Hello everybody and welcome in to episode #324 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading 2 Thessalonians 1 today and our focus is on Will The Second Coming of Jesus Be Terrifying? What Happens to Those Who Don’t Know God When Jesus Returns? Who Will Take Vengeance on the Godless When Jesus Returns? We are a daily 10ish minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Today is a sobering topic – sobering, and terrifying. Many, many people have a sort of erroneous view of Jesus the Son and God the Father. They view God as a holy judge, but Jesus as the more merciful one. As we have discussed before, however, God is also abounding in mercy and, yes, He is a holy judge. You probably know that Jesus is abounding in mercy, but did you know that Jesus’s Second Coming is going to be quite radically different than His first coming? Let’s listen to what Paul has to say about it here:
it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength 10 on that day when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
What do we learn about the end times and the Second Coming from this passage? Several things:
- Remember our discussion of “vengeance is mine, says the Lord?” That ultimate vengeance will happen when Jesus returns – He will “repay with affliction” those who have been persecuting His people. (He will also give relief to those who are persecuted!)
- Jesus will return not alone, but accompanied by His powerful angels
- Further, upon His return, He will punish – or take vengeance- on those who “don’t know God and on those who don’t OBEY the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” That is an interesting “obey” in the passage – the good news is something that must be obeyed. This passage reminds me a bit of Romans 1: “18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” How is God’s wrath revealed? It is revealed by the return of Jesus!
- Those who have rejected God and His good news – have rejected Jesus and His sacrificial death on cross – will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence. The rejection of the good news is not a small thing, says this passage – it is a massive, eternal decision. Thus must we plead, as Paul did: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2nd Corinthians 5:20 AND 2nd Corinthians 5:11, “11 Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. “
Wow – these are heavy, heavy truths – and they are not isolated here in 2nd Thessalonians, but are echoed all throughout the Bible. Here is how Revelation 19 describes the Second Coming:
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19:11-16
I want to close with an appeal to the lost that Charles Spurgeon made many years ago. In this appeal, he clearly shares the glorious and wonderful good news of Jesus and He clearly shares the whole truth about the Second Coming of Jesus, quoting from today’s chapter:
Remember the words of the inspired prophet Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him (made to meet on him) the iniquity of us all.… It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief… If you, my brother or sister, rely upon this great expiatory sacrifice, and believe that, when Christ died upon the cross, he died as your Substitute and Representative, you are saved, you have entered the one and only way of salvation.
But be assured of this, if you reject the incarnate God, if you will not trust in him, if you will not come unto him that you may have life, there is no other way of salvation, and there never will be any other. Never forget that this same Jesus, who was taken up into heaven, shall so come again in like manner as he went up into heaven; and “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,” there will be others to whom his second advent will bring nothing but dismay and terror, for then “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” It will be utterly in vain for you then to cry to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”C. H. Spurgeon, “The Last Message for This Year,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 56 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1910), 628.
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Bible Memory passage for the month of November: John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
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