Paul joyously preached the Gospel with full conviction in much affliction and the Thessalonian saints imitated Paul by receiving it with much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. However, the “Good News” was not about immediate deliverance from this affliction but the promise of redemption and eternal life in the age to come. We can only joyfully embrace the Gospel in affliction when our hope is not in their world but in the promise of God when Christ returns.