2nd peter 3........scoffers
We cannot but notice the tenderness with which he speaks. Four times he addresses them as “beloved” v1, v8, v14, v17. He is keenly aware of their suffering, and of how precious they are to God. The word, a term of endearment, is in the plural and he is encompassing all God’s people to whom he is writing. He also used it in reference to Paul in chapter 3 v15, “our beloved brother Paul”, embracing Paul and all his people. This is an example of how we are to think of each other. The chapter divides into four sections as Peter bids farewell to the saints.
Verses 1-7 Beloved be mindful
Verses 8-13 Beloved be not ignorant
Verses 14-16 Beloved be diligent
Verses 17-18 Beloved beware
His parting words are words of counsel and encouragement, but also of warning to avoid the influence of the present ungodly order, for God will usher in a new order of things in His own time.
Verses 1-7 Be mindful Here Peter refutes the scoffers denial of Christ’s return. First he draws attention to the words of God before he will challenge the words of men. Both old and new testaments are to be held in reverence a)”..the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets..” b) “..and of the commandment of us the apostles of our Lord and Saviour”. Peter equates the words of the new testament apostles with the old testament scriptures. This is important and they both are the word of God. Interesting, the title, Lord and Saviour, not only has He saved us but He also is Lord over us so His words through them are mandatory for us. In both his epistles Peter makes many references to the word; 1st Peter 1 v10; 1 v11; 1 v12; 1 v22; 2nd Peter 1 v19; 1 v20; 1 v21; 3 v2; 3 v16. He is writing to those with “pure minds”, single minds, those who accept God’s word and nothing else. They are to “be mindful” of both old and new testament writings; this requires perpetual reading, and constant application. He wants to “stir them up”, that they rise out of lethargy, of complacency. Perhaps he is thinking of Zechariah 4 v1 when the angel “...came and waked me as a man that is waked out of sleep”. This construction is used many times in the sacred writings and means “he really did wake me up”. We cannot afford to fall asleep, while errors and opinions abound all around us.
The reason for this is clear “..there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust and saying “Where is the promise of His coming?..”. Note they are wrong in their creed and depraved in their conduct “The last days”, or similar, is a term used to describe the whole of the present age until the second coming, but the definite article here is omitted, which, if taken along with the word eschatos, may be referring to the final days of time as we know it, “the last of the last days”. Well we are clearly in these days now for there are mockers of God’s word openly denying the coming of Christ, treating it as a fantasy, and ridiculing those who hold it dear. This prophecy which pervades both old and new testaments is now publicly denied and scoffed at in schools and universities, in politics and mass media communication, and by so-called celebrities and many millions are swallowing the lie. According to Jude in verse 17, the apostles warned of “mockers in the last time”. Cynical rejection of the promise of God, coming from groups of Atheists, Agnostics, Evolutionists, Humanists, and the like. Psalm 1 spoke of “the seat of the scornful”, no doubt referring to world leaders who make laws and trends which are anti-God. In the Psalm this is the worst condition; those who have propagated ungodly counsel, have encouraged sinful ways, and now sit in the seat of scorners, ridiculing the thought of accountability at the coming of Christ.
“Where is the promise of His coming?” is the cry of the scorners today. Everything is just the same as in the beginning, they say. The popular song by John Lennon “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try; no hell below us, above us only sky....” really fired up the world scoffers. Polly Toynbee, editor of the humanist daily, the Guardian, said very publicly “We are on our own, there is no one out there...”. In the words of another song “Ol’ man river just keeps rolling along...”. Nothing changes, nothing will change, people live, people die, and on and on. There has been no intervention from the start, and there never will be. Peter replies “This they are (willingly)ignorant of...”. It’s not they don’t know, they don’t want to know. God has intervened in the creation, in unmistakeable ways, and He will do so again.
In verses 5-7 there are indicated three interventions by God in this world, one of which is yet to come.
Intervention no. 1 He intervened in creation “....by the spoken word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water..”. The account of Genesis 1 is that the earth was originally submerged under water, and by the action of the Divine fiat, the earth rose from it’s watery bed standing “in the water and out of the water”. God intervened to make a habitation for man. Psalm 24v2 confirms “He founded the earth upon the seas, and established it on the floods”. Miraculously the earth is sitting on water and this has been confirmed by those who have plumbed the depths. By Divine command the earth stands proud of the seas! Technically... “subsisting in the water and through the water”. The earth cannot subsist,( that is cannot fulfil it’s proper function of sustaining life and growth) without water.
Intervention no. 2 He intervened by a global flood He changes “the earth “to the “world” meaning the world of men. “The world that then was, being overflowed with water perished”. Another mighty Divine action which destroyed the old created earth with it’s inhabitants. The very water which sustained life destroyed it at the command of God. How puny man gets above himself by refusing to acknowledge history.
Intervention no. 3 He will intervene again, finally, this time by fire “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men”. The fate of the world is already in place, the time and the means, the certainty, and God will expunge the universe of sin. He will destroy the earth by fire.
Verses 8-13 Be not ignorant Here now are some fundamental facts we should all know; The first is that God is eternal ; Scoffers whose average lifespan is 70-80 years, misunderstand God to whom 1000 years is as a day. 2000 years since Christ promised to come is only, in God’s terms, a couple of days. The second is that God is longsuffering and it is because of His mercy to mankind He waits; He is not slack, not behind time, He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. He never at any time acts contrary to His benign character, but His purposes have a conclusion and the day of reckoning will surely come. The mockers have got it sadly wrong and God will have the last laugh “I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh..” Proverbs 1 v26, and readers should become familiar with the whole of the Proverbs chapter 1. Thirdly He is a God of integrity, the multiple predictions of the “day of the Lord”, spread over many years with it’s dire warning to the sceptics is an appointment in the vicissitudes of time that will surely come to pass....He does not lie! “The day of the Lord will come...”, there are 25 direct references to the day of the Lord in scripture as well as countless indirect ones. These are found in Job, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Obadiah, Micah, Amos, Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Peter, Jude and Revelation. This is a vast subject in scripture and largely untouched in studies. It is the day of the Lord (Jehovah), this is his name in connection with Israel, and in the course of this period of time He will establish repentant Israel as head of nations, thus fulfilling His covenant promise. For those opposed to the purposes of God this time will come on the world “as a thief”, that is unexpected, unannounced, and definitely unwanted. It seems the day begins at the midpoint of the 7 years of tribulation and continues through to the end of the millennium. The culmination of it will be the complete disintegration of the universe to make way for a new order of things altogether.
The “end of the world” will come as a conflagration where the very “elements shall melt(be dissolved) with fervent heat..” and the earth and everything in it will be burned up. If man can split the invisible atom and cause widespread destruction, what can God do who holds in His hands the inherent power of all atoms.
This world and everything in it is to be burned(dissolved) reduced to nothing. In school 60 years ago I was taught by my science teacher “Matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it all just takes a different form”. This is contrary to the bible which clearly says all matter was created from nothing and will be reduced to nothing which is what we have here. In Revelation chapter 20 v11, at the final judgment of the great white throne, it says “...from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them”. In the beginning of the creation, He spoke the universe into being, at the end, at the dissolution of all things He will only need to look at it to dispense with it forever. In light of this predicted reality, “what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy behaviour and godliness”. This calls for a proper view of material/spiritual things. “Looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements (the fundamental parts of creation) will melt with fervent heat”. The day of the Lord, a period of time when God will directly and fearfully intervene in the affairs of men. “The great day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly; even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm...” Zephaniah 1 vv14-16. The day of man will end, the day of God will dawn, which will remove all that has been tarnished with sin, and usher in a new day, a new heaven and earth which will be characterised with righteousness, that is moral rectitude, where the will of God is supreme, and He alone is worshipped, as He ought to be. This day will come according to His promise, the day will dawn, the beginning of never ending light , a day without the shadow of darkness, free from all sin and sorrow
.
Verses14-16 Be diligent We are to look for these things, v12,v13 and now v14. The word is prosdokao which is to watch, to anticipate, to expect, and consequently to live in the light of them. He repeated the phrase “these things” in connection with our moral change in chapter 1, now he uses the same approach in relation to prophetic understanding, v14,v16, v17. We are to be diligent, that is make every effort to discern and make them practical for us in the present order of things. This will involve harmony (be found of Him in peace); and purity (without spot and blameless in the sight of God and men). It will also involve the proper diligent study and proper interpretation of scripture..
We are to be right thinking toward God “account that the longsuffering of God is salvation”. Any perceived delay is for the salvation of souls who are perishing.
We are to be right thinking toward the scriptures, which contain the wisdom of God, and some things hard to be understood, we are to be diligent in the pursuit of understanding them. We are to avoid “wresting them” as those that are unlearned (ignorant) and unstable (vascillating) are in the habit of doing. The word wrest means putting scripture to torture, as in a wrestling match, taking it away from the context and obvious meaning. Such a practice will lead to destruction that is to ultimate ruin. There is a tendency today to “strive about words to no profit”, which is to be avoided.
Verses 17-18 Beware This is a warning against backsliding, allowing others to “draw us away” into error, and cause us to fall from steadfastness. “Led away” is sunapago which is carried along, passively seduced, into an easier pathway, but away from God. Error is delusion and wicked is lawless, not subject to the law of God. Fall is to drop away, to be carried along with the tide of opinion. Steadfastness is stability, single mindedness, sharp focus on truth.
The right way is to “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. This is the opposite of instability produced by the wilful contorting of scripture; this is real spiritual growth leading to steadfastness in the Lord. Knowledge of Him is what the scriptures are all about. The growth is not merely in head knowledge but growth in spiritual grace. In this way He will have the glory.
We cannot but notice the tenderness with which he speaks. Four times he addresses them as “beloved” v1, v8, v14, v17. He is keenly aware of their suffering, and of how precious they are to God. The word, a term of endearment, is in the plural and he is encompassing all God’s people to whom he is writing. He also used it in reference to Paul in chapter 3 v15, “our beloved brother Paul”, embracing Paul and all his people. This is an example of how we are to think of each other. The chapter divides into four sections as Peter bids farewell to the saints.
Verses 1-7 Beloved be mindful
Verses 8-13 Beloved be not ignorant
Verses 14-16 Beloved be diligent
Verses 17-18 Beloved beware
His parting words are words of counsel and encouragement, but also of warning to avoid the influence of the present ungodly order, for God will usher in a new order of things in His own time.
Verses 1-7 Be mindful Here Peter refutes the scoffers denial of Christ’s return. First he draws attention to the words of God before he will challenge the words of men. Both old and new testaments are to be held in reverence a)”..the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets..” b) “..and of the commandment of us the apostles of our Lord and Saviour”. Peter equates the words of the new testament apostles with the old testament scriptures. This is important and they both are the word of God. Interesting, the title, Lord and Saviour, not only has He saved us but He also is Lord over us so His words through them are mandatory for us. In both his epistles Peter makes many references to the word; 1st Peter 1 v10; 1 v11; 1 v12; 1 v22; 2nd Peter 1 v19; 1 v20; 1 v21; 3 v2; 3 v16. He is writing to those with “pure minds”, single minds, those who accept God’s word and nothing else. They are to “be mindful” of both old and new testament writings; this requires perpetual reading, and constant application. He wants to “stir them up”, that they rise out of lethargy, of complacency. Perhaps he is thinking of Zechariah 4 v1 when the angel “...came and waked me as a man that is waked out of sleep”. This construction is used many times in the sacred writings and means “he really did wake me up”. We cannot afford to fall asleep, while errors and opinions abound all around us.
The reason for this is clear “..there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust and saying “Where is the promise of His coming?..”. Note they are wrong in their creed and depraved in their conduct “The last days”, or similar, is a term used to describe the whole of the present age until the second coming, but the definite article here is omitted, which, if taken along with the word eschatos, may be referring to the final days of time as we know it, “the last of the last days”. Well we are clearly in these days now for there are mockers of God’s word openly denying the coming of Christ, treating it as a fantasy, and ridiculing those who hold it dear. This prophecy which pervades both old and new testaments is now publicly denied and scoffed at in schools and universities, in politics and mass media communication, and by so-called celebrities and many millions are swallowing the lie. According to Jude in verse 17, the apostles warned of “mockers in the last time”. Cynical rejection of the promise of God, coming from groups of Atheists, Agnostics, Evolutionists, Humanists, and the like. Psalm 1 spoke of “the seat of the scornful”, no doubt referring to world leaders who make laws and trends which are anti-God. In the Psalm this is the worst condition; those who have propagated ungodly counsel, have encouraged sinful ways, and now sit in the seat of scorners, ridiculing the thought of accountability at the coming of Christ.
“Where is the promise of His coming?” is the cry of the scorners today. Everything is just the same as in the beginning, they say. The popular song by John Lennon “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try; no hell below us, above us only sky....” really fired up the world scoffers. Polly Toynbee, editor of the humanist daily, the Guardian, said very publicly “We are on our own, there is no one out there...”. In the words of another song “Ol’ man river just keeps rolling along...”. Nothing changes, nothing will change, people live, people die, and on and on. There has been no intervention from the start, and there never will be. Peter replies “This they are (willingly)ignorant of...”. It’s not they don’t know, they don’t want to know. God has intervened in the creation, in unmistakeable ways, and He will do so again.
In verses 5-7 there are indicated three interventions by God in this world, one of which is yet to come.
Intervention no. 1 He intervened in creation “....by the spoken word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water..”. The account of Genesis 1 is that the earth was originally submerged under water, and by the action of the Divine fiat, the earth rose from it’s watery bed standing “in the water and out of the water”. God intervened to make a habitation for man. Psalm 24v2 confirms “He founded the earth upon the seas, and established it on the floods”. Miraculously the earth is sitting on water and this has been confirmed by those who have plumbed the depths. By Divine command the earth stands proud of the seas! Technically... “subsisting in the water and through the water”. The earth cannot subsist,( that is cannot fulfil it’s proper function of sustaining life and growth) without water.
Intervention no. 2 He intervened by a global flood He changes “the earth “to the “world” meaning the world of men. “The world that then was, being overflowed with water perished”. Another mighty Divine action which destroyed the old created earth with it’s inhabitants. The very water which sustained life destroyed it at the command of God. How puny man gets above himself by refusing to acknowledge history.
Intervention no. 3 He will intervene again, finally, this time by fire “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men”. The fate of the world is already in place, the time and the means, the certainty, and God will expunge the universe of sin. He will destroy the earth by fire.
Verses 8-13 Be not ignorant Here now are some fundamental facts we should all know; The first is that God is eternal ; Scoffers whose average lifespan is 70-80 years, misunderstand God to whom 1000 years is as a day. 2000 years since Christ promised to come is only, in God’s terms, a couple of days. The second is that God is longsuffering and it is because of His mercy to mankind He waits; He is not slack, not behind time, He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. He never at any time acts contrary to His benign character, but His purposes have a conclusion and the day of reckoning will surely come. The mockers have got it sadly wrong and God will have the last laugh “I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh..” Proverbs 1 v26, and readers should become familiar with the whole of the Proverbs chapter 1. Thirdly He is a God of integrity, the multiple predictions of the “day of the Lord”, spread over many years with it’s dire warning to the sceptics is an appointment in the vicissitudes of time that will surely come to pass....He does not lie! “The day of the Lord will come...”, there are 25 direct references to the day of the Lord in scripture as well as countless indirect ones. These are found in Job, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Obadiah, Micah, Amos, Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Peter, Jude and Revelation. This is a vast subject in scripture and largely untouched in studies. It is the day of the Lord (Jehovah), this is his name in connection with Israel, and in the course of this period of time He will establish repentant Israel as head of nations, thus fulfilling His covenant promise. For those opposed to the purposes of God this time will come on the world “as a thief”, that is unexpected, unannounced, and definitely unwanted. It seems the day begins at the midpoint of the 7 years of tribulation and continues through to the end of the millennium. The culmination of it will be the complete disintegration of the universe to make way for a new order of things altogether.
The “end of the world” will come as a conflagration where the very “elements shall melt(be dissolved) with fervent heat..” and the earth and everything in it will be burned up. If man can split the invisible atom and cause widespread destruction, what can God do who holds in His hands the inherent power of all atoms.
This world and everything in it is to be burned(dissolved) reduced to nothing. In school 60 years ago I was taught by my science teacher “Matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it all just takes a different form”. This is contrary to the bible which clearly says all matter was created from nothing and will be reduced to nothing which is what we have here. In Revelation chapter 20 v11, at the final judgment of the great white throne, it says “...from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them”. In the beginning of the creation, He spoke the universe into being, at the end, at the dissolution of all things He will only need to look at it to dispense with it forever. In light of this predicted reality, “what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy behaviour and godliness”. This calls for a proper view of material/spiritual things. “Looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements (the fundamental parts of creation) will melt with fervent heat”. The day of the Lord, a period of time when God will directly and fearfully intervene in the affairs of men. “The great day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly; even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm...” Zephaniah 1 vv14-16. The day of man will end, the day of God will dawn, which will remove all that has been tarnished with sin, and usher in a new day, a new heaven and earth which will be characterised with righteousness, that is moral rectitude, where the will of God is supreme, and He alone is worshipped, as He ought to be. This day will come according to His promise, the day will dawn, the beginning of never ending light , a day without the shadow of darkness, free from all sin and sorrow
.
Verses14-16 Be diligent We are to look for these things, v12,v13 and now v14. The word is prosdokao which is to watch, to anticipate, to expect, and consequently to live in the light of them. He repeated the phrase “these things” in connection with our moral change in chapter 1, now he uses the same approach in relation to prophetic understanding, v14,v16, v17. We are to be diligent, that is make every effort to discern and make them practical for us in the present order of things. This will involve harmony (be found of Him in peace); and purity (without spot and blameless in the sight of God and men). It will also involve the proper diligent study and proper interpretation of scripture..
We are to be right thinking toward God “account that the longsuffering of God is salvation”. Any perceived delay is for the salvation of souls who are perishing.
We are to be right thinking toward the scriptures, which contain the wisdom of God, and some things hard to be understood, we are to be diligent in the pursuit of understanding them. We are to avoid “wresting them” as those that are unlearned (ignorant) and unstable (vascillating) are in the habit of doing. The word wrest means putting scripture to torture, as in a wrestling match, taking it away from the context and obvious meaning. Such a practice will lead to destruction that is to ultimate ruin. There is a tendency today to “strive about words to no profit”, which is to be avoided.
Verses 17-18 Beware This is a warning against backsliding, allowing others to “draw us away” into error, and cause us to fall from steadfastness. “Led away” is sunapago which is carried along, passively seduced, into an easier pathway, but away from God. Error is delusion and wicked is lawless, not subject to the law of God. Fall is to drop away, to be carried along with the tide of opinion. Steadfastness is stability, single mindedness, sharp focus on truth.
The right way is to “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. This is the opposite of instability produced by the wilful contorting of scripture; this is real spiritual growth leading to steadfastness in the Lord. Knowledge of Him is what the scriptures are all about. The growth is not merely in head knowledge but growth in spiritual grace. In this way He will have the glory.
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