Preached Sunday, March 23, 2014 from 2 Peter 3:1-7
Theme: To live for Jesus as we should in the present age, we need know how to keep His promised return in view.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
As we have studied 2 Peter together over the past few months, we have found that each chapter has its own particular emphasis.
In the first chapter, the emphasis was on the sufficiency of Jesus’ atoning work for us. Peter, you’ll remember, stressed that—in Christ—we now have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” by faith (1:3). That, you might say, is a focus on a finished work of Jesus for us that was accomplished in the past. And in stressing this past act of our Lord for us, Peter then urged his brothers and sisters to rise up and faithfully build upon the foundation of faith in their riches through Christ.
The second chapter flows from the first, but with a different emphasis. In Chapter 2, Peter urged his brothers and sisters to be on the alert against false teachers who would arise from within their midst and corrupt their faith in the sufficiency of Christ. You might say that this was a focus on the present need. And in stressing this present situation, he was urging them to stay true to the doctrines of the faith as they were taught, and not let themselves be drawn away from the purity of the gospel.
Today, we come to the third chapter. We find that it builds on the warning about false teachers in the previous chapter; but we find that it has its own unique emphasis. Its focus is on the future; and has to do with the promise of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate judgment, and the final destruction of this present order of things and the creation of a new heavens and and a new earth. And in stressing this, Peter is calling his brothers and sisters to keep looking expectantly to what lies ahead through the promised return of the Savior, and not let themselves be drawn away from that sure hope.
In 2 Peter 3:1-7, Peter writes;
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:1-7).
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; to be the kind of people God wants us to be in this world, we need to have a continual forward-looking focus. We need to be habitually living in the light of our Lord’s return—continually expectant—constantly watching for His coming.
You see; the second coming of our Lord isn’t merely an incidental matter to the Christian faith. The promise of the second coming of Jesus is an indispensable doctrine! It’s the blessed hope of the Christian faith. The second coming is as crucial to our salvation as the first. In our Lord’s first coming, He embraced full humanity to Himself, took the guilt of our sins upon His own Person, and died in our place on the cross. And by that sacrifice, He has delivered us from our sinful past and brought us into the favor of His Father. But our salvation isn’t really complete unless we are then brought into full state of eternal glorification, and are made sharers together with Him of His own present perfection of humanity. That’s the full consummation of Jesus’ saving work for us. Our glorification is what He died on the cross to bring about. And it happens at His second coming.
The expectation of His return is to color everything for us. It is to be our motivation for faithful Christian living. It is to be our confident expectation of the end of our own struggles with sin and fallenness and imperfection. As the apostle Paul put it in Colossians 3:1-4;
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).
But more than that. It also puts our relationship with this present world system in proper perspective. As Peter goes on to tell us in 2 Peter 3:10-13;
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:10-13).
And it even speaks to our yearning for justice and righteousness in this fallen world. It speaks of that time to come in which the Judge of all the earth will right all wrong and punish those who do evil. It’s dreadful to think of the future judgment of the wicked; but if we want to live as our Lord has commanded us to, we must keep the certainty of it in mind. As Paul put it in 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10 with respect to those who oppose the gospel and persecute the righteous;
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed (2 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
So; this is a very crucial and practical doctrine of our faith. Peter was careful to urge his brothers and sisters in Christ to do the things that they needed to do to keep the return of our Lord continually in mind. It takes deliberate effort to do this in a fallen and hostile world such as ours. But in these first few verses of Chapter 3, Peter tells us how to do so.
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Now; I like how he begins this chapter. He calls his readers “Beloved”. After the harsh things that he had to say in Chapter 2—and considering the very serious things he is about to urge in Chapter 3—I’m glad that he set it in a tone of warm love for his readers. He is telling them these things because he loves them. We should receive his instructions in the spirit of love in which they were given.
First notice how Peter urges his beloved readers to . . .
1. BE MINDFUL OF THE PROMISE (vv. 1-2).
He says; “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior . . .” (vv. 1-2).
This is his second of two epistles—two letters. You might be surprised to know that some commentators aren’t sure which is the first of the two! But I don’t think there’s any doubt that the first of the two is the other letter that we have in our Bible known as 1 Peter. And in both the first and the second letters, the apostle’s purpose is the same—to remind his fellow believers of things that they needed to keep in mind while living the Christian life in this world.
Notice how Peter puts this. He wants to “stir up”—or “arouse” or “awaken”—the pure minds of his brothers and sisters “by way of reminder”. The apostle Peter is big on ‘reminding’. If you were to go back to the first chapter, you’d find that he wrote these words concerning his letter:
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease (2 Peter 1:12-15).
It’s interesting that Peter felt compelled to make sure they always had this ‘written reminder’; even though, as he said, they were already “established in the present truth”. That’s the way it is with us; isn’t it? As believers in the household of faith, we know the truths of Scripture. We’re even “established” in them—particularly, in the doctrine of Jesus’ return. It’s one of the most basic and defining doctrines of our faith. What’s more, our minds have been made “pure”. That’s a word that refers to something that has been made plain and clear by having been brought out into the light of day. Our thinking has been redeemed; and we have a capacity to understand spiritual truth—most especially the expectancy we are to have toward our Lord’s return. But when it comes to everyday practice, we often forget the important doctrines of the faith. We get busy with life in the present; and easily forget that the Lord Jesus may come at any time and bring this present age to a close. It’s important, then, that we have a continual ‘reminder’.
And look at what Peter says is the goal of that ‘stirring up by way of remembrance’. It’s “that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior”. The word “mindful” in the original language speaks of something stronger than simply “remembering”. It speaks of recalling something that’s already known in such a way as to consider it carefully. And what he is wanting his brothers and sisters to be so carefully mindful of is “the words” that had been spoken by prophets of the Old Testament era—whose words were written down in Scripture; and the commandments that had been passed down by the apostles of the Lord and Savior Jesus—some of which were being preserved even as Peter wrote. In other words, Peter wanted them to be reminded of and to carefully think about the promises of Scripture—certainly with regard to all the truths of our faith, but particularly with regard to the events that surround our Lord’s second coming.
And dear brothers and sisters; let me just pause at this point and ask you: Are you making it your habit to daily read from God’s word? Are you studying from it regularly, and hiding its truth in your heart? Are you feeding your soul and informing your thinking from the Bible? Are you praying before you read and asking God to help you understand and live-out the truths He has preserved for us in it? As you can see, it’s not just an optional habit that you can either take or leave. It is essential to your spiritual life!
You and I cannot live as God wants us to if we are not continually calling to mind the truths of Scripture and applying them to our every-day walk. And you cannot call those things to mind without the ‘reminder’ of a regular interaction with the Book! Please make it your habit to read regularly from God’s word; so that—among other things—your heart is filled with the expectation of Jesus’ glorious second coming!
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Now; of course, as soon as you commit yourself to the truths of God’s word, you’ll run into the ridicule of those who will not do so. This is especially true with respect to the Bible’s teaching concerning the second coming of our Lord; and we have to brace ourselves for the ridicule we will receive for believing in it. Very few people—even people who are hardened in their unbelief—are willing to mock the idea that a man named Jesus walked this earth in meekness and humility. But most of them are very quick to mock the idea that He will come again in power and glory to be the Judge of all the earth.
And so, Peter goes on to urge his readers to . . .
2. BE EXPECTANT OF THE SCOFFERS (vv. 3-4).
He told them to work hard at calling the truths of Scripture to mind; “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'” (vv. 3-4).
Notice first when it is that Peter says they would come. He says that they would come in “the last days”. I take these ‘last days’ to be the long period of time between our Lord’s ascension to the Father, and the time of His return. As soon as our Lord was raised from the dead and ascended back to the Father, “the last days” began. We are living in them today. But I can’t help but think that the closer we come to the consummation of those last days—and the nearer we draw to the day of our Lord’s return—the more we will see the mockers and scoffers come out of the woodwork. The world will say that our Lord’s return is growing more and more unlikely while—in actual fact—the time draws nearer and nearer. As Jesus Himself warned;
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37-39).
Every time you hear someone mocking the idea that Jesus is coming again, you can consider it a sign that the time is drawing nearer and nearer—and thank them for the reminder!
Second, notice why it is that Peter says they scoff. He says that it’s because they are “walking according to their own lusts”. The mocking of scoffers at the Lord’s promised return is not because it doesn’t seem rational or logical. As we will see later in this passage, it is very rational and logical to believe that the Lord will return. Rather, they mock and scoff because of sin. They are oriented toward their own lustful passions; and the return of the Lord Jesus as Judge of their sin is an offense to their commitment to sin and to their defiance toward God’s rule in their lives.
I would not dare to repeat to you some of the things I have actually heard unbelieving people say about the return of Jesus. Their words were too blasphemous to repeat; and I honestly wish I had never heard some of them. But I don’t believe we should be surprised by it. Revelation 20:19 tells us that, in the vision that was given to him of the Lord’s return, the apostle John saw “the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.” Imagine the armies of the unbelieving world being so committed in their rebellion against Him that they will actually seek to do battle with Him at His return! No wonder they mock at the idea of His return now!
And finally, notice what Peter says they will say in their scoffing. “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” Those words sure have a familiar ring to them in our day, don’t they? They are familiar, in one sense, because the mocking takes on the language of the faithful—the “promise of His coming”; “the fathers” who have ‘fallen asleep’; “the beginning of creation”. So often, it’s those who depart from the faith that most distort and attack the doctrine of our Lord’s return.
And notice that their mocking is based on a supposed uniformity and continuity of the present state of the world. “Everything”, they say, “is now as it has always been. Nothing has ever changed. Science tells us that the natural order is now as it has been for hundreds of millions of years”—in flat denial of both what the Scriptures and science itself plainly tell us.
This is something that Peter wants us to ‘know first’—that is, as a matter of first importance. Scoffers will come; mocking the whole idea of the Lord’s return. Increasingly, we will be made to feel foolish for believing what the Bible tells us about His second coming. But don’t be surprised by the scoffing. And don’t let go of your hope!
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And we have good, substantial evidence for our expectation of the Lord’s return. Certainly we have the promise of the apostles, who saw our Lord ascend with their very eyes; and heard the promise that “This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
But there’s more. You see, brothers and sisters; if we accept the story of Genesis as it has been handed down to us—with the story of the creation, and the fall, and the flood—then it would mean that the scoffers are wrong about what they say about the uniformity of the natural order. It would mean that the way things now are is NOT how they have always been. God has invaded this world order powerfully, in the past, with terrible judgment. And He can do it again as He has promised in His word.
This leads us to how Peter urges his readers to . . .
3. BE AWARE OF THE EVIDENCE (vv. 5-7).
Notice first what Peter says about those who scoff at the Lord’s return. He says, “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water” (vv. 5-6).
Peter is here telling us something quite remarkable—but something that is also validated by science; and that is that the planet on which we now live, and which we observe with our senses, has already undergone dramatically different stages of order. And in telling us about these stages, Peter goes on to say something remarkable about the scoffers. He says “For this they willfully forget . . .”
That’s a remarkable statement! The word in the original language for “forget” is a word that speaks of something “not being noticed” or “escaping notice”. But this wasn’t a mere slip-up of the memory. Peter says that they “willingly” allow these things to escape their notice. They choose not to take the transformations this world has already undergone into account, and deliberately refuse to allow the testimony of it to enter into the equation.
What do they ‘willingly forget’? First, they willingly forget that by the word of God “the heavens were of old”. I believe that the reason Peter first specifies the heavens in this way is to show that creation of the heavens by the word of God predates the earth in its first stage of existence. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:2 that—at first—the earth was “without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” How long it was in that form after the creation of the heavens, and how it came to be in that state, is not something that we’re told. But whenever you hear someone telling you that the earth could not have be only six to ten thousand years old because of the evidence of the immense age of the universe, just remember that the age of the heavens has nothing to do with the age of the earth. God has already told you in Scripture that—by His word—”the heavens were of old”.
They also ‘willingly forget’ that—by the same word of the Lord—was “the earth standing out of water and in the water”. Land masses of the earth were not fixed from the beginning. We’re told that God spoke, and the waters of the earth were gathered together in one place so that dray land appeared—that is, from out of the midst of the waters that covered the earth. And they further forget that the earth that then took shape in those six days of creation was dramatically transformed many centuries later by the flood—”by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water”. In fact, the difference on the earth after the flood is so great that Peter refers to the pre-flood earth as “the world that then existed”—that is, as something entirely different in appearance than what exists now. This means that the world in its present form after the flood is different from the world as it existed before the flood. If this is so, then the geological and scientific evidence should show it; and it indeed does. The earth shows all the evidence of having once been altered by a great catastrophic event. It would be convincing to anyone who does not ‘willfully forget’ it.
The change of the world that was into the world that now is was because of the judgment of God. And these past changes to the world give sufficient reason to believe that the world can be impacted by the judgment of God again. Peter writes; “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (v. 7). What was once formed out of water by the word of God, and then transformed by water by the word of God, is now reserved for fire by the same word of God. I believe that what Peter is speaking of here is found a few verses later in 2 Peter 3, when he writes;
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).
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And here is the point, dear brothers and sisters: The unbelieving people of this world may choose to willfully forget these things; but let’s make sure that you and I do not forget them. Let’s work hard to be mindful of the promises in the Scriptures of the return of the Lord, and of the judgment to come, and of the new creation.
Let’s expect that unbelieving people will scoff at this. But let’s not allow ourselves to be shamed out of our hope. And let’s be learned and aware of the evidences of how this world has already experienced the judgment of God—and that it will happen yet again.
As Peter says later in this letter,
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation . . .” (2 Peter 3:14-15a).