Transcripción

For most of the world today, a successful life is learning how to avoid pain. I personally believe that a successful life is learning how to respond to pain—allowing the Lord to make you deeper and more dependent on Him.

The truth is, your life actually began with pain and discomfort, didn’t it? There you were, living in a safe and secure little world. You were cushioned in a warm place where you were automatically fed, and a murmuring heartbeat nearby assured you that life was nothing but wonderful.

Then, one day you felt a tug, then another. The walls of your little world seemed to be falling in on you. Those soft cushions were now crushing you—pushing you. For the first time in your life, you felt pain. Then there was more pressure, almost too intense to bear. Your head was being squeezed, and you were pushed harder, harder downward.

You began to hear the sounds of crying and talking—louder and louder it grew. Your world was changing, collapsing. You thought the end was near. Then suddenly you saw a piercing, blinding light as cold hands pulled at you. Everything grew loud and cold. You shivered, too afraid to breathe; but then you felt a painful slap on your bottom, and you responded with your first cry of anguish while everyone around you began to cheer.

Congratulations, you have just been born.[1]

And beloved, your life from that point to this one has included chapter after chapter of challenges and changes—pain and suffering.

We now set sail into Paul’s second letter to the believers in the Thessalonian church. And right from the start, Paul commends them for enduring great pressure and persecution.

The apostle’s opening words are almost identical to his greeting in 1 Thessalonians. He includes Silvanus (or Silas), and Timothy in his introduction and reminds the church that they belong to God, as he writes, “To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 1).

Paul follows this up here in verse 3 by commending them, writing “Your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” He even adds that he’s been boasting about them to other churches. Why? Verse 4 answers: “For your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.”

These suffering believers are remaining steadfast. “Steadfastness” is an interesting compound word in the original language; it means “remaining under” or “‘bearing up under’ difficult circumstances.”[2] In other words, they were holding up under intense pressure. We might even say they were “hanging on” to their trust in God in the midst of persecution. They were remaining under it rather than trying to run from it.

Have you noticed the different ways we can respond to painful circumstances? We can be quick to complain to the Lord—maybe even blame Him for our suffering. Or we might diligently pray that God will deliver us, only to eventually despair or become bitter if relief does not arrive.

Or we can respond with trust, remembering that nothing can reach us unless it filters through the hand of God.

No wonder Paul was using the Thessalonians as a testimony to the other churches. They were trusting Him. Instead of running away, they were standing strong; instead of grumbling, they were enduring, as they continued to walk with God.

Next, in verses 6-7, Paul describes God’s future judgment for these persecutors of the church. For them, judgment is coming; for the believer, justice is coming:

God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted . . . when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

Eternal justice is going to come riding in one day. It might look like people are getting away with evil; it might look like God-hating, Christian-persecuting countries are getting away with it, but Paul reminds us of that old saying, “The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.” All tormentors of Christians will discover one day that they have actually been persecuting none other than the Lord.

I think of Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered through fourteen years of terrible torture while imprisoned for his faith in the communist country of Romania many years ago. He was eventually released, and he and his wife went on to create a global ministry to persecuted Christians. Having suffered greatly for his faith, his perspective was this: “I tremble because of the sufferings of those persecuted in different lands. I tremble thinking about the eternal destiny of their torturers.”[3] That sounds a lot like the apostle Paul.

God’s justice is going to bring eternal wrath upon the oppressors but eternal relief for believers.

When will these wheels of justice begin to grind? Well, the final judgment takes place at the end of the millennial kingdom before what is called the “great white throne” in Revelation 20.

But Paul is referring to an earlier judgment here in verses 7-8:

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Paul is not describing the end of the millennial kingdom or even Jesus’ appearance in the clouds when He comes to rapture His church. This is a description of the Lord’s return to earth at the end of the seven-year tribulation period.

After seven years of divine judgments upon the unbelieving world, Jesus will return with the redeemed to Planet Earth to set up His kingdom. There will be a judgment of all who refused to believe the gospel. Paul adds here that the Lord will be accompanied by “his mighty angels.” This is a reference to the inescapable justice that is going to be carried out against those who “do not know God and . . . do not obey the gospel.”

You might wonder about this kind of encouragement, where the suffering believer is reminded that persecutors are going to pay for their acts one day. That might not sound all that gracious to you; but if you are suffering today at the hands of a corrupt government; if you are being persecuted by people who mock Christianity and attempt to harm believers, if you are living in a wicked culture where everything is turned upside down—corruption is on the throne and truth has been thrown out in the gutter—it is very encouraging to know that one day the Lord is going to set everything right side up. One day He will return and deliver judgment against those who mocked His gospel and persecuted His children. But those who trusted Christ will one day be joyously welcomed into the kingdom.

Suffering for Christ will never be meaningless. We can endure because we know that God is in control.

In verse 9, Paul describes the judgment of the unbeliever as being sent “away from the presence of the Lord.” And that is the tragedy of it all—sent away from the presence of the Lord. But for believers, Paul wrote back in 1 Thessalonians, 4:17, “We will always be with the Lord.”

Paul then pulls a page out of his prayer journal and writes this in verse 11:

We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.

Paul’s prayer is not for their deliverance from suffering but for their development through suffering, as they prove through their steadfastness that God is worth following to the very end.