Persecuted? … God Will Avenge

Persecuted? … God Will Avenge

All genuine, serious, believers who would try to live their faith without flaunting, are persecuted by those who do not believe. What we believe is “foolishness to the natural man” (1Cor. 2:14). Being vocal in sharing the faith and message of God’s love and grace as the Lord permits me to in my daily life and in the Bible Study that I teach in my Florida community, I know of the joking, slander, belittling, and shunning of those who think I’m one of those crazy Bible believing Christian.

Of course, that which I’ve endured is nothing compared to the severe persecution suffered by many Christians in war torn areas of the world... where no justice prevails and actual Christian annihilation is the goal.

But still I know that I am not to take vengeance to retaliate upon my foolish persecutors… Paul wrote:

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto (God’s) wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (Romans 12:19 (KJV)

In the Bible, we read that God gave the beautiful 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 was said to be a “token” of God’s promise to Israel to spare their firstborn (Ex. 12:13).

Here we see that our faithful enduring of persecution, without retaliation, is what Paul would call a “token.” A token is something that represents something else. This below is our key Pauline text concerning a “token.”

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 kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5 (KJV)

Here above, 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.” That is, their patient endurance of tribulation was a sign that, when God finally will judge the world, “He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), for He will paying back the world 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 Thes. 1:6).

You see, 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 cannot leave the debt of sin unsettled, this injustice must be paid for, and God solemnly vows to right this wrong;

“And 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 (coming) from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

Here God vows that He will someday avenge the Thessalonians for the tribulations given to them by their persecutors. This comes with the “everlasting destruction” that He will bring upon those persecutors at His Second Coming to earth to set up His kingdom, when every non-believer will die; for no unbelievers will enter the Millennial Kingdom on earth.

Of course, God knows that He will be falsely 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, that they are rather “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. Paul says that the righteous judgment of God on these persecutors of God’s people will end with their “everlasting destruction” (in the Lake of Fire) as seen in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, above.

Here we see clear evidence that all those in any age who reject God’s provision for their sins “will die in their sins” (cf. John 8:24), and must themselves be made to pay for their sins. Those persecutors, though perhaps long deceased when judgment comes, will be resurrected to appear at the “Great White Throne Judgment” where their end will be meted out as what The Bible calls “the second death.” (Rev. 20:14-15).

Of course, like us today, the Thessalonians themselves could have retaliated against their persecutors, and forced them to pay for the crimes they committed against them. Surely there have been times when they felt like evening the score. However, had they done so, it would then be unrighteous for God to also someday recompense tribulation to their persecutors; God will not be guilty of double jeopardy. As it was, Paul was able to tell the Thessalonians that their …

“patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure…is a manifest token (a witness or symbol) of the righteous judgment of God (yet to come).”

If the world should someday ask why God is troubling them, He could reply, “Well, you sinned and troubled My people, so now, by the same token, I am dealing you!

There is a lesson that we can learn from this. 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 retaliate to take vengeance is never satisfies, it leaves our sense of justice feeling unsatisfied. We need to leave it to the Lord; for “… we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Rom. 2:2). 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” (Romans 2:5).

We might as ourselves, “am I a token grace believer”? Is your patient endurance of those who trouble you a token that, when God judges your persecutors, He will do so in righteousness?

None of us would ever knowingly and purposely take something away from God that He says belongs to Him, and yet this is what we do when we take vengeance away from the One who has said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). 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?

(By Arthur J Licursi, portions borrowed from Pastor, Ricky Kurth)