2 Thessalonians 1:9

2 Thessalonians 1:9. Eternal destruction. This is the penalty to be paid by those who reject the Gospel and will not know God a destruction which is to be rendered permanent by the severance of those who suffer it from the source of all good desire and endeavour. ‘A testimony, this, to the eternity of future punishment that is not easy to be explained away' (Ellicott).

From the presence of the Lord. The preposition ‘from' is here not only either causal or local, but both. The destruction is caused by the presence of the Lord; that very thing which is the hope and stay of all blessedness, becoming now the source of destruction. How are men to be reclaimed if the very presence on which all holy desire and life depend, becomes destruction to them? This meaning is determined by the passages in Isaiah, from which the phraseology is derived. See Isaiah 2:10; Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21. But the destruction also consists in banishment from the Lord. The doom of the cursed is, ‘Depart from me' (Matthew 25:41). As to be ‘ever with the Lord' was used in the First Epistle as the sum and security of all blessedness, so here to be driven from the Lord is complete destruction.

From the glory of his power. Those to whom His power is unfriendly, and who have no expectation that it will be exerted in their behalf, will flee from its glory. Those glorious appearances which shall somehow convey to men the idea that the power of Christ is almighty, will terrify and destroy those who have hated or rejected Him.