2 Thess 1. You Are a Warrior Poet Behind Enemy Lines.

Sunday July 9, 2023

Today we will see the promise of the Lord’s judgment upon men when He returns to the earth and what exciting things He has given to the church, a group to whom He has given a new life that was never seen or heard of before.

Mat 24:29-31

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

Will the world always be in conflict?

2Th 1:5

This is [Here is] a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

Here is proof of the righteous judgment of God. Christ will return and deliver the saved and judge those who did not obey the gospel.

Before that day when the Lord will establish His kingdom on the earth, God planted the knowledge and love of His kingdom in the hearts of men who live and walk right in the midst of the world whose ruler, the devil, has been planting evil. To live in the manner of the coming kingdom while in the midst of the fallen one is a high honor. To suffer for the coming kingdom by the hands of the old one is the highest honor.

Do we see the value of the new kingdom and our King over the old flesh and the old world?

If you are a new self you are a member of the new kingdom with Jesus Christ as its only King. Your life in this world is incredibly important.

The Lord is returning to judge (and set free) at the end of the age.

The faith and love of the Thessalonians has resulted in Paul’s boasting about them to other Christians, especially about their perseverance and faith through many trials. Paul finds remarkable the fact that they are persisting in these Christian virtues despite the newness of their faith and the pressure being exerted on them to abandon it.

The situation in Thessalonica has not changed since Paul wrote the first letter. The persecution and suffering continue and for religious reasons.

Despite the intense tribulation levied against them, their faith has increased as has their love for one another (vs. 3). Their faith has endured, meaning that they remained faithful to the truth despite all the pressure to abandon it (vs. 4).

The new life: Exceeding growth of faith, abounding love toward all, and endurance in faithfulness.

In a world where Satan is always planting evil.

The Greek word “exceeding growth” implies internal, organic growth as of a tree.

2Th 1:3-4

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

The terms “persecutions and afflictions” are synonyms, easily used interchangeably, so here they are both used for the effect of amplification. Paul knows that the other people in Thessalonica are really giving it to the recently converted Christians.

The same two words are used in:

Rom 8:17

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation (thlipsis), or distress, or persecution (diagmos), or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Paul’s own dealings with them:

2Co 12:10

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions (diagmos), with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

These words would encompass the external persecutions and trials of various sorts. They are designed by the devil for your demise. Paul is assuring them that God is going to respond.

2Th 1:5

This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

Mat 5:10

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Christ would not mean that you become the king. All who suffer in the old kingdom are inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.

The opening “This is” (vs. 5) is not in Paul’s original letter. The first word is the Greek endeigma which means proof, sign, indication, token. It is only used here in the NT.

The second coming is assurance and a clear indication that present suffering for the sake of Christ is also future glory.

So we might better start vs. 5 with “here is proof of the righteous judgment of God …”

The program of the mystery age is that God would plant something new and incredible in the same old world ruled by the devil. When that world, long the seedbed for Satan’s evil planting, saw this new garden of God growing in its midst, it reacted as we would expect.

Christ is going to reign on earth when He comes again and those who suffer with Him (suffer in like manner) are going to reign with Him.

Rom 8:16-17

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Present suffering is future glory. But it is not our glory.

1Pe 1:3-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;