No matter how difficult their present circumstances may have been, the Thessalonican believers had a secure and glorious future. In fact, their sufferings were evidence, “a manifest token,” that God was righteous, working out His great plan for them. We are prone to think that suffering proves that God does not care, when just the opposite is true. Furthermore, the way we act in times of trial proves to others that God is at work. (See Phil. 1:28–30 for another example of this principle.)
Three experiences are involved in the promises of God for His people.
Reward (v. 5). “You will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering” (niv). This was one of God’s purposes in permitting their suffering. It does not suggest that their suffering earned them the right to go to heaven, because we know that they were saved through faith in Christ (1 Thess. 1). The little word “also” indicated that this worthiness related both to their present experience and their future entrance into God’s glorious kingdom. You find the same idea in 1 Peter 1:3–9.
One day Jesus Christ will turn the tables and the wicked will suffer, while the believers are rewarded. Our Lord never promised us that life here would be easy; in fact, He taught that we would have to face difficulties and fight battles. But He also promised a future reward for all who were faithful to Him (Matt. 5:10–12).
Recompense (vv. 6, 7b–9). God will recompense affliction to the lost, but rest to the saved. To recompense means “to repay.” Certainly, the wicked who persecute the godly do not always receive their just payment in this life. In fact, the apparent prosperity of the wicked and difficulty of the godly have posed a problem for many of God’s people (see Ps. 73; Jer. 12:1; Hab. 1). Why live a godly life if your only experience is that of suffering?
As Christians, we must live for eternity and not just for the present. In fact, living “with eternity’s values in view” is what makes our Christian life meaningful today. We walk by faith and not by sight.
This brings to mind the story of the two farmers, one a believer and the other an atheist. When harvest season came, the atheist taunted his believing neighbor because apparently God had not blessed him too much. The atheist’s family had not been sick, his fields were rich with harvest, and he was sure to make a lot of money.
“I thought you said it paid to believe in God and be a Christian,” said the atheist.
“It does pay,” replied the Christian. “But God doesn’t always pay His people in September.”
What kind of a future does the unbeliever face? Look at the dramatic words Paul used to describe it: tribulation, vengeance, flaming fire, punishment, and everlasting destruction. The Christ-rejecting world will receive from God exactly what it gave to God’s people! When God recompenses, He pays in kind, for there is a law of compensation that operates in human history.
Pharaoh tried to drown all the male babies born to the Jews, and his own army was drowned in the Red Sea. Haman plotted to wipe out the Jews, and he and his own sons were wiped out. The advisers of King Darius forced him to arrest Daniel and throw him into a lions’ den, but later they themselves were thrown to the lions. The unbelieving Jewish leaders who sacrificed Christ in order to save the nation (see John 11:49–53) in a few years saw their city destroyed and their nation scattered.
It is a righteous thing for God to judge sin and condemn sinners. A holy God cannot leave sin unjudged. People who say, “I cannot believe that a loving God would judge sinners and send people to hell” understand neither the holiness of God nor the awfulness of sin. While it is true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), it is also true that “God is light” (1 John 1:5), and in His holiness He must deal with sin.
A Christian doctor had tried to witness to a very moral woman who belonged to a church that denied the need for salvation and the reality of future judgment. “God loves me too much to condemn me,” the patient would reply. “I cannot believe that God would make such a place as a lake of fire.”
The woman became ill and the diagnosis was cancer. An operation was necessary. “I wonder if I really should operate,” the doctor said to her in her hospital room. “I really love you too much to cut into you and give you pain.”
“Doctor,” said the patient, “if you really loved me, you would do everything possible to save me. How can you permit this awful thing to remain in my body?”
It was easy then for him to explain that what cancer is to the body, sin is to the world; and both must be dealt with radically and completely. Just as a physician cannot love health without hating disease and dealing with it, so God cannot love righteousness without hating sin and judging it.
The word vengeance must not be confused with revenge. The purpose of vengeance is to satisfy God’s holy law; the purpose of revenge is to pacify a personal grudge. God does not hold a grudge against lost sinners. Quite the contrary, He sent His Son to die for them, and He pleads with them to return to Him. But if sinners prefer to “know not God, and … obey not the gospel” (2 Thess. 1:8), there is nothing left for God to do but judge them.
This judgment will take place when Jesus Christ returns to the earth with His church and His angels (2 Thess. 1:7). This is not the same event described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. We may contrast these two events: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 2 Thessalonians 1 Christ returns in the air Christ returns to the earth He comes secretly for He comes openly with the church the church Believers escape the Unbelievers experience tribulation the tribulation, judgment Occurs at an undisclosed Occurs at the end of the time tribulation period, the day of the Lord
Rest (vv. 7a, 10). God will recompense tribulation to the lost, but rest to the saved. I believe that the first phrase in 2 Thessalonians 1: should be treated as a parenthesis: “to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you (and to you who are troubled, rest with us) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.” The saints receive their rest when the Lord returns in the air and catches us up to be with Him.
The word rest means “relief, release, not under pressure.” It is the opposite of “tribulation.” The word describes the releasing of a bowstring. In this life, God’s people are pressured, “pressed out of measure” (2 Cor. 1:8), and under the burdens of trial and persecution. But when we see Christ, we will be released. We need not fear fiery wrath and judgment (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9), for God has already judged our sins at Calvary.
What kind of future is there for the lost? They face punishment and eternal judgment (2 Thess. 1:9), while the saved shall enjoy the rest and glories of heaven. The lost shall be separated from God, while the saved “shall see his face” (Rev. 22:4). Some cultists have tried to dilute the meaning of “everlasting destruction,” saying it means either temporary suffering or total annihilation; but both ideas are false. The phrase means “eternal judgment,” no matter how men try to twist it or avoid it (see Matt. 25:41).
Paul encouraged his friends with praise and promise; and he had a third encouragement.