Understand difficult prophecies using simple theology.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-10 (NIV)
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 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. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 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. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 37: The Last Judgment
Finally we believe,
according to God’s Word,
that when the time appointed by the Lord is come
(which is unknown to all creatures)
and the number of the elect is complete,
our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven,
bodily and visibly,
as he ascended,
with great glory and majesty,
to declare himself the judge
of the living and the dead.
He will burn this old world,
in fire and flame,
in order to cleanse it.
Then all human creatures will appear in person
before that great judge—
men, women, and children,
who have lived from the beginning until the end
of the world.
They will be summoned there
by the voice of the archangel
and by the sound of the divine trumpet.
For all those who died before that time
will be raised from the earth,
their spirits being joined and united
with their own bodies
in which they lived.
And as for those who are still alive,
they will not die like the others
but will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye”
from “corruptible to incorruptible.”
Therefore,
with good reason
the thought of this judgment
is horrible and dreadful
to wicked and evil people.
But it is very pleasant
and a great comfort
to the righteous and elect,
since their total redemption
will then be accomplished.
They will then receive the fruits of their labor
and of the trouble they have suffered;
their innocence will be openly recognized by all;
and they will see the terrible vengeance
that God will bring on the evil ones
who tyrannized, oppressed, and tormented them
in this world.
Summary
There's no greater compliment that Paul could ever give to a church than what he writes here to the Thessalonians. He commends them because their faith is growing and their love for one another is increasing. Paul connects the faith and love that the Thessalonians demonstrated as certain evidence that God will count them worthy of the Kingdom of God. The Thessalonians needed this shot in the arm because at present they were enduring persecutions and trials.
So the big question that they had then, and that we still have now, is when? When will God pay back trouble to those who trouble and give relief to those who are troubled? The answer Paul gives, as our Confession puts it, is horrible and dreadful to wicked and evil people. God's justice will come in the apokalypsis (revelation) of the Lord Jesus from heaven.
But notice that Jesus doesn't come back alone! He'll be accompanied by blazing fire with His powerful angels. Too often angels get thought of as being, well, angelic. We picture them as chubby little babies or a harp carrying choir with feathery wings and flowing white robes, but that's not how the Bible portrays these awesome creatures!
But it's what Jesus is coming for that's so surprising. Certainly handing out reward or retribution as deserved will be a high priority for Him, but the primary reason He's coming is to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who believe. Christians present when this happens won't even notice all of the other apocalyptic events happening around them; they'll be comply transfixed by Jesus!
Dig Deeper
We refer to this aspect of theology which describes the consummation (Jesus' return and the final judgment) as eschatology, and it can be one of the toughest parts of theology to work out precisely. Good Christians who agree on nearly every other doctrine will often come to different conclusions in their eschatologies.
Paul gives a good example of how to work through difficult eschatological teachings in today's passage. Some Christians take difficult passages from apocalyptic books like Revelation or Daniel and then try to contort the whole rest of the Bible to fit what they think the apocalyptic passage means.
Paul, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction. He begins with one of the most fundamental theological assertions there is: God is just (v6). Although the details about what will happen and when are often fuzzy, we can be certain that God's justice will prevail, and the wicked will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
Of course Paul here is inspired by the Holy Spirit as he writes theses words, and this passage is itself apocalyptic (meaning it reveals the future), but you can and should use this same pattern that Paul demonstrates. Know your core theology well and then use it as a lens to help you get a grip on the more difficult passages regarding the end times.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is just, and who gives relief to those who are troubled;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you, like the Thessalonians, will have an increasing faith and growing love;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Revelation 15
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