Justice Repaid, God Glorified

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10    
6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

Remember when we suffer from those opposed to God that they will be repaid in the end, and possibly sooner, by the God of justice who is jealous for His people.  When Jesus Christ returns there will be ultimate justice enacted on all who do not know nor obey God by trusting His gospel which we are persecuted for.  This is an everlasting punishment, whether you call it Hell or simply the lake of fire.  It is an eternal suffering that is real, physical, and painful in many ways.  This destruction is torment and ongoing distress, not annihilation.  We all live eternally, just in different places and circumstances.  Therefore, when Christ comes back in judgement, He also will be glorified in and through us, we who believe, endure, and testify to the grace and reconciliation of the gospel in which those such as these Thessalonians have believed God in.  We bear witness, we testify that these things are true, and God uses that word to convert souls to set them free from His just sentence.  This is why we tell the gospel to those headed to perdition, that they may know and believe to be free at no cost but God’s own Son who suffered and died in our stead.