Apr 1952 - Q & A

Question.-Please explain what is meant by the words "But the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thessalonians 2.16), seeing they were written some considerable time before the destruction of the temple, and the judgement which fell upon the Jewish nation in A.D.70.

Answer.-"The wrath" mentioned in this passage cannot be limited to the judgement which fell upon the Jews and Jerusalem in A.D.70. The divine sentence contained in Matthew 23.37-39 (which we would fain quote in full), which fell from the Lord's lips as He left the temple for the last time, contains the destruction of Jerusalem within its meaning (see Matthew 24. 1, 2); the destruction of Jerusalem is but one of the concomitants of that sentence of judgement. Matthew 23. is a chapter of woes as truly as the early part of chapter 5. is a chapter of blessings. These woes were to come on the leaders of the Jews, and all who accepted the leadership of these leaders would share in the woes which the Lord pronounced; for if leaders of a people go wrong, that people cannot be right. This people, left desolate because they refused the protection of the Shepherd of Israel, were left with a desolate house, and would not see Him again till they cried "Hosanna" ("Save now"), "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." This people who had killed the prophets, and driven out the apostles, and, above all, killed the Lord Himself, who filled their sins alway, were to know God's wrath in their national rejection right on to the uttermost when, broken and bleeding, they would languish under a tyranny greater than that of the Romans, even that of the Beast. The Jewish people were under God's wrath at the time in which the apostle wrote, and this would continue to the uttermost (eis telos). There would be an end of God's wrath as indicated in the Lord's words in Matthew 23.89, but never an end of the Jewish people. This wrath of God is poured out on earth on God's earthly people, and must not be confused with God's wrath

in eternal fire.

unknown | Apr 1952
Question And Answer