THE SAINTS MARVELING AT JESUS by Charles Spurgeon 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10. On that day when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed, my imagination can hardly bear to gaze upon the glittering ranks of white-robed saints who have come out of the great tribulation. They are now standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Their unified testimony is, we have washed our filthy robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Like all of mankind, they were once dead in trespasses and sins and airs of wrath. They had all like sheep gone astray and turned to their own sinful ways. But see how Jesus has saved them, washed them, cleansed them, and perfected them. His power and wisdom and grace are seen in each of them. In each one, the memory of the horrible pit from whence they were drawn, and the miry clay out of which they were uplifted, shall make them extremely astonished at their Savior.

Some were supremely stubborn, their neck was as an iron sinew, and yet Jesus conquered them by love. Others were densely ignorant, but He opened their blind minds. Others were grossly infected with the leprosy of lust, but Jesus healed and purified them. Others were held captive by Satan, but Jesus freed them from the bondage of the devil. Others were drunkards, but Jesus made them into saints. Others were blasphemers, but Jesus turned them into loving disciples.

Others were persecutors, but Jesus taught them to everlastingly sing, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. All these saints now made perfect in heaven, would have been in eternal hell, had it not been for the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

We will remember this the more vividly, because we will see multitudes of others damned for the same sins which we were once polluted by. The crash of vengeance upon the ungodly will make us magnify the Lord the more, as we see ourselves delivered from eternal wrath. Perhaps the chief point in which Jesus will be glorified, will be in the absolute perfection of all the saints.

We shall then be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. We have not experienced what perfection is, and therefore we can hardly conceive of it, our thoughts are now too sinful for us to get a full idea of what this must be. But dear brethren, we shall have no sin left in us, for we shall be without fault before the throne of God. We shall have not even have any remaining propensity to sin. There shall be no bias in our will towards that which is evil, but it shall be fixed forever upon that which is holy and righteous and good. Our affections will never again rove after forbidden lusts. Our understanding will never again make mistakes. We shall never put bitter for sweet, nor sweet for bitter. We shall be perfect, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We shall forever marvel at and adore Jesus for what He transforms us into.

O Mighty Master, with what a strange moral chemistry did you work to turn that bitter and morose man into a mass of love! What a marvel that you lifted that selfish Mammonite up from his hoarded gains to make him find his all in you! How did you contrive to overcome that proud spirit, that lazy spirit, that lustful spirit? How did you extirpate the very roots of sin, and every little rootlet of sin, out of your glorified people, so that not a tiny fiber can be found?

This is but the beginning, however. will be seen in every saint, in that last wondrous day, the wisdom and power and love of Jesus, in having sustained them through all the trials of their dangerous earthly journey. He kept their faith alive, when otherwise it would have died out. He held them fast in their integrity, when temptation solicited them, and they had almost fallen. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.