11.10.19 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 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.
“A young man was taken from a family, a loving, caring family and he was a loving, caring, compassionate person and now his son has to grow up, his daughter has to grow up…without him. Where is the fairness here? 39 months for murder...This is a great injustice. This is a slap in my face. This is a slap in my son’s face.” These were the words of a mother whose son died as a result of a teenager dropping a boulder on his car on highway 75. She was bitterly angry at the injustice of the sentence against her son’s murderer.
Where is the Justice? Wait for the Final Judgment to Find Out
You hear similar complaints against God. A two year old child dies of cancer or gets killed in a car crash. A woman is brutally raped. A flash flood comes and kills hundreds of people. God could have done something to stop it. He stepped in against the Egyptians and set the Israelites free with mighty miracles. Yet He seems to rarely if ever do those sorts of things for people today.
The Thessalonians were going through all sorts of persecution from the government and the Jews who hated Jesus. Some of them lost family relationships and property. Others lost their freedom and their lives. Yet instead of blaming God and abandoning their faith, they held fast and kept confessing Christ. It was proof and evidence that they were genuine believers.
It is a sign to God and the world when you stand firm in your faith even when it causes you pain. When a spouse sticks in a difficult marriage out of reverence for God and honor for His Word to not get divorced apart from marital unfaithfulness or desertion, that is a mark of faith. When a parent stands up against his child who is sinning and calls him to repentance, that is a mark of faith - to be willing to risk a family relationship to honor the Word of God. When a young person refuses to move in together with a boyfriend or girlfriend in order to honor the Sixth Commandment, this is a mark of faith. These things prove to God and your fellow Christians that you aren’t just talking the talk. You are walking the walk. They mark you as Christians.
But what about those who harm His children? Don’t they get away with murder with no recompense? No. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled. How will He pay them back? Judgment Day! They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. Think of the vivid picture that Jesus drew in His parable of people arriving late to the party and banging on the door to let them in, but the Lord saying, “I never knew you.” Once He shuts the door there is no letting them in, no matter who is begging and for how long. This is the opposite of what happens in this world. We are called unloving, judgmental, behind the times when we take a stand against obvious sins. We are naturally shut out from society, sometimes shut out of social media for our stances. Talented Christians are shut out from the scientific world and the biological world because of their views on Creation and the Flood. But on Judgment Day, THEY who shut us out will be shut out from God’s presence forever.
In the Final Judgment Jesus also repeats the words of those which said to Him, “We don’t know who you are.” He says to them, “I never knew you.” These are the atheists and agnostics who either claim God doesn’t exist or that they don’t know who God is. That’s not the worst of it. On Judgment Day they will see the flames of God descend on the earth. When Korah led a rebellion against Moses in the Old Testament, God sent fire from the altar to burn them to a crisp. A similar thing happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. This, however, will lead to a permanent burning in hell.
Nobody will dare say God is too lenient on Judgment Day. Eternity is forever. When I try to grasp such a thing in regards to hell it absolutely terrifies me. No second chances. No do overs. We’ve seen Christians burned alive by Isis and called it evil, which it is, but here God threatens to do it for an eternity and we call it just. It is hard to believe, so some have tried to explain hell away. They say it’s not really eternal or it doesn’t really exist. It’s a medieval invention. But 700 years before this Isaiah also said that they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind. (Is 66:24) That sounds like eternity to me. Jesus also spoke of the rich man in hell who was begging just for a drop of water on his tongue - who was “in agony in this fire.” If we are going to say we preach the Bible, we can’t go around these texts and try to explain them away just because they are uncomfortable. Hell is a terrifying place.
Some shake the fist at God for this and say, “I could never believe in such a God.” Ok, you don’t have to. But the consequences don’t sound so great. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to mess with a God who has the power and the right to send me to hell. I don’t want to pretend He doesn’t exist or try to change Him into another God that He doesn’t describe. I don’t want to try to shake my fist at Him.
That doesn’t mean that people haven’t tried it. In Moses day Korah led a rebellion against Moses as they shook their fists at him. The earth swallowed he and his family followers alive, then fire came from the altar and consumed 250 men who were going to make an unauthorized offering at the altar. The next day the Israelite assembly tried to rebel against Moses again! So God had a plague go through them and kill 14,700 more of them. (Numbers 16) It just goes to show how hard headed people can be. Yet it also shows how firm God could be against those who wanted to rebel against Moses and those who refuse to bow the knee to Him. For those who want to ignore God or take out their anger against His children, there literally will be hell to pay. You don’t have to be filled with anger over injustice. You don’t have to get revenge on those who hurt you. If they fail to repent, God will take care of that.
He will punish two types of people, not just those who don’t know God, but also those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Obey means to pay attention to it and listen to it. It was used when Jesus commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man. It “obeyed” Him. The demon came out as He said. So what does it mean to obey, or submit to, the gospel of Jesus? Jesus lays out a perfect and an easy way of salvation. He lives the perfect life. He dies the innocent death. He suffers under all of God’s wrath for your sins. The Holy Spirit says to you, “Repent of your sins. Don’t try to earn your way to heaven. Hide in Jesus. Baptize your children into Him. Bathe them in HIS righteousness for their complete salvation. Eat of Him and drink of Him for the free and full forgiveness of sins. Believe in Him alone for your salvation! You don’t need anything or anyone else.”
You might compare it to wearing winter clothing. My neighbor bought me a real nice hat with the flaps that go over the ears. But someone I know calls it the Elmer Fudd hat. I guess it isn’t fashionable! But I don’t care how it looks, as long as it works! Forget about fashion! Give me warmth.
In one of his parables Jesus compared Himself to a dress code, to an outfit that needed to be worn to be let into the wedding. This is what Jesus is. You don’t have to pay for Him. You don’t even have to earn Him. You just wear Him when you believe in Him and you are baptized into Him. He’s not uncomfortable. He’s not overbearing. He clothes you with love and mercy. Jesus’ forgiveness and righteousness are so beautiful and so holy that they give God a way to look at us differently and see us as His holy children. Those who believe the gospel and submit to it are glad to have Jesus be their complete righteousness. They know they need their sins covered and they are happy to have Jesus cover them completely.
But Jesus isn’t fashionable in a world that doesn’t believe in sin and guilt, or a mighty God that sends people to hell. They’d rather treat Jesus more like a fashion statement. He feeds the poor. He welcomes the refugees. He rebels against the authorities. He loves me as I am, speaks softly to me and doesn’t judge. But He’s not the God and Messiah who is coming to judge the world and set it on fire, sending people to hell or bringing people to heaven. It’s like looking at Jesus on the Jeopardy board. “I’ll take Jesus the rebel for 200.” How about Jesus the Savior? No thanks. Muslims say, “We’ll take Jesus the prophet for 300, but not Jesus the Messiah.” “I’ll take Jesus the divine boyfriend for 1200 dollars. How about Jesus as judge?” “What? No thanks.”
Jesus sets the stakes much higher. He says, “Bow before me. I am your Savior from sin. I can rescue you from my wrath. I have died to conquer sin. I have risen to conquer death. Come to me and clothe yourself in me, and me alone, and you will be saved.” So we put Him on, left leg and right leg, hat and gloves, socks, underwear and headress. We want Him to completely cover us so that they see nothing of us and all of Jesus. People may not like your clothing. They may think it’s a bit cheesy to bow down to this God and pray to Him, to ask Him for mercy, to take His sacrament and memorize His Word. But that’s what we do. We want to be filled with Him. We want to receive Him. We want Him to cover us from head to toe. That’s how God decided to save the world, through Jesus alone.
Years ago a movie came out with Kurt Russell called Backdraft. They had some firefighters talk about it and critique it. It glorified the work of the profession, so it was a good rendition if I remember right, something they thought the firefighters would like. But in one scene Kurt goes rushing in to a fire with his coat unbuttoned. They said that would never happen. It was not realistic. When you’re rushing into a fire, you need your full gear on. It’s probably the first rule of firefighting. So it is with Jesus. He is coming with fire. The only way to escape the fire is to be wearing Him.
What if you ARE wearing Him through faith? Paul said that when Jesus came His believers would marvel at Him and His beauty. They would be enamored at His power and His glory. He then said to the Thessalonians, This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. How about you?
There’s an interesting story in the Old Testament about how God appeared in fire on the top of Mt. Sinai to give the Ten Commandments. He spoke from above, and Moses entered into the smoke and the fire, but he didn’t get burned. God allowed Moses to live in fire! A similar thing happened with the three men in the fiery furnace when a fourth man was walking with them, the preincarnate Jesus before He took on flesh. Their clothes didn’t even smell like fire when they got out. But the men who went to thrown them into the fire were consumed by it immediately. With the fires raging in California, we realize how dangerous it can be and all consuming. So it is with the fires of hell. So Judgment Day seems like a scary thing: God coming in the clouds with His angels in a blazing fire.
A little child walks behind her parent. She sees a big scary man coming down the hall. He has a deep voice and white hair. She hides behind her mother’s leg. But she sees her mother speak with him. She sees them laugh. He gets down on his knee and smiles at the girl. She realizes he’s not so bad and peaks out from behind her leg. They become friends.
The picture of Jesus coming in the clouds with fire and angels - it is a scary picture. Yet you have nothing to fear - this is the Jesus you’ve grown to know and love - the One who came to die for your sins and give you salvation. Instead of being afraid of the fire, you can look through the fire, and see Jesus in all of His glory. This is what we remember on this day, this Judgment Day Sunday. It takes faith to say, “Amen, come Lord Jesus” on Judgment Day. God grant you that faith to hang in there and persevere in the midst of persecution to come, knowing that Jesus is coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
