But our very lives depend on ‘knowing God and obeying the good news about the Lord Jesus,’ whom he sent forth to ransom us from sin and death. (2 Thess. 1:8; Mark 10:45) Quite obviously, the world about us does not “know God.”

10. (a) Why is the ‘God of love’ a God also of “vengeance”? (b) Why is it so important today that we know and obey God?

¹⁰ Yet, repeatedly, the Bible tells us that the ‘God of love’ is also a ‘God of vengeance.’ Why? Because God’s love cannot forever tolerate evil. (Nah. 1:2; Deut. 32:35, 41) That is why the apostle Paul writes about the “revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thess. 1:6-9)