LETTERS THAT BURN
2 Peter
Part 5
“Faith’s Consummation”
So far in our study of 2 Peter we’ve dealt with Faith’s Convictions in chapter 1, Faith’s Contentions in chapter 2, and now in chapter 3 we’re going to look at Faith’s Consummation.
So first, let’s look at Peter’s purpose for his 2nd letter:
3:1-2 “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that 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,”
Again, we find the “apostle of remembrance” reminding his readers of what the prophets and apostles had spoken to them. He turns their minds back to the Bible, which for them at this time in church history was primarily the OT. With cultists and skeptics prowling about, there was (and is) no better protection from deception than to know your Bible.
It is a sad fact that cults are filled with people raised in orthodox, theologically sound churches. Either they chose to not pay attention to what they were taught, or worse, they weren’t taught at all. The fact is that Biblically literate Christians are not likely to be trapped in the snare of false teachers.
Take, for instance, the Mormons. Thousands of Christians raised in orthodox churches are snared by this cult annually. But if you knew your Bible you would never fall for their false doctrine.
Mormonism’s beginning should sound an alarm for anyone who knows their Bible. Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, claimed that in September 1827 the angel Moroni led him to the Hill Cumorah near Palmyra to unearth golden plates inscribed with a divine message that, according to Smith, had been lost to humankind since they were buried there in the 4th century A.D.
Now stop right there. If you knew your Bible, you would immediately remember Paul’s warning found in Galatians 1:8 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” So this angel, Moroni, is no angel from God!
Furthermore, Smith claimed that with the aid of special seeing stones, he translated the message found on these plates (which he claimed were written in “Reformed Egyptian”) and published it as the Book of Mormon in 1830. This book has become the foundational document for Mormons.
Okay, stop there. If you knew the Bible, you would immediately remember the warning found at the close of the Book of Revelation, “And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book” (22:18).
Further, Mormon theologians, along with numerous statements from their own scriptures, teach polytheism (the view that there are multiple gods) as well the fact that God has a body. The Doctrine and Covenants (130:22) states that “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also.”
Stop there. Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). So Smith’s claim of God having a body is utterly heretical.
One more example would be: Mormons teach that salvation is made possible by Christ’s suffering. But Mormon salvation, known as exaltation, goes beyond this and takes place when an individual becomes a god (Doctrine and Covenants 132:20). Once individuals are exalted, they can, along with their families, partake of all that God is in the afterlife. Exaltation is possible only through strict obedience to Mormon teachings and practices.
Stop there. Our Bible teaches, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). We are saved by grace through faith, not by adhering to Mormon doctrine, which is salvation by works. And nowhere does the Bible say we are gods. We are sinners saved by grace.
So as you can see, the falsehoods taught by Mormons are easily caught by someone who knows their Bible. But if you don’t know it, you are fair game. And it’s the same with ALL false teaching. If you know your Bible you will not ensnared.
Now, in Peter’s day false teachers had already been spreading the message that Christ was not going to return. This shook the faith of some! So Peter urges his readers regarding the false teacher’s claims, “Turn back to the Scriptures to see what it says about the certain return of Christ!”
Next, he turns his attention to end time scoffers that will appear prior to the return of Christ.
3:3 “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,”
First, their ridicule is exposed. The word “scoffers” can also be translated mockers. These mockers will ridicule and make fun of the return of Christ in the last days.
Peter says they are rotten in their lifestyle—“walking according to their own lusts.” They are fleshly, carnal, living according to the lusts of the flesh. The Bible warns that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Ro. 8:8). They don’t know the Lord and, as Peter said earlier, “they speak evil of the things they do not understand” (2 Pet. 2:12).
Then their faulty reasoning is exposed.
3:4 “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 creation.’”
They reason wrongly based on their judgment of history. They look back at Jewish history and note that everything is going on like it always has. They contend that ever since the fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—died, life has gone through the same predictable cycles. There is no change. And there will be no return of Christ.
Likewise, modern day scoffers are everywhere. The new “atheist” movement headed up by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens routinely mock the claims of Scripture. They write books and go on speaking tours deriding Christian beliefs.
Also, the teaching of evolution mocks the claims of Scripture while evolutionists laugh at the belief in a returning Jesus Christ. After all, God didn’t create the world. Evolution did!
Peter answers their faulty reasoning by turning back to the Genesis account of creation:
3:5 “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,”
Notice that Peter says the scoffers are “willfully” forgetting the Bible claims of a universal Flood. They are suppressing the truth, which Paul says the Christ rejecting world routinely does (Ro. 1:18).
He points to the third day of creation when God separated land from sea. “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas; and God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:9-10).
So, says Peter, God established boundaries for the land and sea. He then points out that one time in history—in the time of Noah—God removed those boundaries.
3:6 “by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”
Peter returns to the story of Noah and the Flood again and again in his writings. His point is that the world was well warned of what was coming. At God’s command, Noah built the ark, informing him that 120 years would elapse before judgment fell (Gen. 6:3).
The one thing Jesus Himself pointed out about the people of Noah’s time was their self-imposed ignorance (Matt. 24:38-39). They chose to shut out God’s voice. They willingly suppressed the truth. The ark was a sign from God to them. The preaching of Noah was a sign from God to them. Yet they remained willingly ignorant.
This, says Peter, is a portrait of end-time scoffers. They are “willfully ignorant.” They have shut out God’s voice of warning, though they are surrounded with signs far greater than those of Noah’s time. They have the gospel. They have the church. They have the Bible. They have the convicting Holy Spirit. They have the various signs Jesus gave that would foreshadow His return.
Yet still they scoff, and hide behind their willful ignorance. Peter has a further warning for them:
3:7 “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.”
The VERY SAME WORD that kept the vast oceans in their given boundaries until the time of the flood now holds the fire of God’s judgment in check!
Peter tells us that the entire universe is being reserved for a day of fiery judgment. The phrase “reserved for fire” means “to be treasured up.” That is, they are being held for the day of God’s choosing.
The universe and everything in it is being held for the day of God’s choosing when He will finally judge the world for its sin.
When I hear of the fears people have of a nuclear holocaust, I can’t say that I share them. Not that there won’t very possibly be nuclear exchanges. But the world will not end that way. God Himself is going to set the universe aflame.
Don’t forget that John informs us of God’s plan to create “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1-8). He will clean up all the filth and residue left by sin. And He has reserved the timing of it to Himself.
The Day of Judgment will be ushered in by the dissolution of the universe, and it is already on God’s calendar (Rev. 20:11). That awesome day will coincide with the Great White Throne judgment, before which all of the ungodly of all time will face their Maker.
Peter next reminds us that God’s timetable is not ours:
3:8 “But, 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.”
While a thousand years seems like an eternity to us, God experiences it like were just one day. He does not dwell in the constraints of time, but abides in an eternal present tense. He is the I AM. So we might say that in God’s way of reckoning, Christ Jesus has been gone for two days!
Peter reminds us of this to counter our impatience. And so does James, who writes, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient…” (5:7-8)
Next, in verse 9 Peter assures us that God will keep His promise, and has a compelling reason for His infinite patience:
3:9 “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.”
The word “slack” means “to delay.” God is not delaying, nor is He tardy. He remembers His promise. But what unbelieving men call tardiness, God calls patience. He is not late—never has been and never will be. He is long-suffering.
Think about it. God sits silent while the vilest blasphemies are uttered by godless reprobates. He silently waits while the most loathsome perversions are practiced and flaunted among the children of men.
He is silent while His Son’s name is dragged through the mud, and little children are aborted by the millions from the place where they should be most safe—their mother’s womb. God’s patience is truly stunning!
Stop and think of how patient and long-suffering he was with you. If He had not been patient, none of us would be here!
Consider the fact that, God’s patient endurance of endless outrages must surely mean that He sees ahead for many a future of inconceivable horror. Thus, out of pity and compassion, He waits, “not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the truth.”
LET’S PRAY