seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Peter 3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 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.
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.” 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.
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. 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.
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.
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 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. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
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. 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.
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. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
This is from the commentary I use.Knowing this first: Christians should not be surprised to find that there are those who scoff at the idea of Jesus coming again. Peter told us that the scoffers will come. This is the first thing to know.
Where is the promise of His coming? This is the message of scoffers. In the thinking of these scoffers, Christians have talked about Jesus coming for two thousand years and He still hasn’t come back yet.
That with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 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.
As also our beloved brother Paul: It is fashionable for some critics to say that the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul aren’t in agreement. These same critics also often say that Peter and Paul aren’t in agreement with Jesus. Yet here Peter affirmed Paul’s teaching in the warmest terms. He called Paul beloved and said that Paul wrote with wisdom.
In which are some things hard to understand: Though Peter praised Paul’s ministry, he admitted that some things in Paul’s writings were hard to understand, and those who were untaught and unstable could use some of the difficulties to their own ends, twisting Scripture.
And this concludes the reading of the letters from Peter. Before I get into today's study, check out verse 16. Peter agrees with me, Paul is hard to understand. Now back to the melting of the world.People forget that God has already washed the earth. In the days of Noah, there were so many lost souls running amuck that He had to wash the world. He flooded the earth to clean away all the humans who would never believe. Why let them devour the food and stink up the air if they were always going to scoff at the mere idea of His existence? He's God... He was trying to be fair. Just because someone doesn't like you, you shouldn't go shooting up the Walmart, or hitting the Hoover Dam with a ton of dynamite. So, God cleaned the earth, holding Noah and his kids and their wives to repopulate.
God promised He wouldn't use water then next time. Sounds more like a blowtorch is on its way. As I write this, people in Southern California are getting 12" of rain in just a couple of days. I bet they are wondering if God is going to keep His promise not to drown the whole earth again.
The next time He has to clean off the world, He's going to use fire. I'm not sure which death I would choose. Would I rather drown or burn?
As I started to write this, Hubby turned on the local news. They are forecasting flooding for our area. I'm in the Arizona desert valley. It hasn't rained here for months. We've only had a couple inches of rain since summer last year, but nothing compared to what is coming. They are forecasting a flood though. These verses say Jesus will come like a thief in the night. The fire God's going to use is not as predictable as rain. We can see rain clouds coming a long time in advance now. Rain won't sneak up on us like a thief. Fire though, fire hot enough to melt the elements... now that may be a little bit harder to forecast.
The verses here say the destruction of the earth will be fire, not rain, fire. Everything will melt! Look at verse 12. "The elements will melt in the heat".
Something is going to set the world on fire. Will it be a nuke or a meteor?
"The elements will melt in the heat!"
