We conclude this sermon series entitled Creed by examining the Bible’s teaching of the Second Coming of Jesus. If you were to travel to Rome to see Michelangelo’s fresco in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican City, you would no doubt gaze at the iconic and best-known picture of the Sistine Chapel – the creation of man as it pictures God and Adam reaching toward one another. There you would see the artist’s creative genius and artistic expression. Yet, you would also want to turn your attention to see the massive painting that spanned the entire wall behind the altar of the Chapel itself. The painting that took Michelangelo four years to complete as he began the work some twenty years later after the more well-known portions of the Sistine Chapel is known as The Last Judgment. Michelangelo was nearly sixty years old when he began the work and it represents some of the Bible’s main teachings concerning Christ’s Second Coming. And at the center of the painting is Christ Himself overseeing the judgment of all humanity. Surrounding Christ in the painting are numerous bodies (too many to readily count). To Christ’s left are those who He has condemned to hell itself. And to His right are those citizens of heaven alongside the angels.
The Second Coming of Jesus is no afterthought to the basic message of the Gospel. It cannot be relegated to the margins of our thinking or our living. For the Second Coming gives shape and balance to the Bible’s teaching of what the Gospel truly is. The Gospel has a beginning, a middle, and an end. If the Bible were not to teach the Second Coming of Christ, then you would be left with a potentially endless cycle where things would simply go round and round. This would mean that mean that same things happened again and again. Your view of the end of time can have a profound effect on how you live your life in the present.
If you believe in reincarnation, then perhaps you’ll view the disabled as Glen Hoddle, an English soccer coach. Hoddle believed that the sins you committed in a former life were punished by disabilities in the next life. Hoddle lost his job as soccer coach when groups representing the disabled protested his public comments. 90% of those surveyed according to the BBC felt Hoddle should no long continue as a coach due to his insensitive beliefs. Americans were the recipients of terrible act of injustice by Muslim jihadists on September 11, 2001. These men were promised reward in the afterlife alongside “fair women with large [beautiful] eyes.”
Beliefs about death and what lies beyond the grave come in all shapes and sizes. And then a Princess Diana’s death in the Fall of 1997, one message stood out in the midst of a nation’s mourning: “I did not leave you at all. I am still with you. I am in the sun and in the wind. I am even in the rain. I did not die, I am with you all.”
Today, placing gifts in your loved one’s coffin is becoming increasingly popular. One widow placed two cans of spray adhesive that her dead husband used to keep his toupee on. Unfortunately, the cans caused an explosion that bent the door of the furnace where his body was being cremated. Again, your view of the end of time can have a profound effect on how you live your life in the present.
Today’s Scripture
“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, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 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.” 5 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, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 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. 9 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. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 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! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’ (2 Peter 3:1-13).
Harold Camping, a controversial Christian broadcaster, made three wrong predictions concerning the return of Jesus Christ in 2011. This California multimillionaire, with a very large family (nearly 40 great grandchildren), runs one of the largest Christian radio networks in the world. He has a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and has made the Bible his “university” for the last fifty years. His first prediction for Christ’s return, May 21, 2011, was derived not because God audibly told him this date, but simply because he used a unique mathematical approach to crack “the code” of the Bible. More than 5,000 billboards posted the message of Christ’s return in anticipation of this wrong prediction. One man, Robert Fitzpatrick of New York, spent more than $140,000 of his own savings to advertise for Christ’s return. Despite such tragic consequences of bold false predictions, I must convince you this morning that Christ is coming again if you’re going to live life to please God. While we’ll discover that the Bible does not speculate when Christ will return, it does offer us a simplified and powerful picture of the end of the world.
1. The World is Temporary
The world will be totally and completely destroyed one day. “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:7). “… 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 3:12b)!
Peter gives us three details about this coming destruction and all of them just how this world will be destroyed. The First detail, “the heavens will pass away with a roar” (2 Peter 3:10b). By the word “heavens” we are to infer that the earth will also pass away with it. I take this from verses five and seven where the word “heavens” refers to the entirety of the universe. What does it mean that everything will pass with a “roar?” We should probably think of this as the crackling sound of fire itself as it destroys the heavens and the earth. Jesus Himself said that heaven and earth would one day “disappear” (Matthew 5:18; 24:35).
The Second detail, it should be noted that Peter describes this coming destruction happening by “fire.” “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10).
Peter is alone in the New Testament in telling us that everything is being reserved for God’s burning fire in the future. He tells us that God judged the world by water the first time and it will be fire the next time. Later on in verse twelve confirms that this means everything that exists will be burned: “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 3:12)! The intense heat to come shall liquefy the solid portions of the earth.
The Third detail, is found at the end of verse ten: and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10c). Everything will be laid bare before the eyes of God. The Bible describes this day as the moon turning to dripping blood and the heaven rolling up like a scroll (Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20). Not only will this world be destroyed, but the Bible tells us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth built to replace it. “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (1 Peter 3:13).
As a matter of fact, your Bible concludes with a description of this new heaven and new earth: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2).
You can confidently expect a new world where righteousness rules. Some might ask, “Why would God destroy the earth only to make it again?” The Bible tells us in Romans 8:20-21 that not only is humanity deeply sinful but so is the natural world itself.
1.1 Why Not Now?
Peter directly confronts the scoffers of Christ’s Second Coming: “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. 9 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).
This is an amazingly modern argument. There are hundreds of pastors who fill pulpits each week who deny Christ’s return. The argument is simple: the laws of nature are constant and unchanging. The sun comes up and the sun goes down. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. The world goes on like a clock and it needs no hand to move it. Nothing has changed and nothing will change. Yet, notice again, the Bible is absolutely certain about Christ’s return: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10).
Why is God delaying? What is He waiting for? People have denied Christ’s second coming since the days of the Bible. “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 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). Note carefully that some will “that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing” at the very idea of Christ’s eventual return.
Those who question the delay of Christ’s return do not do so as a neutral bystander but instead openly display hostility to those who teach Christ will return. The word “scoffing” that is used in verse three comes from the same word used to describe the mockery Jesus received at His crucifixion. Peter confronts the denial of the second coming head on. In the presence of such scoffing, we are to consciously remember what both “the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2). A quick fact check will remind us: Jesus said: “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into” (Matthew 24:43). The Old Testament predicts: “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it” (Isaiah 13:9).
Yes, God’s delay has dampened the faith of some. His coming is certain as it is simple: fire will destroy the sky, the earth and everything on it (verse 10), and new heavens and a new earth will stand in their place (verse 13). Peter gives two reasons why God delays. First, God’s calculation of time is not the same as your calculation. The mention of “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” in verse eight is a reference to Moses’ Psalm of Psalm 90. Second, God delays the world’s destruction in order for people to be saved. There are two sides to His Coming like two sides to a coin. Here are the two sides: “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9). There is good news, where God comes to get His people, and there is the other side, the dark side. The dark side involves God’s judgment.
The New Testament’s picture of Jesus as the coming judge is a central and nonnegotiable Christian belief. The Greek word most commonly used in the New Testament for “judgment” is kirisis, from which we get the English word crisis. While Peter is talking about wrath and judgment throughout his letter, it’s a fact that Jesus speaks more about judgment than any other writer in the New Testament. We want to treat the Bible as a cafeteria, “I’ll take a little bit of this and a little bit of that…” Many are apt to leave out the portion where Jesus says He is returning as the Judge for all of humanity. Yet, notice the implicit idea you are saying about yourself when you omit Jesus’ statements about the Judgment of God.
When you mentally scratch through the statements of God’s judgment of the world, you are in essence saying to Jesus, “I’m less barbaric than you. I am more compassionate than you.” God’s wrath takes a long time to be kindled, but in the end in will burn. God’s mill grind slowly; but it grinds to powder. Scoffers think that God’s delay is an excuse to live anyway they please: “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (2 Peter 3:3).
Had Christ come back, it would interrupt some people’s devotion to this world. Yet, some mistake Christ’s procrastination as God is on vacation. Just because Christ lingers in returning doesn’t mean He’s lost in route. He will indeed come.
The scoffers were false teachers. They lived for human praise (2 Peter 2:10, 18), or sexual freedom (2 Peter 2:2,14), and for the love of money (2 Peter 2:14-16) among other things. Again, Peter zeros in on a simplified picture of the end of the world in order to sober us up for the coming judgment. He milks this simple picture for all its worth. You should know that for every kick there’s a kickback. “You cannot sow wild oats and then pray for crop failure.” Adrian Rogers Somehow, somewhere there is a payday. It’s just simply the way that the things operate like the law of gravity. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
I don't say this with bitterness, my heart goes out to people whomever they are, wherever they are, who are caught up in sin and who are suffering. You can expect God to regularly intervene in the events of history. He did so in Noah’s day when He sent the flood and He’ll do so once again (2 Peter 3:6). He did so in Lot’s day when he brought the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes (2 Peter 2:6). Here is God’s way of proceeding: You sin, God warns you, you sin again, God warns you again until the flood of sin calls for a flood of destruction. There is now time to repent. But there is a needed warning.
1.2 The End Will Come Suddenly
You need to hear this word this morning – He will come suddenly. The Bible says that this day will come like a thief in the night – unannounced and unexpected. Jesus said the same thing: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:36-44).
Now Jesus said the time of His coming is a sealed mystery known to the father alone. Even the angels of heaven do not know. And any man who says he knows when Jesus Christ is coming is simply lying. The Bible consistently says that this Day will arrive suddenly and no definite signs of His coming will precede it. “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4). “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). Again, this will happen suddenly. “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Someone has said that the average person blinks somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 times a day. He will come just that suddenly.
2. My Life is Eternal
How should I live now? What should I do when I am waiting? “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness…” (2 Peter 3:11).
As I said, there are two sides to Christ’s coming, the good news and the dark side. In spite of the destructive forces that Peter predicts, the hope of all Christians everywhere is God’s renovation of the earth where righteousness rules the day. Whenever the word judgment is used, we think of negative overtones. Yet, the Bible teaches that God’s judgment is a good thing for so many people. God’s coming judgment is something to be celebrated and yearned for. God’s coming judgment causes the hills to shout for joy and the rivers to clap its hands (Psalm 98:8-9)
You might ask, “Why would such a thing be celebrated?” Because in a world where injustice, violence, oppression and unrepentant arrogance continue, the thought that God puts a stop to such things is welcome news. We long for the day when the weak and the poor are given their due. God will end the exploitation of the defenseless. God will do what good judges do.
This information of the end is not given to satisfy your curiosity but to motivate you to godly living. Peter is not interested in detailing a step-by-step chronological account of the end times. Instead, he’s written to motivate you. And although these prophecies were spoken in the past, they are valid for the present.
Knowing how the world is temporary, what should you do? “We ought to live as though He died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon” (Adrain Rogers) This is the kind of behavior that should distinguish believers from nonbelievers in light of Christ’s coming.
Many people try to find meaning in life by building something that not just here today and gone tomorrow. Some people build equity through their portfolio. Some do this through artistic expression where they exalt in their creations. Others build for the long-term through leadership by having others look up to them. Still others build hobbies and think the size of their collections will cause others to marvel at them. “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:13).
Note the words in verse fourteen, “be diligent.” Somebody said that the problem in America is apathy, but who cares? Friend, you’d better care. The Marines talk about “Semper Fi,” or “Always Faithful.” The Boy Scouts’ motto is “Be Prepared.” And the Bible says to “be diligent.” While you are waiting for the destruction the Second Coming gives shape and balance to the Bible’s teaching of what the Gospel truly is.
The Gospel has a beginning, a middle, and an end. On December 9, 1969, a full-page advertisement appeared in the Washington Post that read:
“Mr. Nixon: You can cure cancer. If prayers are heard in Heaven, this prayer is heard the most: ‘Dear God, please. Not cancer.’ Still more than 318,000 American died of cancer last year. This Mr. President, you have it in your power to begin to end this curse. As you agonize over the Budget, we beg you to remember the agony of those 318,000 Americans. And their families…
Dr. Sidney Farber, Past President of the American Cancer Society, believes: ‘We are so close to a cure for cancer. We only lack the will and the kind of money and comprehensive panning that went into putting a man on the moon.’”
We are motivated today by the hope of tomorrow. Time is not a merry go round where things repeat themselves without end. Instead, God has built history to end on day. It’s as if the teacher is saying to us, there’s going to be a pop quiz. Here’s your study sheet: “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:13). You can be confident about your future today.
