Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear of great injustices or evil that are victimizing people does something well up inside you that cries out for God to intervene and judge the wicked while protecting the victims? Do you find your cry for divine justice is especially passionate when you discover those who should be enforcing justice and stopping the brutality are in fact the very people who are instigating the wickedness that is hurting so many defenseless people? That seems to be the topic Paul is addressing today as we join him in 51ad as he is writing his second letter to suffering Christians in Thessalonica, Macedonia.
In referring to the courageous manner in which the Thessalonican Christians were withstanding terrible persecution Paul writes: “All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thess. 1:5-8) Do you see several powerful truths here my friends which would have been greatly encouraging to the suffering Christians in Thessalonica, and should be encouraging to those suffering injustice our day?
First is Paul’s reference to the Kingdom of God. Kingdom is a word we understand, right? It’s a place, a people, a King, and a ‘kingdom culture’. There are many in our world today. Throughout the Gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus we find Jesus frequently referring to a “Kingdom of God” and that He had come to earth, not only to teach about it, but to provide a way for any person to become a member of God’s kingdom as they put their full trust in Jesus. Mark’s Gospel reports that among Jesus’ first public words after His baptism and testing in the desert, were these: “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15) In the middle of His great “sermon on the mount” as Jesus spoke of God fully knowing all our needs, Jesus said “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matt. 6:33) And perhaps Jesus’ most famous reference to God’s kingdom occurred when Jesus taught His disciples to pray and, in that prayer, Jesus prayed to God the Father: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10)
Those living in the first century had a very clear understanding of “kingdom” for they lived in the Roman Empire, a huge kingdom which covered much of the known world, all under the sovereign authority of the emperor, the Caesar. A powerful military enforced the laws of the kingdom and horribly crushed any opposition or rebellion against the Caesar. Too often early Christians suffered persecution at the hands of this Roman ‘kingdom’.
But history proves NO human kingdom is invincible… the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, even the Nazi’s in our modern era. No matter the size or scope or power of a human kingdom, it will eventually fall to another even more powerful.
In contrast, however, the Kingdom of God, is of course invincible because Almighty God is the sovereign King. And the Kingdom of God is morally right, and good, its laws and ethics are pure and holy at all times in all places because the King, Almighty God is HOLY God.
Paul wanted to encourage these Thessalonian Christians with an understanding that their rescue from the kingdom of darkness, according to Col. 1:13, by Jesus their Savior, brought them into membership in the Kingdom of God and as Paul said, “God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.”
But friends, do you also notice Paul’s promise that God, the Sovereign of His holy kingdom, will execute His justice? “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well.” (2 Thess. 1:6,7) This is one of many verses in Scripture which assure us God is fully aware of all that is happening at all times, in all places, and there will be a final reckoning when God’s justice will be served and holy judgment will come upon those who have been perpetrators of evil, and suffering upon the innocent. (Heb. 4:13; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11-15)
Finally, did you notice Paul was very specific about WHO will be the judge and WHEN this judgment will occur? “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might on the day He comes to be glorified…” (2 Thess. 1:7-10)
With these words Paul begins to explain a very powerful future time when Jesus Christ will return to earth in all His blazing power, and victorious Jesus will defeat all the evil and wicked powers on earth. Jesus will also defeat all demonic forces and even Satan, as Jesus reigns in supreme authority over all!
In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian Christians, he wrote about the next return of Jesus to ‘rapture up’ all living Christians and resurrect all Christians who have died in all time past and bring them all to Himself in the air. (1 Thess. 4:13-18) What Paul is now describing in his second letter, is a different event. Yes, TWO different returns of Jesus to earth. The first is to take His Church, all Christians, OUT of the wickedness and suffering on earth. (1 Thess. 4:13-18) The second is the return of Jesus to defeat evil and to reign on earth in all His righteous power. This return of Jesus is often referred to as the “Millennial Kingdom Reign of Jesus Christ” on earth, as recorded in Revelation 20:1-6.
Yes, it will be a literal 1000 years of peace on earth while Satan is bound, and he has no evil influence in our world. (Rev.20:1-3) Yes, it will also be 1000 years of peace as Jesus Himself, in all His glory and miraculous power, reigns supreme over this earth, and all people, and all events here. (Rev. 20:4-7) Oh my what a glorious time that will be, my friends!
I’d like us to pause right here for today. These are powerful promises from God about the future, about justice, about His Kingdom, about the righteous reign of Christ here on earth. Paul will be digging more deeply into these truths in his second letter to the suffering Christians in Thessalonica, but for now let’s thank God for His sovereign justice which will bring all things to accountability, and the ultimate authority and power of God over all things, through all time! Here’s a song to help us celebrate these powerful truths of HOPE and victory!
Today’s Scripture is 2 Thess. 1:5-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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