2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.… I. ENCOURAGEMENT TO DEPEND UPON GOD. 1. The Divine Promiser. "The Lord is faithful" to His promises, and is the Lord who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), who will not alter the thing that is gone out of His mouth. He is faithful to His relation to us, to His own truth, to His own character. Men may be faithless and false, but God never. They may refuse to embrace the gospel, and set themselves against it, but God will not abandon His great purpose on which He has set His heart, and on which He has pledged His word. Even many who are members of the Church may forget their sacred and solemn vows, and may show no fidelity to the cause of their Redeemer, but God Himself will never abandon that cause. To a pious mind it affords unspeakably more consolation to reflect that a faithful God is the friend of the cause which we love, than it would were all men, in and out of the Church, its friends. 2. The Divine Performer. When once the promise has been made, performance is sure and certain. There may be indifference in man on the one hand, and opposition on the other, "but the Lord will work, and who shall let it?" and the result will correspond both with the work and the Worker. II. A FURTHER GROUND OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 1. Their obedience in the past. The Apostle had, in the Lord's stead, commanded them to do certain things, and for the Lord's sake they had done all they were commanded to do. They were not like Saul, the first king of Israel, who, tempted by Satan, preferred rather to do as he wished than as he was divinely directed, not knowing then that obedience was better than all the sacrifices ever offered to the Lord, and hearkening to Him than the fat of countless rams (1 Samuel 15:16-23). 2. Their obedience in the future. The experience the Apostle had of their obedience in the time past was firm ground for his confidence that they would do the things commanded them for the time to come, and it was also firm ground to hope that whatever they asked of God they should receive from Him, because they kept His commandments, and did those things that were pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14, 15). 3. But chiefly the Apostle's confidence in them was founded upon his confidence in God. Though they had done well in the past, they might, some time or other, weary in well-doing; but the Lord would remain faithful; and though heaven and earth might pass away, not one jot or tittle of His word would fail. "The foundation of the Lord is sure." (D. Mayo.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.WEB: But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one. |
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