2 Peter 3

The Day of the Lord

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

In 2 Peter 2 we read that Peter wrote about the importance of being reminded; although, here he wanted to emphasize what should be known in light of the coming of Jesus and the prophecies surrounding His coming.

Friends, in this day and time we are to guard our hearts. We are to concentrate on those things that which are good. If we read, meditate, and study on God‘s word, then that is, what’s going to come out of our mouth. However, if we study on those things which are horrific and evil that will be spewed out of our mouth. In this last day and time we are to build each other up And not spew out, gossip and evil.

Philippians 4:8 says the following: “KJ21 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Scripture has the words to life and it’s words are true, lovely pure, honest, and just. The Bible records words from the old prophets, and Commandments given to us by Jesus.

Peter understood that Jesus gave His apostles the inspired authority to bring forth God’s message to the new covenant community. He understood this from passages such as Matthew 16:19, where Jesus gave the apostles authority to bind and loose, much as the authoritative rabbis of their day.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

Friends, if you listen to the media and the secular world they are scarfing at the name of Jesus. They believe that the Bible is a book of fables, and they believe that Jesus is a made-up character who is dead and gone. They do not believe that he is going to return in the clouds of glory to call up his people.

What people are saying, is such a lie and false teaching, because nature proves no assurance that things will continue, as they always have. Nature continues to change and continues to nurture itself. God himself is in charge of nature. God will judge and ungodliness and destroy the present heavens and earth through fire.

People who are Walking according to their own lusts are scoffers who not only have an intellectual problem with God and His word, but They also have a clear moral problem, wanting to reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives.

Scoffers question with the following words: Where is the promise of His coming?

They are thinking that Christians have talked about Jesus coming for two thousand years and He still hasn’t come back yet; so they should just forget about that promise.

But I am here to tell you and the church is here to tell you that we need to be ready. We need to be like a bride getting ready to get married. She is spotless. She is pure. She is clean. She is beautiful. She is ready! Because the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. The scriptures of the Bible are falling right into place and we need to be ready.

Today is the day of salvation, and today is the day that you should turn to the Lord. Knowing that he is Lord and we must pick up our cross and follow him. Christian soldiers, there is a work to be done.

The word of the Lord needs to be heard.

5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

The scoffers assume that because they do not experience God that God does not exist. They take advantage of lots of things in this life; so, they think they can take advantage upon the mercy and longsuffering of God. The scoffers and unbelievers insist that because they have never seen a widespread judgment of God, that there will never be one. They believe the Bible is tables and/or they willfully forget God’s creation and the judgment God poured out on the earth in the days of Noah.

A literal belief in Creation, in Adam and Eve, and in Noah’s Flood are essential for a true understanding of God’s working both then and now. To deny these things undermines the very foundations of our faith. Sadly, today it is many Christians who willfully forget these things, thereby putting themselves in the place of scoffers.

The Bible clearly teaches that the active agent in creation was God’s word. He spoke and creation came into being.

Peter’s point is that things on this earth have not always continued the way they are now. The earth was different when God first created it and then it was different again after the flood. Therefore no one should scoff at God’s promise that He will make it different once again, judging it not with water but with fire. The same word of God that created all matter and judged the world in the flood will one day bring a judgment of fire upon the earth.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

What seems like forever for us is but a short time for God, just as an hour may seem to be an eternity for a child but a moment for an adult.

Peter communicated a general principle regarding how we see time and how God sees time. When people use this verse as a rigid prophetic key it opens the door for great error.

Let us consider Psalm 90:4 NKJV – 4 For a thousand years in Your sight [Are] like yesterday whenit is past, And [like] a watch in the night.

Spurgeon explains time as God seeds it as follows: “All things are equally near and present to his view; the distance of a thousand years before the occurrence of an event, is no more to him than would be the interval of a day. With God, indeed, there is neither past, present, nor future. He takes for his name the ‘I AM.’ … He is the I AM; I AM in the present; I AM in the past and I AM in the future. Just as we say of God that he is everywhere, so we may say of him that he is always; he is everywhere in space; he is everywhere in time.”

God sees time with an intensity we lack; one day with the Lord is like a thousand years.

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Here in this verse, Peter insists that we cannot apply human demands about time to the promises of God. He is not slow in keeping His promise. God is the one who made the schedule: He cannot be “late.” Instead, God keeps every promise at the perfect time for His glory and for the good of those He loves. 

In this case, Christians should view the delay in Christ’s return as evidence of God’s patience, not of His tardiness. In His love-driven patience, God is willing to give more time for more people to come to repentance. This is God’s plan to allow more people opportunity to place their trust in Christ in order to enter into eternal relationship with Him.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Though the Lord’s longsuffering love to the lost makes it seem that perhaps He delays His coming, the truth is that He will indeed come. And when Jesus does return, He will come at a time that will surprise many (as a thief in the night). The ultimate result of His coming will be a total transformation of this present world. It also does not mean that the Lord is coming in the night.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

we should live our lives seeking first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness – that is, having holy conduct and godliness.

12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

Some of this could be the destruction war brings. If we think about the nations who carry nuclear bombs and explosives. This just adds truth to the Scripture.

13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Even Isaiah promised: For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind(Isaiah 65:17).

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

We need to leave sin alone. We need to remain sanctified, set apart, for the will of God.

The most glorious characteristic of this new heaven and new earth is that it is a place in which righteousness dwells. In God’s plan of the ages, this happens after the millennial earth ruled by Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:3 King James Version ³ And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

It is the re-creation of this world order as described in Revelation 21:1: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

Looking forward to these things, be diligent: If our hearts are really set on the glory of the new heaven and new earth, we will endeavor to walk godly in regard to our brothers and sisters (in peace) and in regard to God (without spot and blameless).

15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

We do well to be angry with the rebellious, and so we prove ourselves to be more like Jonah than Jesus. A few have learned to be patient and pitiful to the ungodly, but many more are of the mind of James and John, who would have called fire from heaven upon those who rejected the Savior. We are in such a hurry instead of patient and long suffering.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

Peter reminds us that the Scriptures can be twisted. Just because someone quotes the Bible doesn’t mean that they teach Biblical truth. It’s possible that they twist … the Scriptures. That is why we should search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Acts 17:11 instructs us to search and know the Scriptures.

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

 We, who know of the Day of the Lord and await it with patient expectation, must persevere lest we fall from your own steadfastness. We must take care to keep abiding in Jesus.

We must be rooted and grounded in the word; so that, we are caught caught off guard and be led astray by a false teacher. In order to stand, we are to grow in grace. The way to stand is to grow; the way to be steadfast is to go forward. There is no standing except by progression. We are called to mature. We are called to get off the milk and get onto the meat. We are not to stay babes in Christ, but we must rise in knowledge of the Scriptures. Not only must we rise in knowledge of the Scriptures, but we must practice them, and tell others about them. We have been called to seek others who are lost and help them find the light.