Hard Things to Understand
Many people in the world reject the truths of God’s word simply because they find it impossible to understand. Although there have been many translations and versions created in order to help us read the word, because even in the church you would find that multitudes of Christians wouldn’t read the Bible, especially in the old King James Version that said things in the old English manner of speaking.
To the untrained and lesser educated, the wording alone was enough to discourage people from reading, much less the subject matter that was being presented. That inability to understand or grasp what the Bible says is not just limited to the uneducated mind; it is the same for those with high degrees of education as well.
There is one hard truth about trying to read and understand the written word of God, no matter how simple we may try to write for everyone, or what language it is written in. That hard truth is stated for us in the Bible itself.
Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints...and that passage of scripture goes on and on about the things that the Lord will reveal to us though that Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation.
That is why it is important that we stop before we ever read the Bible and say the simple prayer found in Psalm 119:18, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Before we see that prayer in Psalms we can read where David had already said that he was always “hiding the Word of God in heart so that he would not forget God”.
That has to be our starting point for learning and understanding Who God is; What God is all about, His purposes in creating all things, including mankind, and how God chooses to deal with every heart and work through every man who will choose to allow himself to be led by God.
Let’s look at some things that Peter mentions that are “hard to understand”. Let me say too that these aren’t just words of Peter but Paul also talks about all of these things throughout his letters to all the churches in the New Testament.
1. The Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
2 Peter 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Why do so many, even in the church, make jokes about the rapture of the church, or the second coming of Christ, or so many other things concerning these end times and the judgment to come?
Why do so many deny the cardinal doctrines of the virgin birth, the power of the blood of Jesus, or the fact of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ? How can anyone who claims to be Christian, deny these truths of God’s word and still call themselves Christian? Even Christian universities and seminaries are turning out graduates who don’t believe that the Bible is true, and refuse to preach every word of it.
The answer to all of these questions is very simple. We just read it in 2 Peter. They walk after their own lusts! What does that mean? It means they are unregenerate, still lost in sin, without the way of salvation, and the eyes of their understanding are still blinded by their own sinful lusts, desires and way of thinking. Their sinful heart will not allow them to see even the most basic truths. No man can grasp the truth of the Bible unless he first receives the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, and that only comes through a true repentance and salvation experience. There is not enough secular education in the world to reveal what the Holy Ghost must reveal to us.
We find a lot of well educated historians, geologists and other people who try to explain away everything in the Bible through natural means, and their arguments can sound so convincing, but the one thing that they all lack is the spiritual understanding that will allow them to interpret what they learned and come to a correct conclusion. If we leave God and his word out of the mix, then the truth cannot be found.
And even though the Bible is being fulfilled every day, and the prophecies of the Bible are coming true and so easily seen by those of us who are Spirit filled, the mind of man that is without God cannot and will not see any of it, and will do everything he can to explain it all away.
In this world, so many are without hope because all they see is the doom and gloom presented by history and science, and they all know that the future looks bleak for the survival of mankind in years to come. Every man can see it coming, but without Christ, no man has any ability to stop it.
That fear is what is driving every agenda on the planet to do whatever mankind can do to save the planet. That fear will also be what makes it so easy for the rise of the Antichrist and the actual fulfillment of God’s prophetic word in the last days. Man will bring it all upon himself, and he will hasten it’s happening.
Being spiritually blind, no one can see this, and they refuse to believe the Bible, so what hope do they have, because the only REAL HOPE is in Jesus. We need Christ in us to reveal to us the Hope that is in Christ!
Those who are not Born Again, filled with the Spirit of Wisdom, and have not had the eyes of their understanding enlightened can only predict the future by comparing what has been, with what is now, and their conclusions are wrong because of their lack of knowledge of the real truth of God’s word, and that’s all they can teach. Therefore those wrongful teachings continue to be presented to everyone and the ignorance and rejection of God’s Word is passed along to the next generation who will do the same.
2. The Genesis account of the Creation presents another teaching of God’s word that is hard to understand.
The question always arises, “How can we know what really happened since no one was there to see it? We can only guess, or discover through scientific research, or even through space exploration, how it all started. And the best explanation that all of man’s understanding and learning can give is that there must have been a “BIG BANG”, an explosion in nothingness, with nothing to cause it, that resulted in the original formation of all things, that eventually became all that we see today over eons upon eons of time.
There is one giant flaw in what man says. There was someone there when it all began; someone who not only saw it happen, witnessed it all first hand and recorded it for all time; but also that same “someone” actually caused it to happen. That Someone is “Almighty God, Creator of all Things”.
How do we know that? Through the revelation knowledge of the very Word of God that states it plainly and clearly. However, the unsaved mind, working in the flawed reasoning of man, will not accept that or believe it. The eyes of their understanding are blinded by their own sin and their own desire to prove that they are the masters of the universe and that they are smarter than God. That has always been the issue, since the fall of man in the garden. Man wants to be his own God, and feels that he doesn’t have to answer to anyone but himself.
Why is Creation hard to understand? It’s because Man doesn’t want to understand it, and refuses to surrender his will to God’s will so that the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding can reveal the truth. Man chooses to wander in darkness, guessing at everything, or trying to prove what he wants to believe, rather than to learn the truth through yielding his will to God’s will.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I find it much harder to have faith in a Big Bang creating all things than to believe in a God that is powerful enough to do the creating. But then I do have the Spirit of Revelation and God has opened the eyes of my understanding, and that makes it all so simple.
3. The Judgment of God upon the all mankind in Noah’s flood
The sinful heart of man cannot conceive of anything that would justify God bringing judgment upon the whole human race. That’s because every man does that which he thinks is right in his own eyes and he does not understand the very nature of sin, or rebellion against the holiness and righteousness of God.
If God the Father chose to send his only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to make a way of salvation for all men; does not God the Father also have the right to destroy all men that He created, who reject God’s existence and spurn His Law and refuses to walk in a manner that is holy and righteous?
God rejected mankind for the great sin that covered the earth and filled the hearts of every man, causing sin and evil to grow greater every day. He had every right to wipe every rebellious soul off the planet, but through God’s Mercy and Grace, he allowed Noah and his family to survive to give us a second chance. Noah was a sinner too, and his life proved it in time, yet God showed mercy and made a way through the Ark.
It’s only through the Spirit of Revelation, and the opening of the eyes of our understanding that we can see the very nature of God as the God of Love, Mercy, Grace and Compassion. All men can see is a God of judgment.
Mankind still denies the flood to this day, and he does everything in his power to try and disprove it. Yet even science and geology proves the Word of God if we will only allow ourselves to see it. It is the blind eyes of a sinful man that keeps him from learning and confessing the truth of God’s Word.
4. This same thing carries over into man’s rejection of the idea of a Great Day of Judgment!
2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The same Word of the Lord that speaks of creation, and of the judgment of all men in the flood, also speaks of the Judgment of God against all sinful man in the end.
Once again we see the same rejection of truth from the world. There are many in the church today who have fallen so far from God that they are in lock-step with the world in rejecting the idea of a loving God judging mankind and condemning all sinners to a lake of fire called Hell. Many say that hell doesn’t exist. It’s only a fairy tale or a scare tactic to make people live right.
I think it is a scare tactic, but I also believe it is very real. There are too many scriptural and even natural things that prove its reality.
If the heart and mind of man is so spiritually blind that he cannot see the holiness of God, nor accept the truth of the great flood, then he has no reason to believe in a final judgment.
Listen to the final words of some famous atheists and Satanists as they were dying and see for yourself if there is truth in the existence of hell.
VOLTAIRE was one of the most famous anti-christian atheists. He said, “I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. I am abandoned by God and man. ” In his dying moments He said to his physician, Dr. Fochin: “I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life. ” When he was told this was not possible, he said “Then I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness. ”
ANTON LEVEY—Author of the Satanic Bible and high priest of the religion dedicated to the worship of Satan. One of his famous quotes was: “There is a beast in man that needs to be exercised, not exorcized”. His dying words were: “Oh my, oh my, what have I done, there is something very wrong. . . there is something very wrong. ”
SIR FRANCIS NEWPORT—Head of an English Atheist club, to those gathered around his deathbed: "You need not tell me there is no God, for I know there is one, and that I am in his presence! You need not tell me there is no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me! I know I am lost forever! Oh, that fire! Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell! Oh, that I could lie for a thousand years upon the fire that is never quenched, to purchase the favor of God and be united to Him again. But it is a fruitless wish. Millions and millions of years will bring me no nearer the end of my torments than one poor hour. Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of Hell!”
DAVID HUME—Atheist philosopher famous for his philosophy of empiricism and skepticism of religion: He cried loud on his death bed "I am in flames!" It is said his desperation was a horrible scene
THOMAS PAYNE—The leading atheistic writer in American colonies: “Stay with me, for God’s sake; I cannot bear to be left alone , O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter? I would give worlds if I had them, that The Age of Reason had never been published. 0 Lord, help me! Christ, help me! No, don’t leave; stay with me! Send even a child to stay with me; for I am on the edge of hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have been that one. ”
For those of us who have witnessed the passing of a friend or loved one into eternity who have lived a life of faithfulness to Christ, it’s a very different picture. I’ve watched people go with that praise in their heart; with great hope and even an excitement as they saw over on the other side. What a difference it makes to know Christ!
Those listed above are only a few people whose words were recorded as they have come to the moment of their death without Christ. Let their words haunt you as a constant reminder of the reality that awaits lost souls.
God’s word carries warning after warning, and there is more about hell than there is about heaven. But we need the Spirit of Wisdom and for the eyes of our understanding to be opened to really see the truth of it all.
That is my prayer today; not only for you, but for me as well. God help us to have your Spirit in our hearts. Let us not lose sight of Who you are and what you have done for us. Let us do all we can to warn others of what is coming. And help us Lord, to see the truth of your Word when we pick it up to read. Reveal Who you are to us.
The day will come when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, one that will be filled with righteousness and where sin will be no more. We understand the joy that will await us there if we serve God faithfully.
We also know that there is security for the soul that is only found in Jesus. May the Spirit of God that reveals all the things of God, continue to be in us as we dwell in Christ. God, open our understanding that we may know of the riches of your Grace. Help us all to come to the end of our days with your praise on our lips, faith in our hearts, and Hope for the reality of an eternal home with our Savior and King.
As I close let us read Peters final words in 2 Peter chapter 3:16-18. Peter is speaking about the teaching of Paul as he begins.
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
