According to Paul: Eternal Perspective

Introduction

Before we begin, I want to say a special “thank-you” to all who have served in the military. If those of you who served could stand so that we can honour you? It is right that we thank you for faithfully serving and protecting the freedom of this country.

Today we will begin the second letter to the congregation in Thessalonica and will continue to read about the end times. Just as we have done, Paul commends the believers for their faithfulness and perseverance.

Let’s begin reading in 2 Thess. 1

2 Thessalonians 1 TLV

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the community of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah! We ought to always thank God for you, brothers and sisters, as is appropriate, because your faithfulness grows wonderfully, and the love of each one of you for one another continually increases. Therefore, we ourselves boast of you among the communities of God—about your perseverance and faithfulness through all the persecutions and troubles that you endure. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. (For after all, it is right in the sight of God to pay back trouble to those who trouble you, and relief to you who suffer trouble along with us. At the revelation of the Lord Yeshua from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, He will command judgment on those who do not know God and do not heed the Good News of our Lord Yeshua. They will pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power— on that Day when He comes to be glorified among His kedoshim and marveled at by all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.) With this in mind, we pray for you constantly, that our God may consider you worthy of the calling and fulfill with power every good desire and work of faith, so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 45: 1 & 2 Thessalonians Explanation

Paul, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, the three missionaries who had first brought the gospel to Thessalonica and planted the church in that city.

This second letter was written shortly after the first in approx. 50 to 51 A.D. The persecution that the believers were experiencing coincided with the disturbances between the Religious Jewish leaders and the Jewish followers of Yeshua. We see a lot of this talked about through the book of Acts.

The Roman historian, Suetonius points out that Emperor Claudius kicked out all of the Jewish people from Rome in the year 49 A.D. because the Jews were

“constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” Most historians interpret “Chrestus” as a reference to “Christ” (Yeshua), indicating that the disturbance were likely caused by intense conflicts within the Jewish community between those who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah and those who did not.

The persecutions did not stop, and we see that Paul addresses several issues relating to how we ought to act when we are going through difficult times and when we are being persecuted. Throughout this letter Paul encourages the believers that “in the end God will right all wrongs.”

Love & Faithfulness

Paul starts out by emphatically stating that they feel duty-bound to thank God for the believers in Thessalonica. The two reasons for this are that their faithfulness increases more and more and their love for one another continually grows. In fact their faithfulness and love have grown so much that Paul boasts about them to all the other congregations. I pray that people would say the same about our community.

The community in Thessalonica was suffering for the sake of Yeshua, and yet were remaining faithful and filled with love. Some times the hardest part is continuing to love those who are persecuting us. We need to remember the words of Yeshua in Matt. 5:10-12

Matthew 5:10–12 TLV

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great! For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

And if that were not enough, Yeshua continues a few sentences later to say: Matt. 5:43-48

Matthew 5:43–48 TLV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than anyone else? Even the pagans do that, don’t they? Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

This may sound difficult, and in some cases impossible, but Yeshua does not expect us to be able to do this without help. This is part of the work of the Ruach HaKodesh in our lives. The Ruach can give us the prayers to pray, the words to say, the ability to forgive and release, and truly love our enemies.

Paul is once again writing to encourage the believers to view the persecutions they are experiencing through an eternal lens.

God will pay back

In verse 6 we see that Paul reminds the believers that Adonai will be the one who will being vengeance. Paul is probably reaching back to the words of Moses, where Moses talks about the unfaithful Israelites, who would reject Adonai’s ways in Deut 32:35

Deuteronomy 32:35 TLV

Vengeance is Mine, and payback, for the time when their foot staggers. Surely their day of disaster is near— what is prepared rushes on them.

The entire passage in Deut 32 is declaring that Adonai will bring judgement on unbelievers, and here in 2 Thess. 1, Paul is writing the same thing. Paul is pointing out that the warnings of Adonai are exactly the same in his day as they were in the day of Moses. Paul writes that the unfaithful will “pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power.

This is another quote from Isa. 2:6-10 where once again Adonai is promising judgement upon those who have rejected His voice

Isaiah 2:6–10 TLV

For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob. For they are filled with soothsayers from the east, and they have clapped hands with the children of foreigners. Their land also is full of silver and gold, nor is there any limit to their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, nor is there any limit to their chariots. Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their hands, what their own fingers have made. So humanity bows down as each one lowers himself. Pardon them not! Enter into the rock and hide in the dust, for fear of Adonai, and the glory of His majesty.

This applies “to the Jew first but also to the Gentile” world. In Ps. 79, Asaph cries out to Adonai (Ps. 79:5)

Psalm 79:5 TLV

How long, Adonai, will You be angry? Forever? Will Your jealousy keep blazing like fire?

Asaph then continues to plead with Adonai to: Ps. 79:6-7

Psalm 79:6–7 TLV

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his country.

And truly Adonai is coming in fire to bring judgement on this world as it says in Isa. 66:15-16

Isaiah 66:15–16 TLV

For behold, Adonai will come in fire, and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and His sword Adonai will execute judgment on all flesh and those slain by Adonai will be many.

And again in Jer. 10:25

Jeremiah 10:25 TLV

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You and on the families that do not call on Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob, devoured and consumed him, and destroyed his homeland.

As Jews and Gentiles who followed the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, the believers in Thessalonica were experiencing persecution on two fronts. They were getting expelled by the Emperor because of their faith in Yeshua and they were being expelled from the Synagogue because of their faith in Yeshua.

But Paul reminds them that the day is coming where Adonai will judge righteously and will bring righteous judgement (2 Thess. 1:10)

2 Thessalonians 1:10 TLV

on that Day when He comes to be glorified among His kedoshim and marveled at by all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.)

Consider you worthy

I want to finish this section with 2 questions:

Will Adonai consider us worthy? This is something that we should be praying for constantly. I know that there are many days when I thank God that He did not come on that day. Preferably I want him to come on a day when I am doing what he wants me to, and responding toward others, in the way he wants me to.

Is Yeshua being glorified in us? The glory of Adonai is displayed in us when we are both faithful to His calling, and are being filled with love for one another. Are we increasing in love? Are we working toward becoming like Yeshua, who was, as it says in Luke 2:52?

Luke 2:52 TLV

And Yeshua kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Summary

Let us summarize and have another look at the Summary slide and the Timeline.