2 Thessalonians 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: Persecution of believers now and judgment of unbelievers hereafter (at Christ’s coming)

2 Thessalonians 1:1

INTRODUCTIONPaul’s greeting is his usual friendly greeting to a church which is theologically and spiritually sound. Paul includes the greetings of Silas (a contraction of the name Silvanus) and Timothy (Timotheus is the Greek form). These three men had endured a great deal for the sake of the gospel. Paul and Silas were in the prison at Philippi. Paul, Silas, and Timothy had gone to Thessalonica together, and later Paul had to leave them. He waited for them in Athens and, when they did not come, he went on to Corinth where they finally met. It was at that time Paul wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians to answer some of the questions that had come up since he had been there. When Paul writes his second epistle, he identifies his two co-workers who are brethren with him. He would identify himself with men who, for us today, would be totally unknown had not Paul included them in these epistles. This reveals something of the character of Paul. A man who had been a proud young Pharisee has become a humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and a servant of His and an apostle of His. “Unto the church of the Thessalonians.” That was the local church in Thessalonica. Paul believed in the local church, and that church in Thessalonica was “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He probably did not mention the Holy Spirit because the Spirit was in the church in Thessalonica indwelling the believers. The indwelling Spirit enabled them to manifest the life of Christ and to walk worthy of the high calling of God. Their position, however, was in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This means, my friend, that Paul taught the deity of Christ. There was no doubt in Paul’s mind that Jesus Christ was God the Son. In Joh_10:27-29 the Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” In this first verse you have the two hands of deity which belong to the Lord Jesus and God the Father. That is where the church is positionallythe Thessalonian church was there, and I hope your church is there. The important thing is not the name of your church. The important thing is that you and other true believers are in Christ Jesus, and that makes the local church very important. The Holy Spirit indwells true believers, and by His power they can manifest Christ in the local neighborhood, in the community, in the town, in the state, and in the world, showing forth the life of God. That is what Paul is saying to these believers in his introduction.

2 Thessalonians 1:2

Grace and peace are two important words in the gospel. Grace comes first. If you have experienced the grace of God, that means you have been saved. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph_2:8-9). When you come to God as a lost sinner, bringing nothing, and receiving everything from Him, then you have experienced the grace of God. He offers you salvationthe gift of God is eternal life. You cannot work for a gift, and if you do, it ceases to be a gift and it becomes something you have earned.

It becomes a payment. God is not patting you on the back because you are a nice Sunday school boy. Salvation is God offering you, a lost, hell-doomed sinner, eternal life if you trust Christ. That is grace. “Peace"if you have experienced God’s grace, then you know something about His peace. Peace is the world’s softest pillow that you can sleep on at night. It is the peace that comes when you know that your sins are forgiven. Peace comes, not from some psychological gyrations you go through, or through the counsel of a psychiatrist, but it comes from a supernatural sourcefrom “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”; it is supernatural. If you don’t have it, you can have it, because it is the gift of God which is given to sinners who turn to Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:3

PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS AND FRUITS OF ITThe word charity in this verse is “love.” In verse 2Th_1:4 Paul speaks of patience and faith. In verses 2Th_1:3 and 2Th_1:4 we have that little trinity that Paul uses: faith, love, and patience. These three words are abstract terms, but we must bring them out of the abstract into the concrete. Get them walking on the sidewalks today. This again is the “work of faith” which Paul mentioned in 1Th_1:3. Saving faith produces works. A saving faith will produce a love in the heart for God’s children. My friend, if you are a child of God, you will have to love me whether or not you want to, and I’m going to have to love you. It is a wonderful arrangement! In the next verse Paul picks up the third word, which he uses with “love” and “faith.” It is “patience.” This is not the patience of waiting in a traffic jam or waiting for a light to turn green. It is the patience that is willing to live for God and accept whatever He sends your way, knowing that all things do work together for good. It is the patience that has as its goal coming into God’s presence someday. This enables you to get over the rough places that come into your life. The life of a Christian reminds me of traveling over a highway. Many years ago I used to cross the country by automobile from Texas to California.

There would be many places where a detour sign would put us on a rough old road. But along the way we would see a sign that read “5 miles to the double highway,” and the rough road became a little bit smoother by knowing that we would hit the asphalt or the concrete in a little while. And many of us are on a detour in this life. The road is rough, and we are called upon to suffer. Well, if you have a good view of the future, it will give you the patience of hopea hope that looks way down yonder to the good smooth road coming up. And it may be closer than you think. “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet.” The word meet means “proper"it is right and fitting for us to thank God for you. “Because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity [love] of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.” You cannot grow toward God without growing outward toward your brother. When you grow toward God in grace and knowledge and faith, you grow toward your brother in love. And God must send us a little trouble because that is the discipline which produces patience in our lives. It enables us to look down into the future with hope.

2 Thessalonians 1:4

“Tribulations” are afflictions. The church will not go through the Great Tribulation, but we will go through the little tribulation. We all will have trouble down here. If you are not having any troubles, then there must be something wrong with you, because the Lord disciplines His children. Patience is an interesting word. The Greek word translated by the English word patience has the literal meaning of “standing under.” It means to be placed under. A great many people try to get out from under the problems and difficulties. The person who is patient is able to stay under, and he keeps on carrying the load. He doesn’t throw it off; he doesn’t try to get rid of his responsibility. These Thessalonian Christians had a real testimony in the Roman world of that day. (Thessalonica was a Roman colony, and people were going to and fro from that colony, so the word got out everywhere.) The patience and faith of these Christians were unshaken as they were enduring a great deal of trouble, persecutions, and afflictions. Trouble is not something strange. The Word of God makes it clear that we are going to have trouble in this life. Peter expressed it like this: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (1Pe_4:12). Sometimes we hear Christians say, “I don’t know why God let this happen to me. Nobody else has ever had to go through this.” It is safe to say that such a statement is not true. Whatever you are going through, you have company.

It is not a strange thing for suffering to come to us. Peter goes on to say, “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1Pe_4:13). Peter warns that Christians sometimes get themselves into trouble. “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters” (1Pe_4:15). A Christian can get himself in hot water because he talks too muchtalking about others. Or he can suffer persecution because he is dishonest. There is no advantage to that kind of suffering.

That is not the discipline in life which will develop patience. That is simply getting what you have coming to you. Peter goes on, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1Pe_4:16). There is a difference between being disciplined to learn patience and the punishment of the wicked. God disciplines His children for their development, for their growth, that they might have patience and a hope for the future. We don’t need to get too comfortable down here.

When we do, we no longer have the hope before us of the Lord’s return.

2 Thessalonians 1:5

Our suffering has nothing to do with salvation, but it sure prepares us for our eternal state. When you and I look back to this life on earth, maybe some of us will wish that we had had a little bit more discipline than we got! While the judgment of the wicked begins with verse 2Th_1:8, this is certainly the introduction to it.

2 Thessalonians 1:6

When God judges, God is righteous in it. Paul asks the question: “Is there unrighteousness with God?” The answer is, Let it not be"God forbid” (see Rom_9:14). Whatever God does is absolutely right. He can do no wrong. Sometimes we complain about the things that happen to us because we are ignorant; we do not understand God’s ways. But God has a very definite purpose for all that He does. And God is righteous in sending the Great Tribulation. It is a judgment of sinners.

2 Thessalonians 1:7

The Lord Jesus is coming in judgment.

2 Thessalonians 1:8

JUDGMENT OF WICKED AT CHRIST’S COMINGThe Word of God actually says very little about heaven. One of the reasons is that it is so wonderful we could not comprehend it. And the Lord does not want us to get so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. He wants us to keep our eyes on our pathway down here, and I think He wants us to keep our noses to the grindstone much of the time. In other words, He has a purpose for our lives on earth, and He wants us to fulfill that purpose. Scripture not only says very little about heaven, it says less about the condition of the lost. It is so awful that the Holy Spirit has drawn a veil over it. There is nothing given to satisfy the morbid curiosity or the lust for revenge. When God judges, He does not do it in a vindictive manner. He does it in order to vindicate His righteousness and His holiness. There is nothing in the Scriptures to satisfy our curiosity about hell, but there is enough said to give us a warning.

It does not mean that it is less real because so little is said. Actually, Christ Himself said more about hell than did anyone else. Hell is an awful reality. I am not going to speculate about it; I’m just quoting what is said right here: He is coming “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” Hell is ridiculed today, but that does not mean it doesn’t exist. Our beliefs are sometimes only wishful thinking. For example, it was the popular notion that Hitler would not plunge Europe into a war and turn Europe into a holocaust of flaming fire. But he did. Chamberlain, the man with the umbrella, went over to meet with Hitler and Mussolini, and he came back saying that we would have peace in our time. Well, we didn’t have peace, and we don’t have peace in the world today. Also, many people thought that Japan would never attack America. Our government did not believe she would, and the liberal churches at that time were teaching pacifism. Well, whether they believed it or not, there was a vicious attack at Pearl Harbor. Friend, we might as well face the fact that there is a hell. Christ is returning to this earth some day. First He will take His own out of the earth, and then His coming will be a terror to the wicked; it will be a judgment upon those who “know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Joh_17:3). Do you want to work for your salvation? Jesus said, “…This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (Joh_6:29). That is what the Word of God teaches. I know that it is not popular to talk about hell and judgment. Even the Christian testimonies that we hear and read are filled with I, I, I"I became successful in business. I saved my marriage. My personality changed.” Nothing very much is said about the Lord Jesus. How many testimonies have you heard in which it is said, “I was a hell-doomed sinner going straight to hell, I was lost, and He saved me”? The important thing to say in a testimony is not what He has given you but from what He has delivered you. That was the whole purpose for the coming of our Savior. He came to redeem us! He didn’t come to give us new personalities or to make us successful. He came to deliver us from hell! That’s not popular to say. Folk don’t like to hear it. There are too few people today who are willing to confront folk with the fact that they are lost. Suppose you were asleep in a burning building, and a man rushed into that building to rescue you. He awakened you, picked you up, and carried you bodily out of that burning building. He liked you; so he made you his son. He brought you into his lovely home and gave you many wonderful gifts. Now if you had the opportunity to stand before a group of people and tell about this man and express your appreciation in his presence, what would you thank him for?

Would you thank him for making you his son? I hope you would. But wouldn’t you really thank him most for the fact that he risked his life to save you out of a burning building? Nothing else would have mattered if he had not rescued you from a flaming death. Now, my friend, the judgment of the lost is coming. If you want to stay in that class, you shall be judged. Somebody needs to tell you the facts, and I am telling them to you right now. Again, who are the lost? They are those who (1) “know not God” and who (2) “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let me repeat verse 2Th_1:9: “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

2 Thessalonians 1:10

The coming of Christ to the earth in judgment will justify the believers who have put their trust in Him, and it will glorify the Savior.

2 Thessalonians 1:11

“That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.” If God has prospered you, made you a financial success, and you can glorify Christ, that’s fine. But somehow I am more impressed by a little woman who has been flat on her back in a hospital most of her lifeyet has a radiant testimony for Christ. Certainly Christ is being glorified in her.