A pleasant good morning to one and all! Whenever it is midterm or final exams, it is not uncommon that I hear students cry out, “Sana dumating na si Lord!” or ask “Lord, kelan po ba kayo darating?” or wish, “Sana mag-rapture na!” Maybe you have said this one time or another, I do not know. Yet, I think it gives someone ease amidst the pressures and tribulations he is going through. I also said these kinds of statements and I believe you also did. And I believe that it gives someone “hope” that his “tribulations” will find its end. Today, our topic is about “The Day of the Lord- the Promise of His Coming.” And I want to lead you to the second letter of Peter. Now I want to remind you that the primary purpose of this letter is to remind the believers, during their time (late 60 A.D.) of the truthfulness of the words of the prophets of God and the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can understand this better by way of comparison. In Peter’s first letter, he is dealing with an outside problem- that is persecution. While in his second letter, Peter deals with an inside force- that is the false teachers and false teachings that is fast abounding during their time.
Keep in mind that here, Peter is battling the heresies of his days by way of reminder to the Christians. A note here: the best way that we can contend for the faith is by correctly teaching our congregation the truth. They must know what we believe and why we believe. Our best defense is our offense because the Christian faith is in the offensive stance, not the other way around. Now, join me in reading the last chapter of the book, verses 1-13. I would greatly appreciate if you would follow me with your eyes. II Peter 3:1-13 NKJV, the Bible says,
“1Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4And 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." 5For 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. 7But 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. 8But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12Looking 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? 13Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
As I have said earlier, our topic is about “The Day of the Lord– the Promise of His Coming.” Now, may I suggest that “The Day of the Lord is a time of condemnation and consolation.” A time of judgment then reward. Condemnation for the wicked but consolation for the righteous. A judgment for the ungodly and then a hope for the godly. Before going to the main points, we may ask, “What is the day of the Lord?” Let us see from the different biblical authors how they describe the day of the Lord.
Isaiah 13:6 “6Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.”
Amos 5:18-20 “18Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light. 19It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! 20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?”
Joel 2:1,2,31-32a “1Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand: 2A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. 31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32bAnd it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
I Thessalonians 5:1,2 “1But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”
II Thessalonians 2:2 “2Not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.”
Revelations 16:14 “14For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
In all of these passages, the emphasis is on judgment and destruction. So, when I speak of the day of the Lord, what I have in mind is the judgment of the Almighty- this particularly brings us to the end times. The New International Bible Dictionary notes that it refers to the consummation of God’s kingdom and triumph over His foes and deliverance of His people. It begins at the Second Coming and will include the final judgment. It will remove class distinction (Isa.2:12-21), abolish sins (II Pet.3:11-13), and will be accompanied by social calamities and physical cataclysms (Mt.24; Lk.21:7-33). It will include the millennial judgment (Rev.4:1-19:6) and culminate in the new heavens and new earth (Isa.65:7; 66:22; Rev.21:1) (Douglas, 1987:259).
Now, what is the importance of the day of the Lord for us Christians? Are we to do something? If we are to do something, what are those that we have to do? From our text, I want to suggest at least three things that we are to do. The attitudes to be that we should manifest as Christians.
First, be watchful. Be watchful, in the sense of being ready and prepared because of the abundance of the scoffers these times- these times being the last days (v.3 cf. Heb.1:2). The author of Hebrews says that, “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” These scoffers do the following things: 1.) They walk according to their own lust/desire; 2.) They deny the day of the Lord; and 3. They rationalize their denials. Scoffers or mockers (empaiktçs in the Greek) is from the verb “empaizô” meaning “to play with, to trifle with, to mock.” They walk according to their own desire, from the context it shows that their desires are evil (chap.2). Therefore, these scoffers order their life according to their evil desires (epithumia) (v.4a). They doubt the coming of the Lord- they question the promise of His coming? They deny not only the day of the Lord but the judgment that will happen that day (as further seen the following verse). Their basis is found in verse 4b. “For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” This mockery indeed troubles the church, it troubles the blessed hope of Christianity, for as John Calvin said of this passage, “Satan aims directly at the throat of the church, when he destroys faith in the coming of Christ” (quoted by Cranfield, 1960:187). Therefore Peter refutes this- remember the purpose of the letter. And so we must. These scoffers appeal to what the father experiences- talking about the O.T. prophets who prophesied the day of the God- they fell asleep, that is they died (euphemism) without seeing the fulfillment of their prophecies. And isn’t that things continue as they are? They say, “Nothing unusual happened in past, therefore, nothing unusual will happen in the future. Let us just continue what we are doing.” The other extreme belief in our day is the fast growing group that we call “hyper-preterists.” Sometimes called “full preterism” or “realized eschatology.” Their theology is built on the misinterpretation of Matthew 24:34, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” They believe that every last detail of prophecy said by Jesus must happen before the people in that day die. And they believe that all already happened in 70 A.D. In other words, His Second Coming, the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the Great White Throne judgment are all past events. These men extend their application saying that the earth wherein we live today is the new heavens and new earth (MacArthur, 1999:10). And so, I admonish everyone of us to be prepared and ready. Be watchful because scoffers abound taunting us regarding the promise of His coming.
In view of the scoffers in the first point, may I suggest that we remember the following- that we be mindful of the following (vv.5-9): 1. The Creation; 2. The Great Flood; 3. God’s concept of time; and 4. God’s patience or longsuffering.
Should mockers taunt us saying, “The day of the Lord will not come, judgment is a tailored-fiction, nonsense that clergies use to threaten us!” Then, they are mistaken. Too bad for themselves- because they willfully forget or deliberately look for reasons for not believing so. The following should make them realize their fallacies and these also should make us mindful of:
First, be mindful of God’s creation (v.5). They are questioning the trustworthiness of the promise and the word of God. But we can say that creation itself speaks of the truthfulness of God’s word. Wherein we can put our trust in His words and promises. Scoffers forget that by God’s powerful word- the heavens and the earth were created. This truth should bolster our faith in Him and ion His word.
Second, be mindful of God’s judgment- that is the Great Flood (v.6,7). Peter argues fro the certainty of God’s judgment as seen in the flood. We know from Genesis 7 that a Great Flood happened, the Biblical account is literal and certain when it says, “on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights… And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered (Gen.7:11,12,19).” The cause of this judgment is found in Gen.6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was the only evil continually.” These scoffers of course, do not believe the Biblical account- and so my ‘friendly” advice for them is that they take up Geology and find out the explanations of the seeming thousand years age of rocks. These scoffers will surely be caught unaware of the coming Day of Judgment and perdition. The “word” that they are denying is the same word that will destroy them. I want us to focus on the phrase “kept in store” (thesaurizô) meaning “to gather and lay up or store up.” The verb is in what we call “periphrastic perfect participle- speaking of the past storing up completed, with the present state of being stored with that which has been gathered and laid up (Wuest, 1954:68).”
Third, be mindful God’s time- that is the eternality of God’s time (v.8). This verse is an interpretation of Psalm 90:4. “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” Let us consult other parts of scripture for the better understanding. Speaking of the last days, particularly of the Second Coming. Mathew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Our concept of time is different. Psalm 90 actually teaches the eternality of God and the fleetingness of man. Right now, almost 20 centuries have already past since this letter was written. For us, it is a long period of time- imagine almost 2000 years already have pass and it still didn’t happen. But for the Lord, it not that long- He doesn’t look at time that way. Our concept of time is different from His. Therefore, the tauntings of the mockers are fallacious.
Fourth, be mindful of God’s longsuffering (v.9). We should be mindful of the fact that God’s patience is a demonstration of His love to the elect. His longsuffering (makrothumia) means salvation (v.15). The purpose of the seeming delay is that people would come to repentance and faith. But for the unbelieving, and as seen in the past verses- are judgment and God’s wrath. Romans 2:4 says, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” In the same letter in 9:22, “What if God wanting to show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” Should scoffers do not believe in the day of the Lord, we can share to them this hope, that because of God’s goodness, He still delays His judgment because He want you to be repentant of Your sins.- He wants to lead you to repentance. May we never forget the blessedness of God’s “makrothumia” (patience/longsuffering) because we are also recipients of God’s goodness- we are product of God’s longsuffering. Should He not “suffer long” we are not save? Consider yourself, “How long did the Lord waited for you to respond on His invitation of eternal life. Isn’t this time to thank the Lord for His longsuffering toward us?
Now, we go to the last point- verses 10-13, in which I urge you to be hopeful. Be hopeful because when the day of God comes, the fulfillment of His promise- the new heavens and new earth comes. We must be hopeful, expectant of the day of the Lord- that is the purification of the earth where we live in. After this we will inhabit the new heaven and new earth wherein righteousness dwell (v.13). This is our hope, the fulfillment of His promise- we will be with Him eternally. In view of these we must be hopeful of the Lord’s coming (v.10) and the new heaven and new earth (v.13) and that our in these hope should make our living holy and godly (v.12).
We must be hopeful of the Lord’s coming. Several observations can be found here (v.10). “But the day of the Lord will come…” this is the sureness of the day of the Lord, “…as a thief in the night…” this is the suddenness of the coming. “…in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” This pertains to the seriousness of His coming. These characteristics of the day of the Lord should not threaten us but on the contrary inspire us. Here comes our difference with the scoffers, wherein we will not be caught unaware of His coming, and so we are to be prepared. We should take heed the lesson of the Parable of the Virgins, we should be prepared like the wise virgins, having oil- meaning ready anytime the bridegroom comes. Isn’t great when we will meet Christ ready, and we will go with Him to the wedding (Mt.24:1-13)? Since the earth and all the things in it will be dissolved, we should be conducting our lives in holiness and godliness. Our perspective should be towards eternity. We must turn our eyes away from the offers of this temporal world and focus our attention to the things that have value in eternity. Do you know that test of a healthy eschatology is this: “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 (I Jn.3:2,3). I want to note here the Greek word for “ought” (dei) (v.11)- it can also be translated “it is necessary” followed by the verb “huparcho” that is “to be”- thus the meaning “it is necessary that we live a life consistent of holiness (hagios) and godliness (eusebeia). “Hagios” basically means “being set apart from the world for the service of God.” “Eusebeia” on the other hand is our “piety toward God.” As our conduct is important- that is to be holy and godly, our attitude towards the coming is as important as the conduct. In verse 12, we are to look forward (prosdokaô). This verb is from two Greek words “pros” and “dokeô” joined together will mean “to expect, look for and wait for.” Also, hastening (speudô), the second verb means “to desire earnestly,” as oppose to the other thinking that we can help in speeding the coming of the Lord as if we have a part in the fulfillment of it. Then we come into verse 13 which starts with a conjunction “but” in the Greek “alla” was used not its weaker form “de” which I believe for emphasis of the longing for of the promise. Therefore, we can understand more clearly the above passage that even if the earth and all that is in be dissolved and purified by fire (consistent with the covenant with Noah when God promised not to destroy the earth with water), our hope doesn’t stop there because we look beyond that- nevertheless, we look forward on the new heavens and the new earth. When we look to the nature around us, our eyes would definitely feel good. The creation before us is beautiful, but we must remember that it is under curse. In Romans 8:21 it says, “The creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” The present heaven and earth, however beautiful they are, are nothing compared to the new heavens and new earth that is far more beautiful and glorious and wherein righteousness dwells. Apostle John gives us a preview when he says, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” What can be better compared with this truth that we will be with God forever- that is face-to-face with His majesty. The new heavens and the new earth are majestic and glorious because God Himself is there. I would repeat that, “What makes the new heavens and new earth ,majestic and glorious is that God Himself is there- and we will see Him face-to-face.” What a great hope we have!
I will conclude by reading the following verses and there also I will take applications, II Peter 3:14-18, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”
1. Purify yourself. Be diligent to be pure in His appearing.
2. Proclaim of the gospel- for we know that the longsuffering of God means salvation.
3. Guard yourself. Let us beware of the scoffers or else we fall.
4. Be intimate with Christ- that is a continual growth in the grace and knowledge of Him.
5. Doxology- to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
References:
Cranfield, C.E.B. I & II Peter and Jude, Introduction and Commentary. (London: SCM Press LTD, 1960), pp.186-192.
Douglas, J.D. and M.C. Tenney. New International Bible Dictionary. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), pp.258-259.
Henry, Matthew. A Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol.VI, Acts to Revelation. (New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company), pp.1051-1059.
Leaney, A.R.C. The Letter of Peter and Jude. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967), pp.127-139.
MacArthur, John F. The Second Coming. (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1999).
Nieboer, J. Practical Exposition of II Peter. (North East, Penna.: Our Daily Walk Publishers, 1952), pp.199-251.
Wuest, Kenneth S. In These Last Days, II Peter, I, II, III John, and Jude in the Greek New Testament for English Reader. (Grand Rapid: Wm.B.Eedrmans Publishing Co., 1954), pp.64-76.
