Peter writes two letters that bear his name. In the second letter, he starts the third chapter like this:
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,” (2 Peter 3:1-2 ESV).
The apostle is stirring people to remember what the prophets have predicted by the Spirit and what our Lord has commanded. Peter focused this encouragement on us to stay true to the Word and prepare ourselves to be ready when the Lord returns.
Peter mentions that he knows he is about to die because the Lord Jesus Himself has told him as much:
“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” (2 Peter 1:13-15 ESV).
And so, the aged apostle pens his second letter by stirring the reader to remember the promises and prophecies we have been taught. We know that Jesus will return and judge all men, great and small. Since this will happen, we need to
“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” (2 Peter 1:5b-7 ESV).
But decades had passed since Jesus died. Perhaps some were waiting for the Lord’s return year after year and decade after decade, only to think that life would always go on today as it has for centuries past. If life were to continue in perpetuity, then is it so urgent to live a life where we supplement our faith with the things Peter listed above?
And, of course, many will have no intentions of living a life of faith. The more time that passes between the death of Jesus and His promised return, the more ludicrous it seems to them that there will be a second coming at all. These are the people who will scoff at us, as we see when we pick back up with Peter’s thoughts in the third chapter:
“knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4 ESV).
And the real danger that Peter speaks about is not that we will face these scoffers and be persecuted by them because we hold to the belief that King Jesus will return. Instead, it is the danger that we will start to let their denials and unbeliefs about the Lord’s return give us pause.
We start to think, “Will the Lord really return in my lifetime?” Or even more insidious, we ask ourselves, “Will the Lord return at all?”
These are the machinations of the scoffer who mocks and heckles the disciple seeking to make himself ready for the imminent return of King Jesus. These are the taunters and teasers who laugh at the one who trims his lamp as Jesus instructed so he will be ready for the Lord’s return.
“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” (2 Peter 3:5-6 ESV).
There were scoffers in the day of Noah who said the same thing that scoffers say today. But one day, the rain started, and judgment came. In God’s longsuffering and grace, the seeds of scoffing often begin to germinate.
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9 ESV).
And so, Peter makes his final preparations for us as he prepares for his death. He stirs us to remembrance so we will not heed the scoffers. But more importantly, the aged apostle stresses the importance of not letting the seed of scoffing germinate in our hearts.
It’s dangerous to forget King Jesus’ promises and believe there is time for me to live my way before I submit to Him. It’s dangerous to forget that the earth will one day end, and everything will be burned up.
It’s dangerous because it puts us at the risk of not being ready when the Lord returns. But if we let Peter stir us to remembrance and if we prepare for the imminent return of King Jesus, we can ask ourselves, in clarity,
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (2 Peter 3:11-12 ESV).
Whether we see Jesus return with our own eyes or leave this life still waiting, let us be ready, and may the seeds of scoffing never invade our hearts.
I am in Isaiah in my daily Bible ready. There is so much in my reading to think about, but these verses are the ones I will continue to think about this morning, They speak of God’s goodness and power to provide for His people when we see the impossible.
What a mighty, awesome, and wonderful God we serve. No circumstance is too great for God not to deliver. No need is beyond His ability to rescue. Our God can do all that He pleases. What is impossible for man is as nothing to the Lord.
Let these verses cause us to drop to our knees in praise and worship to our God Who can do all things.
“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together,
that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” (Isaiah 41:17-20 ESV).
Human reason is a wonderful gift that God has given to His image bearers, but if we are not careful, it can cause us to lose the wonder and awe that we should have in a God who can do things we can never begin to imagine.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20 ESV).
When King Jesus returns, I would love to witness a sea of kneeling servants bowing in His presence before being lifted in the air to meet Him.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 ESV).
What a dangerous place to be, either as an individual or as a nation. May we always bow before the eyes Who see all:
“You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” (Isaiah 47:10 ESV).
It will be too late to prepare for the Lord’s return when we hear the trumpets sound and see the clouds part for the King. We must be ready when all is peaceful and typical.
We must be ready when the moment is just like it is this morning.
Say your prayers.
Forgive your brother.
Read your Bible.
Help the poor and needy.
Jesus didn’t come today,
But tomorrow will be one day closer to His return.
Good night, all.
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” (Isaiah 58:6-11 ESV).
The Israelites took a stone and made an idol to bow down to.
They took a piece of wood and said to it, “You are my god who created me.”
They formed idols from gold and bronze and bowed down to them.
How does the One true and living God feel when man takes the things He creates and fashions an idol, a god for us to worship?
“and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities. And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.” (Micah 5:13-15 ESV).
And have we learned this lesson today? Sadly not.
We still take the creation and say to it, “You created us.”
Listen to what the wisest among us say today:
“You and I are made of stardust. We are the stuff of exploded stars. We are therefore, at least 1 way that the Universe knows itself. That, to me, is astonishing.” Bill Nye.
“There is stardust in your veins. We are literally, ultimately children of the stars.” Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” Carl Sagan.
Even in our wisest moments, we still look to that which is created and say to it, “You made me.”
He would still gather us together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.
Are we willing to let Him?
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34 ESV).
I’ve been scrolling through random Facebook posts and was blown away by how many inspirational quotes people leave on their walls.
Many are good. A few are funny.
If you’d like to see some of the most profound, instructional and inspirational quotes you’ll ever read, might I suggest you start reading Matthew 5?
When we preach, would we rather hear 1000 “Amens!” or one “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
When we post, would we rather get 10,000 likes or one “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
When we work, would we rather receive vocational awards or one “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
When we serve, would we rather get 100 comments blessing us for our service or one “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
The danger is not in receiving “Amens!”, likes, awards, or comments;
The danger lies in what we want more.
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1 ESV).
We love the goodness of the Lord, but we want to be blind to His severity.
The Lord is rich in love, showing his longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish but that all should repent.
But God’s longsuffering is not endless. The Day of the Lord will come.
In my daily Bible reading in Jeremiah, I read something that I don’t think we like to acknowledge:
“You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you-- I am weary of relenting.” (Jeremiah 15:6 ESV).
Is it true that we can continue to reject the Lord over and over, as He is extending His longsuffering to the point where God becomes weary of relenting?
God’s longsuffering is for one purpose. It is to give us time to repent and turn to Him.
It is not so we can continue to live in our sins until it is convenient for us to repent.
It is not so we can feel safe in our sins and rejection of His call to us.
It is not so we can enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
His longsuffering is to bring us safety today.
The Lord, in his lovingkindness, is waiting, patient, and longsuffering for us this very day.
But one day, His longsuffering will come to an end.
One day, God will say. “Enough, no more.”
One day, God will become “weary of relenting.”
“For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV).