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Stephen, Herod, & II Thessalonians
“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” II Thessalonians 1:3-10.
The suffering of those Christians from persecution in the first century and through all of history demonstrates the justice of the just God, who will recompense those who attack His people. When? To read this passage as it is almost always read is to assume that one day when Christ returns physically to end the world, then the recompense will occur. But that is not the scripture. Notice that Paul does not say that Jesus will return to earth from heaven; he says “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.” Replace the word “from” with the word “in,” and it becomes very clear. (“The KJV translates Strong’s G575 in the following manner: from (393x), of (129x), out of (48x), for (10x), off (10x), by (9x), at (9x), in (6x), since (with G3739) (5x), on (5x), not tr. (16x), misc. (31x).”)
The revelation of Christ sitting at the right hand of God as the just Judge, recompensing the wicked NOW, not some day in the future, was the comfort and rest for those Christians suffering two thousand years ago. It’s hard to imagine that the idea of Christ returning millennia after their unjust deaths would be much comfort to them. The passage clearly says that He will take vengeance on their persecutors, not the persecutors of another generation of Christians.
Stephen and Herod are the perfect demonstrations of this principle. After Stephen’s accusation of the Sanhedrin, the statement that finally drove them to destroy Stephen was this: “And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” Acts 7:56-8. Stephen revealed Christ “in heaven” standing at the right hand of God Almighty. These were the same people who persecuted and crucified Christ. They would face just recompense in the appropriate time – in the first century, not centuries later.
In Chapter 12 of Acts, Herod executes James, the brother of John, then discovering that his death pleased the Jewish authorities, he put Peter in prison with the same intent of killing him. After prayer by the Church, Peter was miraculously released from Herod’s prison. Directly after this event, Herod traveled to Caesarea, and when the people of Tyre and Sidon proclaimed him a god, “immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” Acts 12:23.
Christ, the just executor of the wicked exercised His authority from heaven and sitting at the right hand of God, justly put Herod to death. Yes, there is perfect and final justice upon Christ’s second coming. That does not mean that Christ cannot exercise His authority in the present even before He returns. Then there shall be eternal vengeance “away from the presence of the Lord” and He “shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” II Thessalonians 1:10. That event does not limit His ability to give His saints rest from persecution by destroying their enemies, and that ability would apply in our day also.