“ ⁴ 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: ⁵ Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the [overarching] kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5 (KJV)

 The word "token" has been defined as “something that serves as an indication or an expression of something else.” Our Gold wedding rings serve as continual reminders of the lasting and imperishable faith that you have pledged to have on one another this day.” Most know God gave the ‘rainbow’ as a “token” of His promise to never again destroy the world with a universal “flood” (Gen. 9:11-13). Similarly, “circumcision” is said to be a “token” of the covenant God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), and “the blood” of ‘the Passover lamb’ while Egypt was under the judgment of God was said to be a “token” of God’s promise to Israel to spare their firstborn (Ex. 12:13).

The apostle Paul says that the patient manner in which the Thessalonians were enduring persecution was “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” So, their patient endurance of tribulation was a sign that, when God finally does judge the world, “He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), for He will be paying the world back for persecuting His people. As Paul goes on to say in the verse that follows our text, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;” (2 Thess. 1:6)

When a Christian is persecuted for his faith, an injustice has taken place; an unrighteous thing has occurred. In God’s perfect system of justice, which leaves the debt of no sin unsettled, this injustice must be paid for, and God solemnly vows to right this wrong “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

“to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, ⁸ In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: ⁹ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord…” (2 Thess. 1:7-9)

Here God vows that He will someday avenge the Thessalonians for the tribulations given to them by their persecutors, beginning with the destruction that He will bring upon the world at His Second Coming. Of course, God knows that He will be charged with unrighteousness, as He always is when He is forced to sit in judgment upon men. This is why the Book of Revelation is sprinkled with affirmations that God’s Tribulation judgments are not unrighteous, rather that they are “just and true” (Rev. 15:3), and “righteous” (16:5-7; 19:2). Similarly, here in our text, Paul is defending the righteousness of the Lord’s Second Coming judgments.

Next, Paul says that the righteous judgment of God on these persecutors of God’s people will then end in “the Lake of Fire,” that will bring their “everlasting destruction” of which he goes on to speak of here in 2 Thess. 1:9. Here we see clear evidence that all those in any age who reject God’s provision of Christ’s cross for their sins… will die in their sins (cf. John 8:24), and must themselves be made to pay for their sins.

Of course, the Thessalonians themselves could have retaliated against their persecutors, and forced them to pay for the crimes they committed against them. Surely there were times when they felt like evening the score. However, had they done so, it would then be unrighteous for God to someday recompense tribulation to their persecutors, and God will not be guilty of double jeopardy. As it was, Paul was able to tell the Thessalonians that the “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure…is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” If the world should someday ask why God is troubling them, He can reply, “Well, you used to trouble My people, so now, by the same token, I am troubling you!”

But, if we take vengeance on those who trouble us, that means God can’t. What an incentive to leave vengeance to the One whose judgments are always fair and equitable! When we take vengeance, we often retaliate too little, leaving our sense of justice feeling unsatisfied. Or we retaliate too much, creating an additional imbalance of justice. “we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Rom. 2:2). “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19).

God will judge all men fairly, for His judgment will be according to truth. No wonder Judgment Day is called “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (2:5). If you are thinking of making someone pay for what they did to you, why not determine right now to leave it all with Him? We God’s ‘token’ grace believers. Our patient endurance of those who trouble us is a token that, God will judge our persecutors. 

- As adapted from Ricky Kurth -