(3.) How willing God is to manifest himself to us by his Spirit : ' In thy light we shall see light ; ' and God hath promised, Jer. xxiv. 7, ' I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God ; for they shall return unto me with their whole hearts.' You must take your lot and por- tion. God will not fail the waiting: soul.
SERMON VII.
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. — 2 Thes. i. 9.
In the former verse the judgment is spoken of ; here the punishment of the wicked. Which is set forth —
1. Generally, they shall be punished with everlasting destruction.
2. Particularly. Two branches of it are mentioned — (1.) The poena damni, ' From the presence of the Lord.' (2.) The poena sensus, ' From the glory of his power.' Some make them to be the two principal causes of their punishment, the face of the Lord, and his glorious power ; the wrathful countenance of Christ shall bring this punishment upon them, and his power shall execute it ; or the sentence shall come out of Christ's mouth, and be put in execution by his power ; as David, Ps. xvii. 2, ' Let thy sentence come forth from thy presence ; ' when he desired God to appear in the trial of his innocency. So the wicked shall then be condemned by Christ him- self, who shall then appear in glory and sovereign power. But I rather stick to the former exposition, as noting the parts of their punish- ment.
[1.] 'From the presence of the Lord.' I interpret it, as Beza doth, they shall be cast out from the presence of Christ, expulsi a facie Dom- ini ; as also, Mat. xxv. 41, ' Depart, ye cursed.'
[2.] And ' from the glory of his power.' That noteth the punishment of pain, expressed by fire, which signifieth the wrath of God. The wicked shall be punished by the immediate power of God.
Doct. That the punishment of the wicked at the last day shall be exceeding terrible and dreadful.
I will amplify it by going over the words of the text.
First, It is generally described ; they ' shall be punished with ever- lasting destruction.' Where we have — (1.) The estate : (2.) The duration of it.
VER. 9.] SERMONS UPON 2 THESSALONIANS I. 255
1. The estate itself. It is called 'destruction,' S\e0pov Ticrovcnv. So 1 Thes. v. 3, ' Sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child.' In Mat. vii. 13, the broad way leadeth to destruction ; and Bom. ix. 22, 'The vessels of wrath fitted to destruc- tion.' In both places, airoiKeiav ; and so Phil. iii. 19, ' Whose end is destruction.' In all these places, by ' destruction ' is meant eternal dam- nation, called sometimes perdition or destruction, 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; some- times corruption, Gal. vi. 8 ; meaning thereby, not an abolition of their being, but their well-being. Annihilation would be a favour to the wicked ; then they wish they never had a being, or might presently cease to be. No ; the substance neither of their souls or bodies is not annihilated, but shall be upheld to all eternity by the mighty power of God ; but it is a destruction and loss of all their felicity and happi- ness.
[1.] Of all their carnal happiness, their glory, pleasure, and gain, wherein they placed their whole contentment and satisfaction, that shall cease, and the world, which is the fuel of it, shall be burnt up before their eyes.
[2.] Their loss of the true happiness, which lieth in the favour of God, and all the joys and blessedness which are bestowed upon the godly ; this they are deprived of. They have a being, but a being under punishment, under torment. God doth not take away the being of a sinner, but he taketh away the comfort of his being, his well-being ; he doth totally bereave him of all comfort, and body and soul is cast into hell-fire, Luke xii. 5, where they languish and pine away under the wrath of a highly provoked and then irreconcilable God.
2. It is eternal destruction, not fully accomplished in a moment, but continueth for ever. What is here called ' everlasting destruction,' is elsewhere called ' everlasting fire,' Mat. xxv. 41, and ' everlasting pun- ishment,' ver. 46. The loss is everlasting ; the wicked are everlastingly deprived of the favour of God, and of the light of his countenance. When Absalom was not admitted to see his father's face, ' Kill me,' saith he, ' rather than let it be always thus,' 2 Sam. xiv. 32. But the wicked are never more suffered to come into the presence of God, who is the fountain of all peace and joy ; therefore how miserable will their condition be ! Besides, the pain will be eternal as well as the loss. Their misery is represented in scripture by everything that is terrible ; sometimes by death, which is so much feared, and it is everlasting death, for they never return to life and happiness again ; sometimes by fire, and it is everlasting fire ; the fire never goeth out, and the flame never ceaseth ; sometimes by chains and prisons, and it is everlasting chains of darkness ; and sometimes by weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and this wailing is for evermore. There is no time when this fire shall go out, or these chains be loosed, or these wailings cease, or heaven or hell have any period.