and to you that are troubled repose with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with [the] angels of his power,
Paul writes to believers under persecution. His comfort is not that their trouble will soon end, but that the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven — and that day will bring them rest and bring their persecutors trouble.
The Word "Rest"
The word behind "rest" carries a picture — a tight cord going slack.
The word anesis, from a verb meaning 'to loose', is more the relaxing of cords or bonds, or rest from tribulation. Felix ordered the centurion to let Paul have 'liberty' and that his friends might visit him. Acts 24:23. While Paul waited to hear how the Corinthians had taken his first letter, he had no 'rest' in his spirit until Titus arrived... He also speaks tenderly of the saints at Thessalonica passing out of their tribulation into 'rest' or 'repose' with him and others when the Lord Jesus is revealed.
Some read the verse as fixing the exact moment believers first get relief. Commentators here argue the word describes a condition, not a starting point.
The word can mean the time when relief comes, but it is used just as much for a state of ease, or even pleasure. Scripture never uses it for the moment relief from trial arrives. It always carries the general sense of a state of ease, the opposite of distress. The apostle's whole argument is this. The Lord Himself brings in that day. So when the day is here, it cannot be a day of distress for His people. Clearly it will be a day of distress for His enemies and for those who persecute them.
The Reversal
The Thessalonians feared their sufferings meant the day of the Lord had already arrived. The character of that day rules it out. That day reverses how things stand now.
They were now to learn that this could not be true. The very character of that day rules it out. It is a day of rest for the troubled saints, and of trouble paid back to their foes... This does not mean that saints may not go one by one to be with Christ in the meantime. Nor does it mean that He may not come first to gather us to Himself. But their rest, justly given, and the vengeance on their enemies stay out of public view until He is revealed in flaming fire...
Put simply, the two groups swap places:
Now it is the saints that are troubled, then it will be the world. Now the saints suffer at the world's hands; then the world will be punished by the Lord's hand.
"With Us"
Paul does not comfort them from outside the trouble. He was suffering too, and the rest he promises is rest shared with him. (Older translations read "rest with us" where the ESV has "as well as to us.")
While he was suffering the strongest persecutions, the thought of the appearing of Jesus came in as the time of rest. "Rest with us," says the apostle — rest for you who are troubled, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." How could such a thought comfort the soul, if this hope of Jesus was not a real and present hope?
"Revealed from Heaven"
At His revelation the saints are not gathered to Christ. They arrive with Him. That order matters.
Now the saints were in trouble from these enemies. Then they will be at rest, and they will come with Him when He takes vengeance on those who troubled them. They will be with Him as His company, and like Him. So He must have called them up beforehand to be with Him, as other Scriptures show. "When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:4).
"His Mighty Angels"
Angels were present at His first coming too. What changes is the work they come to do.
At His first coming He came in humility and grace. The angels announced the good news, and a great crowd of the heavenly hosts was there to celebrate His praise, and to announce blessing to man and glory to God. At His second coming He will be revealed in power. Again the angels of His might will be present, but this time to carry out judgment on a world that has rejected His grace.
Summary
- Rest defined. The word pictures loosened bonds and lifted pressure. It is a settled state of ease, not just the moment relief arrives.
- Rest reversed. Today the saints are troubled and the world is at ease. In that day the positions swap, and the world carries the trouble.
- Rest shared. Paul puts himself among the persecuted. For him the appearing of Jesus is a real and present hope.
- Rest revealed. This rest stays out of public view until Christ is unveiled from heaven. Commentators note that believers may be with Him before that, but they come with Him on that day.
- Rest enforced. The same angels who once announced good news to men come the second time to carry out His judgment.