“Our “positive confession” is what God says, not what we creatively speak. And the good news of the gospel is not that we can demand what we want from God and he is then required to give it. No, it is that despite our wretched, sinful condition and rebellion against God, he has lavishly given us Christ and all his blessings. Therefore, we are in his service. His demands are good, and we must obey.”

Last Sunday my family spent the day in Frederick, Md, so we attended the PCA church there. Rev. John Armstrong has been preaching through 2 Thessalonians, and the text for the day was 2 Thess. 2:16-17:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

If you didn’t know better, you may read this thinking it is the end of the epistle. Isn’t that when the benediction is usually given—at the end? Like Pavlov’s dogs slobbering away at the sound of the dinner bell, we are trained by our good liturgy to stand up and sing our last song of worship when we hear the invocation of blessing. But here is a benediction in the middle chapter of 2 Thess. What’s the deal?

Rev. Armstrong reminded the congregation what he had been preaching through in the previous weeks. Paul has been dealing with very hard topics such as persecution, judgment, and the man of lawlessness. And so, as he is exhorting the Thessalonians to stand firm, he adds a benediction. They’re not just for the end of epistles and worship services.

Before the actual blessing, we hear something about who God is and what he has done. Rev. Armstrong pointed out that here we see the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned before God our Father. Just by the order of words, we have a bold statement about the deity of Christ and our doctrine of the trinity. But I’m going to leave that kid in the study and move on to the next part of the verse on what God has done. He has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.

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