“…the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8 NASB).
Most people have an image of the Lord Jesus as being so meek to the point of powerlessness. The heretic Catholic system with its obsession of images has portrayed Him for centuries on crosses, still suffering, being mocked, His body covered in blood and without power to defend Himself. A short trip to any Catholic building can confirm this. It is true that the 4 Gospel records and the Hebrew Scriptures inform us that He was crucified for 6 hours, flogged, mocked, spat on, rejected, disfigured and finally killed, yet it is also true that the Gospels together with the Old Testament tell us that He rose again in power and divine authority, never to be in subjection again to death, but to reign over all creation forever. Therefore, His humiliation was for a short time, but His glorious exaltation has always been forever. Even before the cross, He already had His sight fixed on the glory that would follow by asking the Father to glorify Him ( John 17:1-2, 5, 24). He went even a step further by calling His victory as if already accomplished when He assured His disciples of overcoming the evil world system(John 16:33) hours before He was even arrested. It is as if He said to the apostles and us: yes, I have come to suffer and die to pay for sins, but that will not be my last state. A detailed study of His words reveals that His intention all along was to finish the work the Father gave Him to do and go back to His eternal glory. At one point and while revealing that He was the true spiritual food that came down from heaven to provide eternal life to mankind, He even referenced to His majestic and pre-incarnation glory (John 6:62) as to elicit His listeners to look beyond the present lowly state He subjected Himself to.
As a matter of fact, it is the message of the cross that makes past and present Jews stumble over His messiahship(1 Corinthians 1:23) since they always expected the Messiah of Israel “…to remain forever…” (John 12:34 NASB), although disregarding the prophecies concerning His sufferings, such as the entire chapter of Isaiah 53. Yes, it was “…necessary for the Christ to suffer…”, but it was also necessary for Him “…to enter into His glory” after His cross and tomb (Luke 24:26 NASB). For reasons solely based on wrong preconceptions about the career of Messiah, the disciples could not comprehend that the same Lord, who was able to die, was also able to rise again to reign over all creation. And this is the position my Lord has right now, reigning in majestic glory over all the creative order. In addition, the main reason and purpose that we were given the book of Revelation was to show all mankind the glory My King Jesus possesses, never to lose it or set it aside again. He is now the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and all humanity would do well to kiss and pay homage to Him (Psalm 2:12) because next time He appears it will not be to pay for sin, in humiliation, but to destroy those who reject His message of salvation. He is not Santa Claus that gives gifts to all irrespective of their manner of life. He “…will appear a second time for salvation…to those who eagerly await Him” (Hebrews 9:28 NASB) and to “…render to each person according to his deeds ” (Romans 2:6 NASB), and those who have spurned His gospel of love “… will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…” (2 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB).
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