2 Thessalonians 1:8

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel

Christ’s coming

I. The terrible manner of Christ’s coming. “In flaming fire,” which serves--

1. To set forth the majesty of the Judge (Acts 7:20; Deuteronomy 5:22; Psalms 50:3).

2. As the instrument of punishment on the wicked (Matthew 13:42; Matthew 25:41).

3. To burn up the world (2 Peter 3:10).

II. The persons brought to judgment and the rules of procedure.

1. Some had no other discovery of God but from the course of nature and the instincts of conscience--these shall not be judged for not believing in Christ, but for not knowing God (Romans 2:12). Therefore among the Gentiles--

(1) All Atheists who deny God’s Being are obnoxious to judgment.

(2) All idolaters who corrupt the worship of God.

(3) All wicked men who when they know God glorify Him not as God, etc. (Romans 1:21).

(4) All who despise and resist God’s authority (Exodus 5:2). What is all this to us?

To teach us--

(1) That ignorance of God excuses no man from judgment. Whether foreign nations or His own people, God will punish them for wilful ignorance of necessary things.

(2) That it is not enough to know God unless we know Him as we ought to know Him (Titus 1:16).

(3) That the more means there are of knowing God, the greater the crime if we do not know His will (Luke 12:47).

2. Some having a discovery of Christ and His salvation are judged by the gospel.

(1) All such obey not the gospel.

(a) Who obstinately refuse to entertain the doctrine of Christ and His salvation (1 Peter 4:17).

(b) Who profess to believe but practically deny (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 3:6).

(c) Who apostatize (Hebrews 10:39).

(2) Who shall be judged by the terror of the gospel dispensation.

(a) Those who have lived in the clear sunshine of the gospel (Mark 16:16). They are condemned because of their sins against God, and their refusal of the remedy (John 3:18).

(b) Those to whom the object of faith was more obscurely propounded.

(i) Those who lived before or after the Flood. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are in the chronicle of faith (Hebrews 11:1; 1 Peter 3:19).

(ii) Those who lived under the legal administration of the covenant of grace shall be judged according to that (Romans 2:12). The law was more manifest, but the way of salvation was clear enough (Psalms 130:3; Psalms 143:2).

(iii) Those who lived under the ministry of John and of our Lord (John 8:24).

(iv) Those who, under the dispensation of the Spirit, know Christ more or less: Mohammedans and Jews.

(v) Those Christians to whom Christ is offered more or less purely: Papists, Socinians, etc. However God may deal with the vulgar who err in the simplicity of their hearts, we know not; but their leaders are terribly responsible. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Ignorance and disobedience

I. “Know not God.” There is a twofold knowledge of God.

1. Speculative.

(1) The bare sight of the truth; empty and cold notions about God and religion.

(a) Such as many of the heathen have (Romans 1:21).

(b) The Jews (Romans 2:19).

(c) Formal Christians (2 Timothy 3:5).

(2) There are different degrees of this knowledge.

(a) Memorative, such as children have who are taught to speak of Divine mysteries by rote, but are not affected by them.

(b) Opinionative, when not only the memory is charged but the judgment exercised, yet wisdom enters not upon the heart (Proverbs 2:10). This makes men disputers about, but not practicers of godliness (Proverbs 2:10).

(c) Sufficiently cordial to be reformative but not regenerating.

2. Practical and saving. We must know God--

(1) So as to trust in Him (Psalms 9:10).

(2) So as to love Him (1 Corinthians 8:3).

(3) So as to obey Him (1 John 2:4; Jeremiah 22:16).

Our practices must speak out our knowledge. So then all they that know not God so as to fear Him for His majesty and power, love Him for His goodness, trust Him for His wisdom, imitate Him for His holiness, obey Him for His authority, so as to seek Him and delight in Him, are obnoxious to Christ’s judgment. He has no religion who has no god, and he has no god who prefers his lusts to obedience.

II. “that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is not enough to profess the gospel, we must obey it. This obedience is necessary whether we consider--

1. The gospel which is the sum of things to be believed and done. Its three commands are--

(1) Repentance (Isaiah 1:19).

(2) Faith in Christ (1 John 3:23; Hebrews 2:3).

(3) New obedience (Titus 2:12).

2. Faith, which also implies obedience (Romans 10:16; Romans 1:5; Romans 16:26; Acts 6:7) for it is a hearty consent to take the blessedness offered for our happiness, the duty required for our work, and so has an influence on our whole obedience.

3. Christ.

(1) His example (Hebrews 5:8; Philippians 2:8).

(2) His authority and sovereignty (Acts 5:31).

III. Uses.

1. If you would have the comfort and not the terror of the Day of Judgment, you must obey the gospel (Romans 6:16).

2. What we have to do is to study to know the Lord, that we may believe in Him and serve Him. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Ignorance of God

We read of an ancient king who, desiring to ascertain what was the natural language of man, ordered two infants as soon as they were born, to be conveyed to a place prepared for them, where they were brought up without any instruction, and without ever hearing a human voice, and what was the event! Why that when they were at length brought out of their confinement, they spake no language at all; they uttered only inarticulate sounds like those of other animals. Were two infants in like manner to be brought up from the womb without being instructed in any religion, there is little room to doubt but (unless the grace of God interposed) the event would be just the same. They would have no religion at all: no more knowledge of God than the beasts of the field. Such is natural religion abstracted from traditional and from the influences of God’s Spirit. (J. Wesley.)

Degrees of Divine knowledge

A young child who has hitherto fancied that the rim of the sky rests on the earth a few miles away, and that the whole world lies within that circle, sails down the Forth there, and sees the river banks gradually widening, and the river passing into a frith. When he comes back he tells his companions how large the ocean is. Poor boy! he has not seen the ocean--only the widened river. Just so with all creature knowledge of God. Though all the archangels were to utter all they knew there would still remain an infirmity untold. (J. Culross, D. D.)

Loyalty and disloyalty to the Gospel

During the Civil War in America those who were loyal displayed the banner of the United States on every house almost throughout the country. Such was the case in Fredericksburg: but when the inhabitants found that Stonewall Jackson and a regiment of Confederates were approaching, they all, with one exception, were frightened and concealed their signs of loyalty. An elderly woman named Barbara Frike had the courage to display the banner outside her window. When the general saw it he ordered the soldiers to fire at it. In the midst of the fire and the smoke the old dame put her head out, and shouted, “Strike my grey head, but spare the banner of my country.” Her courage overpowered the general, and he ordered his men to let her alone. (Dr. Rees.)