Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Thessalonians 1 (Part 1) - God's Righteous Judgement

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2 Thessalonians 1 (Part 1) - God's Righteous Judgement · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Good morning, faithful listeners, Welcome to the Bible Explain podcast.
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Speaker 1: We are in a brand new book of the New
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Speaker 1: Testament today. We are in Second Thessalonians, and this book
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Speaker 1: is very similar actually to First Thessalonians, where the theme
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Speaker 1: was Jesus's second Coming. So in this book we will
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Speaker 1: continue with that theme. Before today we're going to talk
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Speaker 1: about God's righteous judgment on non believers, but also on
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Speaker 1: believers as well. We'll get into it in just a minute.
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Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners. So, like I said, we are
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Speaker 1: in a brand new book of the Bible today, Second Thessalonians.
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Speaker 1: And you guys might be wondering what was the point
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Speaker 1: of Paul writing another letter to the Thessalonians when it
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Speaker 1: pretty much had the same theme as the first letter. Well,
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Speaker 1: here's a little bit of history for you. There's some
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Speaker 1: evidence in the book of Second Thessalonians itself that there
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Speaker 1: was a fake letter circulating where the author claimed to
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Speaker 1: be Paul. And in this fake letter, he apparently said,
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Speaker 1: the day of the Lord has already come. In other words,
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Speaker 1: Jesus's second Coming has already happened. You Thessalonians are screwed
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Speaker 1: because you were not raptured, and the Thessalonians unfortunately believed
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Speaker 1: this report. So that's a little backstory on the book
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Speaker 1: of Second Thessalonians, and it could be a reason why
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Speaker 1: Paul felt the need to write to the Thessalonians again
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Speaker 1: to just straighten them out and to tell them, Hey,
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Speaker 1: if anyone is claiming to be me and writing a
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Speaker 1: letter to you, make sure it's actually from me before
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Speaker 1: you start believing the contents. So let's get into Second
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Speaker 1: Thessalonians chapter one, and I'm gonna guess that I'll probably
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Speaker 1: do a part one and a part two in this
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Speaker 1: first chapter of Second Thessalonians, but we'll see how much
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Speaker 1: I get through today. So let's read all all of
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Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians chapter one, and I will be reading as
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Speaker 1: usual from the we b Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy to
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Speaker 1: the assembly of the Thessalonians. In God our Father and
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God,
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Speaker 1: our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound
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Speaker 1: to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even
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Speaker 1: as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and
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Speaker 1: the love of each and every one of you toward
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Speaker 1: one another abounds, so that we ourselves boast about you
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Speaker 1: in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith
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Speaker 1: in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.
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Speaker 1: This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of
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Speaker 1: God to the end that you may be counted worthy
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Speaker 1: of God's kingdom, for which you also suffer. For it
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Speaker 1: is a righteous thing with God to repay the affliction
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Speaker 1: to those who afflict you, and to give relief to
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Speaker 1: you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus
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Speaker 1: is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels inflaming fire,
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Speaker 1: punishing those who don't know God, and to those who
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Speaker 1: don't obey the good news of our Lord Jesus, who
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Speaker 1: will pay the penalty eternal destruction from the face of
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Speaker 1: the Lord and from the glory of his might when
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Speaker 1: he comes in that day to be glorified in his
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Speaker 1: saints and to be admired among all those who have believed.
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Speaker 1: Because our testimony to you was believed. To this end,
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Speaker 1: we also pray always for you that Our God may
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Speaker 1: count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire
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Speaker 1: of goodness and work of faith with power that the
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Speaker 1: name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you
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Speaker 1: and you and him according to the grace of our
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Speaker 1: God and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, of course, at
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Speaker 1: the beginning of the letter, Paul explains who the letter
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Speaker 1: is from. He says, Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy write to
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Speaker 1: the Assembly of the Thessalonians in God, our Father and
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, since there's a
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Speaker 1: possibility that fake letters were going around from Paul, Silas, Timothy, whoever, bet,
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Speaker 1: it's very important for Paul to make sure right off
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Speaker 1: the bet that the Thessalonians know who actually penned this letter,
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Speaker 1: and he gives credit again to Sylvanus and Timothy, which
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Speaker 1: the letter was written by Paul. I mean very clearly.
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Speaker 1: Paul has a very distinct writing style, as you guys
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Speaker 1: can tell, and this letter is so clearly written by Paul.
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Speaker 1: But Paul again gives some credit to Silas and to
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Speaker 1: Timothy for writing this letter. And it could be that
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Speaker 1: Silas and Timothy contributed in some way, but more likely
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Speaker 1: than not because the Thessalonian Church actually knew Silas and
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Speaker 1: Timothy a lot better than Paul. That's probably the reason
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Speaker 1: why Paul included them in this letter and gave them
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Speaker 1: credit for co authoring it. He says, grace to you
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Speaker 1: and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
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Speaker 1: this is how Paul starts most of his letters out
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Speaker 1: is by giving them kind of a salutation, by saying
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Speaker 1: like grace to you or peace to you from God,
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Speaker 1: our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We might think
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Speaker 1: to just brush past that because of how often we
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Speaker 1: read it, but think about how so important of a
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Speaker 1: salutation that really is. Paul right away prays for the
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Speaker 1: recipients of the letter. He prays that they have grace,
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Speaker 1: and he prays that they have peace from God, the
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Speaker 1: Father and from Jesus Christ. So it's a really a
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Speaker 1: beautiful way to start out the letters if you think
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Speaker 1: about it. Paul starts them out with a prayer every
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Speaker 1: single time. He says, we are bound to always give
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Speaker 1: thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate,
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Speaker 1: because your faith grows exceedingly. Now that word brothers again,
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Speaker 1: that word actually is better translated as siblings or brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters. So depending on the version that you read,
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Speaker 1: it may actually say brothers and sisters. Paul was not
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Speaker 1: just talking to the men of the church, even though
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Speaker 1: a lot of people like to claim that that is
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Speaker 1: not what the Greek word suggests. The Greek word suggests
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Speaker 1: that Paul is talking to the entire church body, man
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Speaker 1: and woman alike, every single person that attends that church.
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Speaker 1: This letter is for them. So Paul says in verse three,
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Speaker 1: we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers,
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Speaker 1: even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly
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Speaker 1: and the love of each and every one of you
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Speaker 1: toward one another abounds. So basically what Paul is saying
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Speaker 1: there is that he Silas and Timothy always give thanks
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Speaker 1: to God every time they remember the Thessalonian Church. They
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Speaker 1: are giving thanks because of all the good things they're
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Speaker 1: hearing that the Thessalonian Church is doing. Apparently, the Thessalonians
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Speaker 1: had a strong faith, they had a strong sense of
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Speaker 1: love towards their fellow brothers and sisters, and these were
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Speaker 1: good things that Paul, Silas and Timothy wanted to give
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Speaker 1: thanks for. So every time they remembered the Thessalonian Church
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Speaker 1: in their prayers, they would give thanks to God for
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Speaker 1: a healthy church in that area of the world, spreading
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Speaker 1: the message of Jesus so effectively they were thankful for that.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Paul says it's appropriate for him to give
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Speaker 1: thanks for the Thessalonian Church because of all the good
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Speaker 1: things that they are doing. In fact, they are such
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Speaker 1: a great church that Paul boasts about them to the
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Speaker 1: other assemblies. Is what he says in verse four. We
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Speaker 1: ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for
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Speaker 1: your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in
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Speaker 1: the afflictions in which you endure. Now, when Paul wrote
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Speaker 1: this letter, he very likely was in Corinth. You know,
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Speaker 1: Corinth was a really big important city in the ancient world.
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Speaker 1: It was a shipping port where a lot of sailors
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Speaker 1: would come and go. And there's a little bit of evidence,
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Speaker 1: based upon Paul's language here, that there might have been
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Speaker 1: multiple churches in Corinth at this time, just because of
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Speaker 1: how big and important the city actually was. So Paul
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Speaker 1: says that he actually boasts about the Thessalonians to all
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Speaker 1: of the churches in the region that he's in, which
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Speaker 1: would be Corinth, and he boasts about their perseverance and
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Speaker 1: their faith in spite of all of the persecution and
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Speaker 1: afflictions that they are going through. So apparently the Thessalonian
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Speaker 1: Church was really being targeted. We don't know exactly how,
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Speaker 1: but it could be that it came from the government
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Speaker 1: of Thessalonika itself. As you know, Thessalonika is modern day
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Speaker 1: Thessaloniki in Greece, and when Paul went up to Thessalonika,
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Speaker 1: initially he was met with a lot of opposition from
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Speaker 1: the Greek government in Thesalonika because of their fear of
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Speaker 1: the Romans. So they didn't really want the Christian movement
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Speaker 1: to spread, specifically because Christianity talks about Jesus being the king,
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Speaker 1: and that's really dangerous to talk when there's a Roman
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Speaker 1: emperor who claims to be the king of the world.
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Speaker 1: Basically really dangerous to say that there is another king.
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Speaker 1: So when the Greeks heard that Christians were talking about
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Speaker 1: this king Jesus, they got really scared. And that was
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Speaker 1: when Paul had to leave Thesalonaika after only three weeks
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Speaker 1: of being there because of the persecution he experienced in
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Speaker 1: that city. So after Paul left, there's a possibility that
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Speaker 1: the government of Thesalonaika itself really ramped up the persecution
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Speaker 1: of Christians due to their fear of the Roman government.
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Speaker 1: But of course we also know that there were some
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Speaker 1: Judaizers in Thesalonaika as well who hated the message of Christianity.
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Speaker 1: They hated it because they were jealous. They didn't want
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Speaker 1: anybody to believe it. They only wanted people to believe them.
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Speaker 1: So a lot of the Jewish people in Thesalinnaia we're
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Speaker 1: targeting the Christian movement as well, specifically trying to either
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Speaker 1: kill or imprison Paul and anybody who followed the Gospel
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Speaker 1: message at all. So we don't know exactly what the
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Speaker 1: persecution in Thesalonaika looked like at this time, but there
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Speaker 1: is certainly something going on, either with the government of
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Speaker 1: Thesalonaika itself or the Jews in the region, or possibly both.
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Speaker 1: But apparently the Thesalonaika Church was really holding its own
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Speaker 1: in the middle of all of this persecution. That's why
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Speaker 1: Paul says in verse five, this is an obvious sign
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Speaker 1: of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that
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Speaker 1: you may be counted worthy of God's kingdom for which
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Speaker 1: you also suffer. Now it's really strange about that verse
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Speaker 1: is it says that the persecution and afflictions that we
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Speaker 1: suffer are a sign of God's righteous judgment. And you
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Speaker 1: might be like, how in the world are persecutions evidence
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Speaker 1: of God's judgment, because it seems like we shouldn't have
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Speaker 1: to experience trials and tribulations, that God's love will will
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Speaker 1: deliver us from all of that, that it's actually God
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Speaker 1: being mean to us if we suffer any kind of
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Speaker 1: persecution whatsoever. So, how does my suffering prove God's righteous judgment? Well, actually,
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Speaker 1: in two ways. The first way is what Paul says
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Speaker 1: here in verse five. This is an obvious sign of
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Speaker 1: the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you
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Speaker 1: may be counted worthy of God's kingdom for which you
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Speaker 1: also suffer. So, in other words, our suffering proves our
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Speaker 1: status as Christians. It obviously doesn't save us. There's only
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Speaker 1: one thing that can save us, and that is Jesus right,
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Speaker 1: the sacrifice that Jesus made. But the persecution we experience,
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Speaker 1: if we endure that, it shows the reality of our faith.
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Speaker 1: If someone claims to be a Christian but can't endure
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Speaker 1: the trials or the persecutions that come along specifically with
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Speaker 1: being a Christian, then that proves that that person never
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Speaker 1: had a true faith in God. Romans five elaborates on
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Speaker 1: this a little bit more. Romans five three through five
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Speaker 1: says this not only this, we also rejoice in our sufferings,
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Speaker 1: knowing that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance proven character, and
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Speaker 1: proven character hope, and hope doesn't disappoint us because God's
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Speaker 1: love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit who was given to us. So, in other words,
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Speaker 1: persecution kind of refines us in a way. It really
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Speaker 1: proves our faith in God. And that's why Paul says
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Speaker 1: to actually rejoice in our sufferings, because the suffering produces perseverance,
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Speaker 1: so the ability to just deal with annoying things, with persecution,
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Speaker 1: with bad things that happen in our life, and perseverance
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Speaker 1: turns into character. And you may have noticed this as well.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes not in every case, but sometimes people who go
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Speaker 1: through the hardest things are some of the most genuine
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Speaker 1: kindest people you can be around. Like, people who have
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Speaker 1: genuinely suffered in their lives are very very kind people.
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Speaker 1: People who kind of get everything handed to them on
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Speaker 1: a silver platter throughout their lives are much more entitled,
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Speaker 1: much less friendly people than those who grew up with
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Speaker 1: almost nothing or those who really suffered early in life.
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Speaker 1: Suffering really does give us an amount of character, and
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Speaker 1: then character produces hope. And of course, the hope that
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Speaker 1: Paul's talking about here is the hope that Jesus is
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Speaker 1: truly going to save our souls, that we are going
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Speaker 1: to go to heaven and experience just eternal comfort for
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Speaker 1: the rest of our lives. That's the type of hope
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Speaker 1: that Paul's talking about, and that is why Paul rejoices
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Speaker 1: in suffering, because it actually produces really good, refining things
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Speaker 1: for us. Now, James says something similar as well in
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Speaker 1: James Chapter one, two through four. This is from the
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Speaker 1: CSB version, which I'm actually really into the CSB recently,
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Speaker 1: just let you guys know, really great version I have
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Speaker 1: discovered James one two through four. Consider it a great joy,
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Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because
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Speaker 1: you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance,
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Speaker 1: and let endurance have its full effect so that you
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Speaker 1: may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. So James basically
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Speaker 1: says the exact same thing that Paul says, except he
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Speaker 1: says that endurance produces mature, which is, you know, the
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Speaker 1: same thing as character, I suppose, And then jumping down
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Speaker 1: to verse twelve of James, one blessed is the one
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Speaker 1: who endures trials because when he has stood the test,
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Speaker 1: he will receive the crown of life that God has
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Speaker 1: promised to those who love him. So there you go.
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Speaker 1: Persecution truly shows who is a true Christian and who
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Speaker 1: is not. So that's God, in a sense, showing his
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Speaker 1: righteous judgment through the persecutions. He uses them for good
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Speaker 1: to test our hearts and to test our minds. So
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Speaker 1: that's the first way that trials show the righteous judgment
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Speaker 1: of God. But the second way is that those who
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Speaker 1: pass the test, those who are true Christians who endured
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Speaker 1: persecutions and all of the struggles I suppose that come
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Speaker 1: with the Christian lifestyle. God is going to righteously judge
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Speaker 1: the people who doled out all of those persecutions on
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Speaker 1: his people. That's what it says in verse six of
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Speaker 1: our passage for today. For it is a righteous thing
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Speaker 1: with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
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Speaker 1: and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us.
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Speaker 1: When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his
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Speaker 1: mighty angels inflaming fire. So that shows right there that
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Speaker 1: God does not cause the persecution. God is not going
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Speaker 1: around purposely persecuting his own people. He does not do that.
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Speaker 1: But he does allow persecution to happen for two reasons.
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Speaker 1: The first reason was the one we just talked about,
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Speaker 1: where God allows the persecution to refine his people and
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Speaker 1: to flesh out the ones who aren't true Christians. But
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Speaker 1: the second reason he allows persecution is because He can
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Speaker 1: now dole out his judgment on these evil people causing
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Speaker 1: all of this misery for Christians. Here's what first Thessalonians
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Speaker 1: says for Thessalonians two fourteen through sixteen. For you, brothers,
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Speaker 1: became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea,
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Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. For you suffered the same things from
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Speaker 1: your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,
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Speaker 1: who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets
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Speaker 1: and drove us out. And don't please God and our
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Speaker 1: contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the
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Speaker 1: gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their
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Speaker 1: sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
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Speaker 1: In other words, these people are actually filling up on
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Speaker 1: their sins. And what does that mean. It means that
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Speaker 1: they are doing so many evil things that their sins
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Speaker 1: are just like piling up like one on top of
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Speaker 1: the other. And God is allowing that to happen so
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Speaker 1: that he can eventually show his wrath on these people
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Speaker 1: because their sin pile is like so freaking high, just
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Speaker 1: based upon the fact that they are persecuting Christians and
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Speaker 1: hindering the Gospel message from being spread. God is allowing
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Speaker 1: these wicked people to just pile their sins on top
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Speaker 1: of each other so eventually His wrath can be shown
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Speaker 1: to them. Now, there's one more verse in Philippians that
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Speaker 1: I want to share with you guys, real quick. Philippians,
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Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse twenty eight. Paul tells the Christians what
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Speaker 1: to do regarding their persecutors Philippians one twenty eight. In
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Speaker 1: nothing be frightened by the adversaries, which is for them
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Speaker 1: a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation and
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Speaker 1: that from God. If Christians refuse to be afraid of
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Speaker 1: their persecutors, that is actually a sign to those evil
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Speaker 1: people because it's showing that nothing they do can affect
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Speaker 1: the Christian movement. They are ultimately going to lose. They're
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Speaker 1: going to lose. When Christians just become more emboldened in
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Speaker 1: spite of persecution, it is a sign to them that
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Speaker 1: their side is losing and that God's wrath is going
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Speaker 1: to come on them. We'll talk about the rest of
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Speaker 1: this chapter on Tuesday, where Jesus comes with a flame
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Speaker 1: of fire to dole out punishment on these people, and
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Speaker 1: that's of course referring to Jesus's second coming, So we
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Speaker 1: will talk about all of that on Tuesday. So I
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Speaker 1: hope to see all of you guys then. Now, of course,
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Speaker 1: tomorrow we do not have a regular episode. As you
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Speaker 1: guys know, on Fridays, I do a special podcast only
19:36
Speaker 1: for the members, and right now with the members, we
19:38
Speaker 1: are going through the Book of the Psalms. So if
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Speaker 1: you would like to become a member and listen to
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Speaker 1: the Friday podcast, which is called the Bible Explain on Fridays,
19:47
Speaker 1: you have to become a member to gain access to
19:49
Speaker 1: that link, and then you will be able to listen
19:51
Speaker 1: to all the Friday podcasts that I have done so far,
19:54
Speaker 1: which is about fifty nine of them, so you will
19:56
Speaker 1: have fifty nine extra episodes to listen to when you
19:59
Speaker 1: become a member, to mention all of the weekly ones
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Speaker 1: that come out on Fridays. So take a look at
20:04
Speaker 1: the link that says Kofi in the description of the episode,
20:07
Speaker 1: and that is how you will find out how to
20:09
Speaker 1: become a member and gain access to the Friday podcast episodes.
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Speaker 1: But Faith listeners, have a fantastic weekend. I hope to
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Speaker 1: see all of you guys on Monday for an episode
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Speaker 1: from the Old Testament. Happy weekend and God bless