2 Thessalonians 1:3-9 NLT
Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.
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Oh Christian, do you take the judgement of God seriously? The Christians of Thessalonica were famous for having escaped the coming wrath of God. (http://bible.us/116/1th.1.9-10.nlt )
And here in Paul's second letter to these people, he tries to encourage them that their persecutors were going to get what was due them.
You and I are surrounded by people who mock Jesus! They deny his authority in their own lives and they think us foolish for following Jesus. Often these are people we love. It is possible our own family members are enemies of God. Friends, colleagues, family members, or neighbours may be hoping you just will grow out of this Jesus phase. They think Jesus is a myth. They hope you will see the sense of living for the "more important things of this world." Some of these people can be more aggressive and may attempt to shame you or threaten you into leaving this Jesus thing behind.
You may feel torn. You may be embarrassed by Christians. You may doubt Jesus. You may see sense in what your persecutors are saying.
Is it worth the risk?
"He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power."( 2 Thess. 1:8-9)
People who refuse to obey the good news of Jesus will be punished with eternal destruction.
God is right in doing this. Paul is trying to encourage persecuted Christians with this information.
How does it make you feel? Are you like Paul and the people he wrote to in this letter? Do you see that you will be different as you follow God? This difference will irritate the people around you. It shows them that they too need to follow Jesus. Jesus has a claim on their lives. Some may try to ignore that you are telling them with your words and actions that they must obey God. Are you telling them with your words and your actions that people must obey God? Often people respond to the good news with anger, frustration, denial, and they take this all out on the messenger.
If this happens you may suffer persecution. Paul says, don't fret, they get theirs. I haven't made this up. It is right here in the bible.
The people of Thessalonica realized that their sin made God really really angry and so they left behind the sinful ways to follow God. To follow God is to escape God's wrath! To not follow God is to face God's wrath.
How will knowing this change your view of the world today? What will you do differently?
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