2 Timothy 4.18a-The Lord Jesus Christ Will Rescue Paul From Every Evil Act and Bring Him Safely Into His Kingdom in Heaven
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 3, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:18a-The Lord Jesus Christ Will Rescue Paul From Every Evil Act And Bring Him Safely Into His Kingdom in Heaven
Lesson # 108
2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (NASB95)
Once again, the apostle Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton which emphasizes that despite being unjustly treated the Lord will sovereignly intervene and deliver Paul from this unjust treatment and will do so through His omnipotence when He delivers Paul from physical death.
“The Lord” is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), which is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ since He was this word’s referent the last time it was used in Second Timothy 4:17.
“Will rescue” is the third person singular future middle indicative form of the verb rhuomai (ῥύομαι), which means, “to rescue or deliver from danger, with the implication that the danger is severe and acute.”
Thus it indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ will rescue Paul from every evil action taken against him by the Roman civil authorities who unjustly arrested and will eventually unjustly execute him.
The future tense of this verb is a predictive future which is used to indicate that something will take place or come to pass and emphasizes the certainty of the Lord Jesus Christ rescuing Paul from every evil action taken against by the Roman authorities.
The middle voice of the verb rhuomai is an indirect middle which means that the subject acts for himself or herself or in their own interests.
Here the subject is of course the Lord Jesus Christ indicating that He will “for His own benefit” or in other words, “for His own glory” rescue Paul from every evil action taken against him by the Roman authorities.
“From every evil deed” is composed of the following: (1) preposition apo (ἀπό), “from” (5) genitive neuter singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “every” (2) genitive neuter singular form of the noun ergon (ἒργον), “deed” (3) genitive neuter singular form of the adjective ponēros (πονηρός), “evil.”
The noun ergon is in the singular and means “deed, action” since it pertains to actions performed by the Roman authorities against Paul which would include unjustly arresting and imprisoning him and accusing of him of crimes he did not commit.
The noun ergon is modified by the adjective ponēros which means “evil” since it pertains to act that is contrary to the will of God.
The word is modified by the adjective pas which denotes everything belonging, in kind, to the class designated by the noun and means “every kind of.”
It is used in a distributive sense since it denotes “every kind of” evil act and emphasizes various types of evil acts the Roman authorities committed against the apostle Paul.
The noun ergon is the object of the preposition apo which means “from” since it is functioning as a marker of separation indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ will rescue Paul “out from” every evil act committed against him by the Roman authorities.
“And will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom” advances upon and intensifies Paul’s previous Spirit inspired prediction that the Lord Jesus Christ will rescue him out from every evil action committed against him by the Roman civil authorities.
“Will bring safely” is the third person singular future active indicative form of the verb sōzō (σῴζω), which means “to bring a person to safety” since it pertains to saving a person from mortal danger and bringing them to a place of complete safety.
Therefore, the word refers to the Lord Jesus Christ “delivering” Paul from death in the sense of rescuing him from physical death and bringing him safely into His kingdom in heaven.
The future tense of this verb is a predictive future which is used to indicate that something will take place or come to pass.
Therefore, the future tense emphasizes the certainty of the Lord Jesus Christ bringing Paul safely into His heavenly kingdom.
“To His heavenly kingdom” is composed of the following: (1) preposition eis (εἰς), “to” (2) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun basileia (βασιλεία), “kingdom” (3) genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “His” (4) articular accusative feminine singular form of the adjective epouranios (ἐπουράνιος), “heavenly.”
The noun basileia means “kingdom” and refers to the kingdom of Jesus Christ which is heaven.
The word refers to the authority the Father delegated to His Son Jesus Christ to rule from heaven over all of creation and every creature.
It also speaks of the subjects of Jesus Christ who are His creatures and specifically moral rational creatures, who are the angels and mankind.
Lastly, it expresses the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ exercises royal authority in a realm over which He has sovereign right to rule as the Son of God.
That realm is not only in the third heaven (abode of God, throne of God) and the second heaven (the stellar universe) but also on planet earth.
So the noun basileia refers to an organized community of human beings (regenerate and unregenerate) and angels (elect and non-elect) who reside in a major territorial unit who are under a monarchical form of government headed by Jesus Christ.
The adjective epouranios is functioning as a substantive and means “in heaven” and is used to describe the third heaven as the location of the Lord Jesus Christ’s kingdom.
He uses the word to describe the third heaven as the seat of our Lord’s government.
This word is functioning as an accusative of simple apposition meaning it stands apposite to the accusative form of the noun basileia and is defining specifically for Timothy the location of the Lord Jesus Christ’s kingdom.
Second Timothy 4:18 The Lord will, as a certainty, for His own glory, rescue me from each and every kind of evil act. Indeed, He will, as a certainty bring me safely into His kingdom, which is in heaven. Who will, as a certainty be the recipient of glory in the form of adoring praise and worshipful thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen! (My translation)
As we noted in our study of Second Timothy 4:17, the apostle Paul informs Timothy that in contrast to the majority of Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ did not desert him but instead provided him assistance.
He then specifies what he means by this.
First he states that the Lord empowered him so that through him the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ was publically proclaimed to every one of the unregenerate Gentiles present at his first defense before the Roman authorities.
Secondly, he asserts that the Lord rescued him from the lion’s mouth which means that the Lord temporarily delivered him from physical death.
Now, here in Second Timothy 4:18, he informs Timothy that the Lord Jesus Christ will as a certainty and for His own glory rescue him from every kind of evil act committed against him by the Roman authorities.
These evil acts would include unjustly arresting and imprisoning him and accusing of him of crimes he did not commit.
They are evil acts because they are contrary to the will of God and are contrary to the character and nature of God.
Then, the apostle Paul advances upon and intensifies his previous Spirit inspired prediction that the Lord Jesus Christ will as a certainty and for His own glory rescue him out from every kind of evil act committed against him by the Roman civil authorities by issuing another Spirit inspired prediction.
Namely, he predicts that the Lord Jesus Christ will as a certainty bring him safely into His kingdom which is in the third heaven.
The advancement and the intensification is that the Lord will not only rescue Paul from every evil action committed against him by the Roman authorities but will also bring him safely to His kingdom in heaven.
In other words, the advancement and the intensification is that the Lord will not only deliver Paul from the evil actions of the Roman authorities but deliver him from an even greater enemy, namely physical death.
He is asserting that he will depart this earth upon his death and then be transferred to the third heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.
These two Spirit inspired predictions express the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign over Paul’s circumstances and is omnipotent.
The sovereignty of the Lord manifested itself in that Nero’s decision to execute Paul did not have its desired effect since Paul continued to live with the Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom which is in the third heaven.
Nero thought he could end Paul’s existence.
However, the Lord overruled him and took Paul into His kingdom in heaven.
Nero was given the authority to have power to kill Paul.
However, the Lord was sovereign over Nero and delivered Paul from physical death.
The omnipotence of the Lord manifested itself by delivering Paul from physical death which would only end his existence in a body with a sin nature and his existence on earth temporarily until he returns with Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
The Lord’s power is such that He gives life to those who have died physically.