2 Thessalonians, part 1

Them that Know Not God

Today, the first in a three part series covering the book of 2 Thessalonians.

Protestants long have understood the "man of sin" in this passage as indicating the power of the papacy or as being the pope of Rome. But now there is a new Pope, Francis I. Stories are appearing in the news outlets of his great humility, kindness, and solidarity with the poor. No doubt there is something in these stories. However, we shall be looking at what the Scriptures say in this book about the Second Coming of Jesus and what then shall happen to those who prefer to generate their own "good news," those who place themselves in the temple of God and proclaim themselves to be god (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

The gospel is the gospel and God is love and God is the same yesterday today and forever. He does not change. We must anticipate that whatever generous and politically-correct stories the media generates about kind and gentle popes won't amount to a hill of burned beans when the end comes. Our part is to be faithful to Jesus.

Paul is not alone; he and Silvanus and Timothy are together. And they write to the church in Thessalonica. He offers his customary greeting. He mentions how thankful he is for their Christianity. They are known for their love and kindness toward each other. They are patient and, although persecuted, they are enduring.

Undergoing Tribulation

Undergoing tribulation is a token of the judgment of God that will come upon the wicked. Few of us know by experience what tribulation is. It is more than a disagreement with your uncle about the Sabbath, or your employer glaring at you because you are declining to work on the Sabbath. There was a video on the internet last year from Ukraine where the local Orthodox church priest and some of his followers came and destroyed a rack of Adventist literature that had been set up, while flinging "holy water" onto our brothers and sisters there. Persecution? Yes. I'll bet nothing quite like this has happened to many of us. And yet, this was pretty lightweight. We will see much worse than this!

There is a judgment that comes upon the wicked when they persecute you. It comes upon them because you are living the kingdom and they are resisting it. Persecution for the kingdom comes upon us only when we are living the kingdom. We refer here to actual persecution, not any self-inflicted fake kind.

Did you hear about the non-Adventist fellow last year who tried to have himself arrested for using the name "Seventh-day Adventist Church"? He was in Loma Linda and he called the authorities, telling them where he would be so they could come and arrest him. They ignored him. So, he drove down the street to Redlands and repeated the process, finally managing to have the Redlands police arrest him. He engineered his own "persecution" but was soon released. Life's hard.

For those who ARE His, who truly are persecuted, God will repay tribulation with tribulation. But before you think of God as a particularly hard and vicious sort, realize that the tribulation you will be repaid with is connected to tribulation you have unjustly inflicted upon others. So, if you are taking notes, keep in mind that it is best not to initiate violence against another. You may not like the result.

When Jesus Comes

Paul writes, "You who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Yes, rest is coming. When? When Jesus comes. Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. But He is not coming in the heavens in any mild way. This is the end. He is coming in PURI PHLOGOS, as KJV gives, "flaming fire." And literally "having righteousness [with those who] do not know God, and who are not subordinated to the gospel of our Lord Jesus."

Paul writes to a persecuted people. Part of his message to them is that God will recompense their mistreatment. Jesus will return. There are some who would ignore issues of injustice. God would prefer not to execute such judgment, but He supports His followers. He appreciates those who stand for Him though it is not popular, though others scoff. These He will keep, and unfairness done to these He will recompense.

He could just vaporize people or in a divine thought "think them and blink them." He could painlessly blot them out of existence. He doesn't do this. He is indicated as executing justice in His brightness. The lost are lost burning up.

And what is the nature of their punishment? Eternal destruction. It results from God's unveiled presence. There is nothing unrighteous that can survive His unveiled presence. Paul here is thinking of what text? Perhaps that also quoted in Jude 14, 15:

"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14, 15).

In 2 Thessalonians Paul is dealing with an issue. False teachers are working in that church. They are teaching error about the Second Coming. In this epistle, Paul comes on quite strongly. Far from giving them space or compromising, Paul affirms the coming of Jesus, and the destruction of false teachers at His arrival! Jesus comes with His holy angels (here called "saints") and comes to execute judgment on all. Notice, the judgment, in terms of any investigative aspect, is ended. It is now time to carry out at least a part of the judgment (the Millennium is still coming with the disposition at its close).

See also that judgment here comes upon all who have done ungodly deeds and who have not repented of them. Here also in view is the chatter of the false teachers who have spoken and taught against God. Their speech comes up here for special focus, and Paul says that when Jesus comes there will be an accounting. All the crooked things that these have taught shall then meet their just rewards.

There is flaming fire. Those who are in trouble here are those who have not obeyed the gospel. Many talk of being Christians, and talk about what they think God says or teaches. There is much talk today about many things, a good deal of chatter about what Christianity means and stands for. But all the empty words will be seen as empty when Jesus comes. Then the question will be about who has obeyed the gospel, not who has generated clever explanations for why we need not obey Him.

Some do not want us to focus too much on questions of obedience. The gospel, they say, is about God's unmerited favor, His salvation gift to us. But we are dependent beings; we are responsible; we are responsible not only to receive the gift of forgiveness from God but also His precious gift of overcoming power. We are not safe. We need to be changed, and now is the time to be changed!

We cannot in this hour be responsible Christians if we do not invest ourselves more thoroughly in finding how to help people actively obey the gospel. The gospel does not exist apart from questions of obedience. Jesus is Lord. We obey Him. If we do not obey Him, He is not Lord. When He comes we are held accountable. Christianity is not about unaccountable religion but we are disciples, learners, followers of Jesus. We must follow in the direction He is leading, or we are none of His.

At Jesus' Coming

Notice now, as we turn to the last parts of this chapter, that we are looking more at what happens when Jesus comes. When Jesus returns, God comes to be glorified in His saints. He will be admired among all who believe. Why? Because the message preached was believed and accepted and the result was a set of indisputably changed lives.

When Jesus comes there will be a oneness between He and us. First John 3 says that those who follow Him purify themselves even as He is pure. And so, when He comes, they are pure as He is pure. They see Him and rejoice. And Jesus' response is, "Well done, good and faithful servant. . . enter into the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:23).

We are called to stand in the day of the Second Coming, and we must let Him work in us to change us. If we let Him work in us in this way, then God's name will be glorified in His church. Where the text here says that Jesus will be glorified "in you" (2 Thessalonians 1:12), we have a plural. That is, it will be glorified in you as a people, as a group of followers. Jesus does not anticipate only one or two persons "getting through" the end time, but He envisions His whole church doing it. The church may be small at that time, beaten and bruised, many proving base-metal and falling away. But He will have His victory; He shall be vindicated through His church (Ephesians 3:10, 20, 21).

Then the question is, How can that be us? How can Seventh-day Adventist Christians be faithful followers of Jesus so that, in the end, many of us can be in the kingdom? And the answer is that the church must be faithful. We must keep to the teachings of the Bible. We must study it with care. We must stand ready to defend those teachings with care. More than this, our lives must be shaped by its teachings. If our lives do not testify to the truth and the power of these teachings to change, where will we be when Jesus comes?

What we teach and believe changes us. If it is truth, it changes us and makes us true. If it is error, it changes us and makes us false examples, pseudo-Christians, fakes. Those who hunt ducks have a word for this: we make ourselves into decoys.

When Jesus comes in His brightness, He will separate the decoys from the real McCoys. The true teachings and the result of those true teachings will be seen. There will be a group who are faithful and have become like Him, ready when Jesus comes. They will have been faithful to His Word. There will also be a group who have followed other teachings, listened to obscurities, sideshows, popes, prelates. These will have no deep foundation in God's Word. The doctrines and commandments of men will result in a crooked batch. God has set up a deeply-biblical, Word-believing church. He looks for us to be students of His Word, and to be able to listen to one another, learn from one another, discern what is and is not truth.

There is a work of faith and power to be done in us (2 Thessalonians 1:11), and it can only be done in us by Jesus and His Holy Spirit. The question is always the same: will we submit to this work? If we do, we can be true Christians, showing the workmanship of the Carpenter. If we do not, we will be slipshod examples, unable to stand in the extreme pressures of the last days.

Which brings us at last to the question of Jesus' name. Will His name, His character, be seen in us and us in Him? Notice in this 12th verse that this question is not separated from the question of His grace. Some would separate God's grace from His power to work out character change in His people. But we cannot go there, because we know the reality of our personal walk with Jesus.

We are not what we once were, and God is not finished with us yet. We are not what we are going to be. But we are on the way with Jesus.

Conclusion

The Second Coming of Jesus is the blessed hope. It is the day, the moment, all Christians should be looking for. Are we preparing for this with right-doing and serious Bible study? Are we clear that we need to be glued to the Word, or, are we tuned into the satelite television broadcast which tells us all about the latest pope, such a humble man that he saved 30 rubber bands each month and returned them to the poor peasant selling newspapers--but was not humble enough to keep the commandments of God? Next, when we review chapter two, we'll learn more about the man of sin, who opposes himself to God, and what happens when Jesus comes in His brightness. May God help us to be in the Word more than in the world, ready to stand in His strength. Jesus is Lord.

Presentations:

Bonners Ferry ID SDA 2013-03-23