Christ has appeared once for all at the climax of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for men to die once and after that the judgment, so Christ,
having been offered once for all to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:26–28)
The Son of God entered once into human history as Jesus of Nazareth primarily for the purpose of dying for our sins, so that we who trust him might have new and eternal life. And he is coming a second time into human history not to atone for sin or purchase life, but to complete and perfect our deliverance from all evil and pain. What I want to do very briefly this morning is describe some of the significance of that second coming and its relationship to the Lord's Supper that we will celebrate in a few minutes.
When Jesus came the first time, it was not his purpose to divide and condemn but to save and reconcile (John 3:17; Ephesians 2:14–18). But division was inevitable. So he said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be those of his own household" (Matthew 10:34, 35). This division that happens in this age, wherever Jesus is preached, is a picture and a warning of the final division which will happen at Jesus' second coming.
Unbelieving Sinners at the Second Coming
The text of the morning, 2 Thessalonians 1:3–10, gives us one of the fullest descriptions of that event and what it will mean for believers and unbelievers. Paul writes this second letter to the Thessalonians to Christians who are being abused in various ways by unbelievers. He encourages them in verse 5 that this affliction is not a sign of God's anger at them but a sign of his loving justice, because this is how he refines their faith to make them worthy of the coming kingdom. "This is an evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering" (1:5).
Then in verses 6 and following he goes on to assure them that the tables will be turned. Your affliction will be replaced by joyful rest, and their proud disobedience will be punished, and this will happen at the coming of Jesus Christ.
God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion 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 in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
Here we can see what the coming of Christ is going to mean for the unbeliever and the believer. Three observations from this text sum up the lot of the unbeliever at the second coming. First, Christ is going to be revealed from heaven with the "angels of his power" (a literal reading of v. 7) in flaming fire. The picture here is one of an irresistible army—the Lord of the universe returning from a long journey to settle accounts with the tenants of his earth. There will be no escape and no recourse, no place to hide, and above all no possibility to withstand. As Malachi said (3:2f.): "Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire." For the unbeliever there will be no defense.
Second, the unbeliever will "suffer the punishment of eternal destruction" (v. 9). Or as verse 6 says, "they will be repaid with affliction." Jesus had warned it would be this way. He said in Matthew 25:46 that those who reject
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