The next chapter, 2 Thessalonians 3, closes the epistle with divers desires, and a prayer for them that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ. The keynote is thus maintained from first to last. As Christ waits to come, so should we, that we may meet Him then. But the Apostle would not have this hope nor the Lord Himself dishonored by the reproach of disorderly ways. And thus he nowhere more enjoins the duty of honorable industry, appealing to his own example, than in the epistles which most insist on Christ’s coming as the proximate and constant hope of the Christian. If any would pervert such a truth, or any other, to idleness and disorder, he was to be marked as unworthy of Christian companionship, not of course counted an enemy (like the wicked or heretics), but admonished as a brother. Idleness is fruitful of disorder and the foe of peace, which the Apostle desired for them from the Lord of peace Himself always and in every way.
May we seriously heed the truth, and its immediate application to our consciences and ways! May God give us quiet energy without restlessness or excitement, but so much the more calmly, because of the realized nearness of the Lord’s return, and the solemn consequences for all mankind Oh for an earnest, burning zeal; for self-denying love; for hearts devoted to Christ, which might warn men of their impending destruction, that, if they have not been won by His love, they may at least tremble at the hopeless inextricable ruin in which their unbelief will soon leave them forever.