TWO WHENS | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 1, 1868

TWO WHENS.

“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”

It will be noticed that in this portion of Scripture, time is twice introduced by the word “when.” The righteous who are in this life troubled by the wicked, are to be recompensed with rest, and those who know not God and obey not the gospel of Christ are to suffer tribulation and vengeance, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in flaming fire with his mighty angels. This latter class are further to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. When? “When he shall come,” says Paul, “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”

Here, either another period of time is introduced, or there is a repetition of the same time referred to in verse 7. If the time is the same as that referred to in verse 7, a reason can hardly be assigned why it should be repeated here. But if by the second when, another time is introduced, the passage is relieved of tautology, and of a very considerable difficulty in another respect also.

At the time introduced in verse 10, the wicked are to be punished with everlasting destruction. The time mentioned in verse 7, is evidently the time of the second appearing of the Saviour in the clouds of heaven. If, then, the time is the same in both instances, we have the living wicked punished with everlasting destruction at the second advent. This would seem to preclude the idea, in their cases, of a subsequent resurrection and a second death. But the second coming of Christ is not the time for the final punishment of the wicked; and the idea that those who are destroyed by that event will never be raised, to be judged and to perish in the second death, though it is in accordance with the theory of the non-resurrection of the wicked, cannot be made to harmonize with the Scriptures.

From this difficulty does not Paul’s second “when” relieve us? For although the second advent is referred to in verse 7, may not the second mention of time carry us forward to the end of the thousand years, the time when everlasting punishment is inflicted upon all the wicked, according to other scriptures? Do not the tribulation and vengeance of verses 6 and 8, include all that they suffer at the second advent, and must we not therefore look to a subsequent period for the everlasting destruction of verse 9? and does not Paul again use the word, when, thus again introducing the idea of time, for the purpose of shewing this fact, and carrying us, in the application of verse 9, forward to the end of the thousand years?

How shall this question be decided? We have glanced at the advantages of supposing verses 9 and 10 to refer to a period subsequent to that mentioned in verse 7; and in view of these advantages such an interpretation must stand, unless there shall be found to exist good and valid reasons against it. What, then, can be the objection against it? There can be none, unless there is something in the language connected with the second when, to confine its application to the time of the second advent. The language is, “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” The word glorified is from a word which signifies, “to be rendered conspicuous, to be exalted by praise and adoration.”

The Lord can thus be glorified in his saints only by their giving praise and glory to him. But is there anything in this work to confine it to the time of the second advent? While the saints will doubtless glorify their Lord then, they do it also at other times. Even in this present state the Lord is glorified in his people. John xvii, 10. But yet the great and pre-eminent time of his being glorified in them, seems to be that hour of universal jubilee of which John speaks, when he says, “And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.” And this certainly is after every rebel against the government of God has ceased to exist, after everlasting punishment has been inflicted upon the wicked. And then, when the saints enter upon their full reward, when nothing more remains to be done to vindicate the honor of God, and finish the redemption undertaken by the Son, when the curse has come to an end, and sin and all its effects and all its agents are no more, when the plan of salvation completed stands forth in all its perfection and beauty, will not the Lord be glorified by his people, as they have never been able to do it before? Will not the admiration of those who have believed, and by believing have secured a share in the ineffable glory, rise to a point never before attained? And when the Lord comes to be thus glorified in his saints, and admired of them that believe, then it is that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.