There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise – 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

“Eye for eye” (Ex.21:24) is criticized by the world as too harsh and merciless, and that God was unrighteous to implement that kind of law, but God says that tribulation for tribulation is “a righteous thing” (1:6).

“Recompense” means repay (Romans 12:19 cf. Heb.10: 30). Men complain about this brand of justice, but what could be more fair than recompensing tribulation to those that trouble God’s people (Rev.13:10)?

Paul wasn’t talking about just any tribulation, but the Great Tribulation. We know this because the Second Coming will follow the Tribulation, and that’s what Paul talks about next in this passage (1:7,8).

God knows that in the Tribulation, more than ever before, men will say God’s judgments aren’t fair, that they don’t deserve them, so the Book of Revelation, that describes the Tribulation, insists that they are (16:3-6; 19:2).

What does this say about the doctrine of eternal punishment? If God’s judgments have always been fair through-out history, do you think He’ll abandon that principle when it is time to punish the unsaved?

There is a dispensational aspect to Verse 6. It sounds a lot like Isaiah 49:25, which is spoken to the Jews, the seed of Abraham, fulfilling Genesis 12:3. So why is Paul saying things like that to us, i.e., that God will recompense tribulation to those that trouble the Body of Christ?

Paul says a lot of things like that. He applies Hosea 13:14, which is about Israel’s resurrection (13:9-14), to us (ICor. 15:51-55). That’s one of the ways he uses the Old Testament, he applies the principles. There is no sting in death for the believer no matter what dispensation you are in, and if you mess with God’s people you mess with Him, no matter what dispensation you are in. Although now that the dispensation of grace has fully set in He will delay recompensing tribulation to persecutors till after the Rapture.

Verse 7 is an exhortation as well as a prediction. We will be resting when the Lord comes in flaming fire (v.8), but we can rest in that prediction now. Paul was already resting in the midst of his tribulations (IICor.11:23-33 cf. 4:8), and he is telling the Thessalonians to rest with him (1:7).

How troubled will the persecutors be? The Lord will come “with His mighty angels” (1:7), one of which wiped out 185,000 men in one night (IIKi.19:35). The “angel of the Lord” is sometimes a theophany, but not here (IIChron. 32:21). Notice it doesn’t say He’ll come with “some” of His mighty angels, indicating He’ll come with all of them, “an innumerable company” (Heb.12:22).

And we don’t have to guess what their mission will be, they will gather out of God’s kingdom all that “offend” (Mt.13:41). Hey, that’s what the persecutors were doing to the Thessalonians, that’s what “offend” means (cf.Mt.18:6).

In addition to His mighty angels, the Lord will come “in flaming fire” (1:8), fire that is His, not the angels’ (Ps. 21:8,9; Mt.3:11). The flaming fire will come from the Lord’s mouth (Isa.30:33). If you can breathe warm air on your hands to warm them, imagine what He can do! If you can’t imagine, see Revelation 11:3-5. He’ll slay the wicked “with the breath of His lips” (Isa.11:4).

Of course, Revelation 19:11-15 says He’ll smite the nations with a sword that will come out of His mouth, not fire. A two-edged sword (Rev.1:16), the Word of God (Heb.4:12). But remember, God’s Word is “like a fire” (Jer.23:29).

Men won’t be able to say God didn’t warn them, for He made His Word a fire in the mouths of the prophets (Jer.5:14). If they didn’t receive Jeremiah’s words, they got burned up, and if men don’t receive the Word today they may have to face His fire (Mal.4:1).

When He comes He’ll be taking “vengeance” (1:8 cf. Deut.32:35,41) for the blood of His servants (Deut.32:43), as here in IIThessalonians 1:6. I’m sure He is in a hurry to avenge them, but so are they! (Rev.6:9,10).

I Don’t Mean to Brag – 2 Thessalonians 1:4-6

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The Thessalonians were enduring persecution so patiently Paul boasted of them to others. You wouldn’t think it would be okay to boast about yourself though (Pr.27:2). Of course, when David boasted (Isa.17:34) he was boasting about what the Lord could do through him (v.45,46). And when Paul boasted (IICor.11:5) he too was boasting about the Lord too (10:8).

It must be okay to brag about others, though, since Paul did it (1:4). If it wasn’t, Solomon would have said “don’t let another man praise thee” (Pr.27:2). Of course, when we praise men in spiritual areas, we are praising the Lord for what He is doing through them. That’s why Paul praised the Thessalonians. Beloved, it is not a natural thing for faith to grow amidst tribulations (1:4). It’s natural for faith to be shaken instead of growing, or Paul wouldn’t have warned us not to let it happen (ITh.3:3). So when their faith grew, Paul knew it was the Lord’s doing!

How’d Paul know they were enduring tribulation with “patience”? Because most of them weren’t impatiently quitting their jobs! Some were thinking, “Instead of going to work and making myself vulnerable to persecution, why not hide and be safe?” We know this because Paul directed their hearts “into…the patient waiting for Christ” and then went on to talk about working for a living (IIThes.3:5-10).

“Manifest” (1:5) means not secret (Lu.8:17). A “token” is a sign (Ex.12:13; Mark 14:44). So Paul is saying the persecutions the Thessalonians were receiving was a sign of the righteous judgment of God, a manifest token or an obvious sign, that when God judges the persecutors He will do so in righteousness.

God is always eager men know that when He judges, He does so righteously, so He let men know He conducted a thorough, personal investigation of Sodom before snuffing out so many lives (Gen.18:20). And throughout the Old Testament said things like what we find in Psalm 19:9, to make sure men knew His judgments are righteous.

God planned to judge their persecutors with the Tribulation (1:6). You see, a token is often a sign of a covenant (Gen.9:12,13; 17:11), and their persecutors were Jews (Acts 17:1-8). The Jews had a covenant with God called the Law, a covenant that said God would punish them if they were bad. Their persecution was a sign of their rebel-lion against God, so it was a sign that when God judges them with the Tribulation He will do so in righteousness. This is similar to how Daniel mentions God’s righteousness three times in speaking of how God judged Israel with the captivity (Dn.9:7-14). God would have been unrighteous if He didn’t judge them when His covenant with them said He would if they rebelled against Him.

The “kingdom” here was the kingdom of God in heaven, the one your body can’t go to without being “changed” (ICor.15:50,51). But the subject of II Thessalonians isn’t just the Rapture, it is the pre-trib rapture. So Paul is talking about going to the kingdom of God in heaven in the pre-trib rapture. What made them worthy of this? Well, what made their persecutors worthy of the Tribulation? They had a covenant with God and they broke it. What made the Thessalonians worthy of the pre-trib kingdom instead? They never broke the law that they were never under (Rom. 6:15), so they were worthy of the rapture. God would be unrighteous to make them go through the Tribulation.

That’s what made them worthy of the pre-trib kingdom, but Paul is talking about being counted worthy of it. If the Rapture had come in Paul’s day, and they were taken, that would count them worthy of it, and when the persecutors were left, that would count them worthy of the Tribulation.

If that confuses you, compare how Paul told slaves that had believing masters to count their masters worthy of all honor (ITim.6:1). Since slaves in those days were mostly men who racked up too much debt and had to work it off, their masters were worthy of their honor, but slaves had to count them worthy of it by serving them faithfully. In the same way, the Thessalonians were worthy of the pre-trib kingdom, and when the Rapture took them and left their persecutors, they would be counted worthy of it.

The Signature of Paul – 2 Thessalonians 1:1-3

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Since this epistle is from Paul (1:1) that makes it different from all other New Testament epistles, which were to the Jews (e.g. James 1:1). But now that Israel has lost her favored nation status with God, she is now just another one of the nations, so Jews today must look to the apostle of the nations for their instructions (Rom.11:13).

“Silvanus” is a the full name of Silas, the man beaten and jailed with Paul in Philippi who then helped Paul found the Thessalonian church. As cowriter of the first epistle (1:1) Silvanus is part of the “we” (2:2), and there was no Silvanus in Philippi, only a Silas. So Paul mentions Silas in this opening salutation since the Thessalonians knew and loved the man who suffered with Paul and then helped found their church, along with “Timotheus” (v.1).

“In God the Father and the Lord” (1:1) is a reference to their position in Christ.” We are born into Adam but are baptized into Christ when we get saved (ICor.12:13; 15:22)

“Grace” means “gift” (Eph.2:8). We saved by grace, but Paul extends these saints more grace because grace is God’s panacea, His answer for every problem in life. It is the answer to the carnality of the Corinthians (ICor.1:3), the legalism of the Galatians (Gal.1:3), and everything in between, and that runs the gamut of all of our needs.

Paul offers “peace” to these saints who already had peace with God (Rom.5:1) because it is easy to think that you have lost your peace when you sin. So Paul opens this epistle by extending them peace to remind them that they didn’t make their peace with God by being good and so they couldn’t lose their peace by being bad, and the same is true for us.

The word “bound” (1:3) means “under legal or moral obligation.” The Greek word is translated “debt” or “owe” elsewhere. Paul felt he owed a moral debt to God to thank Him that the faith and love of the Thessalonians had grown because He had prayed that their faith and love would grow (IThes.3:10-12). No wonder he said he was bound to thank God for them “as it is meet,” for it is not meet or fitting to not thank God when He answers prayer.

How does faith grow? By the Word (Rom.10:17)! So they grew their faith by studying the Word. So why would Paul thank God that they had studied? Well, you thank God for food because without the rain He sends (Mt.5:45) food won’t grow, and you thank Him when faith grows because it wouldn’t grow without Him. Many men study the Word and don’t believe in the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, or that they’d be happier in life if they followed His rules.

Their charity or love also grew, and this too was of God, for many men study the Word and get puffed up (ICor.8:1), which makes them look down their noses at others that don’t know as much as they do, not love them, so Paul was bound to thank God their love had grown as well.

They already loved others with a love that stretched beyond their borders, but Paul prayed their love would increase more(ITh.4:9,10). He was never satisfied with anyone’s spiritual state, and we shouldn’t be with ours either!

In Paul’s first epistle he thanked God for their faith and love and hope (ITh.1:2,3), but doesn’t mention their hope here. Their hope was not just the Rapture (Tit.2:13), it was the pre-Trib rapture, that God will call us home before the Tribulation. Because of the tribulations the Thessalonians were enduring (1:4), they had begun to believe that they were in the Great Tribulation. But Paul had said “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22), and had told these very Thessalonians the same when he was with them (ITh.3:3,4).

The troubles of the Tribulation are all sent from God. Even those that come from Satan are just God using him as a chastening tool. Your troubles do not come from God, they are not “acts of God” as the insurance companies claim. But you serve a God that can bring good things out of your troubles (Romans 8:28), good things like patience, experience and hope (Rom.5:3,4).

A Worry-Free Life

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

“Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?…For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15).

The desire of James’s heart was that his readers would humble themselves before the Lord and not be presumptuous when they planned for the future, nor to worry about it. We might call it worry-free planning! We all probably know someone who gets worried when they don’t have something to worry about! Believers also struggle with this problem, but the Scriptures state, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing” (Phil. 4:6). In our contemporary language we would say, “Don’t worry about anything.” The Greek root word behind the term “careful” here is merimna, which means to pull in different directions or a distraction. This is exactly what worry will do to you: it will tear you apart, both emotionally and physically. Worry always dwells on the future in regard to what may or may not happen. It mulls over every worst-case scenario imaginable until you are tied in knots. We might say it this way: the past belongs to the ages, the present belongs to us, but the future belongs to God.

Worry is a sin! It focuses on the future, which is divine ground. The only suitable way to deal with it is to find a biblical solution to the problem. Thankfully, the Scriptures provide for us the key to living a worry-free life. This age-old problem that can be traced back to the Fall has a simple solution. In fact, the antidote to this venomous attack is the same in every age. We find it noteworthy that the Lord Himself dealt with this matter as He prepared the disciples to carry out the Great Commission.

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them” (Matt. 6:25,26).

We are creatures of habit! We like the security of having a roof over our heads and knowing where we’re going to have dinner tonight. The same was true of the disciples, with this exception: the Lord had uprooted them from their comfort zone and transplanted them in His field of service. When He called them, they left their families and livelihoods to follow Him. At first it seemed the right thing to do, but the more they thought about their decision, it left them with a feeling of insecurity. In short, they were worried sick! What will we wear when the weather turns inclement? Who’s going to provide our meals today, and tomorrow, and next week? Goodness gracious, we completely forgot about our families! Who’s going to supply that need? Worry always has a way of producing more questions than answers.

Sensing their apprehension, the Lord said, “Take no thought for your life.” “Take no thought” is another way of saying, “Don’t worry about what may or may not happen!” Life is more than food and drink and clothing; they were to be more concerned about the spiritual things of God. If God can provide for the birds that fly above, which neither plant nor harvest, surely He is able to supply the needs of His laborers. We must bear in mind that, if God foreordained the Cross in His determinate counsel (Acts 2:23), and the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (I Pet. 1:19,20) in accordance with His foreknowledge, surely He knows every need of the disciples, not to mention ours, in advance (Matt. 6:32).

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34).

This passage is the Lord’s solution to the problem of worry. They were not to concern themselves with tomorrow’s circumstances, simply because those were beyond their control. It is natural to be concerned, but they weren’t to allow their concern to deteriorate into worry that consumed them because it would only serve to disrupt their service for Christ. Our Lord speaks of two days: tomorrow, a reference to the future, which belongs to God, and today. While it is impossible simply to turn off unwarranted concern, they were to redirect it. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, there were enough troubles to deal with in any given day without concerning themselves with tomorrow. The answer to the sin of worry is to trust in God and focus on resolving the problems that are facing you today (Phil. 4:19).

Is Paul Addressing Believers or Unbelievers?

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

“I’m confused! In Philippians 3:17-20, is Paul addressing believers or unbelievers?”

“17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.

“18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ:

“19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things)

“20 For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven….”

Paul is addressing both groups! In verse 17 the apostle begins by encouraging those at Philippi who were saved to follow his teachings and manner of life. Notice, however, that he digresses in verses 18 and 19 to add a parenthetical thought. The reason the apostle pauses momentarily here is to point out that there were many who claimed to be Christians, probably for some type of personal gain, but he clearly exposes them to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. They lived to satisfy the desires of the flesh. Their god was food, and drink, and sex, as they gloried in their shame. They were consumed with earthly possessions, which blinded them to their need of the Savior. As a result, their “end is destruction!” Surely this could not be said of the believer. After Paul completes the parenthesis, he resumes with his initial train of thought, confirming our heavenly hope with the saints at Philippi, “For our citizenship is in heaven….”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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Are There Physical Blessings Today?

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

“Pastor Sadler, you referred to our having physical blessings today. What exactly do you believe those are?”

While we are primarily blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:3), God has also blessed us with physical things. The Bible that you hold in your hand is a physical book with a spiritual message.

When we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are partaking of physical elements, the bread and the cup, which convey a spiritual message (I Cor. 11:23-26).

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer” (I Tim. 4:4,5).

The very food we eat everyday would also be classified a physical blessing. Notice that “every creature of God is good”; that is, every piece of beef, chicken, pork, fish or shellfish we eat is good and not to be withheld as unclean today. Under grace, eating a ham sandwich is acceptable. Paul adds that it is set apart by God in accordance with His Word and prayer, a clear indication that we are to offer thanks to the Lord for what we have at every meal.

The apostle instructed Timothy, “having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (I Tim. 6:8). While we are clothed spiritually in Christ’s righteousness, I wouldn’t advise leaving home physically unclothed. Our very clothing is a physical blessing.

In the context of prayer, Paul prayed that he might have the Lord’s prospering on his physical journey to visit the saints at Rome (Rom. 1:9,10). “In everything [not just some things and not just spiritual things] give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thes. 5:18).

To the Reader:

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The Second Trumpet

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (Rev. 8:8,9).

The blast of the second trumpet sends an object hurling out of the heavens that will destroy a third part of marine life, as well as a third part of the ships at sea. The Holy Spirit is careful to add that this heavenly body was “as it were a great mountain.” In other words, it was not a mountain as such, but had characteristics like a mountain—it was immense and had the appearance of solid rock. This could well be a description of an asteroid, which has many of the same features.

An asteroid can range from a few feet in diameter to hundreds of miles across and everything in between. There are tens of thousands of them, orbiting the sun in what’s called a band asteroid belt. It is well known that asteroids frequently pass by the earth, normally at great distances. Here it seems apparent that the finger of God will supernaturally alter the course of one of these heavenly objects. If a large asteroid were to pass through our atmosphere, we would probably describe it the same way that John did, as a mountain burning with fire.

The Apostle John then observed that this massive missile was cast into the sea. In all probability, this is the Mediterranean Sea since the second bowl judgment of Revelation 16 will be far more extensive and destructive to the oceans of the world. It has been said, “The steps of God from mercy to judgment are always slow, reluctant, and measured.” At this stage of the trumpets, God’s judgments will still be tempered with mercy so as to give men an opportunity one last time to repent and turn to Him in faith; the full scope of His fury will be unleashed later, in the bowl judgments. The surface area of the Mediterranean Sea is roughly nine hundred sixty-five thousand, three hundred (965,300) square miles, a third of which would be three hundred twenty-one thousand, seven hundred sixty-seven (321,767) square miles. Once again, to give you some idea as to the extent of this second judgment, the area of the Mediterranean affected would be greater than the State of Texas.

An asteroid, or whatever this enormous object is, falling into the Mediterranean Sea will be catastrophic. John is very careful to point out that before the death of marine life, “the third part of the sea became blood,” reminiscent of Egypt again, when God supernaturally turned the water into blood (Ex. 7:20). Multiply that miraculous event a hundredfold, and you have some idea of the severity of this judgment. Men will undoubtedly look on in horror as the sea turns to crimson.

The apostle then adds, “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.” The death of marine life will not cause the bloody sea; to the contrary, the bloody sea will kill the marine life. Creatures of the sea such as fish, dolphins, and turtles will be unable to survive in these conditions. The result will be death on a grand scale! If you’ve ever gone fishing, you know that one dead fish on the water’s edge is enough to drive you to another fishing spot. Imagine millions of fish floating on the surface of the water; the stench will be unbearable, as it was in Egypt (Ex. 7:21).

“And the third part of the ships were destroyed.” An asteroid a mile wide, hitting the earth at 30,000 miles per hour would produce 10 to 50 million times the energy of the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. It would “flatten everything for 100 to 200 miles out from ground zero.” The carnage will be incomprehensible as many shipyards will be totally wrecked. Those ships at sea within the range of this blast will capsize and be swept away by the ensuing tidal waves. The aftermath of this judgment will devastate the fishing industry and hamper world shipping and trade on an unprecedented scale. It will be a financial disaster for hundreds of ports of call that rely on tourism.

As we are already witnessing, the Lord will be like a mighty man of war in the day of battle, with a military strategy that will make the warmongers of this world tremble (Isa. 42:13). With just two blasts of the trumpets, He will decimate trade and commerce on both land and sea.

This article is an excerpt from Volume 2 of Pastor Paul Sadler’s commentary on the book of Revelation.