In 2 Timothy 3:11 Paul says, “Persecutions, sufferings, such as befell me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra. Such persecutions I bore, and out of them all the Lord delivered me.” This verse indicates that Christ delivers the godly believers from all persecutions. Some may argue that since Paul was killed under persecution, Christ did not deliver him from all persecutions. Yet we need to see what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:18: “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will save me into His heavenly kingdom.” It seems that throughout the past centuries the Lord did not always deliver His faithful saints, such as the apostles Paul and Peter, from persecution and martyrdom. However, we need to realize what will take place at the closing of this age. Caesar Nero who persecuted and killed Paul will be cast into the lake of fire, but the one he persecuted will be delivered into the heavenly kingdom. Although Paul was rejected by an earthly kingdom, he will be saved into the heavenly kingdom. Eventually, all the persecuted and martyred believers will be delivered by the resurrection power of Christ into His heavenly kingdom.
In 2 Timothy 4 Christ is unveiled as the One who is to appear.
In 4:1 Paul says to Timothy, “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead.” God has given all judgment to Christ because He is a man (John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom. 2:16). As the righteous Judge (2 Tim. 4:8), Christ will judge the living on His throne of glory at His second appearing (Matt. 25:31-46), and He will judge the dead on the great white throne after the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15).
In 2 Timothy 4:1 Paul solemnly charges Timothy by Christ’s appearing and His kingdom. This indicates that, in his life and work, Paul took the Lord’s appearing and His kingdom as the incentive and goal. The Lord’s appearing will be for judgment, to reward each one of us (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12), and His kingdom will be for His reigning with His overcomers (Rev. 20:4, 6). The apostle not only took these two matters as the incentive and goal for himself but also by these two matters charged Timothy, who was under his leading, to faithfully fulfill his ministry of the word (2 Tim. 4:1-2, 5).
The Lord’s appearing and the matter of judgment are seen in the parable of the slothful slave in Matthew 25. The kingdom involves reward or punishment according to what we have been and what we have done since the time that we were saved until the time that He comes back. In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul says that he will be awarded with the crown of righteousness by the Lord, the righteous Judge. Paul seriously warns and charges Timothy, not by love nor by kindness, but by the Lord’s appearing and by His kingdom. We will be either rewarded or punished righteously by the righteous Judge at His appearing.
Because the Lord’s coming and His kingdom are solemn matters, Paul gives a serious charge to Timothy in 4:1-8. We should not think that the Lord’s appearing will merely be a time of rapture and excitement. It will also be a time of great solemnity for every believer in Christ. This is the reason Paul charges Timothy by the Lord’s appearing and His kingdom. May we all give heed to this solemn warning.
According to Paul’s charge in verse 1, Timothy was to live in the light of the appearing of the Lord and His kingdom. Whatever the kingdom will reject in the future must be rejected in our living today. If we live in His appearing, we would certainly refrain from quarreling; we would not want to be found arguing when the Lord appears. Not many Christians regard the Lord’s coming as a warning. If we read the New Testament, especially the Epistles, we will see that the apostles lived with the appearing of the Lord in view. The Lord’s appearing was constantly a warning to them and regulated their living. They did not dare to do certain things because they believed that the Lord could appear at any time. If we take seriously the matters of the Lord’s appearing and the kingdom, they will greatly affect our daily living. The appearing of Christ must be a basic factor in our daily living. We must live today in the light of the Lord’s appearing.
In verse 8 Paul continues, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also all those who have loved His appearing.” The crown, a symbol of glory, is given as a prize, in addition to the Lord’s salvation, to the triumphant runner of the race (1 Cor. 9:25). In contrast to salvation, which is of grace and by faith (Eph. 2:5, 8-9), this prize is not of grace nor by faith, but is of righteousness through works (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10). The believers will be recompensed with such a reward, not according to the Lord’s grace but according to His righteousness. Hence, it is the crown of righteousness. The Recompenser is the Lord as the righteous Judge. Paul was assured that such a prize was reserved for him and that he would be recompensed with it at the day of the Lord’s second appearing.
Here it is not a matter of a crown of grace but of a crown of righteousness. The crown of righteousness is the crown to be a king. This means when the Lord comes back, Paul will be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
Paul says that such an award will be given to all who love the Lord’s appearing. The Lord’s appearing, His coming back, is a warning, an encouragement, and an incentive to us. We should love it and look forward to it with earnest expectation and joy.
There is a great deal of talk among Christians today concerning the Lord’s second coming. But not many believers realize that when the Lord Jesus comes back, He will not come as the merciful God or as the gracious Savior but as the righteous Judge. Christians should be warned and encouraged to prepare themselves to stand before this Judge. We should take up the burden in this dark age to bring such a solemn charge to the Lord’s people. We all need to receive this charge before God and before the Lord Jesus, the One who will judge the living and the dead. We must declare the fact that when the Lord comes back, He will be the Judge of all, both believers and unbelievers. According to Matthew 25, all of the Lord’s servants will have to give an account to Him. The Lord will either say, “Well done, good and faithful slave” (v. 21), or “Evil and slothful slave” (v. 26). In His righteousness the Lord will decide whether or not we receive a reward.
In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul says, “Demas has abandoned me, having loved the present age.” Loving the present age, the world now before our eyes, is in contrast to loving the Lord’s appearing, mentioned in verse 8. The world, the cosmos, is composed of many ages. It seems that every decade is a different age. The present age is the world which surrounds us, attracts us, and tempts us. Demas was one who loved the present age. Because of the attraction of the present age, Demas abandoned the apostle.
In verses 8 and 10 we have a contrast between loving the Lord’s appearing and loving the present age. If we love the Lord’s appearing, we will side with Him and fight with Him for His interests. But if we love the present age, we will side with the world. We must tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I love You and I love Your appearing. Because I love You, I love Your appearing.”
In verse 18 Paul declares, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will save me into His heavenly kingdom, to whom be the glory forever and ever.” Every evil work here refers mainly to man’s persecution, which usually comes from Satan’s evilness (Matt. 6:13). Paul suffered a great deal of persecution, yet he was confident that the Lord would deliver him from every evil work.
Paul’s being delivered from every evil work included even his final martyrdom. Since martyrdom ushered Paul into the heavenly kingdom, such an ushering was a deliverance to him. There is no other time that the Lord dispenses Himself in so great a measure into the believers as in the time of their suffering of martyrdom. Whenever the believers suffer persecution, encounter afflictions, and even suffer martyrdom because of their loving the Lord, the Lord infuses and dispenses all His riches into them so that they may be strengthened to overcome and be delivered from every evil work. Such a deliverance is what we believers should believe in, hope for, and experience, and it is also what the Lord is pleased to give us.
The heavenly kingdom is “the kingdom of their Father” (13:43), “the kingdom of My Father” (26:29), “the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5), and “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:11), which will be a reward to the overcoming saints. It equals the crown of righteousness in 2 Timothy 4:8 and is an incentive to the believers to run the heavenly race. The apostle Paul’s word in verse 18 and in verse 8 proves that this reward was an incentive to him. Paul had the assurance to make the triumphant declaration that he would be saved into this heavenly kingdom.
When Paul made this declaration that he expected to enter into the kingdom, he was being rejected by all the churches in Asia (1:15). Nevertheless, he knew that although he was rejected by earthly men, God would save him into His kingdom, because he had given up the world to gain Christ.
Paul knew that he would be martyred by the earthly kingdom, the earthly Roman Empire, and that he would be rejected, killed, and cut off from the earthly kingdom. Yet he also had the assurance that the Lord would deliver him into a heavenly empire, the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, he suffered martyrdom with no miraculous rescue. In Paul there was no thought of something miraculous, but instead, his thought was full of the spiritual, divine reality. As followers of the Lord Jesus, we should not expect the Lord to do something miraculous for us. But we have the full right to claim that the Lord must do spiritual, divine, and heavenly things for us.