Here Today; Gone Tomorrow
II Peter 3:8-13
10-27-02
In October 2000 www.discover.com listed “ 20 Ways the World Could End.” The list included everything from asteroid impact to giant solar flares to global war.
World is wondering: How & When it will all End?
No longer does their discussion center around Whether it will end
Almost everyone knows it will
Question= How & When
Peter Addresses that Question under Divine Inspiration:
In verse 10 makes this emphatic Statement: “But the day of the Lord will come!”
not say “may come”-not say “could come” but will come!
I. The Certainty of His Coming!
(1) Then as Now—all kinds of statements being made about Coming of Lord
End of World
(a) on one hand, Quack Predictions that failed to materialize other hand, Cynical Denial that Lord would come at all.
SCOFFERS
saying “Where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
In other words, people were saying in Peter’s day
You fundamentalist Christians who believe in the literal return of Christ are full of baloney.
Peter wrote this epistle about 60 years after the resurrection of Christ.
No doubt some of these scoffers were at one time excited about possibility of Christ’s Return.
But 1 year passed – then 10—after awhile decided not going to happen.
(2) In first part of chapter, Peter Answers their Unbelief
1st points out that their scoffing in itself = sign of the end
II Pet. 3:3 “Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days , walking according to their own lust— and in vs 4 saying the very thing these people were saying.
People who deny Promise of Christ’s Return Today are doing exactly same thing 2nd Reminds them that their recollection of History is flawed
Were SAYING—since beginning of creation all things continue as they were.
But what about the FLOOD? What about Noah’s day?
Those people ignored the warnings----refused God’s way of salvation. and the End came for them!
verses 5 & 6 “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”
God’s Judgment in Noah’s day stands as Reminder to all people that things do not just Evolve
things do not just continue as they were
there is a God in Heaven & He does Intervene in affairs of men(according to His will—according to His Plan)
3. Notice in vs 5 How all this came about: “…by the word of God…”
God Decreed it & it Happened.
Was not just result of natural Consequences.
Was an Intention & Personal INVOLVEMENT of God Himself w/ His Creation.
4. These scoffers = intelligent people -- NOT just innocently Overlook the facts
vs 5 Peter says the “willfully” forget. ( SELECTIVE Memory)
Notable evolutionists and denier of divine intervention and divine judgment, Aldous Huxley,
wrote Confessions of a Professed Atheist. Listen to what he said, "I had motives for not wanting the world to have meaning, consequently assumed it had none and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption.
The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics.
He’s also concerned to prove that there’s no valid reason why he should personally not do just what he wants to do. For myself,...writes Huxley...as no doubt for most of contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation.
The liberation we desired was simultaneously a liberation from a certain political and economic system......and a liberation from a certain system of morality.
We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom," end quote Essentially that=what Peter saying about these Scoffers in his day at end of verse 3
“…walking according to their own lusts” vs 5 “willfully forget”
verse 7 “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
What Hold everything together as we speak?
“the word of the Lord”—His command!
Turn Heb. 1:3
Subject = Jesus, Son of God
vs 2 “Heir of all things”
“through Whom all creation came into being
Middle of vs 3 statement made about Jesus –
Not only is He the brightness of God’s person and the express Image of His person, but He is also “…upholding all things by the word of His power…”
Every Proton & Neutron in the Atomic structure –held together “by the word of His power.”
Every Planet is held in its Orbit “by the word of His power.”
In few minutes we’re going to talk about what happens when He Withdraws that—
What Happens when an atom splits?
What Happens when an atom comes apart?
“…upholding all things by the word of His power”
Now
II. Reason for God’s Timing!
In vs 8 Peter Addresses a Common Question:
When is the Lord going to Return?
Why hasn’t it already Happened?
Didn’t Jesus say “Surely I come Quickly’?
2000 yrs have passed & has not yet come!
Has He forgotten that promise?
Has He simply chosen not to fulfill His promise?
No! “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…”
Ampl says in vs 9 “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He has promised according to some people’s conception of slowness.”
God is faithful & true to everything He has said He will do.
Then why all this time between His 1st Coming & 2nd?
Here is the Revelation of the Motives behind what God doing in escatology of the ages:
1st God is Not restricted by confines of TIME
vs 8 “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”
God lives in Realm of Eternity.
Time = creation for sake of man’s limited capacity.
In our finiteness we deal with things one day at a time.
But with the infinite God, one day is as 1000 yrs & 1000 yrs as one day Peter is Not giving some mathematical formula for reckoning God’s days with our days.
Simply saying: Time is not an issue with God
Souls are the issue with God
Here is the motivation behind God’s workings;
Here is the Heart of God exposed:
verse 9 God “is longsuffering toward us, Not Willing that any should Perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
John 3:16-17
16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Here is God taking time to woo the sinner to Himself.
Here is God extending His invitation of love –pleading with the prodical searching for the lost sheep calling us to Himself
All of Escatology must be seen in the light of this Revelation God is not—standing in heaven saying “I just can’t wait to show them who’s who— they scoff at me—they resist me—they deny me—I’ll show them whose Boss!”
No! a thousand times No.
The Heart is Broken by our Rebellion.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem & he weeps over every unrepentant sinner.
It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
Now notice the Importance of REPENTANCE in vs 9
Avenue of Salvation = Repentance
God longs for our Repentance --He calls for our Repentance –He grants us Repentance.
But He does Not Cancel the need for our Repentance.
On Day of Pentecost, Peter preached a sermon Holy Spirit Convicted hearts of sin
Crowd asked Peter “”…What shall we do?”
1st word that came out of Peter’s mouth was the word “Repent”
“Repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins…”
Bible knows nothing of a Salvation in which people continue in their sin—
Repentance means to TURN AROUND
These people were going their own way (away from God)
Made a U-Turn (turned from sin to God)
Rms 6:1 “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid!”
So, Why has the Lord not yet come?
The Lord is “…longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Does that mean then, that the Lord is not coming back?
Vs 10 “But the day of the Lord will come..”
How? “as a thief in the night”—Unexpectedly, unannounced
1 Thess 5:1-4
2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
III. The Impact of His Coming!
-- It Will Catch Ungodly by Surprise
That’s what happened in Noah’s day
That’s what happened to Sodom & Gomorrah
and That’s what will happen in day of the Lord.
Day of Lord – includes a number of events that will occur in the last days:
Begin with Rapture of Church
Continues thru Tribulation & Millennial Reign
Concludes with what is described in verse 10
What is described here in verse 10?
An event so Cataclysmic that it makes even the Flood seem mild in Comparison
Both heavens & earth will be burned up.
Is Debate amongst theologians as to whether creation—utterly anniliated or simply renovated by fire.
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
