The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus came into the
world the first time, not to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. It is equally clear that when He comes
the second time, He will come to end the day of grace and judge all
men who have not taken advantage of the good news. This day of
judgment is necessary because God is just, and He cannot allow
those who have rejected and cruelly treated His Son to go
unpunished. The exception, of course, is if they too receive Him
before He comes again. Paul was a persecutor of believers, but he
received Christ, and so he will not experience God’s tribulation.
This final judgment when Christ returns is not only necessary from
God’s point of view, but from the point of view of Christians who
suffer for Christ. They can only endure to the end if they know it
will be worth it, and if they know that the opposition will be dwelt
with justly.
If the universalists idea of all being saved in the end were true,
the suffering Christian would soon be asking himself what am I
doing suffering for Christ, and paying such a cost, when it does not
make any difference in the long run anyway? If all are going to
eventually redeemed, one just as well be on the most favorable side
meanwhile, and for Christians like the Thessalonians that would
mean siding with the opposition. In other words, if you can’t beat
them, join them. This would be the logical conclusion for them to
reach. If they are going to persecute us, we just as well give in, for
all will be the same in the end.
Paul makes sure no such thoughts go through the minds of
these people. He praises them for enduring persecution. He assures
them that it makes an eternity of difference. Those who are putting
them through tribulation will experience the tribulation of God and
eternal destruction. In verse 9 Paul just states the fact that
punishment will be dealt out to the unbeliever when Christ returns.
The fact that it is called punishment reveals that eternal damnation
is not for innocent people. There will be no one punished by God
who does not deserve it. Paul does not elaborate, or paint any
pictures of horror. This is the only place in all of Paul’s writings
where he mentions everlasting destruction, and here he just states
the fact of it. He was not a hell-fire and brimstone preacher if we
can judge him by his letters. He believed in eternal punishment,
however, and he makes it clear.
Neil writes, “The most notable feature is the reticence of the
description. What in normal apocalyptic literature would have
included a lurid picture of the torture of the damned and the bliss of
the righteous, in Paul’s hands becomes a restrained background of
judgment with a light focused on the Person of Chris as Judge.” It is
horrible enough without detail for Paul says it is eternal destruction.
A piece of paper could not be destroyed forever, but persons are
made in the image of God, which is eternal. The context only tells us
one thing about this punishment, and that is that it is to be an
exclusion from the presence of God. It will be eternal life without
that which gives life meaning, and so could be better called eternal
death. The first death separates us from physical life, but the second
death separates us from spiritual life.
As history began with the exclusion of Adam and Eve from
God’s presence, so it will end with the exclusion of all from His
presence who have not taken advantage of God’s plan of
reconciliation. Just as the believer will be caught up to be ever with
the Lord, the unbeliever will be cast out to be never with the Lord.
When Christ comes again the line is drawn once and for all. As in
the days of Noah you are either in the ark or out of it, and where you
are determines your eternal destiny.
In verse 10 Paul says that this awful day of judgment and
exclusion from the glory of Christ is the very same day of great joy
for the believer. Not only is the battle done and the victory won, but
he has rest, for the glory of Christ will be manifested in all its
fullness in them. Once we get it into our heads that the Day of the
Lord is both a day of judgment and joy we will be able to fit all
Scripture into a simple pattern. Sometimes an author will write of
the Day from the point of view of judgment, and then another will
write from the view of it being a day of joy. Here we see them both
together. Some who do not take heed to such passages as this, where
both are together, divide the two and complicate the simplicity of
Scripture. It is my conviction that all we need to do is accept Paul’s
understanding of the second coming, and then the rest of Scripture
falls into place. It is a great day of many amazing events, but it is
still a once for all program. The day is stretched by some to include
over a thousand years, and it could well be, but all I read is that
however long the Day is, when it comes it is the last Day, and all of
the passages dealing with final judgment and salvation will be
fulfilled.
If you enjoy speculating about the order of events of that day, it
is your privilege, but please do not label such speculations as the
Word of God, for it is such practices that has made the glorious
doctrine of the second coming a stumbling block to many. Each one
who speculates is more concerned about proving his own guesses
than proclaiming what is clearly revealed. Paul said it will be a day
of final judgment for the unsaved, and a day of ultimate joy for the
saved, when they shall see Jesus and be like Him. Paul says all this
will be yours simply because you received the good news when it was
preached. In the last two verses of this chapter Paul prays for them.
We are going to skip to the second chapter.
Chapter 2 gets us into one of the most difficult passages in the
Bible. Many feel it is impossible for us to ever know the right
interpretation for sure. If we were to try and go over all the
different ways men have interpreted this chapter, we would do little
else for the rest of the year. Most of them are not even reasonable,
and so we can narrow it down considerably. We need to remember
that difficult passages on which Christians have a variety of views
are not essential for salvation. They are not a part of the good news
to the lost world. They are passages of value only to the believer,
and in some cases, only to those who originally received the message.
The background here is simple enough. Paul wants to get some
things straight about the parousia and rapture that he wrote so
much about in his first letter. All agree that the gathering together
is the rapture. Paul received the word that they were apparently
confused and shook up about this matter. The second coming can be
a very emotional doctrine, and when it is not properly understood
people can be led into some very unbalanced thinking, which does
more harm than good.
The words Paul uses in verse 2 describe a state of jumpiness
and worry. They were on edge and perplexed about it, and this was
not good. The second coming is to be a doctrine of stabilizing
influence, and is to be anticipated with joy and not anxiety. Some
false teachers had apparently gotten some ideas into their heads to
the effect that the Day of the Lord was already at hand, and that it
had actually arrived. Paul urges them not to accept any such idea,
and not to believe it even if it is in a letter reported to be from him.
Paul rejects any part of the idea no matter what its source. They are
to stick to what he told them, and not take any other ideas as
authorities.
This is advice that has been ignored time and time again, and it
has led to all kinds of fanaticism. We are not immune from it today.
Harold Ockenga tells of the son of the president of an evangelical
college who was so persuaded of the soon coming of the Lord that he
wanted to quit his studies and make money so as to enjoy life before
the end came. Some of the Thessalonians had the same idea, and
they quit working thinking that it was senseless to plant a crop when
they would not be here to harvest it. This has been the response of
many in different ages. This makes the glorious doctrine of the
second coming a stumbling block. Paul wants these Christians to
ignore the idea that the Day of the Lord is here, and he wants them
to get back to work into a normal pattern of life.
We need to stick to what we know from Scripture, and not take
seriously all the fantastic ideas of men that are always floating
around. Leon Morris wrote, “Men taken up with advent
speculations may easily take an unbalanced interest in the latest
idea.” If we wish, we can find all kinds of information from
self-appointed experts in the field of prophetic speculation. Some
can give you a day by day account of how world events are fulfilling
Scripture passages. They can name names and countries that the
Bible has revealed will be doing such and such things. If I seem
skeptical of this kind of thing, it is because of the history of it. Paul
was skeptical in his day, and every generation has needed the
warning that Paul gives here.
The Bible makes it clear that every age until the end will have
anti-Christs, and evil movements and wars of all kinds that fit the
prophecies of Scripture. Someone can be found in every period of
history to fit, but they are all only apart of the process, and they are
not the fulfillment of the prophecies. So we need to be cautious lest
we think that we are facing the ultimate anti-Christ. One of the
main tasks we have in our study is not just to try and figure out who
the anti-Christ is, but to seek to eliminate some ideas by showing
how he cannot be who many think he is. Paul gives us more detail
here than anywhere in Scripture, and if we apply them we can be
quite sure of who cannot be the anti-Christ.
If Paul could urge them not to get shaken, and not to believe the
Day of the Lord had come because anti-Christ had not yet been
revealed, how can we believe Christ could come any minute? I think
that the falling away and the man of sin must come first before
Christ comes in judgment. If that was true then, it is still true today,
and so I look for these signs to be fulfilled before Christ returns. If
it couldn’t be when Paul wrote because these signs were not yet
fulfilled, then it still holds true that it is error to say that the Day of
the Lord has arrived, for these prophecies are not yet fulfilled.
