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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Thessalonians 2:17 - 2:17
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Observe here, that St. Paul having all along, in the chapter before us, compared himself to a tender father, and a nursing mother, for his affectionate love unto, and his solicitous concern for, these Christian converts; he doth in the words before us, declare, that this constrained absence from them, occasioned him no less grief than that of a tender father, when bereft of his beloved children; or that of an indulgent mother, when the child she loves as her own soul is taken violently from her.
We, brethren, being taken from you; the words intimate such a separation as death makes between a father and a child, which rends the parent's heart in sunder, and is like cutting off a limb or member from his body, exquisitely painful; intimating, that the enforced absence of a pastor from his beloved people, though but for a short season, is very afflictive. Ah! how heart-rending then is a total and final separation from each other, occasioned either by natural or civil death!
Observe, 2. St. Paul tells them, that though persecutors had deprived them of his bodily presence, yet not of his heart, for though not in body, yet in mind he was present with them; minister and people, like true lovers, are present with each other in soul, when separated in body. It is a singular comfort to Christians under persecution, that their enemies can neither deprive them of the presence of God, nor the prayers of their faithful ministers; their prayers may meet, when their persons are distant, and they may be present in spirit, in heart, and affection, when at the ends of the earth.
Observe, 3. How he expresses his desire and endeavour, his fervent purpose, and fixed resolution to come unto them, to see their face, to refresh them, and be refreshed by them; I endeavoured abundantly to see your face, but Satan hindered; that is, his instruments, persecutors, lay in wait for him, on the one hand, and caused some dissentions in other churches, which detained him from coming to them; on the other hand, Satan hindered.
Learn thence, that such as obstruct the preaching and propagating of the gospel, and persecute the promoters of it, are Satan's instruments and ministers.
2. That such as do Satan's work, it is fit they should bear this name.
3. Thus The devil shall cast some of you into prison Rev_2:13, that is, his servants: It is fit that master and servant should have both one name.