Comments on 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

The ninth epistle of the Apostle presents a dramatic and unforgetable cluster of predictions about the impending first century return of our Lord Jesus—an account which is thoroughly embedded into the context of the waning corrupt world of the Second Jewish Commonwealth.  In this short essay I would like to focus on the identity of the persecutors, the irreducable and neccesary setting of their impending downfall, and what significance a past Second Coming must have on the present-day Christian understanding of the timeline of Bible prophecy, our standing as the people of God, and answer the all important question: Where are we going?

Comments on 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10: The Background

The Sadducees and Jerusalem’s wealthy ruling class despised Jesus and His disciples.  As the city’s religious bosses, the Sadducees felt threatened by Jesus attracting crowds with His teachings. They worried about losing their power over the Jewish people if too many started following Him instead.

During Jesus’ time preaching around Judea, the Sadducee High Priest Caiaphas and the Pharisee sect ordered Jesus arrested (John 11:47-57).  After Jesus miraculously came back to life, these leaders even paid soldiers to lie that the disciples stole His body (Matthew 28:1-15)!

Next, the Sadducees became the first group forbidding telling others the good news about Jesus (Acts 4:6-7, 16-18). They then started physically hurting Jesus’ disciples for disobeying them (Acts 5:17-41).

After an angry mob killed the Christian leader Stephen, the High Priest gave Saul official approval to arrest Jesus’ followers as far as Damascus city.  He hauled them back to Jerusalem for unfair trials and executions (Acts 9:1-2).  These cruel actions against the early church kept intensifying over coming years.  The Sadducees and other religious bullies would soon launch a massive wave of violence trying to completely wipe out all Jewish Christians in the first century.

The ‘Adversaries’

The groups that were policing adherence to Mosaic Law, like the zealots, were given a good amount of freedom by the High Priests and Sadducees to crack down on any sects that did not follow the Torah perfectly.  This included the early Christians who were going around saying that Jesus was the promised Messiah.  Certain members of the zealot factions actively went after Christians on behalf of the important religious leaders in Jerusalem.

For example, there were many religious students at that time, such as Saul of Tarsus before he became Paul, who saw it as their duty to limit the growth of the new Christian group.  By using their interpretation of God’s laws from the Torah, they thought they needed to work against anyone who was trying to teach about the Gospel, whether near or far.  Some rough gangs also got involved in harassing Christians, such as the Sicarii. They would crash Christian gatherings and force any men there who had not been circumcised as babies to undergo the procedure right then, even if they did not want to, and they would be killed if they refused.

Because Jesus and the apostles talked about things happening related to big future wars between good and evil in a different way than other Jewish sects, there was a lot of tension.  Groups like the Qumran community who separated themselves away, the zealots who wanted to fight, and the dangerous Sicarii gang did not agree with early Christians and their teachings about end times events.  This made it more likely for zealots and their allies to bother Christians and try to stop them from sharing their message.

The Christians: Persecuted for Jesus

and the Kingdom in Which They Believed

To effectively carry out their punitive efforts against Christians, spies were embedded within Christian congregations secretly attending worship services.  These spies would surveil and monitor all activities, looking for any real or perceived violations of Mosaic Law that could be reported back to the zealot authorities.  Meeting together in house churches provided Christians with no shelter from the threat of reprisal by the zealots, as their covert attendants were gathering information.

Several passages in the New Testament further illustrate the espionage taking place. Galatians 2:4 and the books of Jude demonstrate that undercover work was being diligently performed to keep the high priesthood of Jerusalem completely abreast of all Christian assemblies, even those as remotely situated as the region of Galatia.  As a direct consequence of this infiltrated intelligence gathering, persecution exponentially erupted in the Jewish and Gentile churches located throughout Galatia, as described in Galatians 4:21-31.  Severe backlash also surfaced in the assemblies at Rome, as suggested in Romans 8:36, and the Corinthian fellowship endured oppression, as conveyed in 2 Corinthians 6:9-10.  Even the congregations in Macedonia felt the effects of heightened Zealot crackdowns, indicated in 2 Thessalonians 2:16. Grasping the motivations, nature and scope of the torment faced by early Christians helps one appreciate the gravity and solemnity of the divine retribution foretold against the persecutors in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.

Nearly every ideological tenet proclaimed by the first Christians elicited a negative reaction from their hostile Jewish opponents.  The early believers’ declarations regarding the preeminence of the gospel message over Mosaic law ruffled traditionalist feathers.  Additionally, dissension arose from Christianity’s dismissal of circumcision’s necessity along with the imposition of baptism invoking the Trinity.  Incorporating the Passover supper into the Eucharist further strained relations, as did exhorting followers to love even their Roman persecutors.  Worshipping Jesus as a divine being represented the apex of heresy to pious Jews.  Asserting the blood of Christ accomplished atonement for sins in full also rankled legalistic sensibilities.  Viewing the Second Temple’s impermanence while foretelling Levitical priesthood’s impending conclusion crossed every line of perceived civility and orthodoxy.

From an orthopraxic Jewish outlook, ample cause existed to view Christians with suspicion. Yet scriptures like 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 foretold heavenly vengeance against oppressors, fueling persecution all the more.  Dismissing prophecies of Christ’s return as deluded lies, the high priesthood and zealots intensified persecutions undeterred, confident only Jesus’ actual advent could substantiate resurrection claims or his divine Sonship.  Nothing less than the predicted visitation itself seemed capable of convincing Christ's most stubborn detractors.

The Book of Revelation Describes

the End of the Adversaries

The book of Revelation graphically depicts the manifold and ultimate destruction that would befall all those actively working to undermine Christianity in its infancy. God’s righteous wrath would be poured out completely, proving his sovereignty and faithfulness in protecting believers from their virulent adversaries.

If the persecutions endured by Christians in Macedonia, Achaia, and parts of Asia Minor’s eastern regions were already severe, Revelation chapters 2 through 3 depict the escalation of trials had reached westward across the peninsula by around 63 AD.  But Revelation chapters 4 and 5 of John’s apocalyptic writing portray a heavenly tribunal convened to determine the fate awaiting Christianity's tormentors.

Furthermore, chapters 6 through 20 unveil an astounding arc of divine actions that prophecy would run their full course within 7.3 decades.  It is noteworthy also that, the same hooligans that the High Priest and the Aristocracy sent against the Christians arose and became the authors of the Destruction of Jerusalem from AD 66-70 (Rev. 13:1-17:7-18).

After the destruction of the city Jesus took all those men to task (Rev. 19:11-21) and followed their demise by bringing in a new day for the first Christians (Rev. 20:1-4).  The New Testament terms this new period “the day of Jesus Christ,” as referenced in passages such as 1 Corinthians 1:8, 3:13, and 5:5 as well as 2 Corinthians 1:14 and Philippians 1:6, 10 and 2:16. Even 2 Timothy 1:18 and 4:8 allude to this same epoch when Christ would demonstrate his power and faithfulness by avenging His martyred people in a spectacular and terrifying fashion to the complete termination of all rule, authority, and power despite all Herculean Satanic efforts to the contrary (Rev. 20:7-11).  Surely such graphic prophecies emboldened persecuted brethren facing unprecedented tribulations.

Second Thessalonians 1:7-10 gave real rather than imaginary or wishful apocalyptic hope to Christians suffering Jerusalem’s sanctioned violence by foretelling heaven’s attention and vengeance on all their oppressors.  But what does all this mean for Christians living today?  It means that faithful Christians can always trust that no wrong would go unrighted as Jesus revealed His sovereign power at His glorious appearing then, even now he still sits on his throne and is a faithful deliverer.

Revelation Chapters 21-22: Our Eternal

Home in Our House Which is From Heaven

After Jesus defeated all the enemies of His people, the Bible tells us that the place He prepared for us came down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:2).   This is just as the Jews and their Zealots had believed a Third Temple would come down from heaven “prefab” and settle in Jerusalem upon their conquest of the Roman Empire in the third Jewish revolt―however they erred and lost, but the Christians received the promise from the true Messiah who said,

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”

This means that when our life on earth is over, we have a wonderful home on the other side whose diminsions far exceed anything humanly possible.   The apostle Paul talked about this in 2 Corinthians 5:1, saying,

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

So even though Christians may face hard times and troubles in this life, we can have hope and joy knowing that it’s not our permanent home.  Jesus has made a way for us to live with him forever in a perfect place with no more sadness, pain, or death (Rev. 14:13 cf. Rev. 21:4).  Our job is to trust in Jesus, follow him, and tell others the good news so they can have this hope too.  Then one day, we will all be together with the Lord in the amazing home he has built for us in heaven.  What a wonderful promise we have as believers in Christ!

Caption: Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the twenty-first day of the month Artemisius [Iyar], a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sunsetting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding cities. (Josephus’ Wars 6.5.3.296-299)  Note: 21 Iyar 3824 corresponds to the Gragorian calendar as Sunday 8 May AD 63―seven years, two months, and 26 days before the destruction of the Second Temple and Jerusalem.