II Thessalonians 1:9
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They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Who--Greek, "persons who," &c. destruction from the presence of the Lord--driven far from His presence [ALFORD]. The sentence emanating from Him in person, sitting as Judge [BENGEL], and driving them far from Him (Mat 25:41; Rev 6:16; Rev 12:14; compare Pe1 3:12; Isa 2:10, Isa 2:19). "The presence of the Lord" is the source whence the sentence goes forth; "the glory of His power" is the instrument whereby the sentence is carried into execution [EDMUNDS]. But ALFORD better interprets the latter clause (see Th2 1:10), driven "from the manifestation of His power in the glorification of His saints." Cast out from the presence of the Lord is the idea at the root of eternal death, the law of evil left to its unrestricted working, without one counteracting influence of the presence of God, who is the source of all light and holiness (Isa 66:24; Mar 9:44).
Open source ↗After the introduction (Th2 1:1, Th2 1:2) the apostle begins this epistle with an account of his high esteem for these Thessalonians (Th2 1:3, Th2 1:4). He then comforts them under their afflictions and persecutions (Th2 1:5-10) and tells them what his prayers were to God for them (Th2 1:11, Th2 1:12).
Open source ↗1:9 They will be punished for rejecting the message about Christ (1:8). • Eternal destruction (see 1 Thes 5:3; 1 Tim 6:9) is irrevocable. • Separated from the Lord refers to the source of the judgment to come (Isa 2:10, 19, 21).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.