Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This lesson is part of a series of lessons on the book of 2 Thessalonians. In this lesson I’m going to look at chapter one, verses six through eight, and talk about retribution.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This lesson is part of a series of lessons on the book of 2 Thessalonians. In this lesson I’m going to look at chapter one, verses six through eight, and talk about retribution.
Verse eight tells us that Jesus is going to deal out retribution. That’s another way of saying that Jesus is going to take vengeance. Before I dive into this passage to see what Paul was communicating about retribution and vengeance, I want to put this passage into context. I’m going to look at some other verses throughout the Bible that talk about vengeance to see what the Bible as a whole tells us about God taking vengeance. I’ll look at some commands about vengeance. Then I’ll come back and look at this passage in 2 Thessalonians.
Let’s start in Leviticus. The Book of Leviticus contains a lot of the precepts that were given to the Israelites as part of the Mosaic Law. One of the commands that was given to the Israelites has to do with vengeance. Let’s read Leviticus 19, verse 18. God told the Israelites,
Lev. 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
In the Mosaic law there was a command that the Israelites were not supposed to take vengeance. We’ll come back to that concept in a little bit.
As you know, after the Israelites received the Mosaic law, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Then they arrived at the east side of the Jordan River. Before they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses reviewed the law with them. As part of that review, Moses gave the Israelites a song in which God made the following statement that we see in Deuteronomy 32, verse 41.
Deut. 32:41 If I sharpen My flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold on justice,
I will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
Here’s a very clear statement that, at some point in time, God is going to take vengeance on his adversaries.
Several centuries later the prophet Isaiah communicated something similar. Let’s look at Isaiah chapter 34, verse 8.
Is. 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
The prophet Nahum told us about God’s vengeance. Let’s read Nahum, chapter 1, verse 2.
Nah. 1:2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
We see in these verses in the Old Testament that, in addition to being loving and kind, Yahweh is also jealous and avenging. He will take vengeance on his adversaries.
In the New Testament we see a command to us about not taking vengeance. Let’s read Romans 12, verse 19.
Rom. 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
Since God is an avenging God Who is going to take vengeance on His enemies and adversaries, that means we Christians do not have to take vengeance; furthermore, we are commanded in Romans 12 not to seek revenge.
With that as some background, let’s go back to 2 Thessalonians and look at verses 6 through 8 of chapter 1. For context I’ll start reading at verse 3.
2Th. 1:3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
In verse 4 Paul wrote that he spoke proudly of the Thessalonians because they had perseverance and faith in the midst of persecution. Then in verse 6 Paul wrote that it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you. The Thessalonians were being persecuted and they were suffering. Paul believed that it was just, it was right, for God to afflict those who were afflicting the Thessalonians. Then in verse 7 Paul used the words give relief. It is just for God to give relief to the afflicted. We also see in verse 7 a reference to Jesus being revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
In verse 8 we’re told that when Jesus is revealed, He’s going to deal out retribution. This is similar to what we saw in those Old Testament passages. In addition to being loving and kind, Jesus is also jealous and avenging. At some point in the future, he’s going to be revealed from heaven. He’s going to deal out retribution.
Paul also described those who will receive the retribution. He said the retribution will be dealt to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Here are a couple thoughts about this. This passage presents a very different side of Jesus than most Christians today want to think about. Many Christians today want to ignore this part of Jesus. They only want to think of Jesus as kind, loving, and nice. Many churches are promoting that idea. Many churches don’t want to talk about sin, hell, or punishment.
However, we should talk about those concepts because the Bible talks about them. In 2 Thessalonians we see very clearly that Jesus is going to be revealed from heaven, and He’s going to deal out retribution. We need to teach those things.
Also, this passage should be an encouragement to us because we Christians, and people in general, want justice. We want things to be fair. As we go through life, we see a lot of things that are not fair. We see a lot of things that are not right or just. We see a lot of people getting away with sin. We see many people getting away with hurting other people in various ways. We want that to be corrected. We want the people evil people to be punished.
This passage in 2 Thessalonians tells us that, at some point in the future, evil people will be punished. It’s not going to happen on our timetable. It’s not necessarily going to happen in our lifetime. However, as we go through life and see all the injustice in the world, we can be comforted and encouraged by the fact that, ultimately, everyone’s going to give an account of their life to Jesus. He is going to deal out retribution.
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