2 Thessalonians 1 • Perspective on God’s Justice and Mercy
Did you know that believers in Christ are saved from the wrath of God that will occur during the future Great Tribulation? Yes, that is what salvation means. That promise is like a warm, comforting security blanket for us. Sadly, many reject God’s mercy and refuse to accept God’s offer of salvation from His just wrath on those who reject His Son. In the last blog, we gained the biblical perspective on what it means to shine God’s light in how you live your life now. This is post #10 in the Thessalonians series.In this article, we will gain the biblical perspective on God’s justice and mercy and how that affects life in the future.
Listen to this blog as a similar podcast from the Perspective Bible Study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians:
Our Security Blanket
The need for security and comfort
Are you familiar with the Peanuts comic strip? Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy. My favorite character was Snoopy with his wild imagination. I liked Linus also because of his compassion for his friend Charlie Brown. And sometimes he says the wisest things. But mostly, I like the fact that he has a blanket, and he hangs onto it fiercely. That is because I was a blanket girl.
When I was 5, I was given a silky blanket with roses on it. I had that blanket with me through high school and even took it to college. I loved wrapping up in that blanket. After getting married, I left it at home. My oldest daughter discovered it when visiting her grandparents and adopted it for herself. All three of our children were attached to blankets that have since disintegrated. We have remnants of each left for sentimental reasons.
I know some children prefer stuffed animals to blankets, but most children I have seen prefer blankets. Why do you think blankets are such favorites with kids? I think they satisfy a need for security. I still like that feeling of security under a weight of blankets, or when I feel vulnerable to cold air.
A child’s blanket also provides consistency, something familiar from home that can travel with a child. It provides a connection to a parent’s love when the parent is not present. And a child’s blanket is comforting when the child is sad, hurt, or scared.
What God provides
The Bible teaches that God provides us security. That is our salvation promised through faith in Jesus Christ. God provides us consistency through His Word, His character, and His Spirit at work in us. And God comforts us. I have experienced that. You have experienced that.
As we have been studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians, it is easy to become frightened by the descriptions of blazing fire, the day of the Lord, everlasting destruction, and the man of lawlessness. But God’s promises of security and protection and comfort to us as believers in His Son are like a child’s blanket wrapped around us. We can feel safe and snug in Him.
God offers that same blanket of protection to every human on the face of this planet. But a time comes when those who refuse His protection will get to live out the choice they have made. That is so evidently clear in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.
Trying to understand all the prophecies about the end times is like having similar puzzle pieces without the picture on the box top to tell you how to arrange them. We can recognize the border pieces and put the four sides of the puzzle together. Those are events we know will definitely happen but not when or how the rest of the pieces fit inside the border. They are introduced to us in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
- The Rapture takes place. One day, Jesus Christ will appear as Savior to gather His own together in the clouds. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
- The Great Tribulation begins. Known as “the day of the Lord,” it is a time during which God’s wrath against sin is directed toward earth. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)
- The Antichrist is revealed. The man of lawlessness or Antichrist takes over the world with force and deception. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)
- Christ’s Second Coming. Christ is coming to exact justice against unbelievers and set up His kingdom on earth. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)
Those are the 4 sides to our puzzle. We have covered 1 and 2 so far. In this post, we will look more closely at 4 as introduced in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.
Warnings to Those Who Refuse God’s Grace
Christ’s coming
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul wrote these words of warning to the ones who refuse God’s gracious offer,
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)
Blazing fire and powerful angels. That is serious business. Powerful angels and blazing fire represent judgment. This return of Christ is not the Rapture as described in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, which is for Christians and completes their salvation from all of God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9). This return described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the Great Tribulation as described in Revelation 19.
God’s justice
Our God is just. To be just means that you are always doing what is morally right and fair. Our God always acts with justice. It is the natural expression of His holiness.
God’s holiness always sets Him apart from anything that is sinful or evil. The Bible says that God hates sin and has declared that sin is wrong and must be punished by death. Jesus paid the penalty for sin that God’s justice demands. The gospel offers salvation from this penalty to everyone who trusts in Him for their salvation.
Sadly, many refuse God’s gracious offer. Those who reject Christ will, in turn, experience God’s rejection and the loss of everything worthwhile in life.
Their choice
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we read this,
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
God makes His offer of amnesty to all humans so easy. Just believe in His Son Jesus Christ.
Recommended: Read “The Gospel: God’s Cure for Our Sin Disease” blog.
Yet, human arrogance and independence prefers to turn away from the enormous treasure they would have in Jesus Christ. Instead, they choose paper, plastic, and powder. They choose separation from God forever. It is really very sad. But it is their choice.
In Romans chapter 1, Paul described their choice like this,
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:18-23)
God has done everything possible to communicate to every human that He exists and loves them. The Gospel is the Lord’s message of hope and salvation. The only stipulation is that you must personally accept the message through faith in Jesus Christ.
Security for Those Who Accept God’s Grace
The good news—salvation
The good news for all believers is found in Ephesians chapter 2,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Dear believer, that is our security blanket. Our comforting blanket. The blanket that connects us to our Father God. We can rest assured that the words expressed in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 are not directed at us. We will never be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Never.
More good news—God’s mercy
Here is more good news. Remember 1 Thessalonians 5:9? In case you do not remember, here is what it says,
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
We will not suffer God’s wrath. That is God’s mercy.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Our sin was awful. We deserved death. But God’s mercy was greater. We receive a complete pardon and life by faith in Jesus Christ. We have nothing to fear in our future.
When the terrible day of the Lord begins, we who know the Lord now will not experience it. We will have been rescued ahead of time. Jesus made that promise to us. I covered that in the last blog. Wrap yourself up in that blanket. Stop fretting over the end times. There is no worth in worrying about it.
But we will get to see that day when Jesus Christ returns to earth with His powerful angels to enact justice on an unbelieving rebellious world.
Being with Jesus at His Second Coming
Paul wrote this in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1,
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. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)
We will be with Him at that time. We will see it. It will be glorious. Absolutely glorious!
Recommended: For more understanding of Jesus as the future King on David’s throne in Jerusalem, read “Zechariah 9-14: Your King Comes” and “Mark 1: Jesus and the Kingdom of God.”
Everything you have imagined about Jesus the King coming to defeat all His enemies and truly reign over planet Earth will come to pass. You and I will see it. We are the holy people who will be with Him, marveling at King Jesus in His glory and might.
Revelation 19:11-21 describe this event.
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. … The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11, 14-16)
We are part of His army of heaven (v. 14) as He returns, wearing the armor of God, and we will be part of His reign over planet Earth. The graphic below is by H. Wayne House.
What to Do Now
In light of this glorious future, knowing that so many are still unsaved, we need to do as we talked about in the last article. We need to be light-bearers to those around us who do not know Him.
Paul ended 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 with a prayer for the Thessalonians.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
Pray this for yourself, dear believer, with the future in mind.
- Consider the terrible destiny for those who do not know God and refuse to accept the Gospel message. Be an intentional light-bearer to them. It is not a time for idleness, just waiting for Jesus to come. It is a time for deliberate action prompted by love.
- Consider the glorious destiny for those who know God and have accepted His Gospel message. Desire goodness and deeds prompted by faith so that your life pleases God. Why not? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
In the next post, we will gain some biblical perspective on the Great Tribulation that happens before Jesus comes again, including the Antichrist and his effect on humanity.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His perspective on life in the present and in the future. Then, live securely in Him during this time of waiting.
The above information is covered in our Perspective Bible Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
Related Resources:
- Satisfied Series 13 Podcasts on 1 and 2 Thessalonians
- Connect: Build Intentional Relationships with Nonbelievers
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 • Perspective on Death and the Rapture
- Mark 1: Jesus and the Kingdom of God
- Zechariah 9-14: Your King Comes
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