2 Peter week 6 The Consummation Gen 7:6-10, 17-24; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Matt 24:15-31

Introduction  https://youtu.be/1hj5sWHYYrk

So far in our treatment of 2 Peter we have seen the apostle fiercely criticising the false teachers of his time, and I have drawn some parallels between these men and some of similar influences in our own diocese. Today’s passage presses on to expound the foundational issue underlying the corruption in the Church – denial of the final judgment when the Lord will bring about a complete reckoning. Interestingly, Donna and I were in Fremantle on Thursday to look at the Sistine Chapel exhibition (who here has seen the original in Rome?), and if you do a search for it online the centrepiece is the Last Judgement. No matter how post-Christian our society becomes there’s something about the “last things”[1] which captures the conscience of humanity who remain in the image of God. The sombre matter of the Day of the Lord cannot be avoided, for everything ever done by anyone must be publicly brought to light by God[2]. The gospel demands this for anything less than such a comprehensive judgement cannot bring about a new and glorious way of existing for humanity and the broken creation[3] as the Lord always intended. There is however a great difference between the majority of people Peter was writing to in the Church and us today, whilst we all share a sense that the world is getting worse and worse, the first believers longed for the end of all things and for Christ to come quickly, most of us are “in love with this present world” (2 Tim 4:10).

Exposition

2 Peter 3:1-18

vv. 1-7 “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”[4]

The recipients of this letter are the “beloved” of the Lord[5], which tells us Peter is writing about scary things because he is deeply affectionate towards his readers. From personal experience I can tell you that warning people of the destructive consequences of their sinful thoughts and actions is as difficult as it is necessary. He wants his hearers to possess a “sincere mind”, that is, a pure undefiled way of thinking (2 Cor 7:1). To achieve this he reminds them of the predictions of the Old Testament prophets and the new covenant apostles. Perhaps referring to passages where judgement is pronounced on those who mock the idea of a delayed judgement of God[6].

One mark of “the last days”[7] is the presence amongst God’s people of deniers of a coming climax of judgement and salvation. There are people who have been, or still are, a part of St Marks who quietly do not believe[8] the confession that Christ will “come again in glory to judge the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed). These deniers are common-sense sort of folk. If Jesus is coming back, why has he so long? Look around, there is simply no evidence of a final judgment. They however deliberately overlook that God once inundated the world with water as a judgement on its wickedness and so he will likewise do the same in the future, but this time by fire. As the Lord first spoke the world into existence by creating it out of water[9], and spoke to Noah of a coming judgement before sending the flood[10], so likewise “by the same word” (v.7) God sustains the present heavens and the earth until “the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly[11].”

There is an explanation of why many people in Church find the future things of the End less real than the present.[12] Paul’s teaches that as the Husband of the Church, Christ in love makes us holy “by the washing with water through the word,” (Eph 5:26). Since the water and the word in creation, preservation, and future judgement are one with this spiritual cleansing[13] of God’s Word that operates now on our consciences,[14] when he hear the biblical teaching about Last Judgement we simply know in our hearts such things are really real[15]. But for those without the presence of the power of the Spirit-Word in their hearts[16] such things can only be empty fantasies.

vv.8-10 “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow[17] to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved[18], and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

Peter refers to the Word of the Lord in the psalms “a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” (90:4) to illustrate that God’s experience of time is not like ours. The Lord patiently “delays” his Return so that as many people as possible “should reach repentance”[19]. God’s patience is an act of mercy[20]. Our Father is “slow to anger”[21], an attribute usually misunderstood by the hard hearted. Paul warns the Romans, “do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Rom 2:4-5)[22]. When the catastrophic day of the Lord comes it will sudden and unexpected by the vast majority of humanity[23]. When it comes everything that stood between the eye of God and the heart of humans will be peeled away, nothing, especially no dark thing, can remain hidden[24]. You might remember me telling the story of how I used to ask a question of my students when I was lecturing: “At the Final Judgement will all our sins be publicly exposed?” the answer is a resounding yes, exposed as forgiven sins in Christ! The coming terror of people being found unforgiven must impel us to pray for the lost.

vv. 11-13 “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness[25], 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

This scenario of the end of the world calls for a total life response in holiness, godliness and righteousness as sure signs that the End will come[26]. One of the great problems of today is that the lifestyle of believers is hardly any different from that of the “scoffers”. Peter says repeatedly (vv. 12, 13, 14) that we are intensely “waiting” for the Second Coming (cf. Tit 2:13; Heb 9:28). Do we understand what it means to “hasten” [27] the coming day of Judgement. Do we really want to hasten the final purification of creation?  Somehow lives lived in godliness accelerate the Return of Christ. Are our hearts in our prayers[28] when we pray together, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10)[29]. If we are not praying specifically that the lost turn to Christ[30] we are surely slowing down the coming of the End.

vv14-18 “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Those who are longing for the end of this world are not escapists, but men and women of keen insight into eternity who are so in love with Jesus that they long, to use the language of another letter, to be brought “blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24). In our day such sincere desires (2 Cor 11:3) are opposed by ignorant people who “twist” the scriptures to suit their own sinful ends. Perhaps Peter has in mind those who pervert the biblical testimony of the grace of God in Christ[31] so as to exclude a decisive Final Judgement. We must resist such people and “correct them with gentleness”, understanding that the real problem is not their humanity, their existence as “flesh and blood” but the devil (Eph 6:12; 1 Pet 5:9) who has “captured them to do his will” (2 Tim 2:25-26). We pray and hope for their repentance. It is not however our resisting evil that anchors and grows us in the grace and knowledge of Christ[32], but staying centred on Jesus[33] [34]. I have made it my passion to always point to Jesus[35].

Conclusion

I have left a discussion of v.13 “according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” until now. Our heavenly Father, who so lovingly sent his Son to die for us (Rom 5:5, 8) has promised us his children a “new heavens and new earth” (Isa 65:17; 66:22; Rev 21:1). We await with zeal the creation of Paradise, not the one lost in Eden, but the one Jesus promised to the pentitent thief on the cross. “Truly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43). We must understand that the core reality of heaven is “being with Jesus”? This may be something totally foreign to the false teachers of Peter’s time, and ours, but it is the heart of what it means to be a Christian.