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Sermon Text: 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10
(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.
In Christ Jesus, the Judge who is standing at the door, dear fellow redeemed,
In 1950, a British citizen named Timothy Evans stood trial in England for the murder of his wife and infant daughter. The evidence against him was damning, the witnesses’ testimony compelling, and, in the end, the jury was certain of its verdict. Evans was found guilty and two months later was executed for his crimes. Justice seemed fair and swift. Three years later, the truth emerged. The prosecution’s star witness, Evans’ downstairs neighbor, John Christie, turned out to be a serial killer. He confessed to multiple murders, including the ones for which Evans had died. An innocent man had been condemned by the actions and testimony of the guilty.
Human justice had gotten it tragically wrong, which gives us pause, doesn’t it? If respected courts with their judges and juries can make such grave mistakes, what guarantee is there that justice will get it right? In this imperfect world, there can be no such guarantee. But the Apostle Paul assures us that this is not the case in the court of our all-seeing, all-knowing God. Here’s something we can be sure of: When it comes to heavenly justice, God’s Judgment is Right! 1) Its timing is perfect; and 2) its outcome is glorious.
Stories like that of Timothy Evans remind us how deeply we long for justice—and how painful it is when evil seems to triumph. The Apostle Paul knew this pain. He had brought the gospel of Jesus to Thessalonica. The Good News of the crucified and risen Christ bore immediate fruit. Many were brought to faith by the Spirit’s power. Satan, of course, wasn’t about to go down without a fight. In no time, he stirred up a mob that ran Paul out of town just three weeks after his arrival. Paul didn’t even get to say goodbye to those new believers. What would become of them? Paul soon learned that the infant church had not only survived his departure but was thriving. He wrote in the verses just prior to our text: “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3). Was this happening because Satan had turned down the heat once Paul left? Not at all. If anything, life got worse for those beginner Christians as the devil turned families, employers, and neighbors against them. But none of those antics worked, prompting Paul to write: “Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.” (2 Thessalonians 1:4).
Paul’s words were filled with encouragement for believers who, in the face of many trials, must have wondered, “Lord, do you see what’s happening? Do you care? Are you going to put an end to this injustice anytime soon?” We might have similar questions. Christians in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are enduring high levels of persecution. Tens of thousands are being abused or displaced. Thankfully, in our nation such incidents are rare. But that doesn’t mean we live outside of Satan’s reach. We Christians are ridiculed and stereotyped in media and entertainment. Social media revels in the downfall of a Christian who sins, pointing to the lapse as evidence that the church is filled with nothing but hypocrites. Christian business owners face lawsuits for declining services that conflict with their beliefs, and Christian students are mocked for holding to biblical truth that contradicts popular theories. Elsewhere in society, the biblical views we express are often condemned as hate speech by those who judge us to be unloving and label us as bigots. Satan’s goal in all this is to scare us into silence and, if possible, drive us from the faith. You feel this pressure, don’t you? Why does the Lord permit it? Why doesn’t he stop it?
God doesn’t give us all the answers we seek. From our limited perspective, it may look like evil wins the day. How easy it is to grow dissatisfied or even angry with God, concluding that justice delayed is justice denied. However, in God’s courtroom, nothing could be further from the truth. God’s timing isn’t measured by our watches; it runs on eternity’s clock. The truth is that God is at work as Judge—right now—in our lives. God’s grace has made a judgment call. For the sake of Christ our Savior, God has declared us to be his innocent children and the holy heirs of heaven. Has he make a mistake? Never! Paul says: “All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right…” (2 Thessalonians 1:5).
Look here! The grace that claims us as God’s own has not failed. Look how powerful it is. The trials brought to bear on us Christians should, by the world’s logic, tear us away from Jesus and from each other. Instead of letting people see us together in church of all places, we might think it better to go our separate ways, avoiding the world’s vendettas and Satan’s vicious attacks. But that’s not what’s happening. We, like God’s people everywhere, are drawn to his house to be fed and strengthened by his promises. We look forward to being together in this place where we are reminded that we are not islands in the faith but a family of believers who care deeply for one another. Paul says, “…and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.” (2 Thessalonians 1:5). Counted worthy, not because suffering has earned us this distinction, but because in his perfect judgment, God determined in advance to bless us through our troubles. Rather than end them instantly, God uses our struggles to show us that we can “…glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:3–5).
God isn’t sleeping at the switch. Our loving Lord uses the pressures we face to lead our weary souls into his Word where we find the Lord’s faith-renewing promises and character-building power. He is shaping us into Christians who, through daily encounters with his grace, are becoming more confident in his deliverance, and therefore, more capable of withstanding all that Satan might hurl at us until we’re safe with Christ in heaven. God’s judgment is right—its timing is perfect – not just for us, but for those causing us grief.
Timothy Evans, the man wrongly convicted of murdering his family, was pardoned sixteen years after his execution—much too late to save him from the hangman’s noose. This never happens in God’s justice system. Paul tells us: “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 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.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6–7).
Our God wants us to know that nothing escapes his attention. He knows the troubles we are enduring and who is causing them. More to the point, God promises relief—when the time is right for us, and for those troubling us. Why the delay? We’ve already heard how God is using this time to train us to stand firm in the faith. The Apostle Peter provides this insight: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). What seems like justice delayed to us is really patience on God’s part. As he’s molding and shaping us, he’s also patiently at work in the lives of those who make us miserable. After all, what greater relief could we experience than to see a former enemy become our brother or sister in the faith? That’s what happened to Paul—a former persecutor of Christians. It’s also what happened to you and me, when in his grace, God rescued us from Satan’s grasp and washed away our sins in the waters of Holy Baptism. Do not despair. Our patient God’s judgment is right. Its timing is perfect, and its outcome glorious.
As long as this world continues, its citizens will live in a time of grace. But that time will end for each person, either with death or with the return of our Lord Jesus. When that time of grace runs out for the unbeliever, it will be terrible. Paul tells us: “[The Lord] 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 1:8–9). Many jokes have been told about hell by people who refuse to imagine that such a place exists. But it does – not as some second-rate country club that isn’t quite as nice as heaven. No, hell is the place where its prisoners are in a constant state of destruction, pleading for an end that never comes. Those who refused to obey the gospel – that is trust its promises, those who wanted nothing to do with Jesus while they lived here on earth, will finally experience the reality of such an existence. God will not be there in love to hear their pleas or free them by his might.
Paul tells us this for two reasons: first, so that we use our time of grace to share Christ with as many people as possible, hoping to spare them an eternity of misery; and second, so that we never forget that the outcome of God’s judgment will be glorious for us.
Why? Because God’s enemies, that made life here so miserable, will be vanquished once and for all. The sin that ruins this world will never touch us in the next. There will be no sadness or sickness—no sorrow or death. Our eternity will be filled with only joy and peace beyond our understanding. Paul says it will all begin “…on the day [Jesus] comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). And marvel we will, as we finally see our Substitute in the flesh. Listen! You can almost hear us shouting as we catch our first glimpse of Jesus, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us!” (Isaiah 25:9). “Here he is, the One who took on our sin, faced our justice, and pleaded guilty in our place. He’s here—the One sentenced to our eternity in hell, the One God forsook so that we might be his forever. Our Jesus lives and reigns and so do we!” How we will celebrate the Savior’s return. Oh, and how he will celebrate us! What does Paul say? This same Jesus at whom we marvel finds his glory where? He is glorified in us—in you his child made holy by his blood! Jesus will make Judgment Day all about you, delighting in you as a bridegroom delights in his bride. Jesus is thrilled by the thought of spending eternity in your company.
Don’t lose hope! The day is coming, my friends when each wrong will be made right, when all evil will be silenced, and when every believer sill stand in the radiant glory of the One who judges rightly and saves completely. This includes you, dear Christian, because, by God’s grace and the Spirit’s power, you have believed our testimony in Jesus’ name. Amen.