Coming in Flaming Fire
“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” (2 Thess. 1:6–8, bolding mine).
Many Christians believe this passage refers to a still-future judgment at the end of the world. However, the Scriptural evidence shows it must have happened in the first century.
God the Father “Came in Flaming Fire” Many Times, and it Never Meant the End of the World
To start with, God the Father “came in flaming fire” numerous times in the Old Testament. For example, the Lord “came in flaming fire” when he judged Assyria in approximately 700 BC:
“Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire…The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, tempest, and hailstones for through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down” (Isa. 30:27–31, bolding mine).
At another time, the Lord “came in flaming fire” when he saved David from Saul, after Saul had been chasing David throughout Israel in order to kill him:
“Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He [the Lord] was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under His feet…the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice” (Ps. 18:7–13, bolding mine).
The prophet Zephaniah, too, used the same kind of fiery language to describe the judgment of Israel in 586 BC:
“The great day of the Lord is near…And all the earth will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zeph. 1:14–18, NASB, bolding mine).
This time, God used the Babylonians as his agents of wrath.
As these examples show, God the Father “came in flaming fire” numerous times in the Old Testament, but it never meant the end of the world—although it probably felt like it for those on the receiving end. So why would it be any different in Jesus’s case (in 2 Thess. 1:8)?
The writer of Thessalonians, Paul, was “a Pharisee, and son of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6) and was intimately familiar with the language of the Old Testament. And the reason Paul used this “flaming fire” language was to warn people in the first century that a similar kind of judgment was about to happen—at Jesus’s soon coming.
Contextual Problems with Putting Off this Judgment Past the First Century
Here’s something else to consider: The context of 2 Thessalonians 1 shows that Jesus must have come in flaming fire in the first century. Paul begins this discussion by describing the persecution that these Thessalonians were enduring at the time of writing (2 Thess. 1:4; see also Acts 17:1–5 and 1 Thess. 2:14–16); and Paul promises these Thessalonians “rest”—or relief—from this persecution when Jesus comes in flaming fire (2 Thess. 1:7–8). Therefore, Jesus must have come within the lifetimes of these Thessalonians. Otherwise, they never received the promised relief/rest from their persecution—which means Paul was a false prophet.[1]
Some commentators try to get around this point by arguing that the Thessalonians received their relief after they died. However, that’s not what Paul promised. Paul promised them relief from persecution in this life, when Jesus came in flaming fire to exact vengeance. Death is hardly the “relief” Paul had in mind.
Other commentators try to get around this point by arguing that the Thessalonians will someday get their rest/relief when Jesus returns. In other words, while the Thessalonians did not receive the promised relief in their lifetimes, they will one day get it.
But that won’t work either. After all, the Thessalonians would have went to Abraham’s bosom after they died, a place of heavenly bliss (Luke 16:22). So why would they need—or want—relief from heavenly bliss?[2]
Either the Thessalonians received their promised relief from persecution within their lifetimes—which means Jesus must have come in flaming fire within their lifetimes—or they didn’t, which means Paul was a false prophet.
Another problem with saying this “flaming fire” prophecy (2 Thess. 1:6–8) has not yet been fulfilled is this: If Jesus has still not returned in flaming fire to avenge the persecution of these Thessalonians, then that means Jesus is coming one day to do so. Yet who were the ones responsible for the persecution? The Jews (Acts 17:1–5; 1 Thess. 2:14–16). Therefore, that would mean Jesus is coming in flaming fire someday to punish the Jews. The glaring problem with this, of course, is that the Jews who persecuted the Thessalonians are long dead. Today’s Jews have nothing to do with any of that. So why would God punish them? Furthermore, God does not hold people accountable for their fathers’ sins (Ezek. 18:20)—so he would not do so in this case either.
So if Jesus did not come in flaming fire within the lifetimes of the Jews who persecuted the Thessalonians, then it’s too late! This prophecy can no longer be fulfilled—which again would make Paul a false prophet.
Still another problem with saying this prophecy has still not been fulfilled is this: How can Christians today (or in the future) get relief from a persecution we did not experience? The persecution described in Thessalonians ended two thousand years ago, long before we were born…so how can we get relief from it? The only time this prophecy could have been fulfilled is within the lifetimes of the Thessalonians who were being persecuted. And if it didn’t happen back then, then it’s too late: Paul was a false prophet.
Did it happen?
So did Jesus come in flaming fire and give relief from this persecution to the first-century Thessalonians? Yes! According to the first-century historian Flavius Josephus, Jerusalem—the head of the persecuting snake—was crushed in AD 70. More than a million Jews were killed, and another 97,000 were taken into slavery. The famed Herod’s Temple was also laid waste. “Not one stone was left another,” just as Jesus predicted (Matt. 24:2, 34). Bible scholar Dr. James Bales points out in The Hub of the Bible that the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 brought an end to the organized Jewish persecution of Christians.[3] While there were still some sporadic persecutions afterward, the head of the persecuting snake— Jerusalem—had been crushed. Relief had come. The Lord came in flaming fire…just like Paul had promised!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available Summer 2024.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 9/21/24
[1] Dr. Don Preston, president of the Preterist Research Institute, made this point during his 2002 debate with Thomas Ice, cofounder of the Pre-Trib Research Center. The topic of the debate was “The Great Commission: Past or Future?”
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
