and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might, on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed, including you who have believed our testimony.
In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Significance
Paul describes the parousia: "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God... on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed" (2 Thess 1:7-10). The scene operates within the imaginative world of Daniel 7: the Lord comes from heaven attended by hosts ("thousands upon thousands attended Him," Dan 7:10), amid blazing fire (Daniel's throne "flaming with fire," 7:9-10), to execute judgment on the arrogant power that oppresses the saints (the little horn that makes war on the saints, 7:21, 25-26) and to be glorified in His saints, who receive the kingdom (7:18, 22, 27). Paul's primary phrasing also draws Isaiah's theophany of fiery vengeance (Isa 66:15), but the courtroom-judgment-and-vindication structure is Danielic. The connection is promise-fulfillment: the coming of the Son of Man to judge the beast and vindicate the saints (Daniel 7) is realized at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven. The telos is the Christ who comes "to be glorified in His saints" — His parousia is not merely the dread of judgment on His enemies but the day His own glory is displayed in His suffering people, so that the persecuted are drawn to long for the appearing of the One whose coming will be their wonder and their joy.
Found via
Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007)
