The Second Coming Wrath and Rescue

Father, I pray that in this room right now, whether peace is flowing like a river, or whether sea billows are breaking over the heart, that you would manifest yourself in such power and such nearness and such tenderness and such majesty, that every need in this room would be touched stunningly with transforming, encouraging, life-giving, Christ-exalting power tonight. And I pray that as I undertake to put the picture of the movement from the Old to the New Testament before us and then take us into 2 Thessalonians 1, that you would anoint my lips and these ears so that the transaction is magnifying to Jesus Christ and a strengthening to our face and a purifying upon our churches and an advancement of your mission in this world. And I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. The Old Testament ends with this expectation. Last chapter of the Old Testament. Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall, and you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under your soles of your feet. On that day, when I act, says the Lord of hosts, behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Malachi 4, 1 to 5. There was no clear prophecy in the Old Testament that this day of the Lord, with its blazing judgment against evil and its healing and leaping for joy, would be in two stages separated by 2,000 years. The Old Testament prophetic perspective looked at the nearer and the farther mountain in the range of God's events that He is bringing on the world. And for them, that sequence of mountains was temporally indistinct. That is, God granted them to see and to say many true things about those mountains, infallible things, no mistakes. But He did not grant them to see there were valleys between the mountains and how wide the valleys were. They couldn't tell. The day is coming, burning like an oven, and the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. So, when Jesus, the Messiah, arrived, not burning like an oven and not trampling down His enemies, but as the Son of Righteousness with healing, He created a glorious perplexity. It's glorious, because in His coming, He's living, He's dying, He's rising, He's ascending, He's reigning. He achieved, once and for all, stupendous and wonderful things for us. And it's a perplexity, because the completion of that accomplishment in the saints and in the creation isn't come yet, and we don't know when it will. It's a perplexity. So the purchase, the ransom of all the elect, all those who would believe in all ages, was completely and finally paid, once and for all. Hebrews 9, He appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Or, He was obedient unto death. When He died, He said, It is finished. And that enabled Paul to say, in Romans 5, By one man's obedience, the many will be appointed righteousness. So, in the first coming of Messiah, the punishment for sin and the provision of righteousness was finished. That payment, that perfection, can never be improved or added to in any way. If we are united to Jesus by faith in Him, Savior, Lord, supreme treasure of our lives, now, before the second coming, in this age, we can't be now or ever become more forgiven than we are. We cannot be now or become any more justified than we are. That's a remarkable achievement. And it was achieved. It is glorious. It's a glorious perplexity. Because, though we have been saved Ephesians 2 Salvation is nearer to us now than when we believed Romans 13 Though we have been transferred into the kingdom of God's Son Colossians 1 We are yet to inherit the kingdom Galatians 5 Though we have been adopted into the family Galatians 4 We wait adoption of sons Romans 8 Though we have been perfected for all time Hebrews 10 We are now being perfected Galatians 3 Though we have been set free from the slave master of sin He no longer has dominion over us Yet, we do what we do not want to do and we must kill it every day Romans 8, Romans 6 Though we have passed from death to life John 5 We will die Hebrews 9 Though we have become a new creation 2 Corinthians 5 We await the resurrection of our bodies Romans 8 And though we have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ We see in a glass darkly and when he appears we will see him like he is and be made like him So, when Christ came into the world he set in motion a glorious perplexity So to the Old Testament saints and prophets the future mountains of salvation for God's people and judgment on those who reject him looked like one mountain They didn't know when Messiah came into the world and began to recite Isaiah 61 in the synagogue The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor that he would stop one semicolon before and the day of vengeance to our God They didn't know that was going to happen As if Jesus would say with Isaiah 61 that clause that's 2,000 years out and in the meantime there's the evangelization of the world called the times of the Gentiles but actually no he didn't say that and he couldn't and that adds to the glorious perplexity So when it gradually dawned on these disciples this is not going the way we expected and it's going to turn out very badly it looks to us like painfully not triumphantly as they'd hoped When that began to dawn on them and they knew he's going to leave us he's going to leave us and he's going to send the Holy Spirit as a helper they naturally asked How long are you going to be gone? When will you come and finish establishing the kingdom? and to their dismay and our perplexity here's what Jesus said concerning that day and hour Father, no one knows not even the angels of heaven nor the Son but the Father only So Jesus, the God-man in his human nature this is my interpretation in his human nature did not know the time of his second coming He knew enough knew something so that when his followers said to him, it's near, isn't it? Luke 19, he responded with a parable that began like this A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return not a near country he knew that much how far? he didn't know how far now that's a very important fact we need to keep it in mind always keep it in mind when we read the New Testament and when we read statements like the end of all things is at hand 1 Peter 4 or, behold, I am coming soon Revelation 22 or, the Lord is at hand Philippians 4 or, the coming of the Lord draws near or, behold, the judge is standing at the gate James 5 if we read those statements as if the authors knew when Jesus was coming we misread them not even the Son knows to claim to know when the Son doesn't know is a sin not just a mistake so when James says the coming of the Lord is near he is standing at the gates he is echoing with the word, and you can, near and the word gates precisely the words of Jesus in Matthew 24-33 so also, when you hear all these when you see all these things you know he's near at the gates so the picture that we should have in our mind when we hear nearness words is not that he's on the way and he's about 300 miles out which means we have a week that's not the way we're supposed to hear it he's not 300 miles out he's at the gate he's always been at the gate he's not on the way from anywhere that's not the picture he's at the gate just outside the city of time so what's the point? the point is don't presume upon any gap in which you can cease to be vigilant ready doing your assigned task listen to the Lord blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing his job when he comes but if that wicked servant says to himself my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth so the point is not distance delay indifference delinquency the point is nearness at the gates spiritual vigilance doing our job ready therefore he says Matthew 24 44 you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect especially if you get drunk on the world and lose all your spiritual sensitivities what keeps him out is not distance but sovereign purposes of patience mercy and judgment 2 Peter 3 9 so perplexity the perplexity about the time of the second coming runs right through the new testament Jesus deals with it Luke 19 12 Acts 1 8 James deals with it 4 8 and 9 Peter deals with it 1 Peter 4 7 2 Peter 3 3 following and Paul deals with it and the place where Paul deals with it most extensively is in the Thessalonian letters and most focused and most detailed in 2 Thessalonians therefore the rest of this message will be in 2 Thessalonians 1 my closing message will be in 2 Thessalonians 2 and 3 my aim is to unpack the meaning and relevance of the second coming according to 2 Thessalonians so let's read I hope you'll open your bible because I'm going to be really detailed and you've got to see it you've got to see it and if you don't have a bible then you can listen later with your bible open we ought always this is verse 3 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers as he's right because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring there's the situation that precipitates everything else he's going to say they are enduring persecutions and afflictions next phrase verse 5 this persecution, affliction and your enduring this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering since indeed God considers it just right to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels inflaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed to this end what end? you've got to be ready to marvel you've got to be you've got to be worthy made worthy by the sufferings made worthy to glorify to marvel with an unmarveling heart an un glorifying heart to this end we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of the calling this upward calling the calling and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God when you're made worthy to magnify and glorify him it is coming it will not be because you are worth it come back to that because it's all according to the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ what sets the stage for Paul's teaching on the second coming it's the persecution and affliction of the believers verse four Paul boasts among the churches about the steadfastness and faith and love of these believers in all your persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring when he adds the word afflictions to persecutions he broadens out the experience it's a bigger word broader word to every manner of oppression and discouragement that Christians must pass through on the narrow and hard way that leads to life the word hard in Jesus' words there is the verb for afflictions oppressed that's the way that's the path that leads to life and as you walk that path of obedience and encounter that that's the situation here there's nothing unusual going on in Thessalonica in the matter of suffering that's Paul's point he had told them in chapter three of first Thessalonians verses three and four this let no one be moved by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are appointed for this destined for this put there for this this is God's design he taught them this from the beginning just like he did all the churches in Acts 14.22 saying through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom we kept telling you he says in verse four of first Thessalonians three we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer these afflictions nothing unusual is going on in Thessalonica it's just normal it is normal and abnormal it's normal to be persecuted abnormal not to be all Christians walk this path Romans 8 17 we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him now this is why what Paul says about the second coming is so relevant for us it relates to our afflictions especially those that come from other people because we're Christians it's normal these are God appointed sufferings eis ta chametha unto this we are set appointed by God afflictions for all believers all churches all times some more some less and here's the fundamental thing Paul says about that to them and to you verse five at the beginning of the verse this that affliction that persecution you're enduring is evidence of the righteous judgment of God it's a sign that God is dealing judging deciding governing justly in your afflictions he's doing it rightly not wronging anyone or doing anything amiss so the question becomes how how is God showing the righteousness justness rightness of appointing such afflictions which is what he says he's doing how how does he how is it in evidence how does he show that this is right this is good how does he do that and Paul gives three answers right there in the text this is what you'd see if you were doing what I'm doing all three of these answers to that question how is this right that you've appointed for the Thessalonians such afflictions and persecutions how is that a right judgment all three answers to this come to climax at the second coming so he takes them there would you take people to the second coming if you walked into a situation of persecution and calamity and affliction would you do that let's go to the second coming and fire I think we should learn how how to deal with the second coming as well as what it is from the new testament so here is the first answer for now why is this a right judgment that you have ordained for these people to walk through affliction middle of verse 5 it's right because it has this design and this purpose namely that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering that's why that's why it's just that's why it's good that's why it's right that God passes judgment and the judgment is you get persecuted that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God in other words even though listen carefully even though the reality of justification by faith alone on the basis of Christ alone is how we are accepted by God forgiven by God adopted into the family have entrance into the kingdom nevertheless throughout the whole new testament God considers it just righteous fitting to make the ungodly justified ones godly in preparation for the second coming do you get it? the whole new testament sweep is designed and this is your ministry this is your main ministry to saints to so minister that they are made worthy to meet Christ glorifying and marveling and not ashamed what does worthy mean? are you stumbling over that word? me made worthy? me made worthy of the kingdom? yes yes what does it mean? it doesn't mean deserving it doesn't mean deserving of the kingdom just do a little word study on oxios do a little word study on worthy and you find something like this Matthew 3.8 John the baptist bear fruit worthy of repentance hmm that does not mean deserving repentance doesn't even make sense the fruits come after repentance bear fruit worthy what does that mean? it's translated in almost all versions in keeping with as befits that's the meaning of worthy is your life through your afflictions being made suited fitted prepared appropriate in sync with the glory that's coming or are you just shot through with worldliness even watching the halftime show of the super bowl shame on you I didn't watch it I saw the previews like three seconds okay really that doesn't get you ready for the second coming not like this you need a little suffering after that I'm serious as I can be it was just verse 11 turns it all into a prayer so you can see it again this making you worthy through suffering is one of the reasons why it's a just judgment verse 11 to this end namely to get you ready to glorify and marvel instead of be terrorized at the second coming to this end we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling, there it is this is the beginning and the end of this text this is what it's about, this is what preaching is for whether it's on the second coming or anything else we preach to make our people worthy of the calling that they have in Christ now and the calling they will have at the end when they rise to meet him in the air how does it make them worthy that God may fulfill every good resolve, every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power divine power through affliction purifying faith turning good resolves into actual works of love weaning us off the love affair with the world fitting us to glorify Jesus when he comes end of verse 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace that all this affliction and all my preaching and all your small groups and all the prayers the grace flowing through them to make you a radically different kind of people so summing up this first answer, Paul has three answers the first one that God's judgment in our affliction is shown to be good right, righteous judgment because it's design is to make us worthy of his appearing I just invite you now for just 30 seconds to think about people you know even yourself maybe who are spiritually and emotionally utterly unfitted to do verse 12 or verse 10 think of the people in your church do they even think in these categories I've got one life what should I do get ready to magnify get ready to glorify get ready to marvel if you're not working on your heart what are you going to do when he shows up what are you going to do all I do is watch television you've got a really hard job taking people who are saturated with the world almost their entire life and you get one hour with them to change their whole world view whole perspective on why they're on the planet, what they should do with their mind and their heart you've got to teach them how to understand their sufferings because if they get mad at God while they're being afflicted, they're totally out of touch with what they need our affliction is God's infirmary to heal us from the disease of worldliness and to fit us to marvel at Christ when he comes that's argument number one for why the main point of the text namely it's beautiful right, good, just judgment that God is exerting when he brings affliction on his people in Thessalonica reason number one I want to get you ready make you beautiful bride number two is the second reason why Paul gives for how this affliction is a righteous judgment found in verse six since indeed God considers it just same word righteous, righteous judgment just to repay with affliction those who afflict you that's reason number two why what's happening to you is right good, just and to paraphrase they're not going to get away with it they're not they're not going to go unpunished those people who are slandering you or throwing you in prison in China or kidnapping you in Iran or cutting off your head in Nigeria they're not going to go unpunished there will be a balancing of the scales that's the point of saying the afflictors will be afflicted, see that the afflictors will be afflicted justice will be done but it's crucial to see not in this life that's really important for you people to realize the abuse that they endure the injustices that befall them a little bit might be rectified but we're not to count on it until this happens we'll get to the when in just a minute if your people or you don't realize that this solution this second reasoning for why it's a just judgment doesn't happen until the end you will be tempted to take matters into your own hands and become vengeful I'd do it I'd do it with my wife she says something I don't like a reaction is not like oh that'll be taken care of at the last day she'll be shown to be wrong I'll be vindicated at the last day or vice versa I take that really seriously, I just think vengeance is mine I will repay, says the Lord relates to burnt toast or I don't eat burnt toast I just make that up this is really relevant if you don't teach your people to lay it down God will settle accounts be free be free you don't need to carry this around all your life that you're going to settle accounts for that lay it in his hands his shoulders are broad his axe is sharp he's going to do it far better than you perfect perfect, you'll never do it perfect so that's argument number two it's a right judgment a righteous judgment that God ordains that afflictions come to the Thessalonians, first because it's designed for their holiness in preparation for marveling at Christ's coming, and second because those who are perpetrating it will not get away with it it's a righteous judgment accounts will be settled here's the third one, first half of verse 7 one more explanation let's start in verse 6 God considers it just or righteous to repay, that was the point I just made to repay with affliction those who afflict you and here's the third one to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us his judgment is righteous in our affliction because he has appointed relief, their afflicting will be repaid with affliction and your being afflicted will be repaid with relief and I think that when we contemplate the staggering degree of suffering that the church has endured for 2,000 years America being a little blip of unreality in the history of the world when we consider the staggering amounts of horrible suffering that Christians have endured for 2,000 years I don't think we should think of the relief as absence of toil merely or absence of pain merely no, no, no Jesus said in his words about the second coming enter into the joy of your master so this relief is not mainly passive, it's not mainly absent it's gloriously absent of all pain and gloriously full of divine joy giving me capacities to enjoy him beyond anything I ever knew so this relief here which vindicates the rightness of the judgment is more than absence of toil remember Jesus said to those who are enduring much hardship, great is your reward in heaven when the relief comes it will be beyond your imagination these are the words of Paul the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us now those three arguments, those three explanations of why Paul is that suffering and their enduring an evidence of right judgment answer one because there's a design in it to get them ready with joy and capacities for marveling at the second coming that they need so bad and two, they're not going to get away with it those who are causing this problem you will get relief at the last day so don't think God has neglected to write down all your suffering so that they get appropriate responses in the age to come when do those three things come to climax and I already said they come to climax at the second coming so let's read starting in the middle of verse 7 and go through verse 10 to see when, what's the when question here, when it will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting that vengeance that I talked about, inflicting that vengeance on those who don't know God and on those who don't obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus at that moment of the Lord's coming, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, all of them it's not like a little group in Palestine in 70 AD, this is they, those who don't know God, those who do not believe the gospel, they will be cut off destroyed, eternal punishment, I'm in verse 9 away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, risen and alive because our testimony to you was believed now that's a description of the most terrible and the most glorious event in the history of the world as far as the experience of the church is concerned the second coming of Christ if you don't like me using the term second coming because it's not a technical New Testament phrase, just always hear coming, parousia, time coming Paul tells us nine things about it let me just name them, nine things about the parousia the coming, the second coming, number one middle of verse 7, it's a revelation an unveiling when the Lord Jesus is revealed so now he's hidden, right? Oh! Oh! We wish he were not come Lord Jesus he's hidden and he will be revealed, number two this revelation will happen by a coming, a coming not by a vision, not by a dream, not by an apparition it will be a revelation event, he will come, he has a body he can move through space and he will come as he went Acts 1.11 in a glorified visible, physical body, number three he will come from heaven Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven that's where he reigns today at the right hand of the father and now he comes, his throne moves from there to here number four middle of verse 7 he comes with powerful angels when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, they come with him for a glorious entourage, how fitting is that and they come to gather the saints so Jesus says he'll send out his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, that's their function primarily here besides glorifying Christ number five he comes in flaming fire Jesus had said when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him he will say to those on his left, depart into eternal fire so I'm trying to think what's the point of coming with fire what's on fire what's burning I don't know, perhaps Paul means that he comes with fire in the sense that the unapproachable flaming purity of God is the way hell is torched as he casts people into it like fire at any rate, coming with fire number six his coming will be with vengeance in flaming fire inflicting vengeance so all the wrongs righted either punished, forgiven everything dealt with everybody receives their appropriate sentence number seven middle of verse eight he specifies two groups of humans who experience the vengeance inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so there's one group he describes as not knowing God another group, they don't obey the gospel of our Lord, I think there are two groups, there might be one but I think there are two and if you ask which I did wait a minute, Paul says in Romans 1 everyone knows God they all know God every human being on the planet knows God that's why they're guilty because they don't glorify him as God that's true but they suppress that truth according to verse 18 of Romans 1 and a person who is suppressing his knowledge of God of him can be said knowing he does not know God knowing God, he does not know God seeing they do not see, knowing they do not know it's not wrong here for Jesus to say he's going to judge those who don't know God those who suppress the knowledge of God so that the knowledge of God wasn't in their minds consciously with no worship and no glorifying and no obedience they go down even if they've never heard the gospel and those who have heard the gospel and don't obey it they go with them number 8 the vengeance is described three ways one they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction verse 9 two this ruin, this eternal ruin will include a separation from the presence or the face of the Lord number 3 it will include a separation from the glory of his might so here's a picture I have when I hear that the face and presence of God the countenance of God is where we will spend eternity and find eternal joy, blessedness joy, happiness in his presence is fullness of joy and his right hand are pleasures forevermore to be separated from that is to go into the opposite of a smiling face namely a very dark discontencing the opposite here's the countenance the face, the smile, the blessing, the joy you turn away and get totally separated from that countenance, all that's left is the darkness of his disapproval and when you are under the darkness of the disapproval of the almighty the power of God is not glorious, it's terrifying number 9 this is the last one the ultimate purpose or the aim of the second coming is in verse 10 I think one of the most important verses in the bible when it comes to trying to decide what are we about what's Bethlehem College and Seminary about, what are your churches about what's your eighth decade about Piper he comes on that day this is what he aims to do, he comes on that day when he comes to be glorified in his holy ones, his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed now let me just close with three observations about that amazing purpose statement of the second coming number 1 this is Christ's purpose right he comes to be glorified he comes to be glorified this is Christ's purpose so it's fair to say here what we are reading is Christ's aim to be Christ exalting Christ is Christ exalting in his coming he aims to get your marvel he aims to get glory that's why he's coming, I'm coming to be glorified I'm coming to be marveled at I am the center of this event and I mean to be own that preach that the ultimate purpose of Christ in all things is the glorification of Christ as Colossians 1 16 all things were created by Christ and for Christ by Christ for Christ get it why did he create them for himself just as creation happens by Christ and for Christ so the second coming happens by Christ and for Christ that's number 1 observation about this purpose number 2 notice it does not say that the aim is the glory of Christ it could it would be true but what it says is the aim is the glorifying or glorification of Christ in a human and the marveling at Christ in a human, the bride of Christ humans that's really big for a Christian hedonist like me really big in other words the ultimate aim of all creation exists most essentially in the Christ exalting acts of the heart of the redeemed if you read some famous theologian who waxes eloquent about the new heavens and the new earth all the planets, all the galaxies all the mountains, all the rivers all the oceans all the tsunamis, all the volcanoes changed new glorious, that's true it's just not very significant comparatively it's just stuff it's just stuff you're not stuff you live in stuff you're all woven with stuff you want your stuff to be resurrected but I'll tell you what this universe is about it is about human beings with souls being made worthy to glorify and marvel at the king of kings that's what we're ministering toward I did a little interview with Trip, they did a little video here a couple hours ago, and I set it up like this, they said what new thing have you learned about God he doesn't have any new attributes I've read them all okay that's not what we mean I said I know what you mean and here's my answer you got a chance to preach a sermon on Sunday morning here two sermons, you got to choose between the two, first sermon the effect of the sermon is the whole universe is transformed by your sermon the entire universe, material universe, all the galaxies all the mountains, all the oceans all the tsunamis, all the volcanoes all the hurricanes, all the diseases gone one sermon awesome but in this sermon nobody gets changed at all, no hearts are changed just stuff and over here you get to each one sermon and one human being is brought from death to life and their hearts no longer see and savor and speak of God as boring insignificant small, but they are aflame with love aflame with righteousness towards God, aflame with zeal for his name which sermon you gonna preach and you get to do it every Sunday let's him change the world, you do the important thing the universe will be our playground, right Romans 8 is in the Bible but they're inheriting my freedom the freedom of the children of God your people's hearts are the reason the universe exists that's second observation and the last one close third implication of this purpose in verse 10 to glorify to marvel at the son when he comes the third one is that God is mainly in this age in regard to the church, he is mainly I mean I'm assuming the ingathering of the elect through world evangelization and you should live for it and die for it, alright we're gonna gather the elect by preaching the gospel indiscriminately to every human being we're gonna grow the church that way but your job as a pastor is to do something with regard to the sheep and here's what it is to this end we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling to this end to what end? what does he mean? to this end well the end of fitness, worthiness to glorify Christ and marvel at Christ when he comes or as he says in verse 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him so we glorify him by marveling at him considering him to be more marvelous than anything on television or anything in the world or all the galaxies and they're pretty marvelous and Christ is more how does he do that? how does he make you worthy? get ready last two sentences verse 5 your affliction is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering that's how he does it at least that's the one that's highlighted in this chapter, he does it through prayer he does it through preaching, he does it through small groups that's not here in this chapter this chapter is a righteous judgment of God called affliction and suffering by which we are made worthy of the kingdom of God so that when he comes we will not be ashamed but rather glorify him and marvel at him so suffering and I think you can extrapolate here even though this is mainly focused on persecution because you've got vengeance on the bad guys you can extrapolate the purpose out to all God ordained suffering namely it's designed to redirect our marveling redirect our marveling I could be negative here, I'm choosing the word redirect, I don't think I've ever used this word before I could say kill sinful marveling which is biblical but I'll just leave it redirect because it's good to marvel it's good to marvel at some world you know, nature you should marvel by suffering he redirects our marveling at the world and puts it on Christ that's what suffering does and if that's not happening for your people they may not be well taught they have to be taught this people don't naturally do this, you have to teach them and the main thing you should be doing before they have cancer is teach them how to get cancer how to lose a loved one that's what you're for you prepare people to understand reality and the reality is God has appointed affliction so that they'll be considered worthy and he does it by here I am just gloating or glutting myself on the world and along comes suffering that lays me flat on my back and that doesn't look so attractive anymore I desperately need something bigger and longer than that and either I'm going to get mad at God or I'm going to find it and that's what this is for this righteous judgment that comes it comes in the climax of the second coming all satisfying marveling at Christ let's pray so I know Lord that in this room right now that there are hundreds who are walking through things relationally and physically that don't want to be made light of and I pray that you would apply this in their case to lighten their load because they can know as a child of God that you're not mad at them that's been born you are making them worthy making them worthy to exult as they never would otherwise at the coming of Christ I pray this in Jesus name Amen