What To Do Until The Lord Comes Back - Part 2

What to Do Until the Lord Comes Back - Part 2

2 Peter 3:9-14

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - April 28, 2013

*If we believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, then we know that the Lord is coming back some day. And it could be someday soon. What should we do until the Lord comes back? Tonight let me give you 3 more answers we can see here in the Word of God.

1. First: Help people avoid the horror.

*The Lord's return will be a time of great happiness for believers. Unfortunately, it will also be a time of great horror for many people, because they will not be ready for His return.

*Peter described it in vs. 9-12:

9. The 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.

10. But 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.

11. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

12. looking 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?

*In vs. 10, Peter talked about "the day of the Lord" coming "as a thief in the night." J. Vernon McGee gave this explanation: "There is some argument as to whether this takes place at the coming of Christ to establish His Kingdom or at the end of the millennial Kingdom." McGee says, "I am convinced that the Day of the Lord is an extended period of time which opens with the Tribulation, followed by the thousand-year reign of Christ, the brief rebellion led by Satan, and the judgment of the Great White Throne. Then, as we find in the Book of Revelation, the new heavens and the new earth come into view." (1)

*Please listen again to vs. 10, and James Merritt's great explanation of this verse. Verse10 says: "But 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."

*James Merritt explained: "(This) is absolutely one of the most fascinating verses you will read in all of the Bible, and I want to show you why. There are a number of fascinating words in this tremendous prophecy. For example: We are told here 'the elements will melt with fervent heat.' In the field of Physics it meant 'the components into which matter is divided.' In today's English, the word would simply be expressed by the word 'atoms.'

*In other words, just as the letters of the alphabet are the component parts of words, so also are atoms the component parts of the elements. Then we are told that these elements will 'melt.' This word literally means to 'disintegrate, to break up, to be dissolved.' It carries the idea of something being broken down into its basic parts, which is exactly what happens when atomic energy is released.

*We now know that there is atomic power stored in the elements that make up this world. As a matter of fact, back in vs.7, what Peter literally said was, 'this earth is now stored with fire.' One day God is going to release this fire. So putting it together, the Holy Spirit says that the elemental particles of matter, which we now call atoms, are going to be dissolved, destroyed, and released.

*In other words, this tremendous energy of fire is going to be set free. But furthermore we are told that 'the heavens will pass away with a great noise.' That comes from a single Greek word which literally means 'with a hissing and crackling sound,' or 'with the rushing sound as of roaring flames.' Originally, it referred to the whizzing of an arrow rushing to its target. When the atom bomb was first tested in the Nevada desert, more than one reporter said that it gave 'a whirring sound,' or 'a crackling sound.'

*Finally, we are told 'the elements will melt with fervent heat.' On March 9, 1979, we may have gotten a clue as to how this is going to happen. On that day, 9 satellites, stationed at various points in the solar system, recorded a bizarre event deep in space. It was the most powerful burst of energy ever recorded. The burst of radiation lasted for only 1/10 of a second. But in that instant it emitted as much energy as the sun does in 3,000 years.