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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Our gathering together unto Him.’
2Th_2:1
I. Around Whom we gather.—It is the Lord Jesus Christ, God of God, Man of Man, coessential with the Father, coessential with us, Son of the Infinite, Son of the Virgin, Lamb of the Sacrifice, Victor of the Resurrection, Priest upon His Throne, King reigning and to return, Head of the Church, Corner-stone of the Creation, Dweller in our hearts, Saviour of our souls, Friend of our sorrows and our joys, Companion of our life and of our death, and of our heaven—it is He around Whom we gather and are one.
II. Our union, if it has the Christian life within it, must needs be not only deep but ever deepening still.—And so it will be, on the one condition that we draw ever nearer, in simplest faith, in worshipping love, to Him. So doing we shall, as we can never otherwise do, in this restless and perplexing time, all always draw towards one another, and be also instruments of edification, of true cohesion, in the Church and in the world around us.
III. Ours is a period of profound unrest.—It is full of more than normal perils of centrifugal disturbance. Never in modern times was there so importunate a need for all the virtues of humility, of self-restraint, of a tolerance wholly other than indifference, of jealous truthfulness, of anxious fairness, of the noble modesty and candour of love. Without these virtues, I frankly own, I see little hope for that Church for which we think we could die, and for which we pray to live, that she will long escape not only disestablishment from her immemorial national place and relation—England’s crowning benefit, as I think—but disruption within her own society. And we, if we would, from our varying points of conviction and sympathy, work, and work together, for her life, and peace, and holy power—we must ourselves be ever more and more ‘gathering together unto Him.’
IV. For nearness to Him is the place of mental and spiritual peace; of holy humbleness and holy courage; of deeper insights into other hearts; of larger and longer views of the proportions of truth and of duty; of the patience which is power, of the loving faith which is victory; of foretastes, as from a Pisgah, of the eternal country, such as to enable us, in the life of hope, to meet aright the duties of the way. In our inmost souls, in our secret chambers, in our holy worship, in our preaching, our teaching, our converse, our spirit, we will each resolvedly get nearer to Him Who is our all. So inevitably we shall draw and converge together with a coalescence which, true and beautiful in itself, is sure, through the lives and ministries of this company of pastors, to tell far and wide for the benefit of the Church of God and the glory of His Name.
—
Bishop H. C. G. Moule.
Illustration‘Man is a social being; and, go where you will, people, as a rule, like ‘gathering together.’ Christmas, e.g., is peculiarly a time when English people like to ‘gather together’; it is the season when family meetings have become a national institution, in town and country, among rich and poor. It is indeed the one time in the twelvemonth, with many, for seeing their friends. Business is at a standstill for a space. Poor and shallow the philosophy, hard and cold the religion, which sneers at Christmas gatherings. Anything that helps to keep up family affection and brotherly love is a positive good for a country. Long may the custom last!’
‘Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.’
2Th_2:1
I. What will be the manner of this ‘gathering’?—This is plainly revealed in Holy Scripture. The dead saints shall be raised, and the living saints shall all be changed (Rev_20:13; 1Th_4:16-17; 1Co_15:51-52). And this ‘gathering’ will be great, wonderful, humbling:
(a) Great—because all the people of God, from the first saint of God’s to the last born at the time of His Coming, out of every nation, all shall be assembled together.
(b) Wonderful—because His saints in different ages and from different climes, who have never seen each other in the flesh, nor know each other’s native tongues, shall form one harmonious throng; the confusion of tongues shall cease (Rev_5:13; Rev_7:9-10). Moreover, many will be there whom we might never have expected to see at all (St. Mat_19:30).
(c) Humbling—because an end will then be made of all that disfigured and hampered the ‘Church’ on earth—an end to bigotry, party spirit, religious jealousy, and pride. They will meet there in perfect agreement who refused to meet on earth; all differences will be sunk, for at last all will be completely ‘clothed with humility’ (1Pe_5:5).
II. What will be the object of this ‘gathering’?—For the safety and reward of Christ’s people. However fearful the signs of the impending Judgment, His saints will have no cause to tremble, or to dread the great day of their ‘gathering together’; they shall be hidden in the secret place of the Most High. And this ‘gathering together’ will mark the inauguration of their exceeding great and final reward; complete justification from all guilt will be declared to all; each will receive that ‘crown of glory which fadeth not away’ and ‘the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world’; and the great throng will be admitted publicly into the joy of their Lord.
III. Why is this ‘gathering together’ of His people a thing to be desired?—Because
(a) It will be a state totally unlike their present condition. To be scattered rather than gathered seems to be the rule on earth. Few continue long together even during their lives here. Children, parents, friends, fellow-workers, fellow-Christians, are being continually forced asunder from various causes; and, as life draws to its close, many a one is left almost alone. The hour is coming when there shall be no such thing as separation and loneliness. There will be no lack of company in that great ‘gathering together.’
(b) It will be an assembly of one mind and one heart. There are none such now. Mixture, hypocrisy, disunion, false profession, discord, creep in everywhere here. The tares grow together with the wheat. The foolish virgins tarry along with the wise. There is a Judas and a Demas in every Christian congregation; and wherever the ‘sons of God’ come together, Satan is sure to appear among them. But this will cease on that Day, when our Lord shall present to the Father a perfect Church ‘having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing’ (Eph_5:27).
(c) It will be a ‘gathering’ at which none shall be absent. The weakest lamb will not be left behind in the wilderness. We shall hold communion with all the saints of God who have fought the good fight before us from the beginning of the world. We shall once more see our dear ones who fell asleep in Jesus, better, more beautiful, than we knew them on earth.
(d) It will be a ‘meeting’ without a ‘parting.’ There are no such meetings now. ‘Good-bye’ is ever treading on the heels of ‘How are you?’ The cares and duties of life seem to eat up all our days and to make any appreciable period of inter-communion impossible. But the hour cometh when ‘farewell’ shall be buried for ever; when we shall meet in that endless state of ‘blessedness’ to part no more. No wonder the Apostle Paul bids us look up and look forward.
—
Bishop J. C. Ryle.