The Great Reminder: About Jesus Coming Again
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Introduction
Introduction
When you pick up the Word of God, what are you reminded of? Perhaps you are reminded of a parent or grandparent that loved this book and read to you from it. Perhaps you remember a great preacher that influenced your life years ago from preaching its truth. Perhaps you think of the promises it holds and how they have helped you in life’s ups and downs. Or perhaps you have a hard time picking up God’s word because you feel it to be heavy with rules and regulations. How you view God’s word overall will certainly influence how you think about this passage we are looking at today. In this last chapter of 2 Peter, you will see thoughts about wholesome thinking, worldwide terror, and wonderful truth.
Listen close to these words from .
2 Peter 3:1-18
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Peter immediately identifies his readers as “dear friends” or as the King James Version has it, “beloved.” There is a term of affection here as Peter is expressing his special tenderness for readers. He is able to express a sincere love and hearty concern for them. How sweet it must have been for his readers to receive such a plea. If I am to receive a letter from someone that calls me beloved or dear friend, I am going to read it with more attention than perhaps I would had those words not been there.
Parenthetically, letter writing is a lost art. Who is the Lord bringing to your mind right now which you need to write a letter?
Peter cares for those this letter would be sent to and he desires for them to walk in fullness of the love of God. He states that he is writing to remind them and stimulate wholesome thinking.
Wholesome Thinking
Wholesome Thinking
Wholesome thinking is translated from the Greek words eilikrine dianoian. It is a phrase that was popular in the day which Peter wrote this as one used by the philosopher Plato. Plato used the phrase to talk about pure reason and being uncontaminated by the seductive influences of the senses. It literally means “sun-judged.” A piece of pottery was “sun-judged” when it was held up to the sunlight in order to see any flaws or cracks.
Peter is saying to his readers that the thinking and intentions of God's people must be able to stand up under scrutiny and not be led astray by immoral desires. He wanted to stimulate wholesome thinking.
Wholesome thinking is described here in three ways.
First, Peter demonstrates that God’s Word is True. Too often just like to those whom Peter is writing, we are complacent about God’s word. More than ever, we as a church need to be awakened and reminded regularly lest our enemy finds us asleep and takes advantage of our spiritual sleepiness. God’s word is true and we must pay attention to it.
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
The day of the Lord is not a made up fable. We see throughout God’s word in both the Old Testament and New how this was proclaimed.
The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
Isaiah
Go into the rocks,
hide in the ground
from dread of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled
and the pride of men brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
The arrogance of man will be brought low
and the pride of men humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
and the idols will totally disappear.
Men will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from dread of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
In that day men will throw away
to the rodents and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from dread of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every man’s heart will melt.
Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.
See, the day of the Lord is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his native land.
Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.
I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
Jeremiah 30:
How awful that day will be!
None will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be saved out of it.
“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.
I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
That day will be darkness, not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
Amos 5:18-20
Also see Joel, Zephaniah, and .
Jesus also spoke of the Day of the Lord in His sermon on the Mount of Olives. The Word of God predicts the Day of the Lord and the appearance of scoffers who deny the word of the God.
Acts 20:
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
; .
So what is a scoffer?
A scoffer is someone who treats lightly that which ought to be taken seriously. It is someone that mocks God and plays games with God. Scoffers want to continue living their way and not God’s way. They corrupt the desire of the sinful nature and appeal to lustful desires.
One writer
Theologian Warren Weirsbe wrote, “If your lifestyle contradicts the Word of God you must change either your lifestyle or change the Word of God.”
Scoffers agree that nothing cataclysmic has happened in the past, so nothing will happen in the future. The fact of the matter is they willfully ignore the evidence.
Peter shared with us in that the Word of God is still a “light shining in a dark place.”
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The Word of God can be trusted in spite of what the scoffers say.
Another area that comes from wholesome thinking is that God’s Work is Consistent.
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
All one has to do is look back a how the Word of God has been consistent and true over the years. Peter cites the work of God in creation and the work of God in the flood in Noah’s day.
Peter’s argument is this: The same God that create the world through His spoken word can also intervene in His world and do whatever He desires. This is consistent with scripture:
Psalm
Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
Just like the old hymn, THIS IS MY FATHER’S WORLD:
It is His word that made it.
It is His word that holds it together.
It is His word that is all powerful.
The same WORD that created the world sustains the world!
We are reminded that though water destroyed the world once it will not ever again. The next judgment according to scripture will be by fire.
We see here that there will be a WORLDWIDE TERROR.
tell about the day of the Lord and the judgement that is coming.
You may ask, “Why does there have to be a judgement?” You see, everything in God’s creation was good according to
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
But man’s sin turned God’s good creation into a groaning creation.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Romans 8:
God could not permit sinful man to live in a perfect environment, so the ground had to be cursed.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:17
The balance of nature has been upset. Our resources are being depleted. Our energy supply is dwindling. Our world is facing a crisis. Peter is reminding us that God intervened in the past and He will intervene in the future.
But the scoffers say, “Then why the delay?”
Wholesome thinking reminds us that God’s Will in Merciful!
The scoffers are ignorant of what God has done in the past and they are also ignorant of what God is like. They were making God in their own image while ignoring the fact that God is eternal. He has no beginning or no end. Man does have a beginning but according to scripture, man will live forever in heaven or hell.
Peter quotes . One day is like a 1000 years and 1000 years is like a day. In God’s eyes, the universe is just a few days old!
If you study scripture, you see that God is never in a hurry, but He is never late. He could have created the world in an instant, but He chose to use 6 days. He could have delivered Israel in a second, but He chose 80 years to train Moses. He could have sent a Savior much sooner, but He chose to wait until according to
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
While God works in time, He is not limited by time. The scoffers were mocking God and His timing. Paul reminds us in Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
But we see that God in His mercy is waiting for the Day of the Lord because the Lord’s patience means our salvation.
This is a WONDERFUL TRUTH!
Wonderful Truth
Wonderful Truth
God’s delay is actually an indication that He continues to have a plan and purpose for us and He wants us all to be saved!
who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy
God does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
Ezekiel
For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Ezekiel
But we see that God is His mercy is waiting for the Day of the Lord
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Ezekiel 33
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
Romans 11
For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
God is long suffering even for the scoffers. They need to repent and God was willing to save them!
2 Peter 3:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Peter is calling his readers to repentance. Repentance is not regret, it is not remorse. It is changing one’s heart and mind that results in action. If you and truly repent, we will turn from our sin.
The word “come” in literally means “make room for” and is the same word used in for “helping” and in for “room.”
We need to “make room for” repentance in our hearts by putting away our pride and receiving the word of God.
It is a gift of God!
Acts 1118
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
So then, what is our response?
Our Response
Our Response
Our response in the meantime should be that you and I live holy and pure lives. We are called to be spotless, blameless, and at peace with our God as Peter writes in . We are called to be on our guard and to grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as described in .
Are you responding in any way that is contrary to that? If so, perhaps we need to change right now.