Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. –2 Thessalonians 1:9 (KJV)

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The Apostle says in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. This is to be understood causally; as if he should have said, that the destruction of the wicked shall arise from God’s presence and glorious power, which shall put forth itself so mightily, as to glorify itself in the punishment of them in hell. God will appear in heaven to the angels and saints, in a flame of love, and make immediate and most sweet impressions thereof upon them, which will be their chief happiness. And God will appear in hell to devils and damned spirits in a flame of wrath, as a consuming fire, and make immediate impressions of his wrath upon them, which will be their chief misery. For sinners to be taken thus into the hands of God, and punished by the fire of his wrath will be more dreadful, than if the most furious creatures in the world were mustered up together, and let loose upon them to tear them in pieces and devour them. If they were tormented with the most exquisite torments, which can possibly proceed from any second causes, it would be no more than the biting of a flea, or the prick of a pin in comparison with these immediate strokes of God’s vengeance, and the burning under the fire of his indignation.   –Thomas Vincent, “Fire and Brimstone” (1670)