2 Peter 3

[Intro]

A few weeks ago we went over 2 Peter chapter two. In that chapter the main focus was on false teachers and how easy it is to distort the gospel in a way that can sound good. Discarding things about God that the Bible makes clear just because it sounds better to us, will end up creating a false gospel. We also reviewed some examples of the Lord’s judgement and discussed how He is a just God. All will be judged, however those who trust in Christ will escape the punishment.

Today we are going to look at 2 Peter 3:1-10. The main focus here is going to be on the second coming of Christ. The theological term used for the final events including Christ’s return is eschatology. This is what Peter constantly referred to in his first letter whenever he tried to encourage his readers, especially when discussing the persecution they were undergoing. Hope is never in what comfort may come on earth, but always in Christ and the security of being taken up into heaven with Him when he returns or when we pass from this life.

[Prayer]

[Body]

2 Peter 3:1–10 NLT

1 This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. 3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. 8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

Verses 1 points to one of the purposes that Peter wrights to them. He wrote “I want to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.” This letter has been used to do just that for many people for thousands of years. We should be engaging with the Lord through scripture daily. When we don’t seek God through the scriptures it’s easier to slip in the area of wholesome thinking and our actions will likely follow. Last week we talked about the dangers of false teachers and how the Word can be twisted. If we don’t refresh our memory and stay stimulated in wholesome thinking through the Word of God, do you think we could unintentionally twist the Word? Even if we’re not teaching scripture to someone, we could end up being our own enemy in this way. Something I hadn’t thought much about until I heard a Pastor mention this the other night, and he wasn’t referring to anything from 2 Peter it was just a random youtube video, but he was talking about how when Satan tried to tempt Jesus, Satan actually quoted scripture. He was using it for his agenda. This was when he tried to get Jesus to jump off of the temple, since scripture says angels would protect Him. And Jesus answered him with scripture. Satan knows the scriptures, If he will try to twist scripture to use against the Son of God, you know he’ll try to use it on you. We must refresh our memory of scripture. Otherwise we can so easily twist a few verses out of context while trying to justify our own desires.

Verse 2 Peter makes an important statement, he’s saying what the apostles taught is on the same level of authority as scripture. It seems so obvious to us because we’re like yeah we’re reading from the Bible of course this is scriptural what Peter and the other apostles wrote. You have to think about the people reading this, the people in this time would be thinking of scripture as just the Old Testament. What they’re receiving from Peter, what we’re reading now, is a letter, so Peter has to point out that what he and the other apostle’s tell them has the same authority as scripture, what they taught came from the Lord. Which is the collection of everything we have now in the bible, it is the living Word of God.

Verses 3-7 is where Peter talks about the scoffers. These are the people that deny the true Christ or they deny God’s existence. When people see material objects, nobody will deny that someone created it. If they see a plant or a tree, people aren’t going to deny that a seed had to of been planted, it couldn’t have come from nothing. But for some reason some people will look to the sky, see the stars, and all of creation and think wow this all just poofed into existence from nothing. They scoff at the truth and will mock those who believe it. Peter brings up the example of Noah, which is a very similar situation. An event God has commanded to take place where people will be judged and you can either believe it and be saved or perish. Noah very likely had many scoffers, because nobody believed him. If there was other believers that a flood really was coming, besides his family, they would have been saved. And now we are in that same situation. Because the second coming of Christ isn’t just for all believers to be taken to heaven. He is coming to judge the whole world. Believe and be saved or perish. Now why would someone scoff at such a major warning. Many won’t even consider looking into it and seeking the truth. And we’re given the reason why, Peter says they “follow their own desires”. They don’t want to give up the life which they think is so great or that they need someone to save them from something. They don’t want to believe that God exists, because that means they need to be held accountable.

People often view the Bible as list of no-fun rules, but once you have a relationship with Christ you realize God’s commands are to help us and when we follow his commands we’re showing our love for him. His commands to follow become our desire, more and more day by day through the process of sanctification. But unfortunately many are blinded and don’t see the truth.

Let’s focus on 8-10 now, and let’s re-read that:

2 Peter 3:8–10 NLT

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

Now even those who aren’t a scoffer might think, the Lord is taking forever. Sometimes we may think like a little kid on a car ride: “are we there yet?” We’re not always the most patient. But we have to remember two things that Peter mentions here.

1- “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord”

Psalm 90:4 says something similar:

Psalm 90:4 NLT

4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours.

Now, this isn’t something to be taken literally as 1 day in God’s time is 1000 years in our time. We’re given examples to help grasp the difference between us in God in comparison with time. God is not bound to time like we are. God is timeless.

2 - There’s a reason for this period of waiting. It’s an opportunity for those who do not believe, to come to the truth and receive life. I know we talked about this a little bit last time as well, but when you read about the judgement of God that has happened and that is to come with the second coming of Christ, it can sound like God is pretty destructive or that God really loves hurting people. That is not the case, it’s that he is just and so judgement must take place. And the fact that he is being patient and giving time for the unbelievers is his mercy being poured that nobody deserves.

I know we all know this verse, but

Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

We are just as undeserving as anybody else for God’s grace. This waiting time is our time to go and spread the Good News. There is work to be done. We are so fortunate that we have already been called into a relationship with Him. And he gets the glory for it, not us.

Although God’s judgement is poured out onto the wicked, he does not enjoy doing it. Peter says “He does not want anyone to be destroyed, He wants everyone to repent.”

Ezekiel 33:11 NLT

11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?

We should carry that same desire in our heart, not that wicked people would be removed from our lives but that they would change their lives and turn to Christ. As a believer we should carry the compassion that God has and desire that the hope we have received would be found by everyone. And when people do turn, no matter what part we had in the process, God changes hearts and we are His vessels so he deserves and receives all the glory.

Now in verse 10, where it reads “The day of the Lord”. This is referenced in many other areas of scripture, both old and new testament and it is a larger theme that involves the second coming of Christ. This isn’t necessarily referring to a single day in which the Lord will return, as it might sound. This is referring to a larger time frame which will be the last events of the world. More of the details can be found in the book of Revelation. This will include a time where everything seems great, then the tribulation period where all seems hopeless, and then Christ will return.

The time of Christ’s return is unknown to everyone except God the Father. All we know is until that day comes, we need to be serving Him and sharing the Gospel. We don’t want to be caught off guard, we need to be ready and commit to doing His will with the time we have.