Shabbat Shalom! We are studying 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 today. In 2 Thessalonians we have three chapters, and I think they are an important chapters to study. It helps us to learn the challenges that those early brethren have experienced as they followed Yeshua, the Messiah, after the Apostle Paul came to preach to them the message of the Gospel. So, let me read the first chapter today. I'm going to give a few remarks about the second letter, and then we're going to go over the first chapter in the ministry at this time. So, I'm reading 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 1. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, "Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves glory in you, in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure, which is manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer, seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Yeshua shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

Wherefore, also, we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. And I'm stopping here with the reading of 2nd Thessalonians 1 verses 1 to 12. You know, brothers and sisters, there is coming a day that is called in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. So that day of the Lord, in Hebrew we call it Yom Yehovah, Yom Adonai.

It has a reference to the judgment that was going to come upon the face of this world. This world, one day, will have to face the day of God's wrath upon humanity who rejected the person of Jesus, of Yeshua, the Messiah. And so in the fifth chapter of 1st Thessalonians, if you remember, he said to them, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness." He said to them in verse 2 also, "You yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." He says, "But when they shall say shalom, peace, and safety, shalva," he said, "then sudden destruction will come upon them as a travail upon a woman with a child, and they shall not escape." Judgment is coming.

Judgment is coming. And I would like to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that look at the history of mankind. It's already many years ago in the time of Noah, when Noah built the ark, the huge ark, and Noah preached a message and he says, "Judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. God is going to judge this world." And men refused to listen. And when the day of the judgment came, the flood came, only eight souls have entered into the ark, and the rest of the nations of the world perished in the flood. Well, Shaul Paul is saying to the Thessalonians, just like in the past history, so in the future there will be the day of the Lord, Yom Yehovah, where God is going to come in judgment upon the world that rejected Yeshua, the Messiah.

And so while he told this to them, they did not quite understand what it means because they were going through persecution themselves, the Thessalonians. And you know, when you go through tribulations and problems in your own life, you seem to think that God left you and God does not really care for you. And therefore those challenges and experiences and persecutions became for them, in their understanding, as if the day of the law, the day of judgment, have arrived. And so therefore, the whole second letter was written to these beloved brothers and sisters in Thessalonica to correct them and to help them not to misunderstand the truth concerning the day of the Lord.

They, as believers, they will be taken out of here before the day of the Lord will come, before the tribulation will come. They will be taken out of this scene through the rapture of the assembly. They will be captured to go to heaven into the presence of the Lord. And we also read this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that is so or not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, even so also them which sleep in Yeshua will God bring with him. For this I say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself, listen to this, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in the Messiah shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, raptured up, taken up to meet together the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. So he wanted them to understand that they will not go through the tribulation period. They will be taken out of here before the tribulation, the day of the Lord will come, and therefore not to be concerned because they are suffering now and they're experiencing trials and troubles in their lives.

They were concerned. So apparently the news about their concern came to the apostle Paul. And so he write to them the second letter to correct them and to instruct them. Wait a minute, brethren. You misunderstand what I am telling you. I told you that you are not going to go through Jacob's trouble, through the tribulation. And some of you, because of this, began to assume that you are going through Jacob's trouble. So I said all this by way of introduction to help us understand what the apostle Paul had to say to them in the second letter that he wrote to the Thessalonians. Apparently, this second letter was written a few months after the first letter was written.

Some suggest that about a year after, between two, three months to a year after, it's still within about 53 AD. These believers in Thessalonica were young believers in the Lord. In other words, they were only two, three, four years believers in Jesus, in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Not like you and I. Some of us here are 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Some of us are even 40 and we have others that are 50, 60 years in the Lord. These brethren were only two, three, four years believers in Yeshua, the Messiah. So in those three chapters, 2 Thessalonians 1, 2 Thessalonians 2, and 2 Thessalonians 3, the apostle Paul write them a letter to correct their misunderstanding.

In chapter 1, he is encouraging their brothers and sisters who were experiencing persecution. In chapter 2, he corrected their misunderstanding concerning the time of the day of the Lord. And in chapter 3, he commanded them to have order in the assembly because apparently, you know what some of them did? They say, we live in the tribulation period. The Lord is coming at any time. We are here staying through the tribulation. So what we're going to do, we're going to stop to work. We will not work anymore. And we will wait for the Lord. They began to be busybodies. They caused a lot of trouble among the people of God.

And the apostle Paul gave them a corrective ministry in order to maintain order in the assembly while they are waiting for the coming of the Lord. So today, beloved brothers and sisters, we are going to speak only about the first chapter. I gave you this general introduction to the second letter that the apostle Paul was writing to them. And today, we're going to deal with the first chapter on its own. But I want to mention one more thing before I'm reading and going through the first chapter. Notice what it says in chapter 2. And apparently, just like everywhere it happened, Satan is always seeking to cause confusion among the people of God.

And apparently, in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, it says: "Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Messiah is at hand." Now, pause with me for a second. Many Bible teachers will tell us that apparently, it seemed to be that somebody wrote to the Thessalonians another letter. And they said to them: "Oh yes, this is by the apostle Paul. You are now already in the middle of the day of the Lord, of the tribulation period." And that's why the apostle Paul said: "Listen, I do not want you to be troubled, nor by spirit, nor by word of mouth." And notice he added the word "ess from us." It's not from us.

Namely, Paul, Timothy, and Silas. It is from someone else who wrote something. And it is not from us. And I'm writing this second epistle, second letter to you, to correct the misunderstanding that existed among the Thessalonian believers. And brothers and sisters, listen. Isn't it the same in our present day today? I mean, if you would listen to everyone who says everything today, just turn on the television, turn on the radio, go on various sites on the computer and you will listen to so many messages, you will be so confused if you are not thoughtfully, and by the help of the Spirit of God, focusing on what saith the Lord from the Word of God.

God has to help us, too, to discern what to listen to and what not to listen to. Who wrote what he wrote? Who said what he said? Because there are many voices, many opinions in the professing church of the living God today. That's why the professing assembly is so divided. Many names, many titles, many opinions, many voices. And if we are not careful, we are bound to stumble because Satan wants to confuse the people of God. I want to remind you for a moment, if you turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11 for a verse there, where we read, the apostle Paul already said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, "I am jealous over you," verse 2, "with godly jealousy." Verse 3, "But I feel as by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in the Mashiach, in Christ, in Christ, in Messiah." Paul said to the Corinthians, "I am jealous over you, I love you, I want you to grow spiritually, but I am afraid." I am concerned because I see that the serpent had beguiled some already, and he is turning your mind from the simplicity which is found in the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Beloved brothers and sisters, what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, what Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he writes to you and to me today. And we need to be on guard as before the Lord, not to allow the serpent to beguile us, namely Satan, to draw us away from the ABC of the Word of God and from the person of Yeshua the Messiah. So let's just quickly go over this first chapter. Three things the apostle Paul writes to them in 2 Thessalonians 1. First of all, in the first four verses, Paul is boasting in the Thessalonian spiritual growth. It is so interesting that today when you look around, and many people can boast in certain things.

Some people boast, look at this, we have in our church group, in our assembly, we have 5,000 members in this local assembly. We boast in the fact that our membership is so huge. Others boast, and they boast in the facilities that they have. Wow, you should see the building that we have. We have stained glass windows, we have a big stipple, and so on. We have a great, huge building, and we are boasting in that. Others will boast in other things, maybe in their so-called spiritual leader, in their pastor, or their Bible teacher, as if the Bible teacher needs to be glorified. You know what I mean?

They say, wow, we got this great Bible teacher, and so on. There is various boasting that we can boast today in the days in which we live in. But the apostle, he is boasting in this little assembly, in this little local church, local congregation in Thessalonica. Some Jewish people, some Gentiles united together in the body of Messiah. And in the first four verses, he is encouraging them by telling them, Listen, brethren, we are boasting, we are glowing to everybody else. We let them know about you, beloved brothers and sisters, because your spiritual growth is evident, beloved brothers and sisters. That's what he is really saying.

So let's go over those four verses. He began by the salutation, verses 1 and 2. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are giving that greeting. We read in verse 1, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy is unto the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. Notice that the second letter is almost like a copy in its introduction of what he already wrote to them in the first letter. What we have in verse 1 of 1 Thessalonians 1, we have in verses 1 and 2 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. He's writing to them on behalf of Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

He's writing unto the church. And I want to emphasize here for a moment that the word church here comes from the Greek word ekklesia. Ekklesia is a called out individuals, Jews, Gentiles, united together. It's not a building. Therefore, the apostle cannot write to the building. He doesn't write unto the building. He writes unto the brothers and sisters in the local assembly. And we learn here that we even it's not right for us to say I go to church. It's not biblically correct. We can say I go to church meeting or I go to the assembly meeting. But the church is not the building. The church is the people, the believers.

So it is unto the believers, unto the ekklesia of the Thessalonians, which are in God our Father and in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Every one of us who is a believer today, we belong to God. We belong to Yeshua the Messiah. And that's why he used this expression, in God our Father, in the Lord Jesus Yeshua HaMashiach. Notice, God become our Father. We are today sons and daughters of the Father. And we are today saved and forgiven by our Lord Jesus the Messiah. So Paul is writing to them. You are brothers and sisters. You belong to the Lord. You belong to the Father. And you belong to the Son.

And then in verse 2 he tells them, Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Grace and peace. Chesed v'shalom in Hebrew. Chesed needful for them every day in their life. And shalom is needful for them day by day as they have fellowship with the Lord and with one another. So in verse 1 and 2 he is giving the greetings. But now notice what he says in verse 3. In verse 3 Paul gives thanks always for the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. He always gives thanks for them. And he says we are bound to thank God always for you brethren. As it is suitable.

As it is meet. Because that your faith is growing exceedingly. And your love of every one of you all towards one another is abounding. Now he is saying brothers and sisters we always give thanks to God for you. Why Paul? Number one because their faith is growing. Number two because their love is abounding. In other words there was a movement there in the life of the Thessalonians. Their faith grew. Their love grew. It didn't stay stagnant. It didn't remain the same as it was in the past. They grew in spiritual growth. It was evident in the life of the Thessalonians. So he is giving thanks to God.

And you know why he gave thanks to God? Because the apostle Paul labored and ministered wherever he traveled ministering the gospel. And when he presented the message people have accepted the message. He didn't want them to stay the way they used to be in the past. He wanted them to grow. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. Grow. Don't stay like you used to be in the past. Grow. Grow. So the brethren their faith grow exceedingly. Their love grow abundantly. In other words there was a change in the lives of these Thessalonians.

And as I mentioned before he gave thanks continually for these brothers and sisters. We see if you turn the chapter to chapter 2 and verse 13. He again says. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. We are always giving thanks to God for you brothers and sisters. It teaches us a great lesson. Brothers and sisters you and I also need to give thanks for each other. We are not to take each other for granted. We are not to neglect to say. Father I thank you for my brothers. For my sisters. Maybe we don't see eye to eye on everything at all times.

But we need to grow in trusting you. And we also need to grow in having love one towards another. It is so important. Yeshua said many years ago before he died at the upper room in John 13. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. My Talmidim. How? If you have love one towards another. And so it got to grow in a practical way. As the Apostle Paul testified concerning the Thessalonians here. And then brothers and sisters. In light of this. In verse 4. He continued to say to them how he boasts. In them. In the way they grow. And notice he says. So that we are serve glory in you.

In the assemblies of God. Why? For your patience and faith. In all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. So apparently Paul is now encouraging them. He says. I realize brethren. That you are going through persecution. I realize brethren. That you are going through trouble in your lives. But I want to tell you. That when I go to visit some other assemblies in Asia Minor. Other local churches in Asia Minor. I tell them about you. The way that through tribulations and problems. You are growing spiritually. You are growing spiritually. You know before. When I first became a believer. In Yeshua the Messiah. I thought to myself.

That if I become a believer in Yeshua. My problem is going to be over. Right? After all. I am a child of God now. Everybody will love me. Because I am seeking to follow Jesus. To follow Yeshua. And then that I will have no problems in my life. Now it didn't take too long that I find out. That first of all. By virtue of the fact. That I have accepted Yeshua. And mentioned his name. Immediately resistance and opposition. Came against my view. You see. And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying to them. You see. I am glorying in you. In the churches.

As he said. In the assemblies. Verse 4. The assemblies of God. Why? Because your patience. And your faith. In all your persecutions. And tribulations. That you endure. You endure tribulation. You learn patience from that. You endure persecution. You are being mature. And develop. And you are really growing spiritually. And I want to say that. If you and I will not experience problems in our lives. Because of our faith. We will never grow spiritually. We will never become pillars. We will never be able to be like solid rock. And a good testimony for our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. This is a principle that we learn in the word of God.

And so tribulation and persecution will only help the believer to grow spiritually. If he or she resisting trials because of their faith in a Messiah. They will never be able to be a testimony to the world in which we live in. This is a God-given principle that we have in the scripture. I want to just for a moment to turn with me back in the scripture. There are two verses I want to read. First of all in Romans. Paul there wrote to the brothers and sisters in the city of Rome. And he said to them in chapter 5 and verse 1. He said, "Therefore being justified by faith we have shalom." "We have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah." "By whom also we have access by faith unto the grace wherein we stand." "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Now verse 3 says, "And not only so," he says to them, "but we glory in tribulation." Paul, what do you mean we glory in tribulation?

Are you out of your mind?

But he says, "Listen, why?" "Because knowing the tribulation worketh patience." "And patience experience." "And experience hope." "And hope maketh us not ashamed because the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." So Paul, he stated to the Roman Romans, "Listen, if you are going to learn patience, you have to go through some tribulation." "Tribulation worketh patience." "And patience experience." "And experience hope." "And hope maketh us not ashamed because the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Ruach Hakodesh." "By the Holy Spirit." "The Holy Spirit of God assists the believer when he or she experiences trials in their lives." "And he gives them strength

to be able to endure those challenges that they are experiencing so they will grow spiritually." "I often think of the verses that we read about Yeshua." "We read, "Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." "Think of the suffering that our Lord Yeshua the Messiah had experienced in his life." "Which also led him to the suffering that he had experienced in his death on the cross, on the tree." "The shameful death that he died in order to provide salvation for you and I who are

sinners by nature." "He suffered on our behalf in order that we will never need to go through eternal suffering because of the sins that we have committed." "And so Paul boasting." "He is boasting in their spiritual growth as they are experiencing persecutions and tribulation and they learn patience and their faith is growing." "As we have here in this passage of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 4." "Brothers and sisters, what a lesson to learn." "These brethren, these brethren suffered because of their faith in Yeshua." "They have experienced tribulation trials in their lives." "And they now misunderstood, assuming that they are in the day of the Lord." "Yom Yehovah," "the tribulation period." "Tsarat Yaakov," "Jacob's trouble."

"But they were not." "Because Jacob's trouble will come later on." "The tribulation period will come at the end of the days when the Lord will come in judgment over the nations of this world." "So tribulation is part and parcel of the experience of the believers." "Before Yeshua went to the tree, to the cross, to the altar." "He spoke to the disciples in the upper room in our city, the city of Jerusalem." "He was sitting with them, celebrating the feast of Pesach, introducing the memorial of the Lord." "And then he said to them at the end." "This is John chapter 16 and verse 33." "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might

have shalom." "That ye might have peace." "In the world ye shall have trouble." "Ye shall have tribulation." "But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." "He is encouraging the early Hebrew Christians to recognize that they will go through trouble, but through him they will be able to be sustained." "Now don't mix it up." "Tribulations in our lives as believers is not THE great tribulation." "Trouble that we have experienced every day is not the seven year of Jacob's trouble that is mentioned in the book of Daniel and in other passages in the Word of God." "Trouble for the day, we're all going to experience." "The day of God's judgment, the tribulation, is speaking about

a day that is yet awaiting where the Lord will come in wrath upon this world that rejected Yeshua." "The Messiah, his son." "So these are the first four verses in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1." "But now notice the second point and here we are leading to this tribulation period." "Beloved brothers and sisters." "In verse 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10." "Shaoul Paul eschews the believers in Thessalonica of the promise of God that they will not go through THE tribulation." "They will be taken out of here because THE tribulation is for the unbelievers in this world." "And so notice what he tells them." "Verses 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10." "I'm beginning with verse 5."

"He's saying to them their trials and experiences and suffering are only a sign, only a token to make them worthy of the coming kingdom of God." "Tribulation in your life does not mean that God rejected you, but it means that you are worthy of the kingdom to come." "Verses 5, let me read that for you." Verse 4 says, "Persecution and tribulation that you endure." "And then verse 5." "Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." "So Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, do you know that your sufferings, that your trials are actually

a sign?" "In Hebrew we call it ot, an ot, or here it says in the King James, a token." "Your trials and tribulations are actually a sign, a token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God." In other words, you only learn from this that your experiences only prove that God is working in your life, that you receive opposition from the unbelieving world.

And it becomes like a token, like a sign that you belong to the kingdom of God. Now brothers and sisters, listen, if we will not talk about Yeshua, if we will not live for God, if we will not preach the Gospel, and we will be like the rest of the people of the world, nobody will oppose us concerning our faith. Nobody is going to tell us, hey don't give me this nonsense, I don't believe in that. Nobody is going to persecute the ones who never share the message of the Gospel. If we don't tell people that we are believers in Yeshua the Messiah, we will not experience that which belongs to all those that follow Yeshua the Messiah throughout the ages.

If we follow the Lord, we will have to identify with His rejection. When He was rejected, we will be rejected. When He has experienced suffering, we will experience some sort of suffering here in this world. So, Paul, Shaul, is telling to the brethren in Thessaloniki, he says, listen, this is only a proof. This is only a token. This is only showing as a sign that you may be worthy of the kingdom of God. The word for kingdom of God in Hebrew, Malchut Ha'elohim, the kingdom that belongs to God. This world today rejected God, rejected the Messiah. If Yeshua is going to come today, they will crucify Him again.

Men love darkness rather than light. Men refuse Him in the past. They refuse Him in the present. They will refuse Him in the future unless the Lord touch their hearts and bring them to Himself. It already began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve did reject the word of God and listen to Satan. And it continued on throughout the ages. When Yeshua came, men took Him by wicked hand and hung Him on a cruel cross. And on the cross He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" God had to forsake Him because of the sin of this world. And so you think, Thessalonians, you think, brothers and sisters, you and I, that we will not experience some form of persecutions and trials in our lives?

It is not possible if we are going to identify with the Lord Yeshua Himself. Look what Yeshua said in Matthew chapter 5. Just turn to Matthew 5 with me for a moment. He says in the verses 10, 11, and 12, He said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." Verse 12, "Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Now, of course, in Matthew chapter 5, Yeshua is in the mountains in Galilee and He's speaking to the disciples.

And He's saying, "Disciples, listen, just the same like in the past history when the prophets were persecuted, you also are going to be rejected and misunderstood. You are going to experience what they have experienced. And in the church age in which we live in, in the assembly age, we too at some point of time will experience some sort of rejection and persecution. We don't like it. We don't look for that. We don't want it. But I can assure you, beloved brothers and sisters, they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in this world. That's the way it is. Whenever we do anything for God, the world that rejected the Messiah will also reject those that belong to Him.

In our own nation Israel's history, Israel, the nation, when they follow God, they have been persecuted by the nations around them. Throughout the history of our nation Israel. And it is the same thing in the present day of the assembly in which we live in today. Paul wrote to the Philippians. In Philippians chapter 1, verse 28, 29, and 30, the apostle Paul said to the Philippians, and I'm reading these verses here. He says, "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that is of God. To you it is given..." Notice it is a gift. "And to you it is given in the behalf of the Messiah, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Now, brothers and sisters, again, I mention none of us like it.

None of us search for it. But biblically speaking, trials, problems, persecution, rejection is part and parcel in the experience of the people that belong to Yeshua, the Messiah. So, the trials and their experience become a token that they are worthy of the kingdom of God. This is verse 5. Now go down to verse 6. Look what we read in verse 6. Realize, beloved brothers and sisters of the city of Thessalonica. Realize that God will repay tribulation upon those that brought upon you troubles and trials. He is going to deal with them in due time. In verse 6 he says, "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." You see, brothers and sisters, you don't worry.

Of course, they were worried, like you and I, we would worry. But God is going to recompense. God is going to deal with those that inflicted trials, persecution upon the redeemed. It says in verse 6, "It is a righteous thing with God to do that." God is just. And God is going to judge those that cause problems to his own people. Now we have to remember to distinguish between vengeance and revenge. Vengeance meaning that God, as a holy God, will judge sin and sinners who rejected his son. Revenge is something altogether different. God does not have any revenge in him. You and I might have, because we have a sin nature, but not God.

The vengeance of God is because God is holy. Sin, sinners will be judged unless they turn their hearts to the Lord Jesus Yeshua, the Messiah. So God, according to verse 6, He will recompense tribulation upon those who believe not the gospel. Now it is amazing. When you go through trouble, and you're inclined to want to get back a dead person or these people who have done something to you, hatred may rise up and so on. God wants us not to be so, and to learn from Yeshua the Messiah, of whom we read, when he was reviled, reviled not against. When he was threatened, he threatened not, but he committed himself unto him, the judges righteously.

Yeshua never reviled against those that persecuted him. The apostle Paul somehow teaches us this in his own life. Shaul and many others of the early Hebrew disciples who became an example to the body of Messiah. And so, now notice that brothers and sisters, we are coming kind of down to the end of the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians. In verses 7, 8, and 9, we find out that he wants them to rest and to be assured, because the believers can rest, and the time of the coming of the Lord in judgment will surely come, and they are to wait patiently on him, to follow after him, and allow him to deal with the unregenerated world.

And so, listen to that. In verse 7, and to you who are troubled, he says, rest. Nuchu in Hebrew, or rivchu in Hebrew, just rest, pray patiently with us. And then he says, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. The day coming, he's saying to them, that the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, he's going to be revealed from heaven. Notice it says here, that he will come from heaven, and notice he's going to bring with him, his mighty angels. It's so interesting, that the angels, the malachim in Hebrew, are the servants of the Lord. The servants of the Lord. it's amazing, it's amazing, that when he came the first time, he could have called 10,000 angels, to take him away from the cross, but he didn't do so.

Because he came to die, and to pay for the sin of this world. But in his second coming, he's coming with his mighty angels. He's going to be revealed here in this world. And the world going to see, that he's the one, who once came to die, and now he's coming to reign, as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Apostle Paul, he's saying to the brothers, and sisters in Thessalonica, he says, listen, you better rest. Because there is a time coming, when our Lord, Yeshua, Hamashiach, he shall be revealed. People don't see him today, but one day, he's going to be revealed, and to all the nations of the world.

But when he's going to be revealed, he's going to come as a judge. He's going to come to execute judgment, upon the face of this world. You know, I made a note, it is so interesting, that in at least three passages in the scripture, it speaks about the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord. In this passage, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, he's coming with his angels. In the book of Jude, we find out, dear brothers and sisters, in verse 14, that he's coming with his saints. He says that, Jude, and verse 14, it says, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." Now, how could he come with his saints, if his saints haven't gone to him first?

You see, he's coming with the saints that are with him already in glory in heaven. And Enoch says that he's coming to execute judgment. Verse 15 of Jude. In verse 14, he's coming with the ten thousands of his saints. But he's coming to judge this world in righteousness. So, in Jude, he's coming with his saints, Jude 14. In 2 Thessalonians 1:7, he's coming with angels. And then notice one more verse in Revelation 1:7. It says there, "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which have pierced him, and all the kinders of the earth shall wail because of him even so." So, amen. He's coming, beloved brothers and sisters.

But when he is coming at the second coming, this is not the rapture of the church. This is the second coming to judge this world in righteousness. He's going to bring along with him the angels. He's going to bring along with him his saints, the redeemed ones that have been taken up to be with him in glory. And he's going to come to judge this world in righteousness, to execute judgment. Notice now, please, in verse 8, the next verse. In verse 8, we find out that Yeshua is coming in a flame of fire, and he's taking vengeance upon this unregenerated world. We must distinguish again, the catching up of the assembly has no judgment, has no fire, has no trouble whatsoever.

It's a peaceful being taken to him. The second coming, he's not coming only to the air, to the cloud, he's coming all the way to Mount Olives, to the city of Jerusalem, and he will execute judgment upon this nation of this world. Notice what it says in verse 8, of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. He's coming in flaming of fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He's going to come in flaming fire, and he will be pronouncing or giving vengeance on them, number one, that know not God, and number two, that obey not those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Notice these two expressions. Know not God. It's not that they know not about God, but they do not have a relationship with him. They didn't want him. They didn't want to have any relationship. They didn't want to accept God. Secondly, they obey not the gospel. What is the gospel of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah? The gospel is that he, the Messiah, came from heaven, and he died on the cross on a tree. He was buried, and he rose again on the third day. That's the gospel. So the judgment, the vengeance that is coming is upon an unregenerated world. You know, I'm thinking about what's going on today in the Caribbean and in Florida.

You might say the natural events that are happening today that millions are fleeing from that. But beloved brothers and sisters, this is nothing. This is nothing compared to the day when God will come in vengeance against this unregenerated world. I remember the story of someone who's saying when the hurricane David many years ago came to Jamaica and people were barring their windows. They block everything with sandbags around their homes. They bought all the food in the stores where they had, and they were sitting at home. They were playing sacred music, waiting for the storm that was going to come. And beloved brothers and sisters, if we would have been there today in Florida, Florida, we would have been shaking in our own boots because the storm is coming.

But this is nothing. It is nothing compared to the judgment that is yet to come upon an unregenerated world that refuse to accept our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. This is nothing. Notice what he said. He coming in a flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and they that obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus, the Messiah. That's the judgment that is coming yet in a coming day. In fact, the apostle Paul was only mentioning what already the prophet Malachi said at the end of the days when the Old Testament prophets have been preaching to our people Israel. And look what Malachi said in chapter 4 and verse 1.

And when you think about it, beloved brothers and sisters, it takes us even further to the lake of fire. That was prepared not for man, for Satan and his angels. But those that refuse the gospel will have to bear the consequences. Why? And some people ask, how could a loving God do such a thing? But they neglect to ask the second question. How can a holy God allow sin to enter into his presence? God is holy and in him there is no darkness at all. You and I are sinners by nature. We need a forgiveness, beloved brothers and sisters. And so he said in verse 8 that he's going to come in flaming fire taking revenge on them that know not God.

Notice verse 9. It says, who shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Everlasting. Everlasting. Everlasting as it says here. Everlasting punishment in verse 9. Now again. For God so loved the world. John 3:16. That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. You see, you either have everlasting life through faith in Yeshua or one will have to experience everlasting rejection and suffering because one has rejected the Messiah. And it's very clear. Who shall be punished with an everlasting destruction. Now this is sad. It is sad when you think about the fact that so many who rejected the Messiah will have to experience an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.

And from the glory of his power. They will have to be separated from God. And you remember what Yeshua said in Matthew 7. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord. Haven't we done this in your name? And in your name we have, you know, made all sorts of things. And he says, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye wicked one, to an everlasting judgment. The unregenerated will experience everlasting destruction, everlasting judgment. And the opposite is for the believer will experience an everlasting life. Not because we are better. Not because we are superior. Not even because we deserve it. But it is because the grace that God had provided for us.

Amazing grace we sang today. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We just sang it together. And so in verse 10, beloved brothers and sisters, as he's drawing near to the end of this first chapter. When Yeshua will come, notice, he will be glorified and he will be admired in his saints. Notice that it's a beautiful expression. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints. Not only by his saints, but in his saints. In other words, you know what he's going to say? For you and I who are believers, this is a trophy of my work when I died on the tree on the cross.

And that person have trusted in me. Now this is a trophy of the, as it's sort of the travail of my soul. I paid for their sins. I was judged because of their iniquity. And now I will be admired. I will be glorified through and in the redeemed one that I brought to myself. And that's why I use these two words here. When he shall come to be, number one, glorified in his saints. And number two, to be admired in all them that believe because of our testimony among you who was believed. God will admire the Messiah Yeshua through the saints, those that have come to know him, that believed on him.

And that's including us by the grace of God. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, he concludes in verse 11 and 12. Paul prays for the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. And he says there, "Wherefore, also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling." You see, he wants the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica that God will count them worthy of the call that they were called to be saints of God, to be a redeemed people. And how they can be counted worthy of this calling is by their practical life, the way they lived. And so he's saying to them, "And they fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power, and that the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah may be glorified in you, and that ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus the Messiah." Or Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach.

God will allow us to experience trials and tribulations in our lives in order that we, in a practical way, will be counted worthy of the call with which we have been called. We have been called from heaven. We have been called from above. We have been called to be saints, redeemed people, forgiven people of God. God called us. He called the Thessalonians. He's calling to the people, "Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to me, and I will forgive your sins." And when we have come to him, we have been called, we have answered that call.

Now he wants the believers to live a life in response to the call with which we have been called. Amazing, brothers and sisters. This second letter that was written by Shaul Paul to the Thessalonians is because the Thessalonians had misunderstanding. We are already in the tribulation period. No, no, no, Paul, Shaul is saying to them, you are not. The trouble that you experience, it is part and parcel of the experience of all believers. And when you're going through this, you are now worthy of, as it says, the kingdom of God. Malchut Ha'elohim. You are only showing, it is a token that you really belong to the Lord, and that you are not a person that does not belong to the Lord.

Last night in our Bible class, one of our sisters told me, Brother Gideon, I just don't understand. Many times we pray that God will take away some of the situation in our life, and he doesn't. Does that mean he doesn't care? And the answer was very clearly, of course God cares. Of course he knows the trial that we experience. But he allows us to experience those trials in order that we will mature, that we will grow, that we will mature and become believers that are mature, because in this world we will experience trial and tribulation. And it is only show that we really belong to Yeshua, the Messiah.

May God encourage us to continue on to follow after him. Can we say Amen?