2Th 1:5-10 - Whose Side Is God On?
There's a joke on the internet: If you argue long enough, it will always end with one calling the other Hitler. Apparently, when you want to clearly show that someone is in the wrong camp, there's no more natural way to do that than to liken them to Hitler, who was so clearly not in the right camp, so clearly evil, that nobody would want to side with him. Surely God was not on Hitler's side, so how can you be? Like that's going to be helpful in a discussion!
If you want to test this out, just start talking politics right now and insisting that you're right, start posting what you believe on FACEBOOK. Why that means war, I tell you! Seems like very few people are willing to actually discuss differences of opinion anymore, but many are willing to demonize, to call you Hitler, to put you and your ideas as far from serious consideration as possible.
Make no mistake about it. There is a war going on right now - a war for hearts and minds. While it's tempting to focus on politics as the battlefield, that's just a glimpse into the much greater battle that is raging unseen through our world. Paul writes, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
Unseen, all around us and within us, deadly fighting, and we're mostly oblivious to it, because it doesn't usually result in physical pain or the threat of death. We confess our faith, read God's Word, share it with neighbors, gather for worship, but we don't expect to be persecuted for doing so, but in First Century Thessalonica, those Christians were enduring open persecution for confessing God's Word. All around them it seemed that evil people were conspiring against them, and getting away with it. Paul writes to afflicted people, people who were undoubtedly wondering whose side God was on.
And Paul, the former persecutor mind you, answers them, by inspiration, to encourage them, but not in the way anyone would expect. The answer to "Whose side is God on?" has two parts: First of all, God is not on my side or your side. And secondly, God is on His side. And these two answers change everything for us, so much so that we are forced to reevaluate for ourselves which side we are on.
"Whose side is God on?" That question has been on the minds of many people, especially when they face a life and death decision. When a king in Europe waged war, he would pray that God would be on their side. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, she wants to know whether God is on her side. When the Packers and Vikings play… You get the point. The first part of the answer to that great question is meant to disabuse us of thinking that God is our side or their side.
Paul says that God judges righteously. Now that's a word we don't often use in everyday conversation. It just means that when judges, He does so with a perfect eye to what is right. He only does what is right. In fact it is perfectly true that what He does is right, because everything He does is by definition right. The only reason we get uncomfortable talking about that is that we are so accustomed to unrighteousness, to sin in thoughts, words and deeds, that to say God defines good by what He decides to do leaves us uneasy.
Regardless, God is the very definition of righteous. He always makes perfect, right judgments and never wrong or imperfect ones. So when we ask whether God is on our side or not, the answer ought to be clear. If we say and think and do exactly what is right, then He will judge in our favor, but if not then we would expect that His judgment would be against us. Psalm 1 says, "Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous."
"Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things… But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." Everyone facing war, cancer, conflict, strife, suffering, and so on, really should realize that God is not on our side or their side, rather God is on His own side.
God is on the side of righteousness, and that alone ought to stop us from thinking of God like some capricious false god, who might take a liking to us on a whim or if we placate him with some offering. God will always do what is right, whether we see it and call it right or not, whether we understand it or not, whether we want the right thing or not. He never fails.
So think about what this means in the end for you and for your loved ones and for the people around us in this world. God's perfect righteousness should spell everlasting condemnation and punishment that can only be described as unending hellfire in which the tormented never die. "The wages of sin is death."
But God's righteousness is more than just a characteristic of God, it is also His to give. Just like we can think of love as a characteristic of God: "He loves us," so He teaches us that His righteousness is an active verb. We lack that concept in our language; we can't say, "He righteousnesses us." We have to use another word, justifies, or we have to say that "He imputes righteousness to us."
But understand this: God makes His righteousness to be ours, and He has chosen to do that by giving it to us as a gift that costs us absolutely nothing; in fact, God paid for that gift entirely Himself, as only He could. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus."
The Son of God entered into humanity and lived righteously. He never sinned even once. He never left right things undone. And as God and man in one, He could offer His life on the altar of the cross as righteousness in our stead. That is why we say that Christ is our righteousness. He gave Himself in to death to be that righteousness for us, while He Himself received in Himself the punishment for all the unrighteousness thoughts, words and deeds of all mankind for all time. And why? Because He loves us, and He desires us to have righteousness and eternal life with Him.
So when we think about Jesus and what He did for us, how He saved us from eternal condemnation, how He gave us His righteousness, how He loves us even though we don't deserve it one bit, how He has given us faith to see all this, well then it brings us to a new understanding of which side we want to be on.
As Christians, even though we continue to struggle against this because of our nature, we want God's will to be done. We want what God wants, because He alone is perfectly righteous and will always do the best and perfect thing.
Paul wrote in Second Corinthians, "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."
God has entrusted to us the real answer to which side God is on, and that answer is the message of reconciliation. "God would not have the sinner die, but turn away from his sin and live eternally." But make no mistake about it, people will hear this and many will turn away from it. Many will persecute and revile you. Blessed are you for yours is the kingdom of God! Fear not, for God will grant relief to you. And God will judge their refusal of His mercy with the fiery vengeance of His spurned love, "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction." That day is coming soon, and on that day we shall see His manifest righteousness and almighty power. Let that be a comfort to you in all your afflictions: the end of it is near and God loves you forever. Amen.