07 - Judgement Is Coming 2011

Last time, Peter scoured the scoffers. We saw also that God does not inhabit time, so what seems long to us is quite a short time for Him. He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. Hence, Peter explained the 2,000 years between Christ’s ascension and imminent return.

In the closing verses of chapter 3, Peter first deals with the subject of God’s judgment. Total, overwhelming judgment is on the way. It has been delayed throughout the age of grace in which we live. But come it will.

“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 done in it will be laid bare.”—3:10

There are several “days” found in the Bible. For instance, there is the “Day of Christ.” This refers to the day when the church will be raptured.

1 Cor. 1:8 “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And also in Phil.1:6, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Then there is the “Day of the Lord.” This is the day when everything will be done to abase man and exalt the Lord. It is sometimes described as a day of wrath and vengeance. It also coincides with the Millennial reign of Christ on earth. This expression first occurs in Isaiah 2:12 and appears afterward twenty times in the O.T. Isaiah writes, “For the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up—and it shall be brought low.”

Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, and Malachi all mention it. The expression also occurs 4 times in the N.T. For instance, Paul wrote “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thes. 5:2).

The end-times holocaust described both by Peter and by John in the Apocalypse (Rev.20:11) gives way to another day—the “Day of God.” This day points to the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1-8). The Lord Jesus will deliver up the kingdom to God “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor.15:26-28).

Peter uses the expressions “the day of the Lord” in vs. 10 and “the day of God” in vs.12 to pinpoint the time of the fearful judgment that he describes because this judgment closes the Day of the Lord and launches the Day of God.

The “day of God” will terminate the Lord’s millennial reign on earth and ushers in the eternal state. Peter adds that this closing event in the Day of the Lord—a fearful and awesome judgment—will come “as a thief in the night,” suddenly and catastrophically.

So, at the very end of the millennial reign of Christ on earth, as the final moments of the “Day of the Lord” draw near, judgment will strike. Peter describes the totality of it in one of the most amazing prophecies in the entire Bible:

“…the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”—3:10b

What we have here is an uneducated Galilean fisherman living two thousand years ago writing into the Bible an accurate description of the nuclear age! Notice that Peter used the word elements. The ancient Greeks thought there were four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. They were wrong in both the nature and the number of the elements.

The expression “a great noise” comes from a single Greek word found nowhere else in the N.T. It refers to the sound of an arrow whizzing by on its way to a target. And W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states that it also signifies “a rushing sound as of roaring flames.”

The English word for element comes from the Latin word elementum, which is a translation of the Greek word stoicheion (stoy-khi'-on)—the word that Peter uses here.

In the field of physics, stoicheion was defined as “the components into which matter is divided.” It was, therefore, a perfect word for the Holy Spirit to use here in discussing the particles that make up matter. In today’s English, stoicheion would simply be expressed by the word atoms.

The phrase “fervent heat” is from a Greek word denoting a fever. Peter is intimating that all of the elements will be hot, as with a fever. So Peter accurately describes the untying of the atom and the resulting rushing, fiery destruction that follows it.

Peter next exhorts the believer to holiness of life:

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons should you be in all holy conversation and godliness,”—3:11

The word translated dissolved is from the Greek word luo meaning “to break up,” “to destroy,” or “melt.” It is translated “unloose” in Mark 1:7 and several other passages. It conveys the thought of setting free something that has been bound. Clearly, this is speaking of the loosing of the atom, which would bring about the dissolving of all things through fire.

Let’s sum this up. The Holy Spirit is saying that, at the end of the age, a great fire will occur in the heavens and the earth. He uses extremely precise language. He says that the elemental particles of matter, which we now call atoms, will be dissolved, untied, released. Their energies, hitherto imprisoned, will be set free. This is the cause of the coming holocaust.

Peter could never have realized the technical accuracy of his terms, but the Holy Spirit did! The principle of nuclear fission, which is the basis of the atomic bomb, is clearly implied in this amazing prophecy.

Let’s bring this home a bit more graphically. The first atomic bomb was exploded at 5:20 a.m. on July 16, 1945. The place for this sobering experiment was an arid wilderness in New Mexico. A huge tower was built of ten-inch nails, weighing 90 lbs. per foot. When the bomb exploded, the tower vaporized. Its debris was hurled 7 miles into the sky. Where the tower had stood was a hole 60 feet deep and 5,000 feet wide. For 18,000 feet in all directions, the ground was boiled, fused, or melted into glass.

With the first nuclear blast, the elements melted! “The elements shall melt,” said Peter, “with a fervent heat.” And “all these things shall be dissolved.”

Will God allow man to destroy himself through nuclear weaponry? We don’t believe so. But the Bible clearly reveals that nuclear exchanges will occur in the last days. For instance, Zechariah predicts what could only be described as a nuclear exchange:

“And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.”—14:12

So Peter asks, What manner of persons should you be? “Watch your lifestyle,” he advises. Holiness and godliness should characterize the life of the child of God who sees all of this coming.

The Bible holds up Lot as an example of someone who barely escaped being consumed in the fiery doom of Sodom. “And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city” (Gen 19: 16).

Peter drives the point home by repeating the coming judgment a second time. “…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?”—3:12

The phrase “looking for and hastening” comes from a Greek word meaning “to desire earnestly.” Those who love the Lord are to earnestly desire the coming of the Lord and His Kingdom. This expectation will ensure a pure lifestyle. John exhorts us in his first letter:

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”—1 John 3:2-3

Peter now concludes with more exhortation to a lifestyle befitting our confession: “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;”—3:14

Peter’s readers (as are we) were living in a hostile world under terrible conditions. So he says, “Be diligent,” meaning “to hasten to do something, to exert yourself.” The phrase “without spot” means “without any mark or stain, free from all defilement before God.” And the word “blameless” means “not open to adverse criticism.”

So Peter here has dealt with both the vertical and horizontal relationships of life. We are to be at peace with God and man and clean and blameless in His sight.

Peter again reminds us that God’s patience has in mind the salvation of men.

“…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation”—3:15a

If God struck everyone down for misconduct and wrongdoing, and gave no space for reflection, remorse, and repentance, the human race would soon end.

Peter next expresses a word of admiration for Paul:

“…as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,”—3:15b

This is an interesting reference to the great Apostle to the Gentiles by the great Apostle to the Jews. Since his conversion, Paul had captured Peter’s heart as a dear brother and co-laborer in the ministry. He was a brother beloved. From all across the Roman world, testimonies reached Peter of thousands upon thousands of people who had been led to Christ and nurtured in the faith by this extraordinary man.

Peter also recognized the depth of Paul’s writings:

“…as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand,”—3:16a

Paul’s teachings flooded the world with light. But some of that light is too bright for the beginner. Indeed, some people who have been studying scriptures for years must still place a question mark after some of Paul’s statements.

Therefore, Peter warns against misinterpretation of and twisting his words:

“…which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”—3:16

The word for “twist” is “to strain, or to torture.” It conveys the idea of torturing by twisting, a perfect picture of perverting the scriptures. So Peter encourages next:

“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;”—3:17

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. “Don’t be led away,” says Peter. Don’t be carried away, don’t lose your foothold. When someone comes along with a suspect interpretation of scripture and seeks to draw you off into his corner, don’t go!

“…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”—3:18

Grow in grace! Grow in His saving grace, His sovereign grace, His sustaining grace, His sufficient grace. And get to know Him! Make the effort to learn of Him. Grow in your experience with Him. Make it your lifelong quest to know Him better!

“To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”—3:18b

These are the last words of Simon Peter. The end came soon enough. Soon they came for him. He was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion; a cruel way to die. Yet the gates of glory opened, and Peter was absent from the body and present with the Lord.

NEXT TIME: We will begin our new series in Jude entitled,

JUDE—A POSTCARD FROM THE PAST

Part 1 “Called to Contend”