And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven.

Although presently the church of Jesus Christ must go through times of trial and persecution, a time of rest is coming—an eternity of rest, actually. It will come when the Lord Jesus returns from heaven “with his mighty angels, in flaming fire,” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). At that time those who believe in Jesus will receive rest, but those who do not believe “will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power,” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Those who do not believe will never have rest again.

It is helpful and hopeful that the Apostle Paul reminds us that our faith in Jesus Christ will one day be rewarded with rest. In this life many of us have received ill treatment for our faith. These times of trial and persecution are tiresome. They wear us out. The hope of a time of rest, the hope of a time of relief is encouraging. It helps us to hold on. It helps us to not give up. We may have troubles now, but the future is bright.

Paul says that the time of rest is not just for us, but for him and his companions as well. Paul often made the point that our glorious future will be a shared future. He says, “We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you,” (2 Corinthians 4:14); and he says, “And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing,” (2 Timothy 4:8). At that future time, given Paul’s point, we will be able to meet Paul, his companions like Silas and Timothy, and all the other saints of the Bible that have meant so much to us in this life.

The promise of rest, however, is not exclusively a future reality. In the book of Hebrews it says, “So God’s rest is there for people to enter,” (Hebrews 4:6). And already, by faith, we may enter into that rest (Hebrews 4:3). Already, even in the midst of our trials and persecutions, our faith allows us to experience a rest of God that is a foretaste of the ultimate rest that is yet to come.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International