Good evening, Verse by Verse family! I’m Mike Morris...let’s open in prayer...

Welcome back to our study of II Peter...thank you for being here...

Goal for tonight is to trust God at all times...

As we did in I Peter, we’re committing our theme verse to memory...II Peter 3.18...

Let’s practice our scripture memory skills!

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Keep working on it...it takes time and repetition to memorize something...you can do it!

Let’s quickly review the connections to the rest of the book...the beginning of chapter 3 is such a distinct inflection point that some commentators have actually proposed that this is the beginning of a third letter that was appended to the first letter after the fact...there’s no evidence for that, but there is a change in Peter’s thought and tone here...he revisits the authority of the prophetic word from the OT understood and interpreted by the NT apostles that we saw in chapter 1, and he links the false teachers’ rejection of the holy commandment with the admonition here to the believers to the remember the commandment...and he comforts the “beloved,” a word he uses four times in this chapter...

This is not a separate work...this is a fitting conclusion to a wonderful letter...let’s jump into the text...

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 Savior 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. // 8 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 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, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 

Remember...                                 3.1-2

Peter now returns to a theme from chapter 1, where he said he wanted to remind his readers of the truths of the gospel...so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. ...but it’s actually the Holy Spirit, carrying Peter along as we read in chapter 1, who is the Teacher here... to remember truth, He stirs us up by His Word, sometimes by circumstances, and often by sound counsel from other believers...if we want to recall God’s truth, we’ll find reminders everywhere... 

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 Savior through your apostles...

But what are we to remember?

The predictions of the holy prophets...most of the prophecies of the Messiah were about His advent, His coming to earth to fulfill His role as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, and be the atoning sacrifice for His people...but there are some prophecies which seem to speak to the second advent, the second coming, such as the prophecies in Isaiah of Messiah as the conquering King and in Zechariah 12.10...

Peter also counsels the believers to listen to the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles...

The NT apostolic teaching regarding the second coming of Jesus is foundational to the truth of the gospel...it is the blessed hope of every believer, the culminating point of the eternal salvation promised by God, and the fulfillment of His promise that where He is, we will be with Him, as He prayed in John 17.24...

And clearly connected to the OT and NT teaching of the second coming of Messiah is the call to holy living in the present age, as we wait expectantly for the return of Jesus that Peter himself had heard from the angels in Acts 1.10-11...

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

This is the reminder from Peter: remember -- Jesus is coming back soon, and until He does, we must live for Him...now Peter confronts the false teaching in verses 3 through 7...

The False Teaching of the Scoffers                        3.3-7

Peter now takes on the false teaching in verses 3 and 4... 

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.”

Peter names them “scoffers” – someone who would treat something with mockery and ridicule and derision...they will come in the “last days,” a period of time we know today as the church age, or the gospel age, the period between the first coming of Christ and the second coming...Peter spoke of this at Pentecost in Acts 2.16-17...But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh...

In the first century, many in the church believed that Jesus’s return was imminent...Jesus’s own statements in Matthew 10, 16, and 24 could be understood to support a very near-term return...they evidently thought that now that Messiah had come once, he would come again, very soon, perhaps in their lifetimes...Peter isn’t trying to pinpoint the second coming, but he’s saying that scoffers of His return were present then, and we now know they’re always present in the church...in fact, their presence is a feature of this age... 

If some believers thought Messiah’s return was imminent, why would these false teachers reject the idea that Jesus would return? Why would they say that the second coming isn’t coming?

Peter says it’s because they are following their own sinful desires...for if they deny that there is a judgment coming, they can ignore the dictates of Scripture...if Jesus does not return to call all people to account, then no one ever will, and these scoffers are free to live as sinfully as they please for the desires of the flesh...

See how bad theology drives bad behavior?

The scoffers’ skepticism was simple: 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.”

In other words, what has not happened yet, will never happen...everything in the future will be just as it has been in the past... the coming of Jesus Christ didn’t change anything...everything still continues on as it always had since the creation...

This blend of bold rejection of accountability joined to a convenient belief in naturalism – everything will continue just as it always has – was a message that was lethal to the first-century church...it led to disregard for the apostolic call to devout and holy living, and it called into question every word of Scripture, for if the words of Jesus and the apostles were false regarding the second coming, then nothing could be trusted...

Peter must confront this heresy – and he does in verse 5...

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. 

Peter reminds the church of three truths, which we will look at in order...Peter begins his argument with the first divine intervention: creation

The very fact that the universe exists is proof of divine intervention...there was a time when the heavens and the earth did not exist, and now they do...God created all that is, by His word, just as described in Genesis, and that the world was created from water, as Moses writes in Genesis 1.1-2... In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters...and God said....the skeptics questioned that God was the creator of His universe as they considered Him impotent...

The second truth is that God intervened in His universe again, this time not in creation but in judgment... by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. The doubters denied that God made the heavens and the earth, and they denied that He destroyed all that lived on the earth...again, through the agency of His word...

Having established that God created the universe and intervenes in it as He wills according to His word, Peter introduces the final argument against the false teachers...verse 7

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.

Just as the Lord has intervened and acted in His universe twice before – once in its creation, and again in its destruction by water – He has said He will act yet again, this time to destroy it by fire...this created order, the heavens and earth, are “stored up” – an uncommon Gr word, ‘thesaurizo’ meaning to save up, or preserve something...this created order is being stored up until a future event, a particular day: the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly, as Peter says...

Interesting to note an important similarity between the flood and the fire...in both cases, the earth itself survives, though the guilty wicked do not...here in II Peter 3, the created order is subjected to a special day, Gr ‘hemera,’ a word that could be translated as “event”

And that event is the judgment of the unrepentant wicked, the ungodly, in Peter’s words... like the judgments in chapter 2, and including the flood in Genesis 7.22-23...

Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 

It’s clear that God’s purpose is to judge rebellious mankind, not destroy the earth itself...

With their focus on the created order, the false teachers are guilty of the same mistake the world usually makes...they are looking at only that which can be seen, the physical, the temporal...they disregard how God interacts with that which He has made, by His word, and they disregard what truly matters...Paul gives us that truth in II Corinthians 4.18...For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

To think clearly and rationally, in alignment with God’s word, you have to look to the things you cannot see, to that which is eternal, which we see not with our eyes, but through the Holy Spirit within us...never fall into the trap of thinking that only what we can see in the physical world is all that is real...that’s just the opposite of the truth...naturalism says that if you can’t see it, it isn’t real...God’s word says if you can see it, it is transient, temporary; what really matters is the eternal...

The True Teaching of the Word                        3.8-10

Having reminded his readers of the OT predictions and the NT commandment, and having confronted the false teachers and their lies, Peter turns to the word of the Lord...

8 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 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, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

The world overlooked an important fact about God...Peter counsels his readers to NOT make the same mistake...the world’s view of the importance of the physical world over the spiritual world extended to their view of time, as well...the world looks at the passage of time as a delay, proof that God is absent, or perhaps not paying attention...but nothing could be further from the truth...Peter has already affirmed that God can and will intervene in His created order, with the perfect means and motive and place...now he assures the believers that their Sovereign God’s timing is always perfect...He is never early and never late...

Because God exists outside of time as we understand it, we don’t perceive time as He does...Peter’s statement in verse 8 isn’t a scale to measure time, it’s telling us God doesn’t abide by our timescale...God is unconcerned that we think He’s slow or fast, late or early... The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness...words like “fast” or “slow” only have meaning to us as humans...the Lord is not slow, for that implies there is some sort of timetable or plan against which God is being measured by His creation...that isn’t possible...our challenge is to learn to operate on God’s timetable, not complain about how He doesn’t meet our schedules...

That’s Peter’s point in the next truth: but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. What seems to us to be delay, because we want Him to move at a quicker pace toward the judgment of wicked and the rewarding of the righteous, Peter reminds us is actually divine patience...if God were quick on the trigger, as it were, all humankind would be destroyed by now...instead, He is long-suffering and patient with us...in Gr it’s ‘makrothymeo’ – to be even-tempered while enduring trying circumstances...that’s an accurate description of God in His attitude toward us...He suffers our foolishness longer than we can imagine... look at Romans 2.4...

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 

What leads us to repentance? Is it God’s love or truth or justice? It’s His kindness, which Paul equates with His patience and forbearance...we must thank God every day for His patient long-suffering, for that patience provides time for us to turn to Him in repentance...

With whom is God patient? Peter says “toward YOU” – those to whom he is writing, the believers, those with a faith of equal standing as his own...Peter tells us that God is patient with His people, not wishing that any – of YOU – should perish, but that all – of YOU – should reach repentance...

I know this verse is often understood outside it’s context as a declaration that God does not desire a single person in the world to ever perish, but all of them to turn to Him in repentance...but that understanding doesn’t square with a biblical view of the righteous and just wrath of God against the wicked...if God really wanted everyone in the world to be saved, then they would be saved...and there’s no indication that God is leaving the decision of our eternal destiny in our rebellious hearts and sin-stained hands to make the choice...no, what God is doing is bringing to salvation in time and space those whom He elected from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1.4)...He is calling out a people for His own possession (I Peter 2.9)...He is preparing the day when His angels will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24.31)...for the sake of those whom God has foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified, He is patient...until the very last sheep comes into the sheepfold...

But there are people in this world who will not turn from their sin...while God’s people will be ready, the ungodly will find that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief – sudden, unexpected, and devastating – and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

At that moment, the culminating point of human history, the creation itself will endure a shattering transformation...not through water, but through fire...the heavens will “pass away” not as in “die” but as in “pass by”...think of a fast-moving train passing by with a roar...

The next phrase is more difficult to translate...the word for “heavenly bodies” is an unusual choice for the Gr ‘stocheion’ ...it often appears as “elements” and in Heb 5.12 it’s translated as basic principles...it’s defined as the basic components of something...a better translation is the NIV... 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

The last phrase is a little clearer...the NIV says the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare ... the ESV says the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 

The created order experiences a conflagration that involves the heavens and the very elements of creation itself...but what is left standing is the earth, though considering the effects of however God uses fire, the surface of the earth might be scorched almost beyond recognition...

We learn a lot when we compare the reference point of the flood with this second description of fire...both affected the heavens...both destroy not the entire earth but the surface of the earth...and both have a cleansing effect...

To summarize this, what is described here is destruction that has the effect of renewing the surface of the earth, just as the flood did...if you’ve ever seen a forest after a forest fire, you’d swear nothing would ever grow there again, but we know that a forest begins to recover in just months and eventually fully recovers, just as the earth did after the flood...

But this is clear – the earth and all that is done on it is laid bare to the judgment of God.

Application

This passage is why the first century church sometimes called 2 Peter the “Apocalypse of Peter” – it’s curious and puzzling and difficult at times...but there is still a message from the Spirit in these verses...let’s think about our three main points...

What do you need to remember?  

How to defeat temptation?

How to trust God and reject worry and anxiety?

How to learn to love others?

How to pray like your life depended on it?

How to be brave and speak for Jesus?

Who do you need to believe?  

The world and it’s skepticism and doubt

The Lord and His power and strength

When do you need to rely on God?  

When times are hard

When the future is uncertain

When things look bleak

When you think He isn’t listening 

When He isn’t acting quickly enough 

When you’re really tired of being patient

When you need to fall on His grace