle,
Beethoven, Shakespeare." Christ points to His saints, and He says, "Behold My handiwork! Ye
are My witnesses. This is what I can do."
2. But the relation between Christ and His saints is far deeper and more intimate than simply the
relation between the artist and his work, for all the flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual
perfectness which Christian men can hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ
that dwells in them, "and of whose fulness all they have received." Like some poor vapour, in

itself white and colourless, which lies in the eastern sky there, and as the sun rises is flushed up
into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the light amongst its flaming threads and
vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves pale, ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the
Alpine snow passes off them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ shall blush and flame in
beauty. "Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My Father's Kingdom." Or, rather
they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting the light of Christ, who is their
light.
II. And now notice, again, out of these full and pregnant words the other thought, THAT THIS
TRANSFORMATION OF MEN IS THE GREAT MIRACLE AND MARVEL OF CHRIST'S
POWER. "He shall come to be admired" — which word is employed in its old English
signification, "to be wondered at" — "in all them that believe." So fair and lovely is He that He
needs but to be recognized for what He is in order to be glorified. So great and stupendous are
His operations in redeeming love that they need but to be beheld to be the object of wonder. "His
name shall be called Wonderful." And wonderfully the energy of His redeeming and sanctifying
grace shall then have wrought itself out to its legitimate end. Such results from such material!
Chemists tell us that the black bit of coal in your grate and the diamond on your finger are
varying forms of the one substance. What about a power that shall take all the black coals in the
world and transmute them into flashing diamonds, prismatic with the reflected light that comes
from His face and made gems on His strong right hand? The universe shall wonder at such
results from such material. And it shall wonder, too, at the process by which they were
accomplished, wondering at the depth of His pity revealed all the more pathetically now from the
Great White Throne, which casts such a light on the Cross of Calvary; wondering at the long,
weary path which He who is now declared to be the Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest
of these poor sinful souls whom He has thus redeemed and glorified.
III. And now a word about what is not expressed, but is necessarily implied in this verse, viz.,
THE SPECTATORS OF THIS GLORY. We need not speculate, it is better not to enter into
details, but this, at least, is clear, that that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood
and tear-stained history of man upon the earth is to be an object of interest and a higher
revelation of God to other. creatures than those that dwell upon the earth; and we may well
believe that for that moment, at all events, the centre of the universe, which draws the thoughts
of all thinking, and the eyes of all seeing creatures to it, shall be that valley of judgment wherein
sits the Man Christ and judges men, and round Him the flashing reflectors of His glory in the
person of His saints.
IV. And lastly, look AT THE PATH TO THIS GLORIFYING. "He shall come to be glorified in
His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that believed; as that word ought to be rendered.
That is to say, they who on earth were His, consecrated and devoted to Him, and in some humble
measure partaking even here of His reflected beauty and imparted righteousness — these are
they in whom He shall be glorified. They who believed": poor, trembling, struggling, fainting
souls, that here on earth, in the midst of many doubts and temptations, clasped His hand; and
howsoever tremulously, yet truly put their trust in Him, these are they in whom He shall "be
wondered at."
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The final Advent
D. Thomas, D. D.The context teaches two things concerning the final Advent of Christ.

1. The mode of His revelation to the world: "Revealed from heaven." He is now hidden within
the veil; the veil will then be withdrawn and every eye shall see Him. But how will He be
revealed "with the angels of His might." What are they, and how numerous? "In a fire of flame."
Fire is often represented as the accompaniment of manifested Deity (Exodus 3:2-18; Exodus
19:18; Daniel 2:9, 10; Malachi 4:1; Revelation 19:12).
2. The purpose of His revelation to the world. What is it?(1) To deal out retribution on the
ungodly, "Taking vengeance," etc. What will be the retribution? "Everlasting destruction." What
is that? Ah, what! Whence comes it? "From the presence of the Lord." His presence makes the
heaven of the blest, constitutes the hell of the damned.(2) To confer immortal blessedness on His
faithful disciples, "To be glorified in His saints." As the sun's glory is reflected in a mirror, so
will Christ's glorious image be seen in the assembled universe in the perfection of His saints.
How will Christ be glorified in this revelation of Himself?
I. THE MAGNIFICENCE OF HIS MORAL TRIUMPHS will be universally recognized. When
the millions of His disciples shall appear from all ages and lands, redeemed from all evil and
resplendent with goodness, the glory of Christ's triumphs over the worst superstitions, over the
strongest prejudices, over the mightiest depravities, over the wicked and most hardened of the
race. The Hottentot, the Esquimaux, the Hindoo, the Chinese, the Japanese — men of all races,
will appear as His. How will this strike every soul with admiration and praise. He who conquers
the errors, bad passions, corrupt principles and habits of our soul, achieves a sublimer conquest
than he who lays thousands of the mere bodies of men dead on the field of battle. But Christ's
conquest of millions and millions of souls will appear on that day.
II. THE PERFECTION OF HIS CHARACTER will be universally recognized.
1. Will not His love be seen in all these conquests, His disinterested, compassionate, persevering,
all-conquering love?
2. Will not His faithfulness be seen in all these conquests? Will not every redeemed soul say He
is true; all He has promised He has performed.
3. Will not His holiness be seen in all these conquests? He cleansed them from all their spiritual
pollutions, and they appear before Him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
4. Will not His power be seen in all these conquests? Who will not he struck with His might in
accomplishing this great work of gathering them all together into His everlasting kingdom.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ glorified
H. Kollock, D. D.What a difference between the first and second Advent of the Redeemer. One
great reason for a judgment day was to manifest the glory of Jesus.
I. CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. In their —
1. Countless number. Little as the flock of Jesus now appears, yet when all is collected what a
mighty host will appear.
2. Diversity of character, nation, age, time. The persecutor Paul and the persecuted Stephen; the
converted Greek and the believing Jew; patriarchs and modern missionaries.
3. Past experience of His grace, converting, consoling, providential.
4. Perfection and happiness of body and soul forever.

II. CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED IN HIS ENEMIES. In their punishment will be seen —
1. His authority, now denied.
2. His faithfulness to fulfil His threatenings as well as His promises.
3. His holiness as the hater of iniquity.
4. His omniscience in detecting secret crimes.
(H. Kollock, D. D.)
The Second Coming
N. Lardner, D. D.I. CHRIST WILL ASSUREDLY COME AGAIN. This is no less certain than
that He once dwelt on this earth. The time is still a secret to us, and perhaps to all orders of
intelligent creatures; but the circumstance itself is indubitable. He will come again at the time
appointed of the Father. At the ascension His disciples were expressly assured of it by two angels
(Acts 1:11). Our blessed Lord also spoke frequently of it (John 14:2, 3); but He never states the
time. "Watch," He says, "for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man
cometh." Though the exact time is not known, yet the Second Coming of Christ is a prominent
object of faith.
II. WHEN CHRIST COMES, HE WILL REGLORIFIED IN THE HAPPY AND
ADVANTAGEOUS CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS PEOPLE.
1. In their perfection in holiness. This will then reflect honour upon Him. They will be presented
"not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, being holy, and without blemish."
2. In their eternal glory. Soul and body being reunited, they will be freed from all the infirmities
of sinful and mortal flesh; have enlarged capacities, fitted for the noblest services — celestial
minds attached to celestial bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-49; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
3. In their number. Jesus spoke of His flock as a little one (Luke 12:32); but in that day the
number of His ransomed ones will be far greater than the stars of heaven; and they will be
gathered from the east and the west, the north and the south (Revelation 7:9, 10).
III. WHEN CHRIST COMES, HE WILL ALSO BE ADMIRED IN THEM.
1. His wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).
2. His power, demonstrated by His resurrection (John 5:20-29).
3. His faithfulness. His saints have believed and trusted in Him; now His truth is confirmed. It
will thus be a glorious day to Christ, and a day of unspeakable joy to His people (Luke 12:37,
38).
(N. Lardner, D. D.)
The saints' estate of glory at the judgmentI. THE STATE ITSELF. It is one of glory. There is
twofold glory put upon the saints.
1. Relative which consists of three things —(1) The free and full forgiveness of our sins by the
Judge (Acts 3:19). Which pardon is —
(a)Constitutive by God's new covenant (Acts 10:43).
(b)Declarative when God as a Judge determines our right.

(c)Executively when He remits the deserved penalty, and gives glory and happiness, All this is
done in part here, but more fully at the last day.(2) A participation of judicial power (1
Corinthians 6:2, 3; Luke 22:30). Here some of the saints judge the world by their doctrine; all by
their conversation (Hebrews 11:7); there by vote and suffrage.(3) Christ's public owning them
before God and His angels, by head and poll, man by man (Luke 12:8; Colossians 1:22; Jude
1:24; Ephesians 5:27; Hebrews 2:18).
2. Inherent (Galatians 1:16 cf. Romans 8:18). This glory will be revealed —(1) In our bodies
which shall be made —
(a)Immortal and incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:42).
(b)Like Christ's glorious body (1 Corinthians 15:43; Matthew 17:2; Matthew 13:43).
(c)A spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44).(2) In our souls which will be fully satisfied and filled
up with God (1 John 3:2).
II. THE MEASURE OF THE GLORY CHRIST WILL IMPART. It is a thing so great that it is
said —
1. He shall come to be glorified in the saints. Paul does not say that the saints shall be glorified
(Romans 8:17); that were less though much. Nor does he say Christ shall be glorified in Himself
(1 Peter 4:13), but in the saints. He is glorified in the glory which results to Him from their glory.
His experience shows —(1) The certainty of this effect of His coming. If His glory be concerned
in our glorification, we may be the more confident of it.(2) The greatness; for how is Christ
glorified in the saints?(a) Objectively. God is glorified by impression. So all His creatures glorify
Him, i.e., offer matter to set forth His glory (Psalm 145:10; Ephesians 1:12). Not speak but be.(b)
Actively by expression (Psalm 1.23; 1 Peter 2:9). He will be admired in those that believe.We
admire all those things which exceed knowledge and expectation. That glory shall exceed all
hope; but who are the parties that shall wonder?(1) The good angels — the spectators, not the
parties interested, but beings marvellously affected by the salvation of sinners (1 Peter 1:12;
Ephesians 3:10).(2) The wicked are amazed when they see those so much loved and advanced by
Christ whose lives they counted madness and folly.(3) The saints themselves are filled with
wonder, they finding their expectation so much exceeded; for admiration is the overplus of
expectation. Even in what is revealed, the saints find many astonishing instances of God's love (1
Peter 2:9).
III. THE AUTHOR: Christ. How He is concerned in this; for it is not said the saints shall be
glorified, but He. Our glory as it comes from Christ redounds to Him (Romans 11:36).
1. He is the procurer of this glorious estate for us by His death and sufferings (Ephesians 1:14;
Romans 8:13; Ephesians 5:27). He gave Himself, not only to sanctify, but to glorify His people.
2. He has promised it in His gracious covenant (1 John 2:25).
3. He dispenses it. As the husband rises in honour, so does the wife; when the head is crowned
the members are clothed with honour; when the Captain enters glory it is with His followers
(Hebrews 2:10).
4. He is the pattern of it (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
IV. THE SUBJECTS — "His saints," "All that believe." Mark —

1. The connection between these two characters — saints and believers. It implies that those who
by faith so separate themselves from the world and consecrate themselves to God shall be
glorified (Acts 26:18).
2. This glory is limited to saints and believers (John 3:15; Colossians 3:12; Acts 20:32; Acts
26:18).
3. Though it be limited to saints, yet there is a great difference between the saints. Some are
eminent in grace; others weak and dark; some will be raised, others changed; but they all agree in
this that Christ will be glorified in all. The glory that will be put upon the humblest will be
enough to raise the wonder of angels.
V. THE SEASON: "In that day." For this public honour we must wait till the time fixed. It is not
meet that the adopted children should have their glory till the Son of God by nature, be publicly
manifested. There is no congruity, between their present state and this blessedness.
1. The place is not fit it is so full of changes.
2. The persons are not fit. Our souls are not yet purified enough to see God (Matthew 5:8; 1 John
3:3). When Christ presents us to God we shall be faultless (Jude 1:25). Old bottles cannot bear
this new wine (Matthew 17:16).
3. The time is not fit. We must be some time upon our trial before we enter upon our final estate.
It is fit that Christ should be admired now in the graces, but then in the glory of His people (1
Peter 4:4).Uses:
1. To wean us from the vain glory of this world.
2. To encourage us to seek after this glorious estate by continuance in well-doing.
(T. Manton, D. D.)
The glory of Christ as exhibited in His people
J. Kay.I. IN THE EXCELLENCE OF THEIR CHARACTER. Whatever contributes to the
honour of an individual must in some way reflect His worth. The productions of an author form
the medium of His praise. Thus creation is the medium of the Creator's glory because it displays
His wisdom, power, and goodness. So at the last day the vast assembly of the redeemed deriving
all that they possess from the Saviour will be the medium through which the efficacy of His
atonement, the power of His grace, and the extent of His love will be manifested in an admiring
universe.
1. In estimating the improvement of an individual or the advancement of a community, it is
necessary to bear in mind their original condition. So informing a correct estimate of what the
Saviour does for His people it is necessary to remember —
(1)Their lowly origin.
(2)Their ignorance of God, Christ, salvation, duty, destiny.
(3)Their depravity. They were enemies of God, transgressors of the law, etc.
2. Who without grateful emotion can think of such as they shall finally appear in glory?
(1)The mists of ignorance shall be dispelled.
(2)All sin will be put away.
(3)They as lesser luminaries will reflect the glory and the grace of the Sun of Righteousness.

II. IN THE PERFECTION AND SECURITY OF THEIR BLISS.
1. There was a time when they were strangers to joy — through the indulgence of evil passions,
the gratification of evil propensities, distance from God.
2. At the judgment and onwards their bliss will be —(1) Perfect. After their conversion it was by
no means contemptible, but it was incomplete, and so imperfectly reflected Christ's glory.(2)
Secure. Here it is interrupted and not seldom destroyed; by and by no danger will alarm, enemy
intrude, or temptation seduce.Conclusion: Hence we see —
1. The dignity of the Christian character.
2. The Christian's glorious hope.
(J. Kay.)
Christ glorified in His saints
J. Vaughan, M. A."When He shall come." How many things are waiting that issue, how many
mysteries to be solved, purposes to be unfolded, longing hopes to be at rest!
1. Paul does not define the time — the word is one of studied indefiniteness — "When ever He
shall come." But the object is determined, viz., that Christ may be glorified and admired. Far and
above everything else on this grand day this will be the end of ends.
2. In this, that day only puts its right climax on all that went before; for this earth, from the
beginning was made to be a platform to exhibit Christ — the Fall, sorrow, death, the material
world.
3. This may be a comfort now. Who has not said, "I wish to glorify Christ — but do I, and can
I?" And the poor divided, sin-stained Church — it is pleasant to be assured that it will fully
glorify Christ then.
4. It does not say that Christ will be glorified, etc., by but in His saints — others will be the
admirers, angels, the assembled universe — we shall be the reflectors.
5. "Saints" here are the perfectly holy. Now holiness is the final end of man. All else, election,
redemption, grace, is only a means; and for the reason that Holiness is the image of God. That
there might be such an image was the end of the first creation and the second. Therefore when
every grace is complete the whole Deity will be represented in its fulness — the Father's love in
choosing, the Son's love in dying, the Spirit's love in moulding every man's life. That process
which went on day by day and slowly here, will be finished.
6. To "believe" is to take God at His word. And those who believe look very strange here. Men
cannot understand them. They seem to be giving up substances for shadows. But then the whole
world will see with astonishment the triumphs of faith, and the faithfulness of Jesus to His own
word.
7. You will do well to make much of the saints and to extol the virtues of the faithful, not for
hero worship but to gather from them the features of Christ and to imitate them.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christ marvelled atMany persons look upon Christians as common place holders of a
commonplace creed. Our Christianity is a story of marvels. It begins in wonder; it will never end.

I. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS, WHO WILL SEE, FOR
THE FIRST TIME, THE GREATNESS OF THE DELIVERANCE HE HAS WROUGHT FOR
THEM. There are those who look upon sin as a slight thing to be delivered from; but all through
the Bible we hear of Christ as the great Deliverer, because He comes to deliver us from sin. He is
great because He delivers from a great evil; and when we see how great Christ is He will he
"marvelled at by all them that believed." At present we take our salvation very coolly, as if it
were a small matter. We only half understand it now; but it will be far better understood some
day. And when we see it as we ought, as it is, then Jesus, who has wrought it all, will indeed be
"marvelled at" by us.
II. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS FOR THE COURSE OF
PROVIDENCE BY WHICH HE HAS LED THEM HOME. The Jewish people had a story of
marvels. Their rescue from Egypt was a wonder; their passage across the Red Sea was a wonder;
the saving of their life when the destroying angel passed over the land was a wonder; the water
for their thirst gushing from the rock was a wonder; the bread for their hunger falling from the
heaven was a wonder; and, in fine, the whole history of the people was one chain of wonders. So,
in truth, is the whole history of all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles. Though there seems
nothing particular in their lives, if they are looked at in a proper spirit, even those comparatively
prosaic, are charged with the elements of mystery. God has kept them in Jesus, has rescued them,
has carried them over many an abyss. They were not at all aware of it at the time; but they will
be fully aware of it "in that day," and they will marvel at their marvellous Leader. The history of
His salvation is continued in the history of His providence. So when they stand before Him as
His accepted ones they will see that He verily is the great marvel of their past. Many a marvel
has He done; but He Himself is the marvel of marvels.
III. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS, FORASMUCH AS HE
WILL BE SEEN AS HE IS. Himself a wonder, He will awake a wondering sentiment in the
hearts of those who, for the first time, see what He really is. This is the one revelation waited for.
We have seen many things, but we have not seen Christ; we have seen many deliverances, but
we have not seen the Deliverer; we have seen the temple, but we have not seen the Lord of the
temple. We talk to Christ every day, but we have not seen Him yet. In our spirit we have seen
Christ coming to our spirit — so seen Him that we have marvelled at His beauty, and understood
somewhat why those who actually saw Him in the clays of His flesh were so attracted to Him.
But Christ — "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely" — is sometimes
darkness upon darkness to our sinning soul, and no light shines out of the gloom. You remember
the story of a child during an eclipse sobbing until the darkness became so intense that the sobs
were hushed in terror; but when the darkness passed away, and the light came, the little one
clapped her hands, and cried, "Beautiful!" So with us; when He doth appear, and we see Him as
He is, He will be marvelled at for all the forms of beauty in His one Person.
Jesus admired in them that believe
C. H. Spurgeon.1. What a difference between the first and second comings of our Lord. When
He shall come a second time it will be to be glorified and admired, but when He came the first
time He was despised and rejected of men.
2. The design of Christ's return is to be glorified in His people. Even now His saints glorify Him.
When they walk in holiness they reflect His light: their holy deeds are beams from the Sun of
Righteousness. When they believe in Him they also glorify Him, because no grace pays lowlier
homage to the throne of Jesus.

3. We do not glorify Him as we could desire for too often we dishonour Him by our want of zeal
and our many sins. Happy day when this shall be no more possible.
I. THE SPECIAL GLORIFICATION HERE INTENDED.
1. The Time: "When He shall come." For this He waits, and the Church waits with Him.
2. In whom this glorification is to be found. He is glorified by what we do here, but at last He
will be glorified in what we are.(1) In His saints. All will be holy ones; but inasmuch as they are
believers the holiness with which they will honour Christ is a holiness based on faith in Him.(2)
"In all that believe." This is enlarged by the hint that they are believers in a certain testimony,
according to the bracketed sentence. The testimony of the apostles was concerning Christ — His
incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. All who believe this witness are saved. But
inasmuch as they are first said to be saints, this faith must be a living faith which renews the
character and shapes the life after the model of Christ.
3. By whom will Christ be glorified? He shines in His people but who shall see the glory?
(1)His own people. Every saint will admire Christ in Himself, and in his brother saints.
(2)His holy angels.
(3)Perhaps the inhabitants of other worlds.
(4)Satan and his defeated legions. These shall glorify Christ in His people, in whom they have
been completely overthrown.
4. In what degree? The very highest. Admiration means wonder; surpassing all conception.
Every one will be astonished, none more so than the saint himself.
5. In what respects?(1) On account of the number of the saints. "A great multitude whom no man
can number." Those who laughed will now see how the little one has become a thousand.(2) An
account of their quality. They shall be "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Absolutely
perfect.
II. THE SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS THIS TRUTH SUGGESTS.
1. That the principal subject for self-examination with us all should be — Am I a saint?
2. The small value of human opinion. When Christ was here the world reckoned Him a nobody,
and while His people are here they must expect to be judged in the same way. Never mind the
reproach which will then be silenced.
3. A great encouragement to seekers. If Christ is to be glorified in saved sinners will He not be
glorified indeed if He saved you?
4. An exhortation to believers. If Christ is to be honoured in His people let us think well of and
love them all. Some are uncomely, poor, ignorant; but do not, therefore, despise them.
5. An encouragement to all who love Jesus and bear testimony to His name.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The beauty of GodWhen Charles Kingsley was dying he seemed to have a glimpse of the
heavenly splendour into which he was going, and of God in His brightness and loveliness, and he
exclaimed, "How beautiful God is!" Every revelation of God that is made to us is a revelation of
beauty. Everywhere in nature, in flower that blooms, in bird that sings, in dewdrop that sparkles
on leaf or plant, in star that shines, in sunset that burns with splendour, we see disclosures or

reflections of God's beauty. In the Holy Scriptures, where the invisible God is manifested and
interpreted, every revelation of His character presents God to us in surpassing loveliness. Christ
was God manifest in the flesh, the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of His
person, and He was altogether lovely. Such enrapturing beauty the world has never seen
incarnated, save in that one blessed Life.
Christ glorifiedIn historical paintings, the principal personages whose history is to be represented
occupy the foreground, and stand out, as it were, from the other figures which occupy the
background. In the painting of the death of General Wolfe, who fell at Quebec, the dying hero
immediately arrests your attention; your eyes fasten upon him, and all your sympathies and
feelings are united there. So with the believer, it is Christ who occupies the foreground of his
vision. He is the glorious personage who continually fills his eye and secures his attention, and
makes every surrounding object little in its dimensions beside Him. It is Christ who died for him
at Calvary; this draws out his affections towards Him. All other objects are eclipsed in their
beauty, and have no beauty in comparison with Christ. "Whom have I in heaven," etc.
Christ reflected in His people
C. H. Spurgeon.You may have seen a room hung round with mirrors, and when you stood in the
midst you were reflected from every point: you were seen here, and seen there, and there again,
and there again, and so every part of you was reflected; just such is heaven, Jesus is the centre,
and all his saints like mirrors reflect His glory. Is He human? So are they! Is He the Son of God?
So are they sons of God! Is He perfect? So are they! Is He exalted? So are they! Is He a prophet?
So are they, making known unto principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God. Is He a
priest? So are they! Is He a king? So are they, for He hath made us priests and kings unto God,
and we shall reign forever and ever. Look where you will along the ranks of the redeemed, this
one thing shall be seen, the glory of Christ Jesus, even to surprise and wonder.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ glorified in His people
C. H. Spurgeon.As a king is glorious in his regalia, so will Christ put on His saints as His
personal splendour in that day when He shall make up His jewels. It is with Christ as it was with
that noble Roman matron, who when she called at her friends' houses and saw their trinkets,
asked them to come next day to her house, and she would exhibit her jewels. They expected to
see ruby, and pearl, and diamond, but she called in her two boys, and said, "These are my
jewels." Even so will Jesus instead of emerald and amethyst, and onyx and topaz, exhibit His
saints. "These are my choice treasures," saith He, "in whom I will be glorified." Solomon surely
was never more full of glory than when he had finished the temple, when all the tribes came
together to see the noble structure, and confessed it to be "beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth." But what will be the glory of Christ when all the living stones shall be put into
their places and His Church shall have her windows of agates and her gates of carbuncle, and all
her borders of precious stones? Then, indeed, will He be glorified, when the twelve foundations
of His new Jerusalem shall be courses of stones most precious, the like of which was never seen.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The day of Christ's glory and of the Church's joy
C. J. P. Eyre, M. A., W. Brock, D. D.Sometimes we read of "the last day," "the great day," —
here "that day"; because it is the day to which all other days point, in prospect of which all other

days come with their duties, trials, responsibilities; the day towards which the hopes of the
Church, founded on the promise of God, and the course of the world governed by the providence
of God, are both gradually tending, just as converging lines do to a point of contact. In heaven it
is the day longed for, for it is the day of the revelation of the great King, and the completion of
the brotherhood between angels and saints. On earth it is the day the Church sighs for, and over
the grave of her departed children she says, "Accomplish the number of Thine elect. Hasten
Thine appearing!" In hell it is the day feared, because there the angels who left their first estate
are reserved in everlasting chains, in darkness, unto the judgment of that great day. Of this day
the conscience of every one of us warns. It is not the mere induction of logic from the prevalence
of evil and the suffering and loss which attends goodness; it is no mere depression of spirits
through forfeiture of self-respect or fear of man, that punishes the poor victim of deep remorse,
when he shrinks from the reckoning to come; the evidence is in that man as surely as it may be
seen without him in the government of God's world, as surely as it may be seen before him in the
letter of God's Word; it is a portion of the economy of his constitution, the economy of every
rational mind, placed there by Him who made man. Scoffers in our day, as in St. Peter's, who
keep their eyes on the apparent constancy of the present order of things, may say, "Where is the
promise of His coming?" but a coming of some kind to judgment their very fears will show, and
the desire to shake the veracity of the promises of Scripture regarding that day is encouraged by
these secret fears. The coming of that day is as sure a thing as the existence of the Person of God,
the Judge of man. The revealed councils of the Trinity would be nugatory without it. If the
Father is gathering to Himself a great family, of which the everlasting Son is not ashamed to be
called the Brother, this is the day for the manifestation of that family. If He has promised to the
Redeemer that He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, that there shall be a public
acceptance of the children given Him and the possession of an earthly kingdom, this is the day
for the fulfilment of the engagement. Of this day the Holy Ghost has written, and to prepare men
for it He abides with the Church. And this day is called in Scripture, "the last day," "the day of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." He humbled Himself to humanity in the prospect of this day;
He hung upon the cross to win this day; the resurrection and ascension were only steps of
preparation towards this day; His heavenly life is an expectation of this day. Royalty not yet
enjoyed, hope not yet satisfied, glory not yet perfected, all wait for their fulness on that day when
"the Lord Jesus shall be revealed," etc.
The day of Christ's glory and of the Church's joy: —
I. HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. To glorify means to secure honour
or renown for a person. This prerogative Christ claims for Himself (John 11). He was glorified in
Lazarus; He shall be glorified in the saints:
1. In the number of His saints. Even now through a little flock, He receives honour through them.
But so little are they in comparison with the world around that the glory Christ receives now is
not worthy to be compared with that He will receive when "the multitude which no man can
number" will be gathered round Him, the largest of the two which shall be there. Do we not read
"All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord," "All flesh shall see the salvation of
God"? We may fairly infer that previous to the judgment there will be a vast accession to the
Church. One generation shall succeed to another each increasing, one and all combining to swell
the number of those of whom Christ spoke when He said, "I, if I be lifted up," etc.
2. In he harmony of the saints. This harmony was regarded by our Lord as of great importance. It
is true that this does not exist as it should to the shame of the Church. But there is unity, and that

unity redounds to the glory of Christ. But how much more shall it do so when every difference is
extinct, every error rectified, and every passion quelled. The great theological controversalists
will then see eye to eye, and the Saviour will then see His desire accomplished.
3. The holiness of the saints. This was one of the objects of Christ's death; His honour is
involved in it. How then will honour be secured, when body and soul, and the whole Church
shall be perfect.
II. HE WILL BE ADMIRED IN ALL WHO BELIEVE. You admire Him now even as seen in
His ordinances, and in prayer, Rut the hour is coming when that admiration shall be past
description.
1. His full possession of mediatorial glory shall lead you to admire Him. He will not come
amidst poverty and shame, but in flaming fire, etc. If the Saviour appears now as the "altogether
lovely," although we only see through a glass darkly, what will He appear to be when we see
Him face to face.
2. The universal acknowledgment of His supremacy shall lead you to admire Him — devils,
heathen, and all His enemies will bow before Him, and every tongue shall confess that He is
Lord.
3. The knowledge of what He has done will lead you to admire Him. We can conceive now, in
some measure, our obligation to Christ, but how little compared with what we shall know when
the depth of the depravity from which we have been rescued, the dreadfulness of the danger from
which we have been preserved, and the glory of the heaven to which we are introduced, are fully
revealed.Application:
1. Let Christians, animated by such a prospect, and possessed of such an inheritance, cherish
holy gratitude and practice grateful obedience.
2. Let the unconverted seriously consider the loss and peril of their position.
(W. Brock, D. D.)
Because our testimony among you was believed
The testimony believed
T. Manton, D. D.I. THE GREAT TEST OF CHRISTIANS IS BELIEVING. The promises run
everywhere in this strain (Mark 16:16; John 3:36).
II. FAITH OF ANY SORT IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST TRULY AND SINCERELY
BELIEVE (John 8:31; 1 Thessalonians 1:5). We distinguish between the two when the truths
believed have an effectual power to change our hearts and reform our lives (1 Thessalonians
2:13; Titus 1:16; Hosea 8:2).
III. THE MATTER WE ARE TO BELIEVE IS THE APOSTLE'S TESTIMONY
CONCERNING GOD'S GOOD WILL TO SINNERS IN CHRIST.
1. Christianity, or the doctrine of salvation by Christ, is a testimony. A testimony is the proof
necessary in matters that cannot otherwise be decided by rational deduction: as in two cases —
(1) In matters that depend upon the arbitrary will of another. If I want to know how a man stands
affected towards me, I must know it by his testimony. So none can know God's good will, but
those to whom He reveals it (Matthew 11:27).(2) In matters of fact. Matters of law are argued by
reason, matters of fact are only proved by credible witnesses; and in this respect the gospel is a

testimony. Its facts transpired necessarily in one place, but the knowledge of them concerns the
whole world.
2. This testimony is given —(1) By Christ (John 3:33; Revelation 3:14).(2) By the apostles who
were commissioned by Christ as His witnesses (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:32; Acts 10:39-41). This
testimony is valuable to produce a saving belief in Christianity.
(a)They had the testimony of sense (2 Peter 1:16, 17; 1 John 1:1-3).
(b)They were men of holiness and integrity (1 Corinthians 15:15).
(c)They were authorized by miracles (Hebrews 2:3, 4).
(d)Their testimony they gave in word and writing (Acts 4:33; 1 John 4:12).
(e)Christ prays for all who should believe through them (John 17:20).Use
1. Of information.(1) Of the nature of faith — belief of testimony. We can only believe on
testimony; we know by sense and reason.(2) The ground of faith. Christ and the apostle's
testimony as transmitted to us.
2. Of exhortation. Believe this testimony that you may make out your title to eternal life. If we
receive it not it will be a testimony against us. Two sorts will never be allowed for true believers.
(1)The careless (Matthew 13:19).
(2)The unsanctified who deny the faith (1 Timothy 5:8).
(T. Manton, D. D.)
Faith as a motive power
Prof. Tholuck.How could the question, Whether faith be a motive power, have ever been made
the subject of controversy? For many a year, every day and every hour has strengthened my
conviction that what a man believes, and what he does not believe, is either the lever or the bar to
all that he does. If I believe what, by his pale cheek, as well as by word of mouth, the messenger
announces — that sentence of death has been pronounced against me, and that tomorrow's dawn
will shine upon my scaffold; if I believe the intelligent architect when he assures me that the
beams which support the roof of my chamber must in a few hours give way; if I believe the
smooth tongue which whispers that my friend is a villain — is it possible that these things should
not prove to me a spur and a goad? Were faith, indeed, a mere imagination, and did it signify
nothing but the presentation to the mind's eye, of so many possibilities and shadowy images of
beauty, it might be otherwise. But faith is no such baseless picture drawn by the imagination. It is
a piece of myself, and what we believe penetrates through secret and unexplored passages, into
the deepest recesses of our being. It cannot be otherwise, therefore, than that a man's life is the
reflex of his faith. If thou believest in the breath of another world, then that breath will become
the soul of thy life.
(Prof. Tholuck.)
COMMENTARIES

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) When he shall come.—Not simply a repetition of
the temporal date which was mentioned in 2Thessalonians 1:7—“when the Lord,” &c—but an
introduction of the contrast which will be presented “in that day” by the spectacle of the glory of
the saints. Thus the penalty of 2Thessalonians 1:9 is made to appear greater, while at the same
time the readers’ minds are turned back to a more wholesome subject for meditation.
To be glorified in his saints.—This is not exactly the purpose, but the effect of His coming. A
comparison of John 13:31-32; John 14:13; John 17:10; 2Thessalonians 1:12; shows that the
saints are the objects on which and by which the glorious perfection of Christ is exhibited: to see
what the saints will be exalted to “in that day” will make all observers acknowledge, not the
holiness or greatness of the men, but the divine power of Him who was able so to exalt them. As
the persecutors were divided into two classes to be punished, so the saved are described under
two aspects: in contrast with “them that know not God” they are “saints,” i.e., fully consecrated
to God; in contrast with “them that obey not the gospel” they are “they that believed” (for the
past tense is the better reading), i.e., accepted the gospel. As the profane Gentiles, looking on the
saints, recognise the “glory” of the God whom they knew not, so the disobedient Jews, seeing the
faithful, are aptly filled with “wonder” (Acts 13:41), before they perish, at the glory to be
attained by obedience to the law of suffering.
Because our testimony.—Introduced to show why the writers had said specially “in all them that
believed” (the past tense is employed because it looks back from the Judgment Day to the
moment when the gospel was offered and the divergence between believers and unbelievers
began); the reason was, because among “all them that believed” the Thessalonians would be
found included.
In that day.—Added at the end to make the readers look once more (as it were) upon the
wonderful sight on which the writer’s prophetic eyes were raptly fixed.
MacLaren's Expositions 2 Thessalonians
CHRIST GLORIFIED IN GLORIFIED MEN
2 Thessalonians 1:10.
The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are the Apostle’s earliest letters, both give very
great prominence to the thought of the second coming of our Lord to judgment. In the immediate
context we have that coming described, with circumstances of majesty and of terror. He ‘shall be
revealed . . . with the angels of His power.’ ‘Flaming fire’ shall herald His coming; vengeance
shall be in His hands, punishment shall follow His sentence; everlasting destruction shall be the
issue of evil confronted with ‘the face of the Lord’--for so the words in the previous verse
rendered ‘the presence of the Lord’ might more accurately be translated.
And all these facts and images are, as it were, piled up in one half of the Apostle’s sky, as in
thunderous lurid masses; and on the other side there is the pure blue and the peaceful sunshine.
For all this terror and destruction, and flashing fire, and punitive vengeance come to pass in the
day when ‘He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that
believe.’
There be the two halves--the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the revelation of a stranger,

and the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the glorifying of Him who is their life.
I. The remarkable words which I have taken for my text suggest to us, first of all, some thoughts
about that striking expression that Christ is glorified in the men who are glorified in Christ.
If you look on a couple of verses you will find that the Apostle returns to this thought, and
expresses in the clearest fashion the reciprocal character of that ‘glorifying’ of which he has been
speaking. ‘The name of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ says he, ‘may be glorified in you, and ye in
Him.’
So, then, glorifying has a double meaning. There is a double process involved. It means either ‘to
make glorious’ or ‘to manifest as being glorious.’ And men are glorified in the former sense in
Christ, that Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes them glorious by
imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty of His own perfect character, in order
that that light, received into their natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously manifest from
their redeemed perfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, before a whole universe,
of Him who has thus endued their weakness with His own strength, and transmuted their
corruptibility into His own immortality. We are glorified in Christ in some partial, and, alas!
sinfully fragmentary, manner here; we shall be so perfectly in that day. And when we are thus
glorified in Him, then--wondrous thought!--even we shall be able to manifest Him as glorious
before some gazing eyes, which without us would have seen Him as less fair. Dim, and therefore
great and blessed thoughts about what men may become are involved in such words. The highest
end, the great purpose of the Gospel and of all God’s dealings with us in Christ Jesus is to make
us like our Lord. As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly. ‘We, beholding the glory, are changed into the glory.’
And that glorifying of men in Christ, which is the goal and highest end of Christ’s Cross and
passion and of all God’s dealings, is accomplished only because Christ dwells in the men whom
He glorifies. We read words applying to His relation to His Father which need but to be
transferred to our relation to Him, in order to teach us high and blessed things about this
glorifying. The Father dwelt in Christ, therefore Christ was glorified by the indwelling divinity,
in the sense that His humanity was made partaker of the divine glory, and thereby He glorified
the divinity that dwelt in Him, in the sense that He conspicuously displayed it before the world as
worthy of all admiration and love.
And, in like manner, as is the Son with the Father, participant of mutual and reciprocal
glorification, so is the Christian with Christ, glorified in Him and therefore glorifying Him.
What may be involved therein of perfect moral purity, of enlarged faculties and powers, of a
bodily frame capable of manifesting all the finest issues of a perfect spirit, it is not for us to say.
These things are great, being hidden; and are hidden because they are great. But whatever may
be the lofty heights of Christlikeness to which we shall attain, all shall come from the indwelling
Lord who fills us with His own Spirit.
And, then, according to the great teaching here, this glorified humanity, perfected and separated
from all imperfection, and helped into all symmetrical unfolding of dormant possibilities, shall

be the highest glory of Christ even in that day when He comes in His glory and sits upon the
throne of His glory with His holy angels with Him. One would have thought that, if the Apostle
wanted to speak of the glorifying of Jesus Christ, he would have pointed to the great white
throne, His majestic divinity, the solemnities of His judicial office; but he passes by all these,
and says, ‘Nay! the highest glory of the Christ lies here, in the men whom He has made to share
His own nature.’
The artist is known by his work. You stand in front of some great picture, or you listen to some
great symphony, or you read some great book, and you say, ‘This is the glory of Raphael,
Beethoven, Shakespeare.’ Christ points to His saints, and He says, ‘Behold My handiwork! Ye
are my witnesses. This is what I can do.’
But the relation between Christ and His saints is far deeper and more intimate than simply the
relation between the artist and his work, for all the flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual
perfectness which Christian men can hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ
that dwells in them, ‘and of whose fulness all they have received.’ Like some poor vapour, in
itself white and colourless, which lies in the eastern sky there, and as the sun rises is flushed up
into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the light amongst its flaming threads and
vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves pale, ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the
Alpine snow passes off them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ, shall blush and flame in
beauty. ‘Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in my Father’s kingdom.’ Or, rather
they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting the light of Christ, who is their
light.
And perchance some eyes, incapable of beholding the sun, may be able to look undazzled upon
the sunshine in the cloud, and some eyes that could not discern the glory of Christ as it shines in
His face as the sun shineth in its strength, may not be too weak to behold and delight in the light
as it is reflected from the face of His servants. At all events, He shall come to be glorified in the
saints whom He has made glorious.
II. And now, notice again, out of these full and pregnant words the other thought, that this
transformation of men is the great miracle and marvel of Christ’s power.
‘He shall come to be admired’--which word is employed in its old English signification, ‘to be
wondered at’--’in all them that believe.’ So fair and lovely is He that He needs but to be
recognised for what He is in order to be glorified. So great and stupendous are His operations in
redeeming love that they need but to be beheld to be the object of wonder. ‘His name shall be
called Wonderful,’ and wonderfully the energy of His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall then
have wrought itself out to its legitimate end. There you get the crowning marvel of marvels, and
the highest of miracles. He did wonderful works upon earth which we rightly call miraculous,--
things to be wondered at--but the highest of all His wonders is the wonder that takes such
material as you and me, and by such a process, and on such conditions, simply because we trust
Him, evolves such marvellous forms of beauty and perfectness from us. ‘He is to be wondered at
in all them that believe.’
Such results from such material! Chemists tell us that the black bit of coal in your grate and the

Jesus was to be a marvel to all believers

Jesus was to be a marvel to all believers

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