The Thessalonians continued to experience persecution as a result of their faith. The local Jewish leaders have led the way in bringing persecution upon the believers, but we can imagine that the believers there in Thessalonica may have also experienced a persecution from the local governmental officials or those that worship the local Greek gods – in short, everyone else – because of their faith in Christ as the one true God and true king, just as had happened in many other cities and churches.
Yet Paul told the Thessalonian believers that God will return vengeance for the persecution that they have experienced. One day, Jesus will be revealed from heaven and will return to earth. One day, he will judge those who have insulted and persecuted and harmed the Thessalonian believers. One day, God will administer the justice that is to come against every evil, against every unrighteous act, and against each person who commits them against those who believe in Christ.
All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
2 Thessalonians 1:5-7
If we ask ourselves what it means to be saved, this is it. God is just and he will one day bring his judgment and wrath upon the evil that has been perpetrated on the earth. Evil against the believers and evil against God himself. But by placing our faith in Christ, he makes us worthy, through his blood, through his death and resurrection, to be made righteous, to be saved. We do not have righteousness within ourselves, but we are made right with Christ. In him, we can be known by God. In him, we will be saved. We will be saved from the judgment of God and we will be the beneficiaries of the justice that God will give against those who have committed evil against his people.
It may be that we will experience evil as a result of what we believe, as a result of our faith in God, as the Thessalonians did. But one day, God will return and will bring vengeance upon that evil because he is just.
