SPOILER ALERT–SPOILER ALERT–SPOILER ALERT–SPOILER ALERT
If you haven’t seen the Avengers movie yet don’t read this blog
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Not long ago, I was sitting in a New Testament class in seminary and my professor was expositing 2 Thessalonians 1:10[1] where the saints are marveling at the judgment of the Lord Jesus upon all the wicked of the earth. My classmates began to dialogue about the seemingly “unrighteous” experience of finding pleasure in the eternal destruction of souls under the fierce and terrible wrath of the Lord’s fury. Not finding any resolution in our various philosophical attempts to reconcile the problem, my professor humbly stated that our broken minds are limited in how we perceive righteousness but we could be confident that on “that day” our curiosity would be satisfied.
The question continued to linger in my mind long after the class ended since I, just like everyone else in the room, would likely have friends and family among those threshed in the winepress of the Lord’s wrath. Then, strangely enough, I caught a helpful glimpse of what I think may be a satisfying answer to that question while watching the Avengers with my Missional Community group last night.
The Avengers was a funny and exciting movie, if you’ve seen it than you know what I mean. Perhaps the funniest moment in the whole film is when Hulk and Loki find themselves alone amidst the battle for planet earth. Hulk lets out a fearsome roar before attacking and Loki responds: “ENOUGH!!!! You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a God you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by–” at which point Hulk grabs him by the feet and smashes him repeatedly into the ground with unrestrained violence and power. He than pauses for a moment and does it several more times for good measure.
The theatre erupted in cheering, laughter, and applause…
Everyone saw the righteous Hulk triumph over evil Loki in a demonstration of uncontested dominance and strength. We were glad that evil was punished. Not just glad, we actually cheered. Loki had tried to exult himself as God over all others and when the Hulk smashed him, you knew he was getting exactly what he deserved.
If we jump to another scene of the movie, Hawkeye has had his brain washed by Loki and is on the bridge in hand to hand combat with Natasha Romanov. The viewer is emotionally conflicted as Hawkeye wages war against the righteous cause of the Avengers because you know that he is really a good guy who is acting under the imposed influence of Loki.
Hawkeye is a bad guy who is really a good guy but he’s acting like a bad guy in that particular scene so you want to stop him but you don’t want the bad guy to be utterly destroyed because somewhere deep down you know he’s really a good guy…
It’s a confusing set of feelings to organize.
When Natasha Romanov finally knocks Hawkeye out, no one made any noise…probably because no one really knew how to feel. This is probably the same way we think of the judgment of Christ Jesus. We think bad guys who are really good guys are being knocked out. But this is only because we fail to understand something that is very important:
There are no Hawkeyes…only Lokis
The Scripture teaches that humans are sinners by nature and choice. When children are babies they naturally learn to lie and steal without being instructed on how to do so, not because they have to in order to survive…but because we all possess a sin nature from birth. This sin nature produces in us every type of evil desire which results in sinful choices; the most significant of which is exchanging the truth about God for a lie (Rom 1:25). The God who created us and gave us every good gift, who simply desires relationship and reverence; is told by people everywhere to kick rocks as they give their lives and worship to other things like money, sex and comfort. God sends His servants the Church to call people back to a righteous life of humility and faith in the Most High God and His Son Jesus Christ but the resounding response from people is:
“ENOUGH!!!! You are, all of you, beneath me!
I am a God you dull creature! And I will not be bullied.”
Perhaps people don’t say that with their mouths… but isn’t that that the logical conclusion of declaring themselves to have greater wisdom, knowledge and understanding than God Himself? Isn’t this just another way of saying “You are not the Most High…I am”?
When Jesus comes back He will stand before every Loki on earth as those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Him watch from the safety of his side (it might even feel like watching a movie in a theatre). Seeing Jesus face to face in power, the world’s response will be no different than it is today “you are beneath me”… and Jesus will respond like Hulk.
Perhaps this is what 2 Thessalonians is describing in that great and terrifying day, the end of confusion about who the Hawkeyes and the Lokis are. The saints will see His righteous justice poured out on those who have exulted themselves as God against the Lord Jesus Christ and the awesome and terrifying display of power and triumph will cause the repentant to stand and cheer with laughter and applause. I don’t know if that illustration make sense to you…but I trust my professor that when that day does come, all people will admit, even those who are judged like Loki, that He…the Lord Jesus…is right.
Amen.
[1] This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. -2 Thess 1:5-10 (ESV)
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