Are You Seeing It?

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

I’m just not seeing it. I would assume most, if not all of us, have said that or have heard that expression. Maybe it’s said in regards to some prediction for the future, like, I think that somebody says to you, “I think that the Wisconsin Badger football team is going to win the national championship this year.” And your response is, “I’m just not seeing it.” Maybe it’s in regards to some challenge, some difficulty that you’re trying to solve, and somebody’s trying to tell you the solution, and you’re going, “I’m sorry, I’m just not seeing it. I’m not getting it.” We can say it in regards to a whole bunch of stuff. And I wonder if the people in Thessalonica might have been saying, “I’m just not seeing it.” Not seeing what? Well, in our text, there’s multiple mentions of how Jesus is the Lord. There’s mentions about His glorious power. There’s mentions about His powerful angels. And I wonder if the Thessalonians Christians were saying, “Man, I’m just not seeing it.” Why? Because you see, the people in Thessalonica were undergoing persecution, and it apparently was rather challenging. It’s a little background. Paul, on his second missionary journey, his plan was to head into northern, what we would call Turkey, and then turn south into a small province called Asia, where Ephesians, Ephesus, where Ephesus was located. But God said, “No, no, no, I don’t want you to go there. Instead, I want you to go north. I want you to go across the Aegean Sea and go up to Greece.” And so he headed up there to Philippi first. And after he had spent some time in Philippi, he was jailed. He was jailed because he was, oh, can you imagine, telling people about Jesus and that he had cast a demon out of a servant girl. For that horrible crime, he was thrown into jail, whipped, and beaten. Well, when he points out to the authorities, “You whipped me, you beat me, and you imprisoned me, and I’m a Roman citizen, and you did not give me a trial,” that was highly illegal. They felt terrible, and they knew they were in trouble. And so they asked Paul to leave, and Paul said, “I will, but only if you give me a dignified escort out of the city, because it needs to be clear that what happened here was improper.” Off he goes to Thessalonica, and things in Thessalonica persecution ramps up fast. Paul only gets to spend three Sabbaths there. So he could have been there as little as 15 days, or he could have been there as little as 27 days. Either way, less than four weeks time, not exactly a lot of time for a pastor to get a congregation started, amen. And yet, a wonderful congregation gets started. And it’s such a solid congregation that in the letters Paul writes to them, he praises them and talks about how they are examples that he points to to other congregations and says, “Look at these Thessalonians and how their faith is being shown so clearly, and this happening in spite of the persecution that’s going on around them.” Well, Paul has to leave there real fast, because the persecution ramps up so hard, and the persecutors in Thessalonica weren’t just happy to have him out of town; they chased him down in Berea. They traveled to Berea and agitated the crowds there, so that Paul has to leave there too. And there are the people in Thessalonica who are stuck with the persecution. We don’t know a lot about it, but in the text in front of you, you heard Paul refer to it. Can you imagine them saying, “Jesus is ruling on our behalf? Jesus is ruling all things? I’m just not seeing it.” As you look around at the world, does it look like Jesus is ruling all things? Does it look like we’re on the winning side? I don’t know about you, but that’s not really what I see. I see violence and injustice. I see lack of credibility in every institution that’s out there, the government, commerce, industry, education, with the exception of this education school, by the way, just to be clear. I see the rise of all kinds of heathen religions. I see the falling numbers of those who claim to be believers in Jesus, the rising numbers of those who oftentimes very boldly claim no affiliation to any kind of Christian community. Does it look like Jesus is winning? Does it look like Jesus is ruling? Does it look like you and I are on the winning side? I would imagine most of us are tempted to say, “I’m just not seeing it.” Just like those Thessalonians might have been told, just like those Thessalonians might have been tempted to say that, and maybe we’re saying that. Oh, but then in our text, Jesus comes and he flips it all in its head, and he says, “You know what you’re seeing? There’s a whole other way to look at it. That suffering that you’re undergoing, that’s not proof that I’m not in charge, rather.” What that’s proof of, it’s in verse 5, is that you are part of the kingdom of God, and that you are worthy of being in the kingdom. Wait, what? That Paul is saying to them as you look at these persecutions and challenges and difficulties that are in front of you, “Don’t look at those as proofs that I’m not in charge, rather. Look at that as proof that I am in charge, that you’re on the right side, and that the devil is trying to do everything to fight and beat that side that has already won, and he can’t.” And even though you’re undergoing persecution and challenge and difficulty, you win, and you’re worthy. And maybe you and I hear that word, “Worthy.” Oh, nuts. Well, then, that must mean I’m out. Because I know my head and I know my heart. I know how selfish I am. I know how quick I am to doubt, to fear. I know how easily I get distracted by the things of this world and go chasing after money or fame or glory of some kind, or am lazy or whatever. Plug in whatever it is that you struggle with. Worthy? I’m just not seeing it. Oh, but did you catch who the Lord of us is? The Lord of us is Jesus. It’s mentioned a couple of times there in the text. Did you catch it? I never quite caught this point until we studied it in the Greek earlier this week, or earlier last week, I guess. This is a new week, isn’t it? When it talks about us, it talks about us as the Lord of us is Jesus, and who is Jesus? Remember that the angel said to Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” That the name Jesus is the name that means the one who saves me, the one who came to this world to rescue me. That when I hear the name Jesus: what I want to hear is this is the one who came to this world and lived in my place. This is the one who came to this world and died in my place to forgive my sins. This is the one who came to this world and who rose from the dead, which is God the Father’s gavel stamp of approval on the work of Jesus, saying what Jesus did I approve of, and what Jesus did counts for you. So that through Jesus, you are robed in perfection. Remember that’s why the pastor types wear a robe, primarily. It’s to be reminded that we are covered with Jesus. That as God looks at you and me, he’s not seeing you for who you are. Rather, he’s seeing you in and through Jesus. And so now fast forward to the last day. Is Jesus worthy of eternal life? Of course, Jesus is worthy of eternal life. But wait a minute. If God sees Jesus covering you, what does that mean? Oh, that means that in God’s eyes, you are now worthy of eternal life, too. And so when that glorious final day comes, you don’t have anything to fear. Rather, you get to lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing nigh. That what right now you can’t see, you will see. Oh, but did you notice what it’s going to be like for the unbeliever? Notice when he talks about the unbeliever, it says they will be shut out from the presence of the Lord. Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say from the Lord Jesus. Because in rejecting Jesus as Savior, all they can now get him as is Lord. And the unbeliever will have to bow before the Lord, but will not be in gratefulness and joy as it will be for you. Instead, it will be with gritting their teeth and fear, for the Lord will be forced to send them to hell forever because they rejected him. But for you, for you, that last day is going to be grand and glorious. Because what is really happening right now, that Jesus really is working on behalf of his church, that Jesus really is ruling all things for the good of his people, that Jesus’s holy, powerful angels really are at work on behalf of the people of God and doing the work of God. What right now we cannot see with our eyes, we will see. We will see. And Jesus will appear before us in power and glory to welcome us into our heavenly dwellings. And we will see. And we will see Jesus himself. And we will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and the three men in the fiery furnace and Mary and Joseph and all those believers who have gone before us, including Paul and Silas and Timothy who were there in Thessalonica, including those Thessalonians brothers and sisters of ours who are undergoing the persecution and who might have been oh so tempted to say I’m not seeing it. Because on that grand and glorious day, oh my brothers and sisters, even though you don’t see it now, you will see it then. Amen. And amen.