Jordan - 2 Thessalonians 1

"..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.  These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction.." (v7-9)

Are the end of times really going to be God's vengeance on the unbelievers?  I can't stand this sort of preaching. If Jesus were to return today, would a couple billion people suffer eternal destruction?  I have always imagined that the end of times is mythical; that God's kingdom is right here.  We aren't living just to make it to the next level, we are living to affect change on this little blue marble.  What does all this awful destruction have to do with Jesus's return?  To me, it sounds like a cheap way of getting people to believe.  "Believe or you will suffer at the end of times!"  Sounds like medieval/dark age theology/evangelism and I've never understood it as part of my faith.