Destroyed by Splendor

While reading my Bible this morning, I came across a phrase that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

“Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (NLT)

Paul was writing to this young church so that they would continue to have courage as they faced persecution while they were waiting for Jesus to return. In his encouragement, Paul includes details of how the “man of lawlessness” (the antichrist) will be destroyed. He will be destroyed by the Splendor of Jesus’s return. It is the phrase of being “destroyed by splendor” that remained fixed in my brain.

Pain, lies, disease, all forms of evil and the antichrist are weapons of the enemy that find their power in sin and when Jesus comes back, they will be completely destroyed by His Splendor. It is beyond my small-brain capacity to imagine splendor so beautiful that it obliterates every form of ugly. I cannot begin to fathom such brightness, glory and grandeur that in its presence, evil not only cowers, but also fails to even exist.

I remembered other passages in scripture where we observe the power and devastation of Jesus’s splendor.

The apostle John fell down as if dead when Jesus appeared to him on the island of Patmos:

“He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.” Revelation 1:13-18 (NLT)

 

In Exodus 33, when Moses asks to see God’s glory, God protects and blesses Moses by only showing him His back, for no one can see God’s face and live. God’s splendor is so glorious that we are destroyed by it.

The idea of total destruction can be frightening, but the more time I mulled over the phrase of “destroyed by splendor”, the more I was encouraged.

God has used His gracious discipline and love to clean up destructive patterns in my life. He has used the splendor of His Word and power of His Holy Spirit to kill off things in my life that are hurtful and harmful. He disciplines those He loves and being loved by the God of the Universe is glorious. This love is so glorious that it is devastating and life altering. Because of Jesus’s glorious life and death and presence, my old life is gone. The person I was before I met Jesus, no longer exists. She has been destroyed. Because of God’s Holy Splendor, I am a new creation. I too, have been destroyed by Splendor.

One day soon, Paul’s forewarning about the end will be upon us, and Jesus will return in His full glory. All sin and evil will be destroyed by His Splendor, and we will be recipients of the awesome future he has designed for us.

While we await His return, allow His amazing Splendor and glory to graciously destroy you. Rejoice in the gentle yet devastating touch He wants to place on your life.

“Twas grace that taught my heart to fear….” John Newton 1779

“God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power. “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down.” Job 37:5-6 (NLT)

 

 “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (NLT)