Pure victory. All-out, absolute, unequivocated, complete, total, without-a-doubt victory. That was the end result of the battles Moses and Joshua fought. If God is for us, indeed, who can be against us? Thirty-one kings and their armies were completely wiped out. The land belonged to the Israelites.
Who is the King of the land? The Lord is. "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help." (verse 3) Don't put your trust in earthly princes because they'll let you down every time. The Lord is a wise, righteous, benevolent ruler.
Paul was on pins and needles of anxiety over the Thessalonians until he found out that they had remained faithful to the gospel. It seems in verses 1-4 that his physical afflictions had left him so scarred that he was afraid for the Thessalonians to see him. That maybe they would be disheartened by seeing him. But warriors do bear scars. Paul heard back from Timothy that they were still living proof of the victory of salvation.
Victory. It requires trusting the Lord as your general, and engaging in battle ourselves. It can also mean physical persecution and certainly does mean spiritual and emotional persecution by Satan. We will be wounded and we will have scars. But scars, while recalling the wounding experience, indicate healing. We can trust the Lord to bring us through to complete victory.
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