There's Hope, Vengeance Is Coming

Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 as we, at least for this week, re-enter the orbit of Thessalonians. It's been some time since we've been here. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Before we look at this, the text of God's word to us today, let's pray. Father, I am utterly dependent upon you to clearly proclaim your word. this congregation is utterly dependent on you to receive it and to understand it and so we pray that your spirit would be present here and at work so that your word is communicated clearly and your people understand it rightly help us not to just look at the text but our hearts Help us to look at the circumstances of our lives that we might grow to the glory of our Father.

So help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. How would you encourage your daughter? You've just moved to a new town. and she's new at the school. And it seems that everyone hates her, the new kid in town. She tells of some girls pushing her off her chair as she sits down to eat with them at their lunch table.

Someone defaced her locker the other day and she had to stay after school to clean it all off. Another girl tripped her one day in the hallway and when she came into the classroom after that, everybody erupted in laughter. one girl told her she was going to take the next opportunity she could just to beat her up so how would you encourage her would you say to her don't worry honey someday they'll get theirs you can be sure of that now would you do that to encourage her now believe it or not that's what the apostle paul kind of does in our text today it's almost exactly what he does is he seeks to encourage his dear friends to stand steady in the face of intense persecution he says hey there's reason for hope vengeance is coming god will get him does that seem weird to you well let's look at what god says then in second Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 5 through 10. You follow as I read.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed.

There it is. Now let's recall for a moment a little bit about this congregation in Thessalonica. This is a good congregation. We've said before it's a champion congregation. It seems to be one that's growing, that seems to be grasping the truths of the gospel and growing in those. It's a congregation that was doing well in the face of intense adversity, but now it's struggling a bit to stand firm in the face of the persecution which has intensified.

And so the Apostle Paul in this letter to them seeks to coach them, if you will, to the finish line. This letter is almost entirely devoted to encouraging this congregation and he wants them to show their persecutors a steadfast, unbreakable faith. But how do you produce a steadfast unbreakable faith well as we've seen as we started this letter in verses three and four he begins by thanking god for them and then commending them and now he turns to the idea of justice the idea of justice in order to promote loathe in order to promote in us in you and you sitting here today, not just for them, but God gives us this promise of justice in order to promote in us the same steadfast, unbreakable faith.

If you would stand firm today and in the future, then you must believe that God is just and that he will indeed see that justice is accomplished for his people. Now you're not going to find mere vengeance here This is not God beating up the bullies for us That's not what's going on What you find here Is the promise of justice For those who suffer for their faith You will have hope and endurance You will have hope which will produce endurance if you believe that justice will not be denied And so you can have real hope that produces an enduring faith if you're convinced, if you are convinced of God's justice for you and God's justice for your tormentors. All right?

You can have real hope if you're convinced of God's justice for you. Let's look at our text. Verse 5. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. what is the evidence of God's righteous judgment? He says this is the evidence of God's righteous judgment. He must be referring to something in verse 4.

And so when you look back in the immediate context to verse 4, you find that it's talking about their afflictions that they are enduring. He's talking about the trials, the persecutions that they're facing. The afflictions, the persecution, your trials. That's what he's talking about. You want evidence of God's justice? Then look at your persecution and trials.

I know. You're sitting there thinking, how in the world is that evidence of God's justice to us? How is that about God's justice to us? Well, consider the normal way of thinking both then and now. Let's take, for example, there's a Roman historian by the name of Polybius who wrote, writing about the history of Rome, some 200 years before these things were happening.

And Polybius explains that the Romans, explains the Romans' conquest of the Macedonian Empire as the fact, explains it that we won because the Macedonians were corrupt. Their kingdom was corrupt. for him and most others of his day to suffer ill was the sign of internal decay that is to say you're suffering because something's wrong with you right you're corrupt so if you're suffering what's your normal way of thinking your normal way of thinking of justice is i've done something wrong i'm paying a price right isn't that what you normally think when things aren't going right You're normally, we think, well, something must be wrong with me. If you're suffering, then you're getting your just desserts.

That's typically how we think. But the message of the apostles and the message of God is strikingly different than that. It is strikingly different than that. Suffering for a Christian is a sign of God's acceptance, not a sign of rejection. Okay, now you've heard that before. But you've got to let that sink in.

Suffering is not a sign of God's rejection. It's a suffering of God's acceptance. Remember what Peter says? Turn over to 1 Peter for a moment. By the way, when it comes to this, all the writers of the Scripture are on the same page. Okay?

1 Peter chapter 4, beginning in verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice. You see that? What? Yeah.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's suffering that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are what? Blessed. because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Now, let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, or an evildoer, as a meddler. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

What's Peter saying there? Rejoice when you suffer. That's a good thing. That means that you belong to God. The writer to the Hebrews, we don't exactly know who that writer was, but he says the same thing in that very familiar passage in Hebrews chapter 12. In Hebrews chapter 12, what does he say?

Turn there with me. In Hebrews 12, notice what he says in verse 7. it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Right? What is he saying?

He's talking about discipline here. You know what he's talking about? If you go back to chapter 10, you'll understand what he's talking about. They're experiencing the confiscation of their property. They're experiencing public ridicule before the villages, right? They haul them out and publicly ridicule them.

They're being thrown into jail. That's what he has reference to when he talks about this discipline. And he's saying what? This is a sign that you belong to God, that you're one of his children. What is? They're taking away your property.

Okay? That means you're accepted by God. And let's not forget, what did Jesus say? What did Jesus say? They hated me. So what?

They'll hate you. if you follow Jesus you're going to be hated you see the paradigm for the Christian is always the cross right the one who did everything right was killed as a blasphemer and a rebel right his suffering was not a declaration of God rejection It was the path of righteousness So you suffer as a sign of God acceptance and that evidence of God righteous judgment Now he doesn't stop there, he says, what's the result? Back to 2 Thessalonians, God considers you, what? Worthy of his kingdom.

Now, he's not saying here, you've earned the right to enter his kingdom. You have done so many things that show that you're worthy of the kingdom. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that the suffering proves your worthiness. It proves that you're in the right place. These believers had suffered rejection and dishonor, right?

They'd suffered rejection and dishonor at the hands of their friends, their family, their bosses, the governmental authorities. They were shamed by them. But in the plan of God, that shame is transferred into a sign of honor. Does the world hate you? That's a sign of honor. That's a sign of honor.

So in such suffering, God counts you worthy of his kingdom. Such suffering is a mark of dignity. Not shame, but a mark of dignity. All right? I remember the night I was called out to help a family. but the police wouldn't let me in the house okay and there was a group of us outside this house just kind of waiting and I'm hoping to get in and so there's all these people standing outside and someone mentioned my name another person in that little group of people said Tim Pasma where and so I identified myself and he said you know what I think you're nothing but, and I won't finish the sentence, okay?

Now, the first thing that went through my mind was, I must be doing something right. You can recall another time where I had the funeral of a prominent person in our community. I won't mention his name. And in all the funerals that I have, you know, I'll talk about this person, believe it or not. you know and say god was good right god is good he gave you this person he gave this person life you all loved him he loved you this is a gift of god but i will then talk about jesus and how we need jesus because we're all sinners and some people in our community connected the dots and they said pastor tim was calling that guy a sinner now i didn't say this guy's a real sinner I never do that.

But they connected the dots. And you know what? My name was mud in this village for a while. Particularly one person wanted nothing to do with me. You know what? What would you say in those circumstances?

What would you say in those circumstances? in God's kingdom that's a mark of honor not of shame you see and so suffering is evidence of God's justice for you he looks at your suffering and makes a righteous judgment you are worthy of the kingdom if you suffer let me ask you what are your badges of honor what are your marks of dignity what things have people done to you because of Christ can you think of any you know it's not entirely out of my out of my imagination to think that someday in this country there are certain things Christians will not be able to do they'll take a stand in this whole era of abortion I can foresee a day when if you're a Christian and you do that you won't be allowed to practice medicine I can see that quite possibly we will pay some prices for following Jesus. And we ought to get in our minds now. This is not God rejecting us.

God's making a righteous judgment. And he's saying you're worthy if you suffer for my name. Now you can have real hope if you're convinced of God's justice to you, but you can have real hope and confidence if you're convinced of God's justice for your tormentors. And he talks about that in the rest of this text. You will have hope if you're convinced of God's justice for your tormentors or to your tormentors.

Now, most people don't think of God as a God of justice, do they? If you talk to most people today, you will find that people have a view of God as some indulgent father who overlooks your sin and pats you on the head and says, look, you're human. We all make mistakes. You've made a few mistakes, right? But don't worry about it. I accept you just the way you are.

Just try to do a little bit better, okay? One person said, God's in the business of forgiving. Right? well that works when you're the one who sins when you're the one who sins what do you want you want a fatherly indulgent god who pats you on the head and says don't worry i'm not going to hold that against you right just try to do better okay you're human when you're the one who sins that's the view of god that you want that works for you but what about the guy who's tormenting you?

What about the one who's persecuting you? What about the ones who are looking for ways to hurt you What about all those wicked kids tormenting your daughter How does that indulgent father look to you now Right How does that indulgent father look to you now How does it look when you looking at those people who are tormenting you or tormenting your daughter, and there's God over there patting them on their head saying, look, I know you make mistakes. Just try to do a little better, okay?

How does God look to you now? what kind of hope do you gain from that zero why because if god call if god called no one to account for the injustice they they perpetrate how long do you think you'd last huh how long do you think you'd last you see God is a just God who promises justice for his children to those who torment them now note how the text describes that justice verse 6 he calls it repayment verse 8 vengeance verse 9 punishment you see that those are pretty strong words That's justice. When will that happen? Notice in verse 7.

When will that happen? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Justice is coming when Jesus is revealed from heaven. The word reveal there has the idea of removing the veil. Someone revealing himself like it's removing the veil and there he is. It's the word, essentially, apocalypse.

Revelation. Just like the book of Revelation, right? What's the book of Revelation about? It's the unveiling of the glory of Jesus. And so here he's saying, all this is going to happen when Jesus appears, when He's revealed. This Jesus, this Lord, you've never seen, nor have your enemies, but on that day, He will suddenly appear and everyone will see Him.

When Jesus appears, justice arrives. Alright? So this is a promise to us. When Jesus arrives, when he's revealed in all his glory, you will see justice. Now he says to us, believe and embrace the nature of God's justice. He will repay affliction with affliction.

Verse 6. What a marvelous turn of a phrase. I love the way the NIV says, God will trouble those who trouble you. Talk about understatement, right? God will trouble those who trouble you. You cannot oppose the people of God without consequence.

You cannot oppose the people of God without consequence. You cannot send them to prison for preaching. You cannot behead them for their faith. You cannot mock them for their beliefs. You cannot name them bigots for holding to the truth of God without consequence. Do you see that? our father will not allow any of his children to be misused or to be abused without there being consequences for those actions.

The apostle claims here, notice in verse 6, he says, since God indeed considers it just to repay affliction with affliction, That is to say, Paul claims that it would be unjust to allow our persecutors to escape judgment. That would be unjust. And God is just. On the other hand, notice verse 7. You will not suffer without recompense. When Jesus reveals himself on the day of the Lord, he will liberate you from all the oppression that you've suffered.

Notice how he puts it. Just as the oppressors receive retribution for what they have done, you will receive relief from what you've experienced. They get retribution. You get relief. That's recompense. That's recompense.

That means none of your suffering will go unpaid. Why? Because that relief consists of what? It includes a triumphal meeting with Jesus in the air as he descends to the earth, as we saw in 1 Thessalonians. Being numbered among the victors as they descend to the earth with the king. It means the glory of a new body.

A body that will no longer suffer, no longer decay. It means the rest of a sinless world devoid of all evil and suffering and all evil and wicked people. You see, all of that is ours. That's the recompense. We get paid. Retribution is paid here.

Relief and glory is paid here. You see, God is just. look listen hope drives its roots deep into the soil of consequence and recompense right there's hope when you know there's justice that god will deal with those who misuse his people and give his people reward notice verse 8 he inflicts vengeance he inflicts vengeance He comes with his angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. What do you think of when you think of that word vengeance?

You probably think of someone who's been... and loses his mind in anger and in a frenzy mutilates the body of his enemy with the blood spurting everywhere as he whacks and chops the person to pieces. Right? Maybe that's not what you think, but when I hear vengeance, that's what I think. Okay? But God's vengeance is not an irrational outburst or frenzied retaliation.

God's vengeance is perfect, incorruptible justice finding expression. That is to say, his vengeance is just. He will take vengeance, but he will pay exactly what people deserve. Okay? When you're suffering, you should remember that those who persecute you, and there's no threat of human justice on the horizon for them, you can be sure that they will not escape the just vengeance of God.

They will suffer His vengeance. Now note this, that God exacts His just revenge, not only for the persecution of His children, but for the rejection of God. You see that in verse 8? that vengeance will be leveled against those who do not know God. Who do not know God. Now, what's the root cause of our suffering? Let's think about that for a moment.

What's the root cause of our suffering? You know what it is? People have rejected God. Do you think if people believed we really were the people of God, if our tormentors believed we were the people of God, they actually believed that, would they persecute you? No, they would not. They would say, well, there's God.

Those are his people. Right? But you see, they don't know God. That's the issue. It goes beyond merely, you've misused my people. Now there's going to be just vengeance.

It is the fact that you misuse my people because you don't know me. Now, it's not a lack of knowledge that we would call ignorance. Like they're merely unaware of the existence of God. Or they've missed some important clues. That God exists because God clearly reveals himself in nature and in his word. There is a clear revelation of God.

Even those who don't have the Bible know God through nature, according to Romans chapter 1. For what has been made by God, God is clearly seen in what has been made by God. But what does the Apostle Paul say? They what? They suppress that knowledge. Right?

Many of you heard me say, there's no such thing as an atheist in this world. Everybody knows God, without exception. But they suppress that knowledge. So the issue is not, I'm just ignorant, I didn't know there was a God. The issue is they've rejected God. This ignorance is a refusal to respond to this God, who clearly reveals himself.

And so God will exact his just revenge on those who have rejected God, who do not know him. And then he goes on to say that God exacts his just revenge on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that may kind of shock you for a moment. Who do not obey the gospel? I thought we were saved not on the basis of what we do or how much we obey, but just on the basis of faith.

Well, that's true. But listen, the gospel is not just good news to be believed. The gospel is a summons to obey. You see, God commands everyone, everywhere, to repent and believe in Jesus. He doesn't come across and say, look, I got this good thing for you. You want it?

Why don't you? It'd be good for you. Come on. No. God says what? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Right? He's not asking. He's not suggesting. He's not pleading. He's commanding you. Believe.

You've got to believe. God commands everyone, everywhere, to repent and believe in Jesus. Will you obey his summons to believe? You see? One writer said that this idea of disobedience to God command in the gospel is a thought quite different than the modern notion that the gospel should be received simply for personal benefit Doesn't that sum up how people present Jesus today?

Your life will be so much better, just believe in Jesus. right it goes beyond just something to receive be received simply for personal benefit it comes as a command from god that says i have displayed the glory of my son on the cross and i've raised him from the dead you must believe you see it's the gospel that must be obeyed by the way one thing that strikes me is that this vengeance is going to be terrifying why do i say that because he introduces it by saying that that vengeance will come in flaming when jesus appears with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not obey i don't know about you you know we have this view of angels as these either cute little pudgy babies or just as these kind of bright light skinny men with wings right the bible portrays angels as these powerful supernatural beings and they're going to be the agents of god's judgment and they will terrify people when they show up. This is a terrifying vengeance. Do you think desertion in the face of the enemy is a serious thing?

What happens to someone who's fighting? Someone in the army or the marines? What happens if they're in battle and someone deserts? What happens to that guy? They put him against a wall or they tie him to a post and they line up about eight guys and they shoot him. Now why do you think they'd use that method?

I'll tell you why. That's a terrifying prospect. That's terrifying to think of that way of dying. And so God is saying when Jesus arrives to levy justice, the terror of those angels will let you all know that the hatred of God's people was a whole lot more wicked than you ever conceived. You may think you're just misusing them, but in God's eyes, this is an incredibly horrible sin.

And you will come face to face with the depth of the wickedness of that when you face Jesus with those angels. Verse 9, he'll punish. Those who reject God and disobey the gospel and thus torment God's people will find a God who will punish them with eternal torment. Now this is a destruction. Now I'm going to wipe you out because it can't be wiping people out because it's eternal.

It is eternal punishment. It is punishment that will never end. it's a punishment that will never end folks listen at least to a certain degree that ought to tell you something about the love of God for his people that it deserves that kind of justice God does not take lightly people who misuse or our enemies misusing God's people God does not take that lightly All right? That should engender in you real hope that justice will arrive.

And we can endure. And notice that this horrific punishment will erupt from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. now the way it's translated here it's like that destruction means away from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his might you know if you just translate literally it would just say from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his might that may mean either that the punishment is you kept from his glory and his might or from could mean the punishment comes from his glory and his might It could mean one of those things, one of those two things. I think it's saying that that punishment comes from, it's not that we're shut off from, but it comes from his glory and his might.

Why do I say that? Well, for one thing, if you have the English Standard Version, if you look down, you have a footnote on that. You have a footnote on it, and it says another reading could be destruction that comes from. Do you see that? I'm opting for that one. Here's why.

That this horrific punishment comes from the presence of the Lord and comes from the glory of His might. Turn to Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah chapter 2. You're going to hear these words and they're going to sound familiar to you. It's one of those connections in Scripture that we ought to see. Isaiah chapter 2, look at verse 10.

Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty. Right? go hide from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty. Drop down to verse 19. And people will enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty when He rises to terrify the earth.

In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold which they made for themselves to worship to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs from before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty when He rises to terrify the earth. Does that remind you of anything? Yeah, look at Revelation 6.

You just heard it this morning. Caleb read it for us. Revelation chapter 6. Revelation 6. verse 16 calling to the mountains and rocks okay verse 15 then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him from the presence of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb okay does that you see the connection with isaiah there they're drawing on this view of judgment of god chapter revelation 20 verse 11 then i saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence all right from his presence earth and sky flat away and no place was found for them so the presence of the Lord oftentimes means judgment the might and power and majesty of the Lord often means judgment so when when Jesus shows up in all his glory justice arrives and so this might and the presence of the Lord Jesus brings about this horrific eternal destruction.

Look, what you need to do is look to the future so that you have hope in the present. And that is what ought to distinguish us from everyone else. Don't put your hope in, well, maybe things will change. Maybe it'll go easy on us. You don't know that. It might not.

It might get worse. It might get better. You don't know. Where are you going to put your hope? You put your hope in the future. You put your hope in the one who promises justice, who where justice is certain rather than what might happen.

You don't want to put your hope in other people. They may fail you. But there is no disappointment in the promises of God. He will make sure it happens. He has promised judgment. Now lastly, here's the last point.

Notice that justice for your tormentor also means joy for you. verse 10 when he comes all this punishment is going to come out when he comes on that day the day of the Lord to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed when jesus comes in glory with justice in hand his saints will glorify him they will praise him they will glorify him and rather than terror you will express admiration and astonishment. That's what it means, marvel. Admiration, astonishment at the glory of Jesus and the glory of his judgment.

And how is it that you'll be in the company of those who celebrate rather than the company of those who are condemned? Do you see the dividing line right there? To be marveled at, Jesus will be glorified in his saints. He will be greeted with astonishment and marvel at his judgment and his presence, among whom all who have believed. Because you believe the testimony that we gave you.

The dividing line is those who have believed the gospel. some of you may be sitting here this day and saying wow that's great there are people that really treat me bad well i'm glad that god's a god of justice listen to me if you have never bowed to the god of justice who reveals himself in jesus if you have never admitted that you're a sinner and that you need christ you will not be in the company of those celebrating you will be in company of those who are condemned. You see, you can't make yourself worthy. You can't work up enough good stuff so that God says, ah, let's put it into balance.

If you have not believed in Jesus, if you have not trusted entirely in him, if you've not believed the proclamation of the gospel, which is you are a sinner under the wrath of God, you can do nothing about it except throw yourself on the mercy of Jesus. That's the dividing line. Unless you believe that, you're in the company of the condemned. And God will bring his justice down on you for your sins.

Only those who have obeyed the summons of God to believe will be celebrating on that day. So let me ask you, we don't know. Right now, we don't. What kind of suffering do we have? We're called bigots because of what we believe the Bible teaches. We're often called bigots.

Some people at work may, you know, bust your chops for a while. You may have someone at work who hates your Christianity and doesn't allow you to advance. We've not suffered torture or beheading. Regardless, how are you going to stand fast? How are you going to stand fast? How are you going to have that unshakable, unbreakable faith?

It doesn't matter the level or the degree of persecution. There's only one way, or at least the beginning is not, I'm going to be tougher now. No. It starts with faith in the promises of God that he will certainly bring justice. That's where it begins. Right?

You must put your hope in the promises of God. that will give you steadfastness when trials and afflictions come you can take it so long as you know justice is certain that's where you start you believe the promises of god let's pray father thank you for your word frankly Lord we often don't look to the future for our hope would you please wean us away from these false foundations of hope and look to the hope of your promises look to the certainty of your promise for justice to help us grow grow in endurance Father thank you again for your clear word to us in Jesus name Amen