“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace…“
Paul breaks forth in a benediction in verses 16 and 17. He prays that the Thessalonians would have sustaining grace during their troubles.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ
Paul addresses his prayer to two members of the Trinity.
Himself,
The word “Himself” is emphatic in Greek. The Lord Jesus Christ (full title) will guarantee by His very own might, as contrasted to our frailty, the effectiveness of our prayer.
and our God and Father,
Paul views both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, operating as one in sustaining the Thessalonians.
Principle:
The Son and the Father team up to answer prayer.
Application:
Both the Son and the Father answer prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father personally guarantee to answer prayer.
No one can know “God” as “Father” unless he is born into God’s family. Otherwise, he is an outsider. God is our Creator by physical birth but not our Father. When we are born the second time by spiritual birth, He then becomes our Father.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).
The universal brotherhood of man is a lie. There are two supernatural fathers. One is God the Father, and the other is “your father the devil.”
“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. ‘But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me‘” (John 8:44-45).
Have you been born into the family of God?
“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7).
