Peter's Letters
13 - Jesus is Coming
There’s an old saying “God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world”, but all’s not right with the world, but He’s going to make it right some day. One day there’ll be “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth shall pass away” (Revelation 21:1). Peter expresses it thus, in 2 Peter 3:7: “The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.”
Four times in this last chapter Peter addresses his readers as ‘dear friends.’ So in verse 8 he writes, “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.” God is not rushing things. After all, He has eternity behind Him and eternity ahead of Him. He doesn’t need to worry about time. God is not slow. He doesn’t need prodding to get a move on. He is the ultimate promise-keeper. His patience with us is because He is ‘not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (verse 9). Be thankful for the mercy of God’s delay.
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (verse 10). The Day of the Lord is an extended period of time. It opens with the Tribulation, then the one thousand year reign of Christ (the millennium), the brief rebellion led by Satan, the Great White Throne judgement and ultimately new heavens and new earth. The Day of the Lord is the direct intervention of God at the end of the age. Peter says “The heavens (the atmosphere) will disappear with a crackling roar. The Greek word suggests the sound a spear makes as it hurtles through the air, the crackling of the flames of a forest fire, the swish of an arrow. The elements – everything that goes to make up our world as we know it – will be destroyed by fire.
In the Authorised Version it says “the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (verse 12). Quite a remarkable statement from a fisherman in Galilee. How could the sea where he fished burn? The elements (the atoms), the building blocks of the universe are to be absolutely melted. The Greek word 'tekomai' suggests the wasting away of nature, the dissolution of the present heavens.
A tremendous question is raised in verse 11: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” His answer “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (verse 12).
Now there’s a thought! When we live right and evangelise we hasten the soon return of Christ as King. The missionary activity of the church will speed the coming of the King. Our coldness of heart and disobedience delay His coming. Rabbis used to say, “It is the sins of the people which prevent the coming of the Messiah. If the Jews would genuinely repent for one day, the Messiah would come.”
Peter’s contention is that second coming teaching should not make us crackpots, but it should be a dynamic belief that draws us expectantly to look forward to seeing Jesus. “In keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (verse 13).
James Agate once declared that his mind was not a bed to be made and remade, but that on certain things it was finally made up. So with Peter. Because Jesus Christ is Lord and one day we shall be with Him forever – Are you looking forward to this? – we should “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (verse 14). In short, what we believe must affect how we behave. That’s what he’s been writing chapter after chapter. “Be holy in all you do” (1 Peter 1 verse 15), “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1 verse 22): “Be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4 verse 7). Christians should be different, but not odd. When we are different, we attract others. If we are odd, we repel them. False doctrine leads to false living, but righteous living proceeds from right doctrine.
Never forget that our Lord’s patience means more opportunity for salvation; it does not indicate indifference on God’s part. It always amuses me to read Peter’s comment on Paul’s letters which were known and used throughout the church by this time and covered the same topic of false doctrine. He says of ‘dear brother Paul’ who ‘wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him ... His letters contain some things that are hard to understand’ (verse 16). We can all say ‘Amen’ to that!
Here’s what ‘ignorant and unstable people’ do. They ‘distort’ scripture – the Greek word means ‘to torture on the rack or to pervert.’ This destructive practice is at the heart of most heresies. They are a perversion of some fundamental biblical doctrine. False teachers tortured the Word of God in order to prove their false doctrines.
So Peter signs off. “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 ” (verse 17).
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (verse 18). How easy it is to grow in knowledge and not in grace. We all know far more of the Bible than we really live. The lessons learned in the school of grace are always costly lessons, requiring diligence, discipline and priorities.
Through the straight talking in Peter’s letter about suffering (1 Peter) and false teachers (2 Peter), it’s easy to forget that letter one began in grace: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Peter 1 verse 2), and ended with grace: “this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it” (1 Peter 5:12). And letter two began with grace: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (2 Peter 1:2) and ended in grace: “grow in grace” (2 Peter 3:18).