Living in an anti-Christian world where patience and faith are needed for survival.

2 Thessalonians 1

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

• Holy Spirit sends grace, peace, and love to the Christians of today.
• Holy Spirit praises the Christians who patiently endures tribulation and persecution.
• Jesus Christ comes to bring vengeance against those who trouble us.

Holy Spirit sends grace, peace, and love to the Christians of today. “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, ” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

Paul, Silvanus (also known as Silas), and Timothy are names of rich symbolism with meaning for us today. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles, those traditionally left out from the social network which claimed God was exclusively theirs. Timothy came from a dysfunctional family where his mother was a Christian and his father was (Greek) against Christianity (Acts 16:1). And Silvanus was one of the leading Christians among other Christians (Acts 5:22). When Sylvanus was named as a child, his parents apparently named him after the Greek/Roman god with the name Sylvanus. The meaning of the name Sylvanus is “of the woods” and “uncultivated lands.”  He was known to be a protector of the forest and especially presided over plantations and delighted in trees growing wild. He is also described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, protecting in particular the boundaries of fields.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are not wanted among the “democratic” society which exists in every city around the world. That’s because they welcome the false god as being exclusively theirs, which forms what they think, feel, do, and say as it enables the image of the beast to live and speak through them. They see Christianity as being uncultivated, people living in the “woods” outside of mainstream society and being too “wild” for a “democratic” society. That’s because we are not harnessed and living by every thought, feeling, and word given to us to live by. Instead, we desire the image of Christ to live and speak through us by the Holy Spirit. We live in a dysfunctional world torn between Christianity and those who are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they say and do. As we hold to the testimony of Jesus, we are among the faithful few within the family of God, with Paul, Timothy, and Sylvanus.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we follow the Holy Spirit inspired teachings of the Apostle Paul, who always points to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. The Lord Jesus leads us through the dysfunction of this world, He looks after us as people living in the wilderness of an anti-Christian world, which is uncultivated and without the blossom of His Gospel. Jesus Christ protects and watches over His plantation of “wild” trees which are growing in the Holy Spirit within a world hostile to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus is watching over those who are sharing His Gospel.

For those of us living on the narrow road leading to eternal life and not on the broad way of mainstream society leading to destruction, the Holy Spirit says this through Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy,” Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, “

Holy Spirit praises the Christians who patiently endures tribulation and persecution.  “…so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer;” 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5

When Christians are treated poorly within this anti-Christian world, it is the judgment of God that we are worthy of eternal life in the New Jerusalem. We only need to live with patience during the daily difficulties and to allow faith to deflect the fiery darts thrown at us. Those fiery darts come in many forms throughout the day to wear our patience thin.

The words “persecutions” and “tribulations” are something that might be thought of in the singular, such as “persecution” or “tribulation.” That’s because a large focus is put on the great tribulation and the persecution that will be on this earth in the last few “days” of life on this earth, as described in Revelation 11. However, as we live for God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, we suffer many forms of persecutions and tribulations day in and day out. We are slowly chipped away at to chase us from the social network of the “democratic” society, and we are slowly pushed into the grave. We need to be living by patience and faith consistently.

Anyone living for Jesus Christ as a light in a dark world knows of the afflictions, difficulties, and hardships that face us every day. People today do not want to be enlightened by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and don’t even want to be around those who allow the image of Jesus Christ to live and speak through them. That’s because they live by the image of the beast through the thing which forms what they think, feel, say, and do. They don’t even want to be around those who live in the decency of the Spirit as they habitually persecute and blaspheme the Holy Spirit. We live for God, and it shows in what we say and do, but the tribulations we face from day to day comes through those who deny the existence of God. Those who bring tribulations and persecutions to us are conformed to their place within the “democratic” society as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

Christianity is being put “out of sight and out of mind.” The churches have even discarded the Gospel of Christ by muting the message of His death on the Cross, the need for the remission of sin, Holiness, His resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, eternal life for believers, and the judgment to come in the afterlife. Heaven and hell are not in their vocabulary. Christians are facing tribulations and persecutions daily and quietly, behind the scenes, without any headlines. The affliction feels like a constant swarm of flies and ants nipping away at us, and even worse. Faith and patience are essential for followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith and patience are very important for us to live by, and faith is referred to as a shield within the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20. We definitely need that shield to deflect all of the negativity, conflict, abrasion, strife, “surprises,” etc. that confronts us every day. As a follower of Jesus Christ, patience is more than a virtue, it is a vital part of our survival in this anti-Christian world.

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Jesus Christ comes to bring vengeance against those who trouble us. As quoted in Zechariah 2:8, “For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.“

The Holy Spirit says to us through Paul that God is doing a righteous thing to bring tribulation to those who bring tribulation to us,

“…since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 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. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 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.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-10

We know exactly who will be among those whom God’s fury comes against, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy angels and of the Lamb.” Revelation 14: 9-10.

God’s fury is coming to those who welcome the thing which forms what they think, feel, do, and say because it enables the image of the beast to live and speak through them. They are those who are groomed to the mark of the beast.

The Holy Spirit speaks the following words of reassurance to us as Jesus Christ is in Heaven making intercession for us,

Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1