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 and talk about the penalty that evil people will ultimately pay.
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 and talk about the penalty that evil people will ultimately pay. Let’s start reading at the beginning.
2Th. 1:1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is typical of the way Paul opened his letters. He listed who was writing this letter, which in this case was Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy. He mentioned who it was written to, which in this case was the church in Thessalonica. Then he wrote about grace and peace from God the Father and Jesus our Lord.
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.
Paul wrote some very complimentary things about the Thessalonians. First, he said it was necessary to give thanks for them because their faith was enlarged and their love for each other was growing greater. Second, Paul said he spoke proudly of the Thessalonians among other churches because of the perseverance and faith they had as they endured persecutions and afflictions.
This tells us the Church of Thessalonica was persecuted. It also tells us they were strong and mature Christians.
2Th. 1:5 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.
Paul desired that the Thessalonians would be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. They were suffering for the kingdom of God. Paul knew that God’s judgment is righteous. Paul believed that, since the Thessalonians were enduring the persecutions and thriving amidst their afflictions, God would consider them worthy of the kingdom of God.
2Th. 1:6 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.
Notice the word just. Paul wrote it is just for God to repay with affliction those who were afflicting the Thessalonians and to give relief to those who were afflicted. Paul talked about this happening when Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In verse eight Paul said Jesus will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus.
This picture of Jesus is different than the view of Jesus we hear so frequently in our society. Many people in our society think God is only loving, nice, and sweet. They ignore the fact that God is also just. He is going to deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus.
2Th. 1:9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed.
Notice the pronoun these. These refers to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus. Those people are going to pay the penalty of eternal destruction. They will spend eternity away from the presence of the Lord, away from His glory. We see in verse 10 that this is going to happen when Jesus comes to be glorified in His saints.
This is something that will happen at some point in the future. We don’t know when it will happen, we only know it will happen.
2Th. 1:11 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul was praying for the Thessalonians. He was praying that God would count them worthy of their calling and fulfill every desire for goodness. The end goal of all this was that the name of Jesus would be glorified.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the Thessalonians. What were they hearing when they read this letter? The Thessalonians knew they were being persecuted and afflicted. They knew they were living in a very difficult situation. Paul reassured them that someday, maybe not here on Earth, but someday the evil people who were afflicting them would face justice.
The Thessalonian Christians were living their lives, following Jesus, as they should have been, and observing all these people who didn’t believe in Jesus getting away with sin and persecution. Paul reassured them in this letter that Jesus, someday, will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus. This reassured the Thessalonian Christians that their suffering and pain was not in vain. They were suffering for Jesus and would be rewarded for their faithfulness and endurance. Meanwhile, those who do not serve Jesus will receive eternal punishment.
This is reassuring to us, too, because, as we look around our world today and in history, we see many people who appear to have gotten away with a lot of evil. Hugh Hefner spent decades living a decadent lifestyle and taking advantage of young women. There are mafia bosses who spent decades running organizations that profited off of drugs and prostitution. Chinese Communist dictators persecuted Christians and forced many people to abort babies. There are other communist dictators over the past 100 years in Europe who tortured Christians and brought misery upon the people in their countries.
Those people did a lot of evil things, but they died in old age without ever having been brought to justice. They appear to have gotten away with their evil. However, 2 Thessalonians reassures us that, ultimately, they will not get away with their evil.
Whether it’s dictators, mafia bosses, or wealthy people living a decadent, sinful lifestyle, we should not be jealous of them. We should not resent those people. If we suffer at the hands of those people, we need to be content that God is in control. Jesus is coming back someday and He will bring righteous judgment. He will reward those who serve Him. He will bring punishment to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey Jesus.
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