First Thessalonians 2:14-16: Wrath Has Come Upon Them at Last
Today we come to the end of Paul's defense of his ministry. In these few verses, Paul mentions how the Thessalonian believers were not only imitators of Christ, but also of those in Judea who had suffered various forms of persecution at the hands of the Jews. The Jews persecuted their own people and the Thessalonians knew exactly what that was like. Before we read this, don’t forget that Paul was previously one of those Jews who persecuted those who followed Christ.
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins.
Here, Paul places the guilt of the death of Christ and the prophets, and even opposition that has come to his ministry squarely on the backs of the Jews.1 Notice that hindering the gospel from being preached not only displeases the Lord, but it is an assault on all mankind. How is that the case?
Imagine an effort being made to keep people from getting a particular treatment that would save their life. Maybe it’s a new cure for cancer that would eradicate it from our world. But instead of leading people to the cure, some are standing in the way by lying about the cure, or maybe forcibly keeping sick people from it.
That is how the Jews were reacting to the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is the cure for people’s sin and death problem. It’s the remedy for their broken relationship with the Lord. But instead of aiding in its dissemination, they have fought to keep people in their chains and away from reconciliation with God.
In doing this, they are filling up the measure of their sins. This is reminiscent of what is said about the Amorites in Genesis 15. They have been storing up wrath for themselves and this seems to be a constant pattern for the unbelieving Jews.
Then Paul says something at the end of verse 16 that might be rather shocking:
But wrath has come upon them at last!
A couple questions immediately come to mind with this statement. The first is: What wrath is he referring to?
Paul could be speaking about the future ultimate wrath that will come upon all who reject and oppose the gospel. However, it seems more likely that he has something current in mind that his readers would be aware of. Some think that this could be a reference to the great suffering the Jewish people experienced in 49 AD (remember that this letter was written around 50 AD). Such events as them being thrown out of Rome and the tens of thousands that were massacred in the temple during the Passover of that year would be fresh in the mind of the hearers of the letter.2
If this is the case, we can see that Paul understands that God has poured out a partial judgment upon the Jews even in his own time. Of course, this would just be a foretaste of what is to come for those who remain in their rejection of Christ.
A second question is: How are we to internalize what might seem to be relief for Paul that wrath has come?
One way to think this through is by seeing this the same way we see imprecatory psalms. Imprecatory psalms are a cry for justice for the oppressed. The psalmist calls out to God to come and bring judgment upon his and God’s enemies. This judgment brings relief to the oppressed and glory to God. The implicit caveat to those imprecations is that if the enemies repent and turn in faith to God, then the judgment will not fall on them. But if the enemies remain as enemies, then may God be glorified in his judgment of them.
The situation for the early Church was similar in that they they were being attacked by enemies all around and though there was a cry for mercy to those who repent, there was also a cry for judgment upon the unrepentant. So Paul can both be saddened that there are those who had received judgment from God, and also he could praise God for his judgment at the same time.
This would have been an encouragement to the Thessalonians that, in the end, God’s justice will be done. And, at the same time, it would tell them that sometimes we see a foretaste of the wrath to come meted out on God’s enemies in our life time.
I am sure that all of us look out upon the world and see injustice at every turn. On top of that, we also see God’s people oppressed and persecuted around the world. Sometimes we may wonder why the Lord allows such suffering to be experienced by his people and we may long for justice to be done in our time, but often, we never really see it. However, we can know that the Lord Jesus promises to return and bring his recompense with him. Justice will be done. The oppressed will be vindicated and avenged. But we must remember that vengeance is the Lord’s. Let’s trust in his timing and his way of carrying out his justice.
Perhaps today we can sing and pray for God’s enemies to be made his friends through God conquering them in the gospel:
1 This is not antisemitism. It's simply a historical reality that the Jews largely rejected Christ and had him crucified. And then many of them opposed the gospel, even after the resurrection. The sad thing is that this should have been the people living in the greatest expectation and readiness to receive the Messiah. When he showed up, they weren't ready and he was not what they expected or wanted.
2 Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 149.