The Scrolls is a weekly Bible study written by pastors and other leaders at Central Bible Church, based on that week’s sermon topic. Use The Scrolls as a personal Bible study tool, for family devotions, and for small group discussions. You can read part of it below. The downloadable PDF also includes discussion questions, more in-depth commentary, end notes, and a kids’ page designed for families to study the topic together. This lesson goes with the sermon "And Justice for All."
On the writing of 2 Thessalonians commentators generally agree that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians from Corinth, the same place from which he earlier wrote his first letter. Paul, Silas, and Timothy were in Corinth (Acts 18:5; cf. 2Th 1:1) and are not reported to be together from then on. The matters addressed in his second letter appear to grow out of situations he alluded to in the first and reflect a very similar situation in the church. The two letters were evidently written within months of one another—the first in the early summer of a.d. 51 and the second later that same summer (H. Wayne House, Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament, 130). The first was written in response to a report brought to Paul by Timothy (1Th 3:6); the second was likely written in response to a report brought to Paul by the returning person who delivered the first letter.
Paul’s Thessalonian correspondence deals extensively with eschatology, the doctrine of last things. Every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to the coming of Jesus to rescue (1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:9), and like 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians likewise deals extensively with the same subject. “In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 18 out of 47 verses deal with this subject” (The NIV Study Bible, 2028), which explains why the two epistles are often called “the eschatological letters of Paul.”
While both letters refer to the coming of Jesus, they distinguish two phases in his return. The first letter refers to the coming of Jesus to rescue, while the second refers to his coming to reign. The first letter reveals that the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus,” who will rescue them from the coming wrath” (1:9b-10), that Jesus will rescue them by snatching up the living and the resurrected dead together to meet him in the air at his coming so they might be with him forever (4:16-18), and that Jesus will come to rescue them before the day of the Lord, because God did not appoint them to suffer wrath but to receive deliverance from the destruction he will bring upon the unbelieving world (5:1-11).
The second letter reveals that their just God will vindicate them and recompense their persecutors “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels” (1:6-7). The Lord is not revealed to the world, that is, does not come into public view, when he comes to rescue believers from coming wrath; he is revealed to the world when he comes to reign over Israel and the nations (Lk 17:30; cf. Mt 24:30). This is implied by the fact that his coming to reign is described in very different terms in Matthew’s Gospel than his coming to rescue is in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians:
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (24:29-31).
The coming of Jesus to reign, that is, to govern Israel and the nations or in the words of the Eternity Creed, “to establish his eternal kingdom” (cf. Da 2:44; 7:14; Isa 9:6-7; Lk 1:32-33), holds out hope and offers rest to the righteous who are counted worthy by faith to enter it, while to the wicked, who will be excluded from the kingdom, it proffers neither (cf. Mt 25:1-13; 31-46).
Central Message of the Text:
When Jesus comes to reign, those who believe the gospel will enter the kingdom while those who do not will be shut out, condemned to everlasting destruction.
Family Talk:
My youngest son has always been a character. He has forever made us laugh with his quippy sayings and nonsense shenanigans. When he was in second grade, he had to color a sign that said, “I can do hard things.” He creatively adjusted the sign to say, “I can’t do hard things.” I’m with you, buddy. Hard things are hard and I can’t do them either, or rather, I just don’t want to. Add to daily hard things the fact that we live in a fallen world where injustice is great, and a potentially combustible situation develops. Mean people succeed, criminals win, hurt people hurt others, the rich get richer and the poor are stuck in a spiraling vortex from which it’s impossible to break free. There is no justice and hard things make it seem as if our trials are impossible to overcome. So, what’s a follower of Christ to do? Keep on! Don’t ever give up running the race with your eyes on the prize. We might not experience relief from the trials of life and we might not see justice this side of heaven, but victory is promised and His name is Jesus. I’m reminded to preach the gospel to myself – our troubles are temporary and their purpose is to grow and change us with eternity in mind. We should fix our eyes on our eternal Father, focusing on His faithfulness, trusting His ways are higher than our own, knowing without fail that He is just and resting in the victory promised to every believer. This is how we grow in Christ. I’m praying you seek God with your whole heart.