1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?… That one word "glory" gathers up all the rays of light which stream from the others into its focus. They are his halo of glory now and evermore. Believers, or at least those who are specially engaged in His service, are described in 2 Corinthians 8:23 as "the glory of Christ." They are also in a lower sense the glory of Christ's ministers. The pastor will find in his congregation either his glory or his shame. It was the boast of the Jews that to them had been given three crowns — the crown of the law, the crown of the priesthood, and the royal crown. These they highly prized, but they often added, better than these is the crown of a good name. Paul's crown of a good name in the presence of Christ Jesus was his converts. The same crown is offered to us all, and is in keeping for us all if we are found faithful. History tells us that when in Philip II's reign a rebel claimed and gained the crown of Granada, he bore at the ceremony of coronation in his right hand a banner bearing the inscription "More I could not desire, less would not have contented me." These words cease to be presumptuous and become the utterance of truest wisdom only, when they refer to the crown of heavenly rejoicing, and when they are the legend of the banner under which he fights in "the sacramental host of God's elect." In view of the truth that converts are the crown of boasting in store for all faithful witnesses for Christ, the words are invested with a solemn significance "We live if ye stand fast in the Lord." "Now, little children, abide ye in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." (J. Hutchison, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? |
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